Joey's Car Seat

 

Safety-minded Elizabeth decided that Joey also needed a car seat in order to ride in the van.

Suzanne Walks!

The Big Baby took her first steps today at Grandma's. Barb and I were there to bear witness. Unfortunately for her, Elizabeth was in the bedroom watching Caillou, and missed the historic event.

Elizabeth's Playground

Like most (all?) kids, Elizabeth loves to make art. (Although, she doesn't think of herself as an artist. Tonight she told me she's "almost" an artist.) Lately, she's been working on this project started with a 2x4 scrap. Barb has allowed her to use screws, nails, and pins (!) in addition to her usual paint, glue, whatever. Elizabeth loves using her wooden toy hammer to drive the nails -- it works like a champ.

I'm very impressed by the fact that she's actually making something -- it's a playground that she's sculpting here -- not just randomly driving nails and turning screws and spraying glue. And she works on it not every day, but consistently, adding a bit here and there as new material comes her way.

The Joey Show! Episode 2

This is a pretty funny one.

Click this link if you prefer to see this larger size on YouTube.

Suzanne and Sherry

Grandma, too, has made inroads with Suzanne. The clingy, shy baby had a great time in late September hanging out with Grandma and Daddy at Grandma's place. After a slow start, she moved from Daddy's lap to Grandma's and spent a good 45 minutes playing and cooing in perfect baby Zen happiness.

Access to Grandma's cell phone didn't hurt, either.

Suzanne and Frank

 

Grandpa Frank had some success in holding the very Mommy-dependent Suzanne.

For those of you troubled by our baby's clinginess, let me just say that Elizabeth was the same way, but the attachment parenting method Barb and I use (per Barb) has resulted in a pre-schooler (i.e., Elizabeth Rose) who is incredibly independent.

The idea is that the "attached" child becomes so secure that her parents will be there for her, that when older she doesn't feel insecure about being away from Mom and Dad. Barb saw this in action last Wednesday when she went to pre-school with Elizabeth and Elizabeth paid her almost no mind. She (Elizabeth) was too busy playing with her friends. Whereas other kids cling to their parents when their parents are the teacher's aide.

I'm pretty sure attachment parenting works.

Elizabeth's World

 

Falloween

Fall is here with a vengeance. It's been pouring rain for the last two days, the volunteer pumpkins in the backyard are turning orange, and Barb and the girls even broke out the first of the Halloween decorations this weekend.

Most of the photos in this blog are mine, but this series was taken by Barb, and they're great.

Light

Photography is all about light. I'll often go snapcrazy with the camera not because the girls are in some sort of exotic locale (we take vacations in places like McMinnville and Depoe Bay, for goodness sake), but because the light is gorgeous.

As in these photos. Suzanne is at the dining table of the rental in Depoe Bay, facing the windows that look out on the ocean over which the light traveled to illuminate the room.

This Place is a Circus!

A couple of weekends ago we woke up already having cabin fever. The rain had just started, and we knew it wouldn't stop for many months. So we went to the circus!

Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey was in town, as were the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals representatives who stood beside the ticket lines holding pictures of baby elephants being trained. Ah well, it's not the '70s anymore. And that's probably a good thing.

The circus was pretty good. Smaller than I remembered it from the last time I went (in Syracuse, in the '70s, when it may have been the same size but I sure was smaller).

Elizabeth claimed to have "loved!" it, but during the show itself she was clearly bored, lolling on my lap like one about to pass out. Suzanne liked it while she was awake, and otherwise demonstrated the amazing baby-ability to sleep despite earsplitting music and sound effects.

Barb and I both probably liked it best. It was cheesy, but the performers were pretty amazing (except for the painfully unfunny clowns -- who didn't even wear clown makeup!). The worst part was the price: tickets were palatable, but cotton candy at $10, $5.25 for a small soda, etc. made me feel bad. We didn't buy anything other than the tickets, but we saw lots of folks who probably dropped well over $100 for their day at the circus.

There's a sucker born every minute.

The Busy Zoo

 

Uncle Scott got this awesome toy for Elizabeth. She didn't take to it for about six months, for some reason. Now it's not only an old favorite, but one of Joey's regular sleeping spots.

Suzanne recently discovered it, and loves it as much if not more than Elizabeth ever did.