Halloween

The only piece of advice the sellers gave us when we bought this house was to expect a lot of trick or treaters!  We apparently didn't take them seriously enough, since we ran out of candy towards the end.  Aside from that though, the night was a huge hit.  We didn't go out, but dressed the girls up to hand out candy.  I wasn't sure what Emily would think about all the kids coming to the house, but both girls loved it!  Once Emily got the idea, she did all of the candy-handing on her own, only running away from the door to find me if there was a particularly scary costume (leaving the poor kid standing on the doorstep).  In between visitors, my shy child leaned out the front door, yelling "Happy Halloween!  Come over here and get some candy!  Do you want any chocolate?"  She didn't even complain about not eating the candy, and was happy with the one little piece we managed to save her at the end.  Adara crawled/walked/danced around, grabbing candy out of the bowl and throwing it in delight, and even putting a few pieces in bags too.

 

(Pardon the formatting, blogger doesn't seem to want to center these photos!) 

Steps & Laughter

Emily & Adara have laughed more together this week than ever before.  :)   Adara will crawl into Emily's hiding place behind the couch, and they will just giggle at each other (until something happens and Adara cries).  Adara is starting to stand up on her own and take a few steps... which delights her to no end.  She laughs and claps, and falls over, and does it again.  It's totally different from when Emily learned to walk.  Emily cruised on furniture for ages, and didn't really take steps until she was ready to walk.  I don't remember her falling down a lot.  Adara just gets such a kick out of trying that she falls constantly.  Emily loves "helping" her.

Joy in the process

Success

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  Lots of people have said, "I can't believe Adara is a year old!"  To me, life before her seems so far away that I can believe it!  Looking back through her "month" photos I find that even the young baby times seem very distant.  (That's probably a good reminder about how fast this all goes, as Adara has been challenging lately!  I'm crossing my fingers that it's a phase - or those 1 year molars coming in -  but she has been ornery.)  In better news, she took two tiny steps today!  She was standing in the kitchen, delighted with herself for being upright, laughing & clapping and just concentrating so hard on trying to move.  

Lately

I wanted to share some miscellaneous thoughts & pictures, no real theme here.

Earlier this month, we spent an evening with my MA family.  We met my cousin Angie's baby (Syndey is 3 months younger than Adara) and modeled my some of my great grandmothers hats.  The next day, Dianna & I did a triathlon - so much fun.  Due to the amount of spandex involved, there will be no photos here.

My friend Jill & I have started a kiddo swap - I take her two (the same ages as mine) once a week, and she takes mine the next day.  It's wonderful.  

Adara loves to climb.  Her sister also loves to pick her up and put her in a cubby.

Adara is getting more challenging (read: opinionated) as she approaches a year old, but she is more fun as well.  She constantly wants to walk around holding our hands, loves going to "Romp & Stomp" (kids story/song/dance time at the library) with the big kids, and has started the sweetest little night time routine.  She says "na na" and does her little thumb-only wave, and then gives us "kisses" (she says "muh" and then leans her face into ours).  In her room I hold her and sing Jesus Loves Me, and she lays her head on my shoulder, hugs her bunny, and "sings" along.  These are the things I hope I don't forget!  

Self Feeding

Adara successfully fed herself a bowl of yogurt tonight!  I took this photo because it was the first time she managed to get the food into her mouth instead of all over her head. :)  

Weekend Away

Emily had a weekend away at Westport with my parents, Grammy T and Mike, Bekah, Rosalie & Daniel.  She's pretty attached to mom & dad, so I floated the idea to her last Monday, thinking I might need to get her comfortable with it.  Before I even finished my explanation of how Mimi was going to come pick her up, her face lit up and she couldn't stop smiling.  I spent the rest of the week answering the question "Is it Friday yet?"  Alasdair & I had a great weekend with just Adara, and painted our kitchen/dining room & mudroom.  (Apparently that's a theme, since the last time my mom took Emily to the lake by herself, I painted the kitchen!)  The big weekend did not disappoint!  When Mimi, Papa & GG showed up on Friday, Emily buckled herself into the car immediately and waited there while we all chatted and packed her up.  When my mom had her call me that night to say goodnight, Emily said "Goodnight Mama, I'm not sad!"  I'm told she was very well behaved and had a great time.

 Snuggling with GG

 Celebrating Daniel's 2nd birthday

 Frogging with Papa

11 Months

It's amazing how many pictures you can take of two small children and not get a single good one.  (More from the 'photo shoot' here.)  Adara at 11 months is increasingly mobile; crawls like a champ and loves to walk around holding onto our fingers.  Still shows those two bottom teeth when she smiles, but hiding 4 more up top.  She's a pretty good eater, but seems to be getting a little more picky, and is frustratingly determined to feed herself (or us) everything but still terrible at getting a spoon to her mouth.  Points to things she's interested in.  Anything she's been told not to touch, or isn't sure about, or she doesn't like, she points to and says "no" sharply and shakes her head.   She's also increasingly interactive.  First thing in the morning she can be found standing in her crib 'talking'to Emily.  She's become interested in books, and still loves to play peekaboo.  She puts her hands on her face and says something like "yaya dada" (where's adara) until we respond.  She also has a new favorite game... when I nurse her before bed I sit on Emily's bed, and she will stop eating and crawl as fast as she can, giggling, to the far side of the bed.  When I hold out my hands for her to come back, she laughs and crawls away again.