Audrey the Tumbler

Audrey can now do somersaults unaided. Months earlier, when she was going to Gymboree regularly, we "helped" her do somersaults (by that I mean basically doing them for her), but I don think either of us have done any with her since.

One day, she just started doing them on her own. Here's some pics from around Thanksgiving.



Step 1: The set-up.



The set-up from behind.



Wee!




Step 2: Giggle!

Halloween

It's been a busy time with holidays this year since everybody has been getting sick on and off. I'm just now getting around to posting on the blog again, after lapsing pretty much all of November...

So let's start with where I left off--Halloween.

We intended Audrey to be a giant banana for Halloween, and Ethan a little monkey. Ethan wore his monkey costume without protest but Audrey didn't care for the banana. After Audrey rejected the banana costume, we tried three princess dresses that Grandma Karen gave us: no, no, and no. Finally, Nunner had an idea for a ballerina outfit. Audrey deigned to wear the leotard but refused the tutu. We waited until Halloween festivities were underway, and slipped the tutu on once she was distracted by all the other kids' costumes.

Here's Audrey in her ballerina outfit (costume #5) and Ethan in his monkey outfit.







Ethan's costume had a padded belly to make him look chubby. He's not that chubby in real life :)











Amber gave me the hat I'm wearing when Ethan was born. It says お父さん (otōsan)--"father" in Japanese.







Our first stop was Lakeline Mall. The mall hands out candy over Halloween and we thought that would be a nice alternative to going door-to-door: Audrey can run around a little more freely, and hopefully the experience would be less scary for her.

The mall was packed, and it seemed like all the good candy had been given out before we got there.







The stores that participated (and still had anything left to give) had somebody standing in front of them, passing out candy.



I bought her this trick-or-treat basket when she was first born. We finally used it :)



We stopped and had dinner in the food court. Audrey is currently going through a picky phase with what she eats, but she seems to always want a bite or two of whatever Daddy is eating. She says "bite, bite" or sometimes simply "want!".



Ethan slept through most of the mall trip. But people were constantly commenting on our cute little monkey.















Here's Audrey in the car, counting her loot. This is about the entire haul from the mall--a few lollipops. The stores had given out most of the candy before we got there, so they resorted to stickers and coupons, etc. We have a coupon to Visible Changes if anybody wants it.

After the mall, we went around our neighborhood a bit (sorry, no pictures). Audrey liked this much better and got much better candy. After going around the block or so, Audrey and Mommy sat on our front porch and gave out candy to kids coming by. Audrey liked this very much and did a pretty good job too.

Ethan's 6 Month Check

Ethan had his 6 month well check today. Here's the scoop and a bunch of notes for myself...

• Weight: 17 lbs 6 oz, 50th percentile
  
• Height: 26 in, 40th percentile
  
• Head: 45.5 cm, 90th percentile (big head like daddy!)
  
• He started eating rice cereal at 5 months. We can start on veggies now. He hates the cereal, so I hope he'll like the other stuff better. He can have Puffs around 8 months. No honey, no peanut butter.
  
• I need to take him to get his eyes checked through the free infant-see program that is available to kids 6-12 months.
  
• His blocked tear duct dramatically improved after he was sick a few weeks ago. I thought it was the antibiotics that helped, but she said that having a cold probably did the trick. He still has a little oozy stuff, so we'll keep his January appt with the specialist for now and cancel if it totally clears up by then. If only I could remember who I made that appt with? If we see the specialist we don't have to do the infant-see eye check.
  
• He got a bunch of shots and his first flu shot. He's going back in a month to get part 2 of the flu shot. I forgot to bring his shot record so I need to bring it next time.
  
• He got his first tooth already and we didn't even notice! It's the bottom right front tooth. It's only broken through a little bit, but you can easily see it. The one to the left of it is about to appear as well.
  
• Meds- We can stop the Mylanta and if he does well we can leave his other doses the same. If he starts to have trouble we can increase the Zantac to 1.6 ml 2x/day and the Zegerid to .8ml 1x/day (mixing instructions for Zegerid did not change).
  
• He can start practicing drinking from a sippy cup with water with the valve removed.
  
• We got a little packet from poison control with stickers and phone numbers, etc. You'd think that since I've already called them once I'd have their number handy, but I don't. About 6 months ago, I thought Audrey was playing in a puddle of raw chicken juices (gross!), but it turned out to be just water.
  
• The stupid Similac company still is in short supply after the recall. We have a terrible time finding his specific formula (the one for spit up). We can switch to Enfamil AR if we need to and give him a little juice every day to combat constipation (like we did for Audrey).
  
• I made Audreys 2.5 year well check even though the insurance won't cover it. It will cost $116, but I can just cancel it if I don't have any developmental concerns at the time.
  
• Ethan will be back at 9 and 12 months.
  
• I need to remember to call the insurance company about a $9 charge.
  

Big toes

Amber put Ethan in a sleeper the other day that had those built-in mittens on his feet.



I remember Audrey getting a few fingers out, but never her toes.

Ewww, Gross

A study in the messiness of toddlers.


Lollipops: rarely a good idea for a toddler.


Audrey loves to paint in the kitchen on her learning tower.


Audrey suffers for her art. (Don't worry, the paint is kid-friendly and non-toxic)


When Audrey had noddles for the first time, Daddy couldn't resist trying the 'Lady and the Tramp' thing.


Apparently Audrey didn't get the reference.

The Park!

The Wood family has become huge fans of the park. We have a great one in our neighborhood and visit at least twice a week. There are always plenty of kids there for Audrey to play with and we often meet up there with our playgroup friends on weekdays. We were surprised when Audrey took such a liking to it. Just a few months ago she hated everything there, but now she has a blast. Daddy was surprised to see her climbing on all the big equipment, even a rock wall and a curved ladder. She goes down the big slides, likes spinning on the merry-go-round, and can spend an eternity swinging. Whenever we get her dressed to leave the house she starts asking "Park?". She also says "I loooooove park!" and "I loooooove swing!". We typically stay for 1-3 hours at a time and even then we have to drag her home.

Ethan usually catches some zzzzz's while we're there, but this day he was wide awake.

DVD Player for the Odyssey

Using her characteristic foresight, Mommy ordered a portable DVD player for our Honda Odyssey (which is coming next week--Whoo Hoo!). She even found some headphones designed especially for kids. I thought that Audrey would never wear them, but apparently the lure of TV is strong enough to tolerate anything.



We're all ready for Houston!

Ethan Eating Cereal

Ethan turned 5 months old this last Thursday, which we celebrated by feeding him cereal for the first time. He certainly didn't enjoy the experience, but I think he was more confused than unhappy. Though, it's difficult to say for sure.

Well, the pictures speak for themselves.











To be fair, they're not all sad baby pictures. There's some of him grinnin' like a fool also. Personally, I just think the sad baby pictures are funnier.







Audrey tried to help out too, by showing Ethan the food wasn't so bad...



...after which she got hungry herself and needed some cereal of her own.

Sleeping Beauty

From that title you were probably expecting pictures of Audrey, right? Not this time.

This is Ethan asleep on the floor near his swing. I think Mommy was changing his diaper and he just fell asleep.

Day of the Dead

A few weeks ago Amber attended a class to learn how to make sugar skulls for Día de los Muertos (Day of the Dead). Here's an excerpt from the Wikipedia article on Day of the Dead:

"The holiday focuses on gatherings of family and friends to pray for and remember friends and family members who have died. The celebration occurs on November 2 in connection with the Catholic holidays of All Saints' Day (November 1) and All Souls' Day (November 2). ... Due to occurring shortly after Halloween, the Day of the Dead is sometimes thought to be a similar holiday, although the two actually have little in common. The Day of the Dead is a time of celebration, where partying and eating is common."

(Being a Japanese nerd, I feel compelled to point out that the Japanese celebrate a holiday very similar in spirit called お盆 Bon)

Anyway, Amber had a good time and came home with some neat stuff.

First off, the skull. It looks like styrofoam but is actually sugar. Some are hollow but this one is solid sugar! It should last for years (if the ants don't find it). It's decorated with royal icing, fondant, and painted with gold dust.





(Side view)


(Rear view)


Amber also made some neat cookies, which Daddy promptly ate. Yum. Oops..the one in the middle had a gold grill, but it got smashed :-(