Tristan's New Tricks

So the last two weeks have been quite busy for Tristan. He progressed from moving by slithering on his belly and pulling himself along with his arms while flailing his legs wildly behind him, so a full fledged crawl. In addition, he started pulling himself up on whatever he was able to crawl over to (the coffee table, our legs, a dog, etc.). So now he is truly able to explore the world and whatever he sets his sights on, which unfortunately so far seems to be the dogs' water bowl, the toilet brush, and anything that looks interesting to put in his mouth. He also seems to have developed a sixth sense, in that he is always able to anticipate the toy Amelia might want to play with next, and the instant he touches it she wants it. Amazing isn't it?

He figured out clapping just this last week or so as well, and he thinks it is really neat that he can start clapping at the dinner table and all of a sudden Amelia, Dan, and I are clapping along with him. He stops and starts and watches us follow along. Feel the power little man.

On the tooth front he went in a matter of days from four to six, with seven and eight on the cusp. I don't think he actually uses words yet, but I do wonder, since I hear a lot of ma ma ma ma when I come in the room, and he was giving us a lot of ba ba ba ba while playing with balls at Gymboree this week. Maybe one of these days I'll be able to decipher a definitive word.

We are off to Scotland tomorrow, Amelia is super excited to go on an airplane and see Grandma. Dan and I are super excited to have a live-in babysitter for a week! I'll get some new photos up of Tristan's new tricks and our travels when we return. Até já!

Little Minds at Work

Amelia has a couple of books where the main characters have a birthday, so lately she has been making cakes and then asking me to sing "Happy Birthday" (and the Portuguese equivalent). Yesterday she built a beautiful block cake and asked me to sing, and I obliged with rounds of "Parabéns a Você" and "Happy Birthday to Amelia."

When I was finished she said, "Now three for Mommy."

Having absolutely no idea what that meant, I questioned her: "Three what for Mommy? Three pieces of cake for me? Do you want me to sing Happy Birthday for Mommy?"

"Yes, three for Mommy."

Still confused I gave it a go and let out a weak "Happy Birthday to You" and was promptly interrupted.

"No, three."

"Three what, I don't understand?"

It went on like this for a while, until I finally got it, and correctly sang:

"Happy Birthday Three You,

Happy Birthday Three You,

Happy Birthday Dear Mommy,

Happy Birthday Three You."

Because as Amelia astutely observed, this is the proper encore after a round of "Happy Birthday Two You!"

The Noodle

As I was doing the dishes tonight, Amelia was playing along in her kitchen. She had some dried pasta and spaghetti noodles that she was cooking. I told her as soon as I was finished we were going upstairs to get ready for bed, so she put her things away and came over to me holding a spaghetti noodle.

"Can I take this one upstairs with me?" she asked.

"Of course" I responded, "You may bring that noodle upstairs to get ready for bed with you."

She looked at the noodle for another minute and then said "This one is beautiful!"

If only we all could find the beauty in a single noodle. Let's make that our goal for today.

Spring Update

So I know it has been awhile without any real news, but things here are going well. Spring has brought us some nice weather and lots of time outside. We've had our first visits to the beach for the year, set up the baby pool in the backyard, and spent a lot of time in the sandbox.

Now that Tristan can sit up he enjoys sitting in place and playing with various toys in his vicinity while occasionally laughing at his sister. When we place toys at a distance he can eventually get to them, but his crawling still leaves some coordination to be desired. All a work in progress. At this point in time he's about 3 months behind Amelia, who literally couldn't be held down. Tristan is still generally content to look around and enjoy his surroundings, and of course all of the activity of watching his sister. He also now got 4 teeth, working on 5, and is enjoying some of the new foods we are presenting him with (and others are of course flat out rejected).

The month of May will hopefully bring more sunshine and chances to explore the outdoors together. It will also bring a family vacation to Scotland to join Karen, Kevin, Liam and Julie. Amelia got the travel bug a little early in life and is now crossing days off the calendar until it is time to "get on airplane, with people and suitcases, and play blocks with Grandma!" That will be our next adventure to share with you.

For now, we have lots of new photos to share, just click here.