Will is a Monkey

Ever since trying out the climbing wall at Balboa Island in California, Will and Eva have been hooked on climbing. SportRock is an indoor climbing gym nearby and they have "Kids' Night" where the kids can go climb for an hour and a half while the parents get to GO OUT BY THEMSELVES! That is fun for everyone, n'est-ce pas?

Will and Eva climb way way up to heights higher than our two and a half story house. This is one sport that I have absolutely no desire to do.

Daddy's Girl

Lyra loves her Daddy and Daddy is equally smitten. 

Opening Act

One of Will and Eva's favorite things to do is to have "family movie night" each weekend. Eva has taken to rearranging the living room furniture to look like an actual theater. Will likes to provide some sort of opening act, either a one act play (where is the video camera when we need it?) or, in this case, Adventures of Hatasho. Hatasho is a Japanese Samurai warrior who Will created and he is illustrating Hatasho's epic adventures using a diarama he built in a Japanese Samurai camp from this summer.

Perfect Posture

Lyra has the best posture of anyone in the family. She is such a smiley girl most of the time. 

Much Needed Update!

I am behind! Two weeks ago, Lyra figure out how to put herself in a sitting position from lying down. Those of you who've had babies before know that this is HUGE. Now she doesn't lie there and scream because she wants to be sitting up but needs help to get there. She has been on the verge of crawling for several weeks.

Yesterday, she creeped forward two steps! She hasn't totally taken off yet but I expect that will happen any day now. The cats seem to be a big motivator for her to move forward. For some reason, they haven't figured out that it probably isn't a good idea to take a cat nap *right* beside Lyra. She is fascinated by KC's flicking tail. The other night, Bill let her catch KC's tail (eek!)and pull him across the floor. I cannot believe that KC stood for that.

The other new development from a couple of weeks ago is that the tooth fairy visited Eva for the first time AND the second time! In our home, the tooth fairy brings a Sacagawea dollar in exchange for the lost tooth. Eva was SO excited. In fact, she was so excited in anticipation of the tooth fairy's visit that she had Will pull her teeth out for her. They used the old string on the doorknob trick. Made me sick to my stomach and I had to leave the area immediately after helping secure the dental floss lasso onto Eva's tooth. She said it didn't hurt to have it pulled out this way. I'd've put a picture of Eva out here but my camera came to a bad end about three weeks ago and it took awhile to replace it.

Lyra & Mom

This is such a great photo, I am not sure what the right words are to go with it. Lyra had been a happy baby all day, but sitting on the couch watching Star Wars (which she is way too young for) seemed to get her even more fired up.

Ptyalism

Drooling (or "ptyalism") is caused by saliva flowing outside the mouth. Drooling is generally caused by excess production of saliva, inability to retain saliva within the mouth, or problems with swallowing.

Lyra is very cute, but she manages to drool like a basset hound, as evidenced by the droplets running down her chin in this photo.

Yippee!

We spent the afternoon at Jake's house, and Eva finally got up the courage to go off the diving board. Actually, she went from "I'm scared" to "I'll try" to "Can I please go one more time" over the course of two hours with the encouragement of Jake's dad, Ian. Eva's dives looked more like belly flops, but her cannon balls were very good.

Friends(?) at last

Noelle has been with us now for a little more than two weeks. Her first week she hid so well we thought she was a ghost cat. Her second week she appeared occasionally, but evidence of her existence was still best obtained by inspecting her litter box.

In the last three days she has decided to join the family. KC met this first with resistance, and we have had several days of low level cat hostility (generally acted out in the middle of the night in our bedroom).

Now at last things seem to have settled down. I think KC is finally resigned to a cute new cat in the house.

Lounging Lyra

My friend, Trish, took this picture of Lyra at the park yesterday. Lyra is such a happy girl! 

Beautiful Noelle in Her New Home

Noelle was 'hiding" in the attic shower stall. I think this was a cool spot, and protected behind a glass door (that I think the pried open). We are keeping Noelle restricted to the attic, but she is staying somewhat in the open in enjoying some human attention. 

Meet our Newest Addition!

We've thought for awhile that KC needed another cat to play with and we'd talked about getting him a kitten next spring. But then a wonderful opportunity presented itself last week. The breeder who brought us KC had a year-old kitten she was willing to part with.

Meet Noelle. Like KC, she is a Siberian cat. Her coloration is called "colorpoint" which means her colors are primarily on her points, i.e., face, ears, legs and tail. In real life, her eyes are blue. They are very clear and reflect lots of light so it is difficult to photograph them well. She is related to KC but we haven't figured out exactly how, either a niece or distant cousin. Noelle came home this past Saturday and has hidden herself well.

KC now knows there is another cat in the house. He is mildly curious and mildly put out about it but, for the most part, is carrying on as usual. This seems to be very un-catlike behavior but then, we've always thought that KC was part dog. More on this story as it develops!

Yes, I Jinxed It!

It's been difficult getting Lyra into her crib for a big stretch of sleep ever since I made that last post. Bill's been traveling quite a bit for work and I sure miss the extra pair of hands to help with the kids at bedtime. I should know better than to post sleep improvements to the world, shouldn't I?

Two in a Row! Do I Hear Three????

Lyra has slept ALL NIGHT in her crib the last two nights! This is very exciting! We have had a hard time getting her to sleep a long stretch in her crib except between 3am and 9am. This is not a very convenient time when you have older children who have school, camp, swim practice etc. in the morning.

Anyway, Bill and I are very happy about this new development. Now if Lyra's tummy can just adjust....she is starving in the morning when she does eat and she is such a little piggy that she overflows. I really think that I'd rather deal with an extra night feeding than wash the sheets every day. But surely this will fix itself soon. And I am not quite willing to call two nights a trend. I've probably just jinxed the whole thing by posting this. But I can't help it! I have to tell the world because having her sleep this long is Such A Big Deal!

Old Sturbridge Village

We took a weeklong vacation to New England. Since the drive is so long, we spread each leg of the trip over two days so we could make the drive part of the adventure.

Is anyone buying that? OK. The real reason was that Lyra had some serious bouts of screaming in the afternoon and we COULDN'T TAKE IT ANYMORE!!! No, really, she was pretty good, it's just that the hour of screaming seemed like five.

We stayed with our friends, Jeff and Mary Withey, for a night on the way up and that was really fun. Then we spent a week in Maine at Linekin Bay. On the drive home, we'd meant to go at least as far as Connecticut but, again, the screaming(!) so we didn't make it that far. However, we were so lucky that our patience ran out right by Old Sturbridge Village!

Old Sturbridge Village is a living history museum that demonstrates life in a rural New England town in the 1830s. That is a not-to-be-missed excursion so we spent the night, then took our time in the Village the next day. We got home very late but it was well worth it. Tons of pictures follow. 

This is Rufus. Will and Eva got to see firsthand why chewing with your mouth open is bad manners and they actually agreed that it was disgusting. While Rufus was posing for his portrait, a chipmunk made off with a bunch of his food. 

Eva is helping grate nutmeg for a currant pie in Delia Freeman's house. The man in the background is making batter for biscuits. Notice that Eva has stolen my sunglasses. 

We were walking through a barn and heard a muffled clucking. We looked around closely and found Momma Hen in the stewpot with her chickie! There were a couple of eggs in there too. Maybe (we hope) they will hatch soon. 

Will and Eva especially loved watching the tinsmith work. We saw a potter, blacksmiths, farmers, and how the wool carding machines worked but I think the tinsmith was still the favorite. 

Will tried his hand at building one of those zig zag fences you sometimes see around farmland. 

Linekin Bay

If there is a wall, Eva wants to climb it. This is in front of the Linekin Bay Resort, a family camp in Maine, near Boothbay Harbor, where we just spent a fun-filled week. There are sailboats, kayaks, a pool, and lots of places to explore. Everyone eats in the Main Lodge so you get to know the other families there during your stay. The West lodge has books, movies, games, and a fireplace. It really was a lot of fun! 

Will had a great time in the pool. This one was salt water and Eva didn't like it but Will did. He made a friend, Robby, and they showed off their crazy jumps. Here is Will mid-cannonball. 

We took an afternoon and went to Freeport to L.L. Bean. Will and Eva wanted to read instead of shop. What a surprise. 

This picture is taken from the dock in front of the Main Lodge at Linekin Bay Resort. Isn't it beautiful?

Edie and Dave were in New Hampshire while we were in Maine. They drove up to see us on the 4th. It was so good to see them. I do believe this was the coldest 4th of July I've ever experienced. 

Will and Bill are returning from their kayak trip. Lyra and I did not attempt a boat of any size this time. 

Here is a landmark occasion, Lyra is sitting well enough to be in a restaurant high chair! And a shopping cart too! She was sitting well before but the improvement over the week we were gone was noticeable. So life is a little easier. This is good because it is going to get harder soon as she is really really trying to crawl. 

Bill took Will and Eva kayaking (individually) to Cabbage Iisland, a little island in Linekin Bay. There were osprey nesting there. Here is one standing guard while the other feeds the chicks back at the nest. 

Fun at the Witheys

We stopped by jeff and Mary's on the way up to Maine. It is always so much fun to see them and Will and Eva wished that could be the vacation. The kids are warming up Will's fishing pole. They didn't catch anything. (Whew!)