big boy

Noah is ten months already!

... and has become more boy than baby in the last month: Like Charlotte, he made some big leaps around the eight/nine months mark -- after he had figured out sitting and standing up by himself, he was fast onto crawling less than two weeks later. And now, there's no stopping him anymore. He was actually a little earlier and faster than big sister: after only a brief period of army crawling, Noah has discovered that all-fours is speedier. After all, he has to keep up with his busy bee role model ;-) Also, sitting is so yesterday. Noah loves to pull up and stand everywhere -- and again, proved to be a bit more daring: already letting go with his hands here and there to test how it feels to truly stand all by himself! 

He loves to explore (i.e., get into everything) and is fascinated by Charlotte and Penny. They are just too funny and cuddly.

Like big sister, he also cut his first teeth in month 9. He's already sporting three now.

And before we forget: he's become so interactive and a social butterfly in the past months! At 7 months he started pointing and babbling a lot, with "Da!" and "Mamamama" as his favorite words. At 8 months, he turned into a total flirt, waving hello and giving big loving open-mouth kisses to everyone in reach ;-)

Oh, sweet sweet Noey - you make us happy!

Look! A tail!!

song for Daddy

Charlotte sang a song for Daddy for Fathers' Day. She also sang renditions for Mama too.

(Feel free to ignore her caveman-style dining.)

D is for daddy!

 

Dear Daddy,

THANK YOU - for all you do and are. For taking care of us, showing us the world, making us giggle, taking us on long walks, and yes... also for telling us what to do. 

♬ ♬ ♬  

"Your are our sunshine, our only sunshine... you make us haaaaaaaaappy [picture Charlotte belching out a tune, very loudly] when skies are gray... you never know dear how much we love you, please don't take our sunshine away." 

♬ ♬ ♬

With Big hugs (that are just a little too tight ;-), 

happy crawls towards you, 

and a warm furry belly on your feet.

ladies man

I'll be blunt: Charlotte is getting hard to put down. We've tried everything. Putting her to sleep when it's dark. Putting her to sleep when it's light. Reading. Not reading. Tranquilizers. Running. Painting. Playgrounding. Ju-jitsu pressure points. Crying it out. Laughing it out. And many more.

The kid simply doesn't like to sleep. If there's anything even remotely interesting nearby, she wants in on the action. And if nothing is around, she'll just talk. And talk. And talk. Loud snoring noises can't even derail the runaway train.

Recently, I've been trying new techniques. Letting her fall asleep on the floor, beside me, helped one night. She was out only shortly after darkness encompassed the room. But, alas, like all things: it wasn't meant to last, and we're stuck looking for new tricks.

Of course, that falling asleep on the floor doesn't work for Charlotte matters not to Penny. She seizes the opportunity to cuddle "on her level." Last night, Penny pinned my legs down while Charlotte peppered me with kicks to the neck and head [not pictured]. For a while, Charlotte's feet were on my head and Penny's head was on my feet. Good times.

simply penny

 

Now this is spot on! And true to heart... Penny simply loves her babies. And Noah enjoys doggie kisses too ;-)

simply noah

Alright, this one is more accurate: Noah is (so far...) definitely a lot more mellow than Charlotte, but equally happy. He is all smiles most of the time - and, especially at this age, quite a flirt.

Noah also shares a character trait with his sister (which apparently runs in the family...): The other day, a lady was taking a few pictures during his baby gym class. All his friends were rather oblivious to the photo shoot... while Noah, on the other hand, kept on turning around to wherever the lady was clicking and did not stop smiling for the camera.

So that she proclaimed "He's such a ham!"

It seems we can look forward to Noah & Charlotte putting on many shows in the years to come ;-)

simply charlotte

For those of you that know Charlotte, we have to be honest:
This does not depict 'simply' Charlotte - you are right!

Our little busy bee & tomboy doesn't usually sit still like this, and doesn't often look this prim and proper...

Just one of Mama's favorite au courant shots ;-)

up, up, up

Noah had a lot to celebrate this past week too.

All of his tummy time, rolling, turning, twisting and rocking on all fours, together with countless push-ups, push backs & planks, has finally paid off:

Sunday ten days ago, right before Charlotte's birthday, our little man figured out how to sit up himself -- he's proudly been practicing all week long, and LOVES his new-found mobility and perspective.

It's so fun to sit up whenever you want, especially to inspect the content of boxes ;-) *

Having gotten a taste of the upright view point, Noah didn't want to stop there and has been on a milestone fast track:

He's loved grabbing hands and fingers to pull up on for many months now, but this past Friday -- right in time for Mother's Day [to remind Mama she needs to stay on her toes...] -- Noah was excited to pull up in the crib all by himself, instead of taking his afternoon nap ;-) **

Next up: crawling! 

Watch out Mama...

*     After a few face plants, Noah also figured out quickly how to smoothly get back down
         on all fours ;-)
**   Needless to say, the mattress was moved down a level that night!

every day is like today

Thanks to these little guys!

Yes -- that also means I am tiiiiired, the house is often a mess, there's lots of yucky laundry, me-time has become rare, and they can quite loudly voice their own *little* opinions...

...but somehow their giggles are the cutest, their skin is the softest, their hugs & kisses the sweetest.

Happily, I wouldn't want to miss any of it for the world.

(Well, most of the time ;-) *

* For my Mother's Day gift, I was really hoping for a spa getaway in Thailand - sans kids... 

but pancake brunch on the patio and hanging out in the yard with the critters 
were a close second, of course!

1, 2,... 3!!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY CHARLOTTE

In the past three years, you have turned into such a fun little person. Please don't grow up too quickly!

deer hunter

This tail [sic] is a few months old. I've been trying to recreate the scene so that photo-evidence could be provided. But, alas, the reenactments have been a failure. So here's the story, sans pictures.

Penny enjoys her neighborhood walks. Between the leaves and the snow, there's always somewhere for her to make {snow, grass, leaf} angels. But the real draw for the neighborhood is, unquestionably, the wildlife. Penny took to it immediately: chasing rabbits and squirrels from her very first days in DC (including one time knocking a very pregnant Sandra over in her quest to say hello to a bunny). Penny hasn't seen the foxes, but she probably knows they're around, and she seems totally oblivious to the bear that lurked in our neighborhood shortly after our arrival. Deer, on the other paw, are definitely on her radar. She's chased them through the neighborhood a few times. With each additional encounter, you could slowly see her getting more confident.

One day (right around Thanksgiving), Penny struck doggy-gold. We were walking around on the street next to ours [well, some clarification is needed: I was walking on the sidewalk, minding my own business, while Penny ran across every front yard and between the houses]. We turned a corner and Penny was face to hoof with an 8-point buck. [I kid you not. It was massive.] Penny and the deer were no more than two feet apart; the deer towered over her. Far from cowering, Penny seized the moment. When else could she play with a deer? Confused by Penny's lack of concern, the deer bolted. Penny took off too, hot on the trail. Down the front yard! Onto the sidewalk! Along the sidewalk until the next street! Into the next street! Up into the cul-de-sac! Penny was running ferociously after the much faster deer. [I gave some futile pursuit behind the two of them, but they were already out of my sight within a few seconds.]

When I finally made it to the cul-de-sac, another dog owner and his daughter were walking their (peaceful, docile, obedient) dog. They were awestruck. First, the man said, he'd never seen a deer that large. [He was the one who said it was an 8-pointer; presumably, they had more time to witness the scene as the deer and Penny ran towards and past them.] Second, he'd never seen a dog so happy. She had this look like, "I'm king of the world."

When I finally retrieved her from behind someone's house, Penny was beaming. She was out-of-breath, sure, but she also gave the distinct impression of pride, like she stood up to the Goliath on my behalf and chased him back to Gath.

spring is in the air!

After last week's snowfall, this weekend was all of a sudden warm and balmy. And the beautiful weather continued the past two days!

We celebrated with a lot of playground time, a walk in the woods, and Noah's first swing ;-) Never mind that temperatures are supposed to dip back into the 30s again on Thursday... the first flowers are peeking through the ground and we're excited for Spring!

digging in

Note to self, Mama:

Noah LOVES Avocado, with a hint of banana ;-)

Also, wear a bib too (or not a white shirt) when feeding him without a high chair...

some of my favorite things!

Discovering the world now, Noah has shown interest in some favorite things -- he loves to: read, GRAB and CHEW his puppy book, reach for his changing table butterflies (which sister Charlotte already loved dearly), squish, BANG and CHEW his wooden rattles, observe and GRAB his safari mobile, CHEW his teddy (which big sister picked out as the very first gift for Noey when she learned Mama had a baby in her belly) and SMILE at baby monkey when lounging in the rocking chair.

Having favorite things also means you COMPLAIN when you don't get them ;-)

fox news

Early in November (yes, November) a dog ran away after chasing some deer through parkland near our house. [Ed.: speaking of deer, that reminds me to get on the ball with the tale of Penny's greatest triumph. Another day.]

The owner has launched a full-scale search effort, enlisting tens (hundreds, maybe) of volunteers to help "Bring Havoc Home." (Both national and international readers may have seen some recent TV coverage.) Havoc's made it through the polar vortex (the real one in January and the more recent baby vortex in March) and has been seen a handful of times in the last few weeks.

Since we're up at all hours anyway, Sandra noticed some barking and trash foraging early (and I mean e-a-r-l-y) one morning. The next day Havoc's owner brought out some dog sniffers to see if they could pick up a scent. They did.

We've volunteered our yard as a feeding station for Havoc. So far, it's mostly just meant that Charlotte keeps asking and hoping that the dog will come live in our garden. Penny's also had to fight her inquisitive [Ed.: come on, just say it. Nosy. She's nosy. Very, very nosy.] nature and leave the feeding bowl alone. She's failed, though we don't believe she's eating the food.

In fact, we're pretty sure she's not eating the food. Instead, a fox is stopping by twice a day for a few quick bites. (The feeding station setup includes a heat-activated camera.) The fox is surprisingly regular. Our backyard seems to be the port-of-call at 7pm, 1am, and 7am. Last night we even watched the fox live. It was pretty cool.

c is for cookie...

... and Charlotte!

This is one of Charlotte's absolute favorite shirts: she's been wearing it already from 18 months old and will probably try to squeeze into it for another three years or so ;-)

Identifying letters is also a favorite activity these days: Charlotte has been singing the ABC song already for more than a year now from memory, but has now really started to know her first letters. Of course, she can identify C for Charlotte (as well as her full name) but also N for Noah, D for Daddy, P for Penny, M for Mama and quite a few letters of her classmates' names.

have a merry little christmas

With no Spring in
sight yet and winter temperatures at all
time lows again in DC... ...we can safely post some more holiday pictures!

 As you can see, Noah had to continue the family tradition of our 

special Christmas photo shoot. 

This time, Penny chewed her props afterwards... to make sure, once and for all, that we will never ever degrade her to a reindeer again ;-) 

As usual, she did LOVE HER BABY though!

cool

It's been snowing, again! We've had a very cold and snowy winter in DC. After 5-6 solid snow falls plus many times of arctic temperatures... we are definitely ready for Spring, but we've also had a lot of fun and it does look pretty.















Here are some pictures from the biggest snow fall of this season two weeks back: 12 inches (!) right in time for Valentine's.

Noah was amazed by all the white snow. Penny loved hopping through it like a bunny. And Charlotte couldn't believe it went almost up to her hips! A "snowball fight" with Daddy was fun... but he didn't think all the shoveling was!