This one's for Jenny

Hello Jenny,

I apologize for not updating the blog as promptly as I have in the past. Here's a little update. More photos soon.

1. AC is practicing her shapes. She uses the word "semi-circle" often, sometimes substituting this term for the more popular "circle". Also in popular usage are square, diamond, rectangle, and triangle (which Auntie Em taught her).

2. Current favorite book: Blue Hat, Green Hat by Sandra Boynton. Sandra Boynton is so great. AC memorized this book in a few days. It's a great pick if you want to get to the heart of toddler humor.

3. "What's this? A heart. What's this? A horsey. What's this? A nose. What's this? Baby Simon's face. What's this? A boat." AC has conversations with herself about her drawings. These are the things she draws. And this is what she has to say about it.

Baby sleep! (part two)

AC sleeps with Mommy.
She likes it a lot.
Does she snooze by her lonesome?
Oh no, she does not.

Mum gave her a blankie
to cuddle and hug
and sleep with so soundly
like bugs in a rug.

"To sleep with pink blankie
my AC must go."
But will AC listen?
Her mom does not know.

Fashion Maverick

Long before we heard the word "maverick" thrown around on a daily basis by a certain presidential candidate, our friend Ben was known by many as the Fashion Maverick. AC is following in his footsteps with her new look pictured below:

Remember when...

Grammy read AC a story while Puppy played her some music on the stereo?

A song and some new sentences

AC has taken to singing "Hush-a bye." It goes kind of like this: "HUUUUUU -- sha-bye my BAAY-by." Last night I was beat-box/humming it along with AC and it turned into a big family dance party in the kitchen. Big big knee-bends from AC. Krabby was grooving. AC got so excited she had to make her bunny-shaped cookie do huge "HOP! HOP!" hops on the from the floor to the sky.

Now every time she sings "Hush-a bye" she accompanies herself with big knee-bends and dance moves. Not exactly the idea of the lullaby, but a good time nonetheless.

Some new sentences:
"Hibee bump, hibee jump!"
--from The Cat in the Hat ("How that bump made us jump!"). Now phasing out of usage. Being replaced with spelling the words in the book: "B ... U ... M ... P ... BUMP!" or "P ... L ... Dada-O ... P ... PYOP!" (Os are always either Dada-Os or Baby-Os, and "L" is still more of a "Y").

"Dada hot toffee, baby Simon cup!"
--AC loves making coffee in the morning with me. The second phrase comes from the last visit to Wendy, Misha, and cousin Simon, when I brought a thermos of coffee and was drinking out of the little cup that goes with it. This was a source of much mirth, as I continued drinking out of the "baby cup" instead of opting for a regular mug. AC picked up on the conversation and added the Simon part.

Put it in a line

A favorite activity of late: put some stuff in a line, preferably sorted by color. Here are some festive autumn gourds that Raps found upon walking into the kitchen. Is there a poltergeist in the house or just a toddler? You decide.
...caught red tomato handed...
Gotcha!

Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving started early. AC was up at 5 or so, ready to work (as usual). No worries; I couldn't sleep, worried about turkey. A few years ago I brined one and it came out good. We had given away the bucket I used, though. I tried to use a real big Rubbermaid tub that we use for fabric. At around 8 I tried washing it out. It didn't fit in the sink but that didn't stop me. I got the turkey in there after using almost all of our kosher salt. Then I saw the turkey water was leaking everywhere. Nixed that idea. Luckily, AC was busy with a project of her own during all of this. She loves to put something in her booster seat, buckle it in, and put the tray on top. This morning she seated the Crock-Pot (tm) manual. Perfectly centered.


After lots more getting ready with the whole family, I went out for a walk with AC. Just to get some fresh air before the guests arrived.

The turkey took an hour longer than it should have, but it was good, even without the brine. Better than last year. The sides by Krabby were fantastic and everyone brought more delicious food. The kids got down and had a wild time.

Washing her doll

Sometimes AC likes to draw on her doll with marker, and then she tells me "Baby TOO MESSY!" Here she is washing baby. Baby also gets fed, walked, and rocked to sleep (and occasionally tossed aside unceremoniously). Baby has no name yet - Tracy and Shayne call her "Baby Jane" and like to make her dance.

The more things change, the more they stay the same ...

November 2007 and a visit to Wendy, Misha, and Simon, November 2008

Visiting Sylvia and family

A few weeks ago we went to visit our friends Daniel and Megan and their beautiful little girl Sylvia Toireasa (she's a little over six months here). AC had fun reading "MAMA VOTED FOR OBAMA" with Megan. Evan and Daniel posed with their girls in one of those whoa-dude-look-at-us-sixteen-years-later kind of moments.

Discussing Elmo

AC and Meisteroo bond over their mutual love for the red falsetto!

Sentences

Yesterday, AC said some great sentences, for example...
"More orange juice, please."
"That baby hat is too small."
"Mama and AC eat orange."

That's all for now...more updates soon!

An evening stroll with a friend.

Fun at Meisteroo's

In a box (again)...

...and in a ball crawl (as Dada calls it).

AC's book club...

This book is at the top of AC's reading list at the moment:
AC is fascinated by the little duck and little pig that sit on the blue potty in this board book. We checked the book out of the library following Story Hour on Thursday. I'm sure it will be some time before AC is potty-trained, but for now she's having fun practicing and doing research on the subject.

Baby sleep!

When AC sees a baby sleeping, she exclaims, "Baby sleep!" Here she is napping today...

Fun with Dad

AC loves to draw with markers on her easel. The drawings evolve over time so that there are many layers of marks, colors, images and symbols. Then we wash everything off and start over. She usually begins a drawing by standing at the easel stepping from foot to foot saying "Please a-Mama " or Please a-Dada" over and over until we take the caps off of the markers and sit down to draw. She hands Dad a marker and says "Dada too!" ...and then we draw.AC and Dada have a special language involving lots of silly faces.
Here's AC's first collaborative watercolor painting. Her main contribution is the group of black marks on the far right. She painted these designs on the easel, not on the paper. I thought it was interesting how they sort of mirror the blue designs directly next to them.
As soon as she noticed me with the camera, she charged after me!

Autumn Outdoor Fun

We are spending a lot of time outside lately, making sure we take advantage of the mild-ish weather before winter comes. Some of AC's favorite activities are walking around the neighborhood to say "hello" to our friends and neighbors, playing in the leaves at the park (she likes to bury her feet in the crunchy leaves), and swinging at the playground (that's a game of cricket in the background). AC also enjoys avoiding eye contact with my camera lens!

Remember when...

AC was only 6 months old?

(that gorgeous arm belongs to Megan!)

Two Babies!

This is strange, but kind of fun, too!
Fancy meeting you here!

That was fun!

Let's do it again soon!

Urban Puddle Jumping

She goes down the hall...
into the elevator...

and down the block...

to jump in puddles!

Drawing

Lobshoo

AC uses the same word to say "love you" and "lobster" - LOBSHOO! Here she is with her favorite lobshoo, Blake. AC is wearing a lobster-eating bib. It's as much of a Halloween costume as she would agree to wear. Not like her friend Brooke, who dressed as a Solid Gold dancer for Halloween...