Afternoon at Golden Gardens

Shawn took the kids to the beach this afternoon. Andy loves playing in the "river" that flows across the beach.

His future's so bright ...!

Swing

Piling on Daddy

Most evenings you can find us piled on one of the couches either cuddling or rough housing. Sylvia is getting used to this routine, and enjoys hanging out on daddy and watching Andy go crazy!

Sylvia got a kick out of Andy yelling "bang!" - go figure.

Bitch is the New Black

okay the one above isn't working - this is the full version, jump about half way through her "report" on women to get to her take on Hillary.

First Food!

Tonight, Sylvia had her first food - rice cereal (well, Shawn admitted that he let her chew on a breadstick a week or two ago, but I'm not counting that). This girl must have been hungry for weeks, because (as you'll see below) she reached out, grabbed the spoon and fed herself. For real!

Here's Sylvia with the spoon. A few of these videos are short because I kept running out of memory and had to find other videos to erase...

Reaching for more...

...okay, that's enough.

After a break, Andy got a chance to give her a few more bites.

Through the window

Sylvia gets a huge kick out of watching Andy do anything. I got the perfect opportunity to fix dinner while Andy threw a ball on the patio and Sylvia's laser beam eyes followed his every move.

What's incredible to me is that she'll actually SIT and WATCH. Andy was just not that sort of baby.

Ribbit Ribbit!

Daddy's girl

I caught Sylvia and Shawn in a sweet moment with this photo.

Carkeek Park

Shawn and Andy have been spending lots of time at Carkeek Park this month, and this last weekend we all went! Andy loves the salmon slide on the playground, and of course playing on the beach. Unfortunately, I had a minor anxiety attack on the walkway over the bridge, which is pretty high up but more importantly, has mesh metal stairs so it looks like you're stepping out onto thin air. I think because I had Sylvia in my arms, it felt too precarious, and who needs a hero, right, so I turned around and went to the car. Luckily we'd brought both cars because I was going to work afterwards. Melissa says she'll let me know when it looks like I'm really headed over the edge....

Andy was ready to play on the salmon slide - note the unhappy face, unusual for Andy when a camera is on him.

This week at school, Andy recreated the walkway (orange) and stairs (red) over the train tracks -- he did this all on his own and we think it's genius, of course! Andy keeps pointing to the top of the red paper strip and saying "this is where mommy got scared." Oh well.

See, it's REALLY high up. And you see through the stairs! Trust me, it's freaky.

Lots more photos of our crew at Carkeek on Shawn's best photos web site: http://www.flickr.com/photos/westward97/sets/72157603941169803/

Strollin'

Today, Sylvia took her first walk sitting upright in the stroller. It probably doesn't sound like a big deal, but for me it marks her change from infant to the long path of childhood. She's wearing Shawn's kid cozy from Andy's babyhood - great for keeping the legs warm!

Painting

Tonight Andy made paintings for all of the family -- one is probably coming your way. In the video below, Andy makes one for Grandpa while Sylvia looks on...

She won't sit in the swing anymore, but she loves this jumper!

New camelback

For Andy's birthday, Shawn got him his very own, kid-sized camelback, perfect for their hikes together. Today they took a hike at Discovery and Andy was thrilled to use it, and I'm told he also filled a bowl for Herbie...

5 months

Sylvia turned 5 months old on Valentine's day. She's starting to sit up (with pillows just in case!), has her first tooth, blows bubbles, and has learned how to squeal REALLY loud - it's what wakes us up in the mornings these days! Here's a few nice pics of our sweet girl.

New Blogs

To the right, check out new links to Denise and Tom's new (Neu!) blog and to my cousin Marah's new blog with her husband Dave and baby Ian!

Bouncy bounce x 2

Team Hillary

On Thursday night, Melissa, Jen, Sylvia and I braved the wind/cold/traffic to see Hillary at Pier 30 in Seattle. When we were looking for parking many blocks from the event with a cold walk ahead of us, I doubted my decision to bring Sylvia along, but now I'm so glad she was there for her first political rally, with women I so admire, supporting the first legitimate female candidate we've had for the presidency. This is the legacy I'd like my daughter to inherit. An America that, like so many other countries who have elected women to lead them, respects women for all of their differences and similarities to men, and recognizes their inherent capabilities. This is our chance, perhaps the best chance in my life time, to elect our first woman president, after which confident, capable women will not, I hope, be antagonized for defining themselves by something other than femininity, but instead will be considered just another able candidate with a higher potential for multi-tasking, empathy and communication. GO HILLARY! It was quite a wait, and we were in the second room so we had just a peek-a-boo view of Hillary when she finally arrived. The wait was long enough that we even had a bit of a tussle over who got the last mint. Jen got the short end of the stick on that one.

P.S. Would someone tell Rep. Jay Inslee that the following is insulting, not inspiring: "People keep asking if America is ready to elect a woman president; if America can elect the idiot we have now, we can do anything!" I mean, please, think about what you say before you say it!

Babies

Melissa and I brought the girls, Macy and Sylvia, to our girl's night at Jen's on Friday. It was such a treat - I've got the best friends a woman could have, and it was especially fun to see our baby girls side by side. And Macy, Sylvia apologizes for peeing on your blankie. Auntie Jen, that goes for your carpet too.

Three!

It's hard to believe that three years have already passed since this wonderful child came into our lives ... and then on the other hand, it feels like he's been with us forever. Although we had his birthday party this past weekend, today was his school celebration, which was a very big deal. They make it so special - they all sat in a circle, turned out the lights, and Andy took a globe and walked around a candle representing the sun three times representing his three years on earth. During each rotation around the sun, the teacher read a few things about that year in Andy's life. Then they all sang happy birthday, he blew out the candle, and the kids raised their hands if they wanted to say something nice about the Andy (lots of "I like to play with you," "thanks for the cookies," and one "you're cute" (natch!)). The kids obviously love that it's a quiet, symbolic ceremony so it feels like a big deal. Plus there's the singing and eating of treats! Of course, since I only remembered that I needed to get treats together last night, we brought OFC sugar cookies that I bought at the store late last night and frosted, then cut down with smaller cookie cutters so the kids wouldn't be jumping off the walls all afternoon and the teachers wouldn't kill me. They looked home made, but when they asked me if there were peanuts in them and I said "they were made in machinery that also processes eggs, soy, peanuts and other nuts," I think that gave it away!!!

Eric reads about Andy's three years while Andy walks around the "sun" candle.

Afterwards, Andy gets a big sticker and birthday stamps on his hands.

Here's the birthday song and Andy blowing out the candle:

After school/work, we took Andy to dinner for his family birthday. He got a froofy drink with an umbrella and a cherry, and of course dessert -- a dense chocolate and white chocolate decadence -- which he ate completely, but for a couple of small bites for the adults!

Meanwhile, Sylvia's teeth are coming in, and she wants to chomp on everything, including Nonna's sweater.

Here's a fun picture of Andy at about 18 months. It's so fun to look back.