Asking For It

Language development is proceeding nicely! I am learning a new word once every couple of days now and I am so much less frustrated now that I can better express myself. My latest word is "bubble" which is really fun to say, but I am not quite sure what it means. Mommy showed me bubbles by blowing into her drink through a straw and daddy got a toy out that shoots bubbles into the air. So I am figuring it out.

Mommy was always frustrated that I learned to say Dada first, but now I've got Mama all figured out. I was so pleased by the reaction I got to saying it, that I started saying it all the time. For a while there, I thought "Mama" meant "I want". Now I realize that it means that wonderful person that cuddles with me, feeds me, and makes me laugh all the time.

Last week while I was playing with daddy, I sat up, pointed to my hand (my sign language for "more"), and said, "Nana". Daddy knew just what I meant and took me up to the kitchen and peeled me a banana. And I ate the whole thing, grinning the whole time.

The pictures above are daddy and I reading one of my favorite books, "Colors". It has faces that as you flip through the book they get hair, or glasses, or a flower. Daddy will hold the book up and show me what I would like with a pink flower. That always make me laugh!

Climbing Everest

I have been working on my large motor skills and climbing stairs. This is important because if I can go up stairs In our house we have three floors connected by two flights of carpeted stairs. I made it up one set at a time months ago. But only yesterday did I achieve the ultimate feat: I climbed "Mount Everest", going from the basement to the living room and on up all the way to the top floor! With mommy as my Tenzing Norge and spotting me all the way up, I just kept climbing until there was nothing left to climb. Aftewards, I felt exhausted but exhillarated by the experience. I plan another ascent as soon as my arms and legs recover from the ordeal.

Here is me and Skye in our "Not-a-box". They may look like boxes to unimaginitive adults out there, but we know that they are really space ships . . . or . . . race cars. . . or . . . tanks . . .or . . . motor boats. We love it when mommy and daddy push us around the smooth carpet upstairs. I keep asking for more until daddy falls over exhausted and mommy has to put the not-a-box away in the closet.
We recently cleaned my room to organize all my cool toys. I'm glad my puppies were there to help. Denali is really essential for my bedtime ritual. She always curls up at our feet and closes her eyes- reminding me that its time for sleep and I should be calm and not anxious. Thanks, 'Ali!

The Most Awesome Playground Ever

Near our hotel in San Francisco there is this park called Yerba Buena Gardens. That's Spanish for something, so it must mean "Place of Paradise for Children". They have grass, and hills, and trees, and fountains, and a carousel, and a movie theatre, and a video arcade, and a creativity museum, and, best of all, the coolest, most awesome plyground ever. Daddy has taken me here every day since we arrived, and that's a good thing. We even dragged mommy out there for a day. This morning I wanted to go so bad I went and got my shoes and brought them to daddy then pounded on the stroller until he got a clue I was ready to go!
This is a view of the park from our hotel room
This is a view of our hotel from the park
This is me with daddy after riding the big slide., Every time I reached the bottom, I made the sign for"more, more" over and over again until he took me up the tower one more time. I giggled the whole time and threw a fit when daddy was too exhausted to carry me up the tower any more!

San Francsico Treat

We are in San Francisco for one of mommy's meetings. We got a great room at the Marriot in downtown SF, with a corner room that has a panoramic view of the bay. Daddy and I have had lots of adventures while mommy goes to her meeting, but she joined us Sunday when went to see the animals by the Dock o' the Bay. Here's me and daddy in front of the Sea Lions at Pier 39. They were really funny and sounded like doggies. Daddy used to study sea lions when he was a marine biologist and even got to swim with them. He says they're generally pretty cute but can bite hard when they want to.

Here's me with Mommy and Alcatraz in the background. Mommy and daddy both like the movie "The Rock" and daddy even uses scenes from it in his medical lectures. I haven't seen it yet- they say I have to be a little older first. It is really cold here! You know what Mark Twain once said: "The coldest winter of my life was the summer I spent in San Francisco"
We went to an aquarium by the bay and I got to be up close with some star fish and sand dollars. I thought the fish were really cool looking. I can see why daddy liked to study these things
The aquarium had a walk through tunnel with fish all around. We saw sheephead, gigantic groupers, pretty rockfish, funny bat rays, and even some big sharks!

They is much more from our trip to SF coming soon!

Fun with Dress Up

Granpa got me this really cool Angels outfit to celebrate the team with one of the best records in baseball- YAY! So we had some fun playing around in my room trying on the clothes
This is one of my favorite books. It's called "Colors" and it has holes in th pages so we can hold up the funny faces to me, mommy, daddy, or even Ali!

Ali looks cute, but she didn't like her party hat. Oh well.

Mommy and Me

I had a bunch of great shots of mommy and me that I haven't posted yet, so I thought I would put them all up together! Mommy is so wonderful- I love cuddling with her.
Mommy with her root beer and me with my lemonade! A summer treat!
We went to the Buresh's house for a barbecue for daddy's new residents. Here we are laughing with Ginny Ryan (mommy Buresh), a really smart fertility doctor and a tri-athlete! That's little Charlie Buresh sitting in her lap.
Charlie (and sister Eve) have an awesome playset in the basement. My "twin" Soren was there and he played too (far left). I kept asking mommy to put me on the slide unil she got worn out and had to stop. Mommy says we can get a slide at our house soon. YAY!

Viva La France! Bastille Day 2008

Bonjour! Today we had our annual Bastille Day dinner at the farm! Oo La La! It was a bright, clear, hot summer day and the grass and corn is growing at full speed. The farm looks beautiful this time of year. Here's me sitting with daddy and petting my newest pal, Zippy!


Grandmimi is so much fun! I showed her all my new tricks: pointing out my nose and ear, and saying "Iowa", although I still have trouble with the last syllable.

I liked playing with Zippy: she's an 8 week old basset hound, very friendly, lots of energy, and her coat is silky smooth. But she doesn't hold a candle to Skye and Ali.

Granmimi made a wonderful dinner: roast chicken and veggies hot off the grill. Daddy provided a Chatueaneuf Cante Cigale '03 that was full and rich with just enough fruit to be interesting but had a mellow chocolate and anise finish. Mom had to work late, but she made it in time for dessert: a fabulous home-made torte made with all home-grown organic berries from the farm. YUM! Becuase of all the excitement and thanks to a long nap in the late afternoon, I stayed up until 9pm! WOW! I can't wait for July 14th next year!