Cupcakes

This week-end Carys reminded me that she was a good listener at daycare and I promised we would make cupcakes. It turned into a two day project but we had a lot of fun decorating. The sprinkles did not make it though since they were dropped in the middle of the icing. These don't look the greatest but they were very tasty and Carys loved eating sprinkles and icing the most.

Stealth Stander

Helen started pulling up on anything chest height to her. Of course whenever I would point the camera in her direction, she would stop and sit down. I had to cobble this series together from a bunch of false starts. Carys and I were doing a project and Helen was happy as a clam trying to stand. After some discussion with friends on Saturday, we determined the whole bowlegged thing from early standing smells more like an old wives tale than sound medical advice. However, I'm not knocking my doctor, she's been right many, many times before. I'll just say that I'm following her advice not to encourage Helen to stand but I'm not going to discourage it either at this point.

Lil ' Henry

Meet Henry. He's Helen's first playdate before she even knows what a date is. His Mom and Dad, Tamra and JT, are some of our closest friends here. I love knowing that they will grow up together. It will be such fun!

Peek A Boo

Carys started playing peek a boo with Helen. It's interesting to watch Helen and Carys interact. Carys loves Helen (except when she has one of her toys) and Helen loves to watch Carys run and play.

Pulling Up

Sorry no pics yet. Just a post b/c until now, Helen has not paid any attention to anything above her head when she's crawling. Today at daycare, she pulled up in her crib to stand and she was definitely eyeing the contents on top of the coffee table. This makes me a little concerned b/c the pedi said not to encourage standing so early b/c it might cause bowleggedness (is that a word?). Anyway, I hate to discourage her too. It's a quandry. I'm going to try to capture any stealth standing with my night vision setting tonight when she wakes up for her midnight snack, hee hee.

One to Five

Carys is getting pretty familiar with her numbers and is in the process of learning how to count things. We don't push her and we make sure it's fun for her. Next time I'll catch her "hook 'em horns" sign, it's cute.

Night Light

Poppy is always on the lookout for cool items for Carys to explore. Although we don't always agree they're age appropriate, he does take steps to ensure supervision. I've never seen this in a nightlight format but Carys was transfixed.

I'll say the super shot did it's magic and she is feeling better. She is no longer contagious and will be attending daycare tomorrow.

Scarlet Fever

Yes, Carys has been diagnosed with scarlet fever. I felt like I was back in the dark ages when I heard the diagnosis but thank God for antibiotics. My poor baby had to get this awfully painful antibiotic shot today (2 inch needle and thick, thick liquid). She was a trooper though and is still recovering. She's on a 10 day span of antibiotics in addition to the shot but she can return to daycare on Monday. I'm torn b/c I'm still at work and part of me is relieved she can go to daycare and another part of me is outraged she would get this infection of course from the daycare. It's highly contagious and she could be easily re-infected if there was an outbreak. I just urge other parents to keep their kids at home when they are sick. This would reduce the spread of these sicknesses and save everyone from needless sickness and Dr. visits. Oh yeah, Poppy and I are feeling a bit of throat soreness so we'll probably get checked out at our local clinic tomorrow. I just hope Helen escapes this.

Left Hand, Right Knee, Right Hand, Whoops!

Helen crawled a LOT today at daycare. She's been doing this throw her weight in front of her to propel forward but this is the first day her limbs worked in concert to crawl. Unfortunately, I don't know how to take action shots with our new camera as well. I especially like her final shot, and the expression she has like "yeah that's what I wanted" Exactly.

Banana Hands and Apple Juice

This is Helen's first time in the chair to self-feed. She did not know what to make of the bananas and even once I fed one to her she made a face (sound familiar?) So I think we'll have to practice this a lot more but I'm sure she's eyeballing me while I eat my dinner so she's definitely ready for table food.

Listening Ears

Carys and I are going to be practicing using our listening ears in the coming weeks. hopefully we'll have pictures of our progress soon.

Sippy Cup

This is Helen's second or third attempt to use a sippy cup. I wish I could say this was the breakthrough but she lapsed into banging the sippy cup on the floor. Hey, isn't that all they're good for?

Hoodies

Carys got tons of outfits with hoods this year. To my surprise, she loves the hood and wears it whenever she has one which is a big bonus in this cold weather.

Salad

Now, I'm not saying anything crazy like Carys ate an entire salad BUT she did try it and she liked the few bites she had. We have our fair share of treats around here but we do make sure we eat our veggies too. It's true, if you get them involved in cooking, they will eat what they cook (for the most part, he he)

Balancing Act

I just discovered if I place this ring toy in front of Helen when she sits up it helps her balance and she also can chew. A multi-purpose toy...gotto love it.

Happy For My Sister!

Carys was also very happy for her sister. She can't wait to really be able to play with Helen. Plus Poppy got a really good tonsil shot here.

Sitting Pretty

I was shocked today when Helen finally pushed herself up to a sitting position by herself and held it for some time. After the first time she found she could do it, she kept doing it over and over. She's pretty pleased with herself as you can see.

I've been thinking about her development and I really think as the second baby she's had tons of floor time since I had to split my time with her running around taking care of a toddler. That's really made a difference in the time it's taken her to strengthen her muscles and practice coordinating her movement.

Hook 'Em Horns!

The Horns had a stunning recovery in the 4th quarter to beat USC in the Rose bowl. Congratulations Horns for a well fought win. We love ya!

Attempted Sitting

Helen has been trying to push up and sit in addition to trying to crawl. She still needs some work on this but she's pretty pleased with herself and comfortable in this position.

I have to say her motor skills or muscles or something are way way more developed than Carys was at this age. I always heard about babies doing things early and never quite believed it. Now I can see how it's possible.

Carys Art

Carys does tons of crafts at daycare. I'm always on the lookout for her artwork that's suitable to be recycled. Here are a couple of examples. The top picture is her Christmas painting and it goes perfectly with my new kitchen.

The bottom photo is a couple of her paintings we recycled to make Christmas Thank you notes. She helped cut and paste. I found out she's not bad with the scissors but I still think that's a high supervision activity. And no, we have not sent these cards out yet. But they are coming soon.