8 Months!!!

As of Monday, Daniel is eight months old. time has flown and I suspect it will only get faster. Daniel continues to be my snugly baby and is full of smiles. He loves to talk and kick his feet. Daniel has been rolling around the floor for a while now and has added to his repertoire belly crawling. He stretches one arm as far as it will go and pushes off with his legs, this often results with his bum in the air. then he reaches out with the other arm, stretches, and pushes off with his feet. I often come back into a room and have to look around too figure out where he is.  It especially fun to watch him spot something across the room that he wants and  very determinedly wiggle across the room to get to it. He will also do a "double arm pull' by putting his forearms in front of him and then pulling them towards his chest. Thus my children demonstrate once again their preferences for creative crawling.

Daniel also likes to twist and roll his tongue. Perhaps I find it so interesting because I cannot do anything at all  with my tongue.It baffles me how he does it.


Daniel also loves the tent we have set up in our living room. He will crawl inside and kick at the walls making those wonderful 'swish swish swish' sounds. He will roll and turn himself around so he can look out and keep an eye on everyone from inside his little space. Then to change things up he will get out and wrestle with the tent. He usually does this with his bottom half underneath, legs kicking, while trying to subdue to tent to his will with his arms. It's very cute and will keep him entertained for a long time.

Daniel also has a love for playing with the dishes. Why playing with plates and bowls is such exciting fun is only known to Daniel, but we get a lot of mileage out of the game.

Daniel also loves his bath, he gets very excited whenever I start the water.

He loves to be a part of things, especially if that means giving Liza a hard time. Hanging out with Daddy is fun, but usually mom is better. In short we love our little guy and are grateful to have him.

Rollen (note this was started on 10/11/2011)

We've been working really hard on our baby exercises with Daniel. From almost day one we've been doing crunchies, leg standings, tummy time, and assisted rolls. Yesterday and the day before Daniel and I were doing rolls around the room, and every time he would flip over I ( and sometimes Liza) would cheer and rub backs or tummies ( i haven't been able to teach him 'fives' yet). Today I couldn't hardly leave him alone on the floor without him rolling over onto his tummy. Of course I would discover this because he would get frustrated and start to fuss. I was always walking into the room to find him stuck.  He tends to push off with his legs and get his face smashed up against the floor.  He did roll from tummy to back a couple of times today on his own, so with a little more practice he could be rolling around the room. I would be thrilled if he does. This is something uniquely Daniel and I'm tickeled.

this was a time where i wish the camera was in video mode. he flipped over on his own, smoothly, without any fuss or struggle.

All one Autumn Morning.

It feels like fall!! The temperature has cool 20 degrees, it's now consistently in the 80's instead of the 100's The kids usually get me up between 6 and 7 and we usually go through our morning routine of getting mommy dressed, feeding kids, getting kids dressed, and then starting our morning adventure. Some mornings we are more successful at this process than others. yesterday we got dressed and ate breakfast and in the middle of getting Liza dressed I got side tracked by Daniel. The next time I located Liza she was sitting in the recliner working on a puzzle. It was the first time I saw her putting the pices back in without any help and sliding them into place, instead of pushing harder when the piece isn't aligned just right. Liza was entertained for at least a half hour putting the puzzle together, turning it over and dumping the pieces out and starting over again. I couldn't bring myself to interrupt her just to get her clothes on, who am I to interrupt such a learning opportunity?

Thursday also happens to be trash day and I had some choice specimens to take out to the trash can, which was already out by the street. Of course I was unable to sneak outside alone. Liza said " I coming!!" So Liza came, diaper and all.

Eliza had a good time sings and walking around the poll.

Ahh the joys of running downhill with your favorite panda bear under your arm.

 If only I could walk around with such confidence!! I don't know if I could pull that off fully clothed, much less in only a diaper.

Making Muffins

Monday morning I found that Daniel had settled down for what was likely to be a long nap, an excellent opportunity for Eliza to be Mommy's special helper. I had some ripe bananas and I'm always on the lookout for things to expand Eliza's diet. Liza loved the exclusive attention, something that she doesn't get very often these days. I would measure the oats and flour and help her pour them into the bowl. I would take my eyes off of her for a couple of seconds and Liza would be putting the dry ingredients back in with the rest of the oats. Thankfully there weren't many oats left so it wasn't a big deal.

I also tried to help her use the spoon to mix the dry stuff in the bowl. We had moderate success. Liza's favorite ingredient? Mini chocolate chips.

transferring stuff from one bowl to another. In short a grand adventure together.

"Picking Apples"

 

Since the weather has decided to cool down one of our favorite things is to be outside.  I load up Daniel in the baby carrier  and Liza loads up her stroller with her current treasures; this can include a baby or two, a bear, sippy cup, keys, and baby accessories, her hat, and this time her little purse. With this summers drought the only green spot is our front yard and these flowers are amazingly tolerant of the heat and drought, I keep finding little ones growing in random places. When the flowers are done blooming the seeds are in green bunches. Eliza calls the seeds apples and enjoys picking them. Liza had a grand time running around the tree, it's on a little slope and gets a thrill from the added momentum.

After the Sunken Gardens

It's a short walk from the sunken gardens to the zoo, so after we had our fill of taking pictures we wondered over to feed the birds and look in on the hippos. 

Pics at the Sunken Gardens

Last Saturday (Sept 24th) we went to the Japanese Sunken Gardens to take pictures. As usual Lexi was kind enough to be photographer. The original plan was to get some good shots of Liza and Cade, since they both have had birthdays recently. I believe we get some good pictures of Cade, but Liza was tired and not her happy, cheerful self by the time it was her turn. We did get some good group shots and some nice close ups of Daniel. Afterwards we walked over to the zoo to feed the birds and take a peek at the hippos. A morning well spent, especially since the weather decided to cool off a bit.

My Happy Smilie Guy

 

smelling flowers, an  unsuccessful attempt to get Liza to pose

Checking out the koi. If you look closely you can see Liza's baby under her arm.

 Someone was kind enough to share a slice of bread with us, so Liza and Ryah got to feed the fish. They were swimming on top of each other trying to get the bread, if one didn't know better you would think they were starving.