David has learned to crawl! It seems like he learned really fast once he was able to get up on all fours. One week he was strong enough to do that and was rocking back and forth, the next he put together to move one hand forward, and one leg, but couldn't really figure out how to go very far. The next week he figured out how to crawl a little, but not that well. Then later that week he got pretty good at it, and pulled himself up to stand at the couch. Now he's just motoring everywhere. He never commando-crawled like Isabelle did. We're pretty proud of him:>)

Isabelle is talking and singing and adding new words to her vocabulary every day. Her newest words are "delicious" and "excellent"! I am amazed daily that she can put sentences and concepts together. And she has such a memory!! She picks up everything. Kids are so smart!

We've started to put the kids to sleep in the same room. We really have been waiting until the last possible moment to do this, because we're still so sleep deprived (since David is still getting up a couple times a night). We just couldn't bear to make the transition and lose even more sleep. We were putting David to nap on our bed and sometimes in the bassinet, even though he's really too big for it... David likes to wake up and sit up immediately, and one day did this and fell off the bed. Then a day or two later we went to get him from nap and he was standing up in his bassinet. So, that was the end of that.

The transition hasn't been too bad. Isabelle wakes up if he's too noisy and we have to make sure that Isabelle is sleeping before we put David down. Otherwise, Isabelle sings and plays until he wakes up and then yells, "David, Hiiiii!!! You awake??" David has begun to sing himself to sleep also. Tonght John walked around the neighborhood with David on his shoulder basically yelling to hear his own voice... "Ahhhhhhhhh, ahhhhhhhh..." That lasted about 10 minutes and then he was completely out with his mouth hanging open. Strangely, I will miss these kinds of things as he gets older and more independent. I do love having a baby in the house... No, we probably won't have another one...

Yesterday we met John's Mom, Joan and Matt at a great little Chinese place for lunch. We had quite a feast!! We ordered one of those group meals and the food just kept comin'!!
Anyway, the kids had a ball seeing everyone. Isabelle insisted on eating with her chopsticks and actually did a pretty good job of getting some food in her mouth! After she was done eating she wanted to get down to go see Grandma Jeanne and then played spin the penny with Aunt Joan. That was a big hit. David took a turn on Grandma Jeanne's lap and he and Isabelle had one of their giggle fits, which was really funny. Then somehow, spin the penny became a sort of "quarters" game using pennies and those little chinese tea cups. I think Uncle Matt had something to do with that.
Sorry there aren't any pictures for this one... getting out of the house isn't as easy as it used to be, and the camera didn't get into the bag. Next time...

Kevin came by on Saturday for dinner. The kids had fun visiting with him, although Isabelle was a little shy for the first half hour or so.


OOps! We wrote this post on Monday, but forgot to post it! Sorry for the delay.

This is my latest favorite picture of David in his camos!! C'mere beautiful!!

It fun for us to see these little milestones in the kids development. We just had to get a bigger car seat for David, as he outgrew the old carry along type. He likes it a little bit better anyway, as he can now look at Isabelle next to him, and apparently he makes faces at her. We can't really tell. We just hear Isabelle giggling.

Isabelle is also becoming a better artist. Where she was more of a interpretationist, letting things happen in a stream of consciousness sort of way, she's now really creating her own works. She's almost mastered flowers, faces, and spiders. Something I also enjoy, is watching her as we draw something. She'll hand us a crayon, and tell us to draw a flower, for instance. Then I start to draw one, and her eyes are fixed on my hand with such a powerful gaze. I can't tell if she's trying to learn by observation, or if she's just amazed at what we grown-ups can do.

Bath time is now a lot more messy, I mean, fun. We put David in with Isabelle into the tub. He's actually in his little tub, in a tub. They get along really well, and they LOVE TO SPLASH! It is actually quite funny, as one gets a mischievous look on their face, then the hands get going. After about three splashes, water invariably gets into their own eye, and the splashing stops, as they get a confused look on their face and try to shake out the water. "Where....What the?" Or at least that's the impression we get from David... Isabelle is much better at verbalizing... " Uch... David splashed me!!"



Isabelle has started to play imagination games. She sometimes shows me the "ladybug" in her hand or lets me smell an imaginary flower. The other day she was pretending to go to work. She made a "purse" out of this hangy thing from her door and needed her keys. She would kiss us good-bye and say "I'm going to work!" Then she would use her keys to fiddle with the door and say "I'm home now!" She did that about 20 times and each time we played along...

She also has started to improvise her songs. One of my favorites is when she sings patty-cake and instead of "put it in the oven for baby and me, " Isabelle sings "put it in the hotdog for baby and me!" I have no idea where she got hotdog from??!

David is growing and as happy as ever. I think he is the happiest baby I've ever seen. You can wake him out of a dead sleep and he'll roll over and smile. He's just a little cutie-pie. He's almost able to get himself into a sitting position by himself and on the verge of crawling too. He just hasn't quite figured it all out yet. But he's determined, and for most of his day he is rolling and pushing up and moving around on the floor. It makes me tired watching him sometimes.

John saw these in the window and couldn't resist!
(Does anyone remember that Carol Burnett Show parody of Gone With the Wind? Oh well, it was damn funny...)


My Mom made these for us to brighten up our kitchen and cover up our ugly, dark brown paneling pantry doors. Isn't she as handy as a pocket on a shirt??

Thanks Mom!!

When did you first learn how to eat an icecream cone? It's hard to remember... We decided to introduce Isabelle to icecream cones. She's had the soft seve yogurt kind before, but those aren't the ones that cause the problems. No no... it's the hand-dipped ones that seem to be such a good idea when it's a hundred and fifty degrees in the summer in Davis. You wait in line for 20 minutes at Baskin Robbins, make a selection and settle someplace in the shade in hopes that the cool tasty treat won't melt too fast. One lick... yummm Two licks... PLOP!!! Onto the pavement.

We decided to prepare. Isabelle LIKES icecream cones! And she did quite well at mastering the art of eating one!

David is starting to use his hands and arms with a little more coordination and strength. So we are having him feed himself. He's getting pretty good at it. And he's such a character. As you can see in this photo, he's clearly milk drunk.