After our trip to Monterey two weeks ago, Isabelle keeps asking about going to the beach. So this weekend, we decided to head on out again. This time we took a jaunt over to San Francisco's Ocean Beach. Thanks to a lack of preparation, we discovered there was a marathon on Sunday finishing at Ocean Beach. So parking was not an option. We headed to Golden Gate park for a picnic near Spreckels Lake instead. Then, after an hour or so, we headed south, away from the marathon finish, and found a spot midway down the coast shore.

The kids by this time were a little tired. We had been in the car for a while, then we had lunch, and we were about an hour past nap time. But when we got to the beach, Oh Boy! This is the best sand box ever!

It's Halloween soon, so that means another trip to the pumpkin patch. The kids had fun, of course. But there was a new wrinkle this year.

SCARY MONSTERS!


David didn't even notice them, but Isabelle and her imagination had a harder time. Fortunately, she didn't really see any of them until we were leaving. I think it was the one with the little sensor to detect movement in front of it, then it let out that old hag laugh, a là Margaret Hamilton. We didn't know she was bothered by them at all until we were on the way home, when she usually recants the events of the previous hour or so, and she told us she, "didn't like those scary monsters. No. I don't like them." Then for the next four days, she said she didn't want to go back to the pumkin patch with the scary monsters. We told her they were just pretend, and that the monsters could not do anything to her or us, and I think she may know that now. Or she just forgot, as yesterday she said, "We go to see pumpkins again?"

She still had a great time looking at all the pumpkins, and riding in the wagon. Every now and then she would point and yell, "Look at that one!" Naturally, she wanted to bring home about 15 pumpkins. But we got a few small ones, and one that is about as big as David, as you can see in one of the pictures below.

Well, just when I thought it was a fluke, Isabelle peed on the potty again! She's also said she wants to wear pull-ups! Well, at least for this moment she wants to wear them. We'll see what she says tomorrow. Anyway... looks like we're on our way!! Good-bye diapers!! At least half of them.

The kids just love to get up on our bed and goof around.

It's been a busy couple of weeks. Last weekend we went to Murphys (outside of Sacramento in the "gold country") for our friend's Megan and Steve's wedding. It was a fun time and the location was beautiful and also really great for the kids. There was a nice big lawn to run in and a little playground. Mostly I think they liked being around all of the new people and running around like little maniacs! I am sad to say that we have no pictures. We took the camera with us, but I don't think it even made it out of the bag.

We were home for 3 days and then we went to Monterey for the weekend. John's sister and brother-in-law have a house there and had invited us for the weekend. They've put a lot of work into the house and it shows... it's really turned out nice. The kids liked running up and down on the hardwood flooring and hearing their voices echo through.

We went to the Monterey Bay Aquarium one day. I don't know if we enjoyed it more or the kids did. We could spend a lot more time there, but we kinda had to hustle through to see most of the exhibits. Since we were there last, mmmmm, 8 years ago, the aquarium has added a kids play area. I think Isabelle could have spent all day just in there, until it got too crowded. David had a good time too. We put him down on a wave simulator, and he was off, giggling and flopping around.

Isabelle peed in the potty!! I was in the bathroom brushing my teeth and she came in to say she wanted to sit on the potty. So of course, I helped her with her pants and diaper and she sat down. She has done this many times and usually just sits there and then tells me she's done when she's tired of sitting, but THIS time... tinkle tinkle!!! I gasped!! "Isabelle you just peed on the potty!" We were very excited; me more than her, and she hasn't done it since. It's a start though!

Isabelle is very selective with her affection. I am plagued with the thought that I have done this by hugging and kissing her too much, and so now when I ask her for a hug and a kiss she often tells me no. So, I try to respect her not wanting to, even though it's a drag...I try not to make any big deal about it, and am glad that she can assert herself and speak up if she doesn't want to hug or kiss someone. Sometimes with me particularly, I think she does it as kind of a game because she gets a funny little smile on her face and will say something like, "are you sad?" or "boo-hoo", and that's sort of funny. Today at the park I asked Isabelle if I could have a hug and her reply was... "Nope, they're all gone."

David has developed a little stinker trait as well. When he's eating, and he's starting to slow down, he'll take a piece of whatever we are feeding him, look at it, then us, then slowly move his hand to the right. To the edge of high chair tray, then over the edge, and then food soon lands on the floor. I can just imagine David saying to himself, "Do I want another slice of this hot dog? Mmmmmmmm, NO." Plop! "Do I want another slice of this cheddar cheese? Mmmmmmmm, Yes!" Gulp!

Of course, all this is soon followed up with, "How do I get this ketchup off my hands? I know, I'll rub it in my hair!"

Thankfully, we have a garden hose.

The other day, Julie was driving the kids to daycare or someplace, when she hears from the back seat, "Ow! What happened to my eye!" Now, David hasn't started to speak yet, so Julie turned her attention to Isabelle, who was squinting with great concern. It seems she had got a hair in her eye, which hadn't afflicted her to this degree yet before. So, we needed to take action....

Isabelle had her very first real haircut on Saturday! As you can see she was a little unsure about what Mary was doing, but she did great.

Now she finally has even bangs, and her hair is out of her eyes.

Here are just a few random pictures of the kids... We had a yard sale last week and the kids loved spending the whole day outside (it was a beautiful day, after many pretty hot ones...) We had a picnic lunch on the front lawn. Isabelle loves picnics.


Here's a picture of David being cute in his Elmo pjs. He's so cute. People are now saying he looks just like John.


And here's a picture of Isabelle eating chinese food with chopsticks. I don't think people believe me when I tell them that she really does eat with chopsticks. She won't eat chinese food any other way.

David had his 1 year Dr visit on September 8th. He weighs 25lbs 9 oz (11.6 kg) and is 32inches (81.25 cm) tall! What a big boy... and so brave. He didn't even seem to notice that he got shots! It appears that he's pretty much caught up developmentally, although he isn't saying any words yet. He's practicing sounds, and I don't think it will be long. His walking has improved and he enjoys practicing! He and Isabelle love chasing each other around the house. They both run around laughing and Isabelle says... "here comes trouble and double trouble!!" David is trying to run, but is not quite there yet.

Another big switch is that he has learned to go to sleep by himself... and happily does so!! I remember that Isabelle would have a really hard time and usually cried and ranted for 10 minutes on the dot before going to sleep. David used to really like to be held and we'd do the whole bounce and sway bit, but now he seems to like to just get in his bed and play then lays down among his animal friends and goes to sleep with no fuss. It's awesome! It also means that he sometimes wakes up early in the morning and sings and plays, but often goes back to sleep.

Both kids seem completely adjusted to daycare. Isabelle acts like the house is hers and just runs in to join in whatever is going on. David doesn't cry anymore when I am leaving or at random times when he misses us (sometimes at the end of the day, when he's hungry and other parents come and go before John gets there.) The day care provider, Noah, is awesome. Isabelle has made some frineds and wants to go "see the kids" even on weekends. I guess John and I are already chopped liver... does it really start this early????

It's been a long time since we posted!! Life has been busy! Here's a picture of Isabelle and David playing patty-cake. And a picture of Isabelle in David's bed with all of her critters. For some reason his bed is more fun to play in.

I went back to work full-time and we've put the kids in day-care part-time. It's been a good change for everyone, I think. Isabelle absolutely loves it there. She's made some friends and the change of environment is good. Every day she come home and tells us about her exciting day... riding in the wagon, playing with the blue sand, playing with the kids and the big momma kids (apparently nothing just big or small; it's big momma or baby sized). One day last week she and her friend Jesse ran around and played "funny faces" and chased each other, laughing for 45 minutes.



David seems to like it there too, although he is still at an age where he would like us to carry him around all day and snuggle. The people at daycare are very attentive to the kid's needs are are big on comforting when it's needed. David's not really at an age that he likes to play with toys with other kids, but he does crawl around chasing and laughing with Isabelle and seems to like the social part of daycare too. And the environment of the daycare is pretty similar to home, same kind of toys, same kind of music, books and most importantly, the way they interact with the kids jives with the way we do things. I think that was one big reason that Isabelle never really adjusted to the last daycare we had her in... the expectations were just too different.

I am so grateful to have had the last year to be home full-time with the kids. It was such and important year to be able to do that. Now though, I still get to be with them in the morning and John gets the evenings still. I make it home to kiss them good-night and get to spend a little more time with John. And we get to have weekends off together. So after all of that... yeah... good change.



A couple of weeks ago we went to Tahoe with John's family. Susan had found a house to rent for a week and we spent a few days visiting with everyone. The kids had a terrific time with all of the attention, but didn't sleep much. Even so, they were happy and fun and didn't melt down until we were about home. Two days away seems to be enough for them, and for us... we were all tired and glad to be home.

Above are a few pictures of the kids at the park in Tahoe. David likes climbing up the slides, which is good exercise for him, since he can't really slide dwon them very well yet, and isn't too steady walking. Isabelle played basketball with Aunt Susie and Uncle Greg.



We also celebrated David's first birthday in Tahoe!! He got lots of presents and clothes and had fun painting himself with chocolate cake!





Another milestone for David is that he started walking!!! His first steps were taken on August 13. When we were in Tahoe he took 9 steps. He is still practicing, of course, but is doing really well! He can walk holding something in his hands now... mostly he walks with that cute shoulders hunched, arms poised to shoot out and maintain balance posture that they start out with. He'll be running in no time.

Isabelle likes to climb in David's bed when he wakes up from nap. Sometimes he's not quite ready to get up, or at least he's not ready for her enthusiastic hugging and playing. She doesn't seem to notice, and most of the time, he doesn't seem to mind.


Here's another picture from our little artist. If you can't tell, it's a duck! She mostly likes to (still) draw happy faces, but also draws flowers, spiders, balloons and suns. She also has begun to draw a picture and then color it in, so cometimes when she's finished it just looks like a big colored blob. If you ask her though, she can tell you what it is!

One of David's top teeth finally broke through, but he's still drooling like a faucet. I think he must have other teeth getting ready to come in right away.

He is getting ready to walk too. He can now sometimes stand without holding onto anything for about 5-10 seconds. He doesn't fall as much since his balance is improving, so we're happy about that!

She's had a strange fear of trees on and off for the last few months. We aren't sure where this comes from, except that she has quite an imagination... Anyway, we've spent some time trying to encourage her that trees are good. We talk about how they provide homes for animals and shade for us when it's hot, and so on... often she'll ask us to touch the tree as though if we can (and will) touch it, it must be ok. So we pat the tree with confidence and say, "this is a good tree..." or something like that.

Today Isabelle and I were out in the front yard, and Isabelle hugged the tree.... that's our girl:>)

Last weekend we went down to Heather and Mike's for a pre-4th BBQ. We had a great time. I brought the camera, but I think both Heather and I took about 4 pictures. We were just too busy with keeping Mike in check. Oh, and our little ones kept us busy too. Thus, I have only a couple of pictures to show you. One from us, two from Heather.






Jen also came by last week for a quick lunch time visit. Isabelle doesn't see her too much, but Jen has left enough of an impression from playing with her that she talks about her and asks when she's coming over sometimes. David likes Jen too. This time, he liked her shoes a lot. We don't wear shoes much in our house, so it's a novelty when someone keep theirs on and David might get a chance to bite them, or at the very least drool on them. He spent a lot of time trying to do that.

It's been a week since Julie stated that David had been sleeping through the night. And she hoped she didn't curse us. Well, in the last seven days, he's been up 4 of them. This morning when I got up, I don't think he was really hungry or wet, he just wanted to play. David was singing and banging on the mattress, while he still had his head on the mattress. I think he was discovering the world of sounds. But why does he need to practice percussion at 3:14 a.m.?

And the best part was, after I changed him, and gave him a bottle, and he fell asleep on my shoulder, I put him back in his crib, naturally, right? Then about 60 seconds later, his gyroscopic inertia attitude indication unit told him he was horizontal again, and he started to sing! So I picked him up again, getting him mostly vertical, again, and he fell asleep. Again. This time I held him for 15 minutes to hope that he would go into a deep sleep, and not notice his being layed down back in bed. This time it worked. Yawn!

I feel we may be raising the next catwoman. Isabelle likes to sing a few nursery rhymes substituting 'meows' in place of the words. Then she started to crawl around the house on her hands and knees, with occasional meows as she maneuvers through the furniture. Today she went one step further, and crawled up to me, and rubbed her chin on my hand. She hasn't got a black cat suit yet, but I'll keep you posted. Isabelle also has a little bit of a dark side. Although, unlike Selina Kyle's knack for stealing, Isabelle sometimes likes to step on flowers. Stomp on them really.

Here's a little story about that stomping part. Early in the spring, Isabelle started to pick dandelions. And that was fine, since there were everywhere, and they were going to get sprayed soon anyway. Well, she then started to pick just about any flower she came across. I think I've mentioned this before. So we are trying to teach her to leave the other flowers alone, so other people can enjoy them too. Also, we don't want her bringing a bunch of flowers inside, as they will eventually end up on the floor all scrunched and mashed. Then one of our cats will get them and 'process' them, then leave them in another spot on the floor.

So the other day, we were out at the park, and Isabelle really wanted to pick a flower. I reminded her that we only pick dandelions, and we should leave the others for everyone to enjoy. Then, as we turned back to the park, she reached back with her foot and stomped on it! As if to say, "if I can't pick 'em, no one will!" That little girl is funny.

Well, I hate to say it out loud and thus risk the chance of cursing us.... but it APPEARS that David is now sleeping through the night!! HOORRAYYYYY!!! The weird thing to me is that he didn't sort of "cut down" on getting up at night, he just all of the sudden started sleeping through. That's what makes me a little nervous that it's just a growth spurt and it won't last. For now though, we've slept through the night for 3 days in a row and it's been GLORIOUS!!

He continues to do well. He has such a funny, sweet, snuggly personality while also being persistent and determined. He makes the greatest faces... a very expressive face; and I can tell already that he has a good sense of humor. Nothing too much is new with his development that I can think of. He's eating more and more solid food, seems to have a good appetite and isn't terribly fussy about what he eats. He has five teeth already and enjoys using them!

David has terrible balance, but I don't think he has realized that yet, as he continues to do things that his body doesn't seem ready to do. Right now he has a bumped eye and mouth from falling and looks like a little boxer:>( Today he bumped his mouth and made his lip bleed... again. I am glad not to be queasy about the sight of blood.

Isabelle is her same silly self. Her newest thing is pretending to be a cat. She crawls about on the floor, and particularly when she wants positive attention, she meows at us. The other thing she likes is to ask us to, and of course we do, sing familiar songs like a cat. So she'll say "sing Twinkle Star Kitty-Cat", and that means that we Meow to the tune of the song. It's funny and silly and sometimes irritating, but we do it because soon enough she won't want us to sing to her anymore at all. ( I had a flash of mortality and realization of impermanence today...)

We did have a couple of really bad days as a result of too much sugar. I've said it before, and swear to myself that I won't let her have any, but then we're out somewhere and I think ok, a little won't hurt. So she has some candy and we pay for two days after. She's absolutely terrible!!! She won't listen, she throws tantrums, she's mean to David and to us, she's fussy and moody and horrid to be around. Don't get me wrong, she has her tough days otherwise, but they are nothing compared to when she has sugar.


Anyway... I think that's the update... here's a couple more of her "masterpieces." The one face that's black with male pattern baldness is John. She did draw a sort of similar one today though, and when I asked her what the things were on the sides of the head ( I thought to be hair) she said eyebrows, so I don't think she's drawing hair too much yet.




We're going to the Campbell's house on Sunday for the day, and Isabelle is excited to play with Jordan. We should have some good pictures from that to share on the next post!

Happy Father's Day!! We didn't have a very eventful day, but it was nice. We went swimming in the afternoon, which was the first time this year. Isabelle loved the water again.The first year she went she was 6 months old and LOVED it. Last year it was not so much fun... cold and kind of scary... this year is fun again.

David was not so crazy about the water. I think it felt too cold for him. He splashed around a little, but then didn't seem so happy so I got out with him and John and Isaelle played in the pool. He liked being cuddled up in the warm towel and watching the action.



I am convinced that Isabelle is a budding artist. Do any of you readers out there know what kind of drawing a 2 1/2 year old is supposed to be doing? Isabelle is drawing shapes and simple pictures. Right now she loves to draw "happy sun." I think it's also interesting that in another picture that looks similar to this one, she decided to use a different color for the mouth. I think she's brilliant.



David has his two front top teeth!! He is still drooling like a little faucet and now has started grinding his teeth. It must feel good to him, but it makes our skin crawl. He also is a very very persistent little boy. He used to be obsessed with grass, but now he is facsinated by the bathroom trash, the cats' food and water bowls and the ficus tree. So, the kitchen is now gated off, the bathroom door stays closed and there's a toy baracade around the tree. Good grief... with all the toys around here, you'd think he could find something else to do!!! He's a little explorer at heart maybe.