Halloween!

Eye contact and smiles!

What a great day! Keira seems to have found her "on" button. She's like a baby (graduated from a newborn baby) now. This morning I looked at her and she held eye contact for a very long time. I thought that she looked like she could smile. Later on, she gave me a crooked smile, with the lower part of her mouth off to one side. And then two more times today, she smiled at me. None of them were huge long-lasting smiles, but they were different from anything I've seen before. So cute!!

A few days ago, she was talking to Jerry. He was talking to her, and when he paused, she would coo. She did it a few times. She hasn't done it again since then. I am waiting. :)

Isaac peed on the potty a couple times today.

Evan's teacher at school had a talk with the bully, who had to apologize to Evan, and who now has to be at the teacher's side all day. That's good.

Obama Rally - 10-26-08

6 weeks

All day I think about stuff I need to post on here, and then I sit down and forget. So, some random things.

Keira is much more alert. And she just got cuter! She does this thing with her eyes when something captures her attention, and she tries to open them wide, and you can see the whites almost all the way around. I remember that with Evan's eyes at this age. It's cute.

Her fussiness is much improved. She's been sleeping better and crying less and looking around at things more. Also, I think she is batting at her toys. It's hard to tell. She's so young that it still looks like it's accidental (clumsy hits with her fist), but I think it is on purpose.

She smiled at Jerry a few times. Isaac always says, "he just smiled at me, with his wittle mouth." Not sure if she's really smiled at him or not.

We are potty training Isaac. We basically just moved him into underwear a couple days ago, told him the diapers were all gone (which is true). Yesterday he peed on the pot 2 or 3 times, and he had a few accidents. Today he pooped on the potty, but peed in his pants all day. He still sat on the potty willingly about 10 times today, but then peed shortly after getting off the pot. Good times! My hope is that the cause-and-effect thing will kick in, and after a few more days, he'll remember that peeing=discomfort unless it's done on the potty. Isn't this how it was done in the old days?

Evan's behavior is much better lately. He is in love with Keira, and acts very fatherly towards her. At the very end of naptime, I went up to his room so we could hang out together (and I had Keira with me). When it was time to get the kids up, he wanted me to leave Keira in his room, so I did. I went upstairs later to check on them, and he was saying things like, "You're so pretty. You're the prettiest girl there is. You're the sweetest little girl there is." And he was picking her up, which he isn't allowed to do, but I didn't have the heart to mention it. He also loves to get her dressed and undressed before/after bath, and dry her hair with a towel, and brush her hair. Isaac mostly ignores her, unless she is sucking on her pacifier, then he says, "Yook! I can see his wittle mouf!"

I have a new girl in the daycare who is exactly Isaac's age (2 1/2). Finally! He finally, for the first time, has a buddy his age. M only comes 2 days a week, but will be increasing to 3 days soon. A few weeks ago, Evan was invited over to a friend's house, but Isaac wasn't invited, and we told Isaac, "Evan is going to be with his best friend... don't worry... we'll make a playdate soon with a 2 year-old friend for you." Well, the very first day that M started, Isaac, said, "Come on, M. Let's play play-doh. You my best fwend." Ok, they just met each other, but it was cute anyway. He seems to like her, though she doesn't know anything about Star Wars, so I'm not sure how long it will last.

5 weeks

Ok, we replaced our digital camera, so I have some picts to post.

Quick updates...
Keira has been very colicky. She had a horrible diaper rash last week that kept getting worse and wouldn't go away. We had to get prescription ointment for her, and her pediatrician said I should cut out milk and coffee, so I've been extra cranky and tired lately. She seemed to be doing better, but then had a bad weekend, and the only thing I had that was different was lots of chocolate, and really spicey food, so it was probably one of those. I'll be eating bland food from now on. MMMM... bananas.

Evan is doing great. His attitude is improving. He is still completely obsessed with Star Wars. He draws detailed pictures of their spaceships, and then wants to mail them to people or hang them on our bedroom walls. Tonight, he helped give Keira a bath. He was so disappointed that we wouldn't hand Keira to him, with him holding the towel. He wanted to be in charge of receiving her when she got out of the bath. We did let him dry her off (once she was lying down) and help put her diaper on and then do all the little snaps on the PJs. That seemed to make him happy. He loves her.

He is also still into karate. He just had his third class and is doing side kicks and knife punches. He is pretty good. He's coordinated and seems to take the lead in this class, whereas usually, he's happy to be more of a follower.

Isaac loves Keira too, but if something is more interesting in the other room, he quickly forgets her. Some funny things he said this week...
Me (kissing Isaac): You're a good boy.
Isaac: And you're a good mommy.

Isaac has been really bossy to the daycare kids lately. For example:
Isaac (to a kid like 6 months younger than him): NO! Don't do that!
Me: Isaac, who is the boss?
Isaac: I am!
Me: No, I am the boss.
Isaac: No, I the boss.

Isaac's sentences are getting longer. We were looking across the street at a neighbor girl's house, already decorated for Halloween, and he said:
There is Channing's house with ghosts in the grass and there are more ghosts in Channing's tree.
His babyhood is getting farther and farther away...

Keira can lift her head for a few seconds at a time. We still aren't getting much in the way of eye contact or smiles. But, today, I picked her up and started patting her back, and she pulled away from me and looked into my face, like she wanted to see if it was me. Also, she always calms down when she hears my voice. She sleeps really well alone, but seems to prefer sleeping with us, and when she's fussy, we get more sleep that way. She is terribly sweet.















Sleeping on daddy's chest. I love those jammies...


Almost asleep. Do her lips look fuller here?


So... sleepy...


Airdrying her backside, trying to cure that diaper rash...


Isaac's fake smile...


The other day, Isaac was playing for a long time at naptime, making lots of noise. Finally, I said, "Isaac! Be quiet!" I heard nothing more. Ten minutes later I had to get something from the kitchen, and this is what I found. Yes, he was really asleep.








Evan and Keira