Bilingual Brilliance

I hate to boast, but Xander is beyond brilliant. He's now bilingual. He's replaced the word "yes" with "si".
M: Would you like a grape?
X: Si!!!!!!

M: You want your blankie?
X: Siiiiii!

it's hilarious. seriously, i don't know where "yes" went, and why he's now saying "si" but hey, it's working for him.

Sprinkler Fun

Yesterday was another beautiful day and in celebration of warmth, we ran through the sprinklers.  Well, I use "we" loosely.  Libby ran through the sprinklers, I watched, and Xander..... well, see for yourself. 

Oh wait!  My camera is dead.  Sorry, no pics.

Hooray for Play!

Hooray for Play! That's what we say!

I snapped some pictures of the kiddos playing in the back yard, they have so much fun out there. Xander repeatedly chants, "shide?", and throws in some "swing?" when he wants to go outside and swing. When he's really enthusiastic he throws in the convincing head nod. With as much fun as they have, it's not too hard to convince me... as long as the weather's good. When it comes to coldness or wind, I'm kind of a baby. There, I said it.

sweet libbs on her swing

xander making his way from the ladder across to the slide

And here are the videos. I took the first one to mark how well he is doing at climbing the (tricky) ladder to get up to the slide. While I'm still a little nervous watching him, overall, I feel relatively comfortable with him doing this (second child... I think I panicked last year when Libby tried) and certainly felt well enough to stand by with camera. Anyway, so up he went, and I found myself talking some (and I don't like my voice on video), plus this was laryngitis week, so I sound even stranger. BUT, there's one moment that kind of made this video worth it to me. One real life moment. See if you can spot it, it's the moment Libby goes down the slide and bonks me in the head with the broomstick. I took it like a pro.

Second video, better in some ways, not in others, tells basically the same story. But it gets posted because I like it too. And I like it because I like the kids' interaction, I like Libby offering to take Xander down on her lap, I love Xander blowing by her and taking the slide by himself, and I love that for the second time, Xander kicks his left leg up in the air as he slides and glides. The boy's got form. It's cute.

So, enjoy! Two simlar videos, marking just a few typical moments of life at our house. Or, outside it.

Easter Pics

If the whole family is dressed up, and we have photographers in house, we have to try for an updated family portrait. We have the header, and this one. Which is better? I don't know... Each has ups and downs.




Then, camera on tripod, we tried to get a shot the family celebrating at our home with us, mom, Aunt Brett, and Uncle Mason. This was attempted 6 or 7 times, and in the end I'm settling on this as the official portrait. Despite thumb sucking and fake smiles. :)

Libby's turn to play photographer. Here's the adult gang.

Okay, and hopefully I'll have more pics to blog on this subject soon, but Libby got her hair cut on Saturday. So here's a before...

and her self portrait (using tripod and timer) after...

we love you and your beautiful "do" libbadibba!

Libby Goes to the Dentist

Two posts in two days! What can I say?
Libby went to the dentist today, for the first time. The hygienist told me they recommend a child's first visit at 18 months, and they may scream through the whole thing, but they'll start getting used to it. I can't agree. 18 months? Dentist? My kid barely has 7 teeth (unless you count the 6 half teeth poking through). I'd rather wait till he's old enough to prepare for and handle a trip to the dentist, sometime before he gets a cavity or needs braces.

Anywho. Here are some pics to document the adventure. Libby did a great job. Brian
did a great job prepping her for the morning's events when they played "dentist" last night.
Dr. Daddy even scraped at her teeth, you know, to warn her that the dentist does
that sometimes. Good thinking; teeth scraping isn't the best part of the appointment.
Neither is the x-ray, which is the one thing I wasn't expecting this morning.
But this appointment was the real deal, 4 years old or not (if she'd been coming since 18 months, painful x-ray film would be old hat). X-rays. And you know how it is,
biting down on that film is uncomfortable. I think it downright hurts sometimes.
After the final one, Libby looked at me with a brave face and tears streaming down her
cheeks. So sad was mama! But she recovered brilliantly when it was time to recline
for her teeth cleaning. She asked if there would be any needles, was quickly reassured
that no way! No needles whatsoever! And then it was time for the headphones. Yeah, headphones.




Here she is, showing those beautiful pearly whites. I should have taken a picture
before bedtime tonight, they're even brighter. And they should be, in addition to the professional cleaning and flouride treatment she got this morning, Libby personally
brushed her teeth 4 times today, and flossed. The dentist made quite an impression.

X-rays. First one's are a piece of cake. The front teeth.

**did you know that if you click on a photo you can see it much bigger? it's true.
and in the photo above, if you click it and view it larger, you can see the official
"first trip to the dentist" photo of libby on the computer behind her. what a cutie.**

X-rays. The third and fourth pictures hurt. My poor baby!
I believe she explained it to Brittany something like this,
"I had to bite down on paper, and it wasn't even candy, but paper!"

Getting those pearly whites all cleaned up. But what's she looking at?
And what's playing on the headphones?

Dora.

Dentist gives the final once over. Does some daddy-esque scraping,
reports that there are no cavities and Libby's teeth look great. See
you in 6 months. Six months turns out to be a couple of days from baby 3s
expected arrival and I say, see you in seven.

Wednesday at the Zoo

This lovely day we headed to the zoo to meet Grandpa Larry, Grandma Anna, Aunt Em and her friend Karen for a day of excitement. Well, it didn't start out all THAT exciting, aside from the natural excitement that is the zoo. We headed first for the butterfly pavilion (sorry, no pics), then off to the aquarium, picnicking for lunch and then what?... it's nap time, but we've only accomplished two exhibits. so what to do? Well, how about we hit the Rain Forest on our way out. As it turns out, that was a good plan.

Libby poses in the aquarium. Well, not really IN the aquarium...

oooooh, Libby! Let's take another, there are fish swimming by.
*enter fake smile.*



Xander was freed from the confines of stroller for much of this zoo trip,
and he had a really great time with his "hands on" exploration.
Next time, I may have my hands full. :)

Excited by the sights, and one another, Xander and Grandma
Anna had a great time.




Aunt Em and Xander, who isn't quite sure about something.

Time for a picnic. Xander gives his best camera-ready smile.

Grandma Anna shows Libby the.....

peacock.



Okay, and then it happened. We went to the rain forest. Shed some layers,
acclimated to the balmy temps, and noticed some little orange monkeys
(a fantastic mom would have double checked to find out exactly what
they are, but we'll call them monkeys) drawing a bit of a crowd.
The monkeys were feeling friendly, and were almost allowing their visitors
to touch them. They were certainly entertained by all the attention. We
approached for a closer look. Wow! Monkeys! When suddenly,

this little fella decided that the apples Xander had rejected for lunch
looked quite delicious. He leaped right onto the stroller and snatched one for himself.
(About now, I'm pretty proud of myself for capturing that photo. And no, Xander is not in the stroller.) Oh, what a crowd pleaser that was!
Little did we know, that apple tasted pretty good to Mr. Monkey,
and he'd be back for more...

Well, by the third time we were ready, I posed Libby near the stroller
(not TOO near!) and we waited. Time after time, one at a time, monkey snatched up
our apple rejects, ran off and chewed it up in the privacy of his tree, then returned for another until they were gone.

Yes, with this visit the apples were gone. But we weren't really ready to be done playing
with the monkeys. After all, we've had some pretty incredible animal encounters
before, sometimes with monkeys, others with polar bears, tigers, seals...
but monkeys eating off the stroller is a first, and probably a last.

So, we noticed that some of Xander's lunch crumbs had fallen into the seat
of his stroller, a couple of strawberries and a piece of angel food cake.
I'm a regular at the zoo, and I'm confident that it's very good for little orange monkeys
to eat these things. So, with bait laid, we waited. And monkey did not disappoint.

In case you missed them, Libby's words are "ooooh.... cute... oooh.... oooh! Ooooh he found a good choice, he found the cake!" Yes, monkey seems to have Libby preferences.
See ya next time pal,we'll be the ones with apples and cake stuffed in our pockets.

...strolling along, noticing more of this and that. and beckoning other monkeys
to come. I think Xander thinks that's a typical part of the zoo experience. When we saw
other monkey creatures, he held out his hand and did his, "come here,
gimme, gimme, gimme" gesture. like, "come on over, monkeys. we're over here!"

and there's nothing like getting soaked as we head out
the door, which both kids thoroughly enjoyed.

What a fun day at z00bilee z00!