Little Personalities

Here are a couple of fun pics of the girls. It's neat to see their personalities develop! Serena says a lot of things that sound like sentences, with inflection and all (but most of the words are gibberish). She seems to be learning new words every day. One of her favorites is shouting "here!" She usually says it when Cosmo barks (she thinks someone is "here" at the door, or she "hears" him bark). She also says "here" when she gives us something.
Shilah has turned into quite the packrat. She loves to pack as many toys & books into a bag as possible & just carry it around, and recently she has started putting things in drawers (I often find her dolls stuffed in my sock drawer). The main motivation behind this new habit is keeping her "special" toys away from Serena. Shilah is pretty good about sharing most of her things, thankfully.

Sunrise from our Deck

Happy Birthday, Daddy!

Today was Shanti's birthday! He used a couple of gift cards and enjoyed an afternoon at Home Depot. Then we went out to dinner and came home for some carrot cake that Shilah helped make. Tools, food, and love-- the 3 things a daddy needs to survive! Oh yeah, I forgot beer and football. We'll squeeze that in on Sunday for the Pats game.

Thanksgiving Dinner

Yesterday we had a very nice Thanksgiving dinner at our house. It was great to hang out with Andrea, her mom Jill, Emory, and our friends Harold & Lauren (Gabe was in Massachusetts). We also had our friend's dog Yasu there to help Cosmo clean up the crumbs. The meal was delicious and filling!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Well as you can see from this first picture, we had a hard time getting the girls to pose together. But they did have fun playing dress up together! Shilah told us she is thankful for candy and people, and Serena is thankful for bellies (she loves pinching her own bare belly, as well as other people's). Shanti and I are thankful for our two little girls, and for our wonderful family and friends.

No More Pull-Ups at Night!

Last night was the 4th night in a row Shilah slept all night without a pull-up or an accident! We just did it cold turkey. Shilah has been going on the upstairs potty first thing in the morning (without us) and then she comes downstairs and is so happy. The bottom post is a video of a song I made up for Shilah (yes I know it is cheesy).

Pretend Play

Shilah has really been getting into pretending lately. We play school and post office, among other things. The big thing now is going by different names. Shilah sometimes makes me call her Ms. Port or Ms. Dixon (her teachers). Other days she is Dorothy and Cosmo is Toto. Then there are names from out of the blue, like Rocky and T-bone. Shilah likes sectioning off part of our bedroom and calling it her house. It's neat to see a young imagination at work! Here are a couple of pictures of the girls in their matching PJ's...

One Big Kitten

Our kittens are almost 6 months old now, and Westy is just about twice the size of Roo! Part of it is that he's male, but the other part is he's super long and eats a lot (his nickname is now chunky monkey).

Fiery Sunset from our Deck

Twirling and Falling

Here are a couple of videos of Shilah and Serena twirling, and falling into the pillows laughing. As you can tell from all the recent videos, we pretty much have a dance party every night :-)

Having a Snack

Serena turned 16 months old today! She had a checkup with the doctor, and weighs 23 pounds (45th percentile) and is 30 inches tall (35th percentile). She's had some pretty painful teething the last few days, but hopefully those molars will pop through soon. Here she is sharing some crackers with Shilah... Cosmo "the vacuum cleaner" is in the background waiting for some crumbs to drop.

Doggie!

Here's Serena saying one of her favorite words, doggie! She now can point out a few different types of animals in books and say their names, like doggie, duck, and bird. Serena also has been trying to sing some common kids' songs, like Ring Around the Rosie and ABC's.

Daddy's Home (again)!

Shanti returned last night from a work trip to DC. It's always fun seeing the girls so happy to see him! Here's Serena playing with a baby doll (baby is now one of her favorite words). She also loves to say "kee" (kitty) first thing in the morning when she sees our cats.

Kids Say the Cutest Things: I sometimes ask Shilah to give me a BIG hug, and today she hugged me and made a growling sound. So I said to her, "That’s a monster hug!" And she told me, "No, that’s a love hug." Just what a mom wants to hear :-)
Funny Fake News of the Day: Majority Of Americans Never Use Physical Education After High School

On the Other Side of the Conference

I had my first Parent-Teacher conference on Monday with Shilah's 2 teachers, which was a little weird since for 8 years I was always the teacher in the conference! One good thing (I hope) I gained from my years of teaching is the type of parent I don't want to be: boastful, hovering, and thinking your child can do no wrong. Anyways, Shilah's teachers said she was progressing nicely, and that she's quiet (WHAT?!? I said to myself). Then I got a strange sense of deja-vu as I remember MANY parents telling me that their kids were much different at home than they were at school. I also remember from my teaching days meeting parents for the first time and thinking that the apple doesn't fall far from the tree. I mostly remember those parents who quietly sat on the sidelines and thanked me for the work I was doing, which made it all worthwhile. So at the end of the conference I did just that.
Kids Say the Cutest Things: Shilah was talking about how much she loves her preschool teachers, and I explained to her that I used to be a teacher. She told me, "I used to be a teacher too, but now I’m a girl!"

Dance Party

Serena wants to be just like her big sister and dance! Her style of dancing is mostly running in a circle and falling down dizzy. Serena also likes to "jump" by throwing her arms in the air. It's so funny to hear her laugh at Shilah!

Reading

Serena loves for people to read books to her. She'll bring a book over and say "ree bo" (read book). Last night Shilah "read" 101 Dalmations to her. The bottom post is some video of the girls reading together. Very cute!
Funny Fake News of the Day: Who's Gonna Hallo-wean My Kids Off All This Candy?

Funny Fake News of the Day

I just realized that The Onion (a satiric newspaper) is online, and added a link to the home page (on the right side of this blog). When I see something that really gets us laughing, I'll post a link to the article or video. Here's the first for Funny Fake News of the Day: Voting Machines Elect One Of Their Own As President
I also sometimes post links that follow the line "Ridiculous Headline of the Day," which are different since they're true stories. Laughter is the best medicine!

More Fun & Games

Here's more video of Shilah and Serena playing together, this time bouncing on the couch.

Shilah chasing Serena

Serena loves to be chased! You can hear her laughing in the background.

Trunk or Treat

Halloween was a lot of fun! I dressed up as an 80's aerobics instructor and taught a Jazzercise class that morning, and yes-- I wore a hot pink leotard. A couple of other gals dressed in leotards, too, and I put together a bunch of routines to 80's songs (mostly remakes). Fun! The girls had fun dressing up also, and that evening we went to "Trunk or Treat" at the local elementary school. People decorate their cars in the parking lot, and kids go car to car trick or treating. Much easier than hiking up all the mountain driveways in our neighborhood!