Kneeling at the activity table

Here are the promised photos. Miles wanted to get in on the action, so he jumped in for a few, too!

Assertive little man

Miles' new game. "I be mommy and you be Miles". I say "okay", but them I am not sure what is supposed to happen. I sometimes say things that he says, but he looks at me all confused.

The other night he told (not asked) me to change seats at the dinner table. I explained that I wasn't going to move, and he told me I was going to get a time out.

Miles is certainly exploring his independence these days. While in his two's, I would in no way describe them as terrible. He is a wonderful little boy who is learning about the world around him. I love catching glimmers of the world through his eyes - what a wonderful view.

SLOW DOWN SWEET GIRL!!!

Oh my.

Last night, I put Amelia down in the playroom after dinner. She crawled (on all fours) over to her activity table and pulled herself up to her knees to play. She was so pleased with herself! She is finally getting herself off the floor and is experiencing a whole new world and new set of toys to play with. I jumped up and grabbed the camera to capture the moment. (Photos to come.) While I was looking through the pictures I just took, she stood up. On her feet. All by herself. She was even more pleased with herself, right up until she bailed and toppled like a stiff tree.

The fall irritated her as she bonked her head and I expected her not to try it again anytime soon. I was wrong. Twice last night, I had to go into her room as she was standing up in her crib. We lowered the crib a bit on Monday to account for the knees thing, but we didn't expect standing to happen quite so quickly. Miles was about 9 months when he first pulled himself up, what is she doing?!?!

Slow down, Baby Girl, you're growing up too fast!!!

Amelia Practices Her Pincher

One of the upcoming milestones for Amelia will be learning how to pinch small objects. Once she does, we can do all sorts of fun things, like Cheerios! She is ahead of the game for starting to explore this skill, and while she hasn't mastered it, she clearly has an interest. So fun to see her changing so quickly and learning so much.

New Milestone

Amelia is cutting her second tooth today so needless to say her sleep patterns have been a bit off. I fed her twice last night and she didn't go down after the second feeding. About 30 minutes later, Tim was on duty trying to give her orajel and calm her to sleep. At one point he left the room to see if she would fall asleep. She didn't. Instead, she figured out how to get to her knees and look over the crib rail and wail until he came back, which he did, and was startled to see her little head peaking over at him. She finally fell asleep, but it was a hard night on us all.

Needless to say, we were kind of hoping she would forget how to get to her knees, but she didn't and not only disrupted her nap today, but also Miles'. He couldn't help himself, and I can't blame him. She would stare at him, he would preform, she would laugh, he would keep going. Finally after about 90 minutes, we took Miles downstairs and he slept in the pack 'n play in the guestroom. I am sure the two of them will figure out her new found trick and get back to sleeping, but right now the world is too fun and sleep is taking the brunt of it.

We ended our weekend with a bottle of wine with a new family the we met at the park last weekend. They just moved to Burlingame (literally last weekend) from San Francisco, and they have a son about 6 months younger than Miles and a new one on the way in January. It's always wonderful to meet new folks, and this was a lovely family who we are likely to see again soon.

Big Saturday

We had a very big Saturday this weekend. On Saturday was the annual Burlingame Pet Parade. We have never been, but we decided to check it out this year and it was a wonderful event - the type that makes you fall in love with your community even more. Basically, Burlingame comes out in force with bands, kids, and pets, all dressed up to the nines - think Halloween for pets, or super eager families who want to get a jump on it. We saw 2 marching bands, and the San Mateo Elks band that remained seated. We saw lap dogs dressed up as flowers and a doggy bag. we saw a great dane as a horse. Before the parade started, Miles and Dad had fun in the street.

After the parade, we headed up to San Francisco for Kidaroo - a kids concert benefiting a local school with a string of kid-rock bands on the little marina green, right by the Saint Francis yacht club where my parents had their wedding reception 42 years ago.

This weekend was one of those San Francisco September heat waves - there wasn't a cloud in the sky and it was 85-90 degrees. We don't have much of a summer, but our September is amazing. We tried to get Miles to take a nap during the concert in a little tent, but it was too hot and we didn't much want Miles soup for dinner - so we opted to skip the nap. He was mostly well behaved, but clearly on his 3rd, 4th and then 5th wind by the time we left.

Miles had an amazing time and was asleep before we left the city. We had a quiet night at home and an early bedtime. In fact, Tim and I were in bed at 9. What a wonderful (and tiring!) day.

Kids say the darndest things...

Some of the more recent ones:

"Miles, which sweatshirt do you want to wear? (Brown hoodie full zip or orange fleece half zip.)"
"Ummm... deez one (brown). Miles look fat in dat one (orange)."

Touching the mole on the side of my cheek by my ear.... "Mommy nipple right there."

Love it.