Off he goes

Zachary and Grandma Tuttle heading to California. A quick ice cream to celebrate getting through security. Our house is so quiet

Last night

I was changing a diaper around 3am and Miriam rolled. She has been doing this for a while but has suddenly got some speed and efficiency to her roll. She flipped over and off the top of the dresser!!! Fortunately I was prepared, I had a hand around an ankle. Instinct and my automatic muscle reflexes kicked in. I managed to grab her other ankle and pulled up to halt her head first momentum to the floor. No thunk. I win! I then carefully hauled her up to finish the diaper. She was still asleep, double win!

and one of Miri

Tongue out in concentration for the rev-rev-reving of the pre-crawl.

Helping around the house

This morning Z made his own pancakes this morning. He got everything out, added the mix and water, put the pan on, cooked and flipped 'em.



He also helped me with the vacuuming yesterday :-) Amazing since he normally scurries to his room and hides when I start cleaning. It's all motivated by his current desire for us to give him pocket money for doing jobs around the house.

But *why* don't the bad guys think they're good guys?

An inquiry from Zachary, after dinner.

"Why do all stories have good guys and bad guys? And how do the good guys know they're the good guys? And why do the good guys always refer to themselves as the good guys and the bad guys know they're the bad guys? Why don't the bad guys think they're the good guys?"

Why indeed.

swim lessons pt.2

Z is on his second set of swim lessons at Bartholomew pool. With one instructor (instead of 6 in 8 lessons) he has improved dramatically. And today diving finally clicked for him, both on the side of the pool with the instructor and here from the diving board. Everyone was like "how old is he?"

cheerio chewing

After several attempts with cheerios (and also small cubes of tofu) she has finally got the chew down. Here she is smiling proudly at the cheerios she is munching.

TOOTH!

It came through about a 4 days ago, but I finally got a pic of Miri's first tooth.

How they play

Yup hair chewing and pulling is a game in our house.

Pre-Crawl excerising

Miriam's hip wiggle samba has been a big feature over the last month. She's been working hard to isolate those thigh and leg muscles and often ends up with a knee up by her belly and then tipping over to her back. But this week she figured out both knees under and she's pushed up into a pre-crawl pose. Think svanasana (the table).  Fortunately at the moment she can only hold it for a second. But I know the time in which sitting her on the floor to play will soon to be over.

fireworks and sparklers

https://www.flickr.com/photos/m0nk3yphd/14596713793/in/photostream/

Z even got to light a firework with Erik's help. Miriam had a great time too, she got to ride in sytle and where the best wig ever.

Cherrywood July 4th parade

children reading

ball pit

Now Miriam has fairly stable sitting skills, we've converted the activity mat into a ball pit. WHOA. mind blown. Also Z loves playing with her. In other news, she had her 6 month check up. She is almost 20 lbs and 28inches (~95% for both). She has been fussy but mostly manageable from the shots and is recovering from a little bout of pink eye. She HATEs the eye drops and who knew she could close her eyes so tight. Z has started the Star Wars movies! He loved the first one and is loking forward to the empire strikes back tonight.

matchy match

Z choose to match his sisters stripes, which of course ensured photos..

First Summer Hike

We packed up and went into the greenbelt. Zachary carried his swim gear, water bottles and a pool noodle. I had miriam, the diaper bag, the rest of the swim gear, towels, food, sunscreen. I was prepared, except for a snakebite kit.  Ha, I didn't need one, we didn't seen a single snake or much other wildlife for that matter! Funny that a few miles up the river at lost pines, we see turtles and snakes at the edge once in a while and Z loves chasing the bass and other fish. But I digress we walked in about 10 minutes to a great water hole, with shallows and rapids, and a diving area. Miriam enjoyed the flowing water of the gentle rapids and also spinning in the water with me. Z went off free diving to find shells in the rocky riverbed. We had a great few hours.  The uphill hike out made for a long walk back with tired, damp kids and wet heavy towels. Overall our first adventure was a success, here is to many more.

Summer Reading

Our local library has a program, like many, for children over the summer. Read some books, get a prize. Ours is - read as many books as you want and keep track towards your goal, get a free book as a reward. (There is clearly no losing in this system.) But your kid needs to pick the number of books they want to read over the summer.

Me: "Zachary, how many books do you want to set as your summer reading goal?"
(My going in position is something like 30 books is a reasonable starting place)

Zachary, without pause: "100 books."

Me, startled: "Um, that's a lot of books. There's like 7 weeks left of summer so thats..."

Zachary, interrupting: "Mom, if I read 5 books a day... that's... (some finger counting occurs) - 20 days. So its no big deal."

Me, speechless briefly: "Right. Ok then. 100 books it is."

swim lessons

The all new Bartholomew pool, is a fabulous addition to the east side. And Z lessons are going swimmingly! He also likes to dive to the bottom, and cannon ball with his fancy prescription goggles.

Parents and friends.

The picture is a sign that appeared on Zachary's bedroom door today. 

It reads:

Nobody allowed except for parents and friends.

Actually, it reads:

nobute ulawd bsept for parinz and franz.

But we don't know anyone named "Franz" in Austin, so I'm going with my first read.

I'm just excited we're on the list.

(And that he still uses "bsept" for except, which he has done since he could first talk. I always assumed it would go away quickly. It hasn't, and I love it.)

Size at 5.5 months