Trike

Belle has had a bike that her Aunt Kim (Tata) and Uncle Mark gave her for her birthday, but she has been too little to ride it.

She also has a trike (pink) that her Grandma and Grandpa DeGarmo gave her. She loves sitting on it, but she has not been able to ride it. A while back (about a week or so) we went to Babies R Us and there was a little trike there. She got on it and I told her what to do. She finally figured out how to push each foot in turn to make it go forward. I captured some video on my phone and you can see it here.

She was really excited as she got it going saying "Whoa! Whoa! Whoa!" all the way. By the time I got the video going, she was more focused on what she was doing... now she can ride her pink trike at home as well. I think she'll have to get a little taller to ride the bike, but she still likes to get on it whenever she can...

Park

Today, Daddy, Belle and Zach went for a walk at the park in the Arboretum and went to see the cows. Zach hid under the blanket since it was a bit chilly in the shadows...

And Belle rode the cow. She also played with a little girl in the park and got her pant's seat nice and muddy. It's hard to have fun if you're not getting dirty...

Mouthful

Today as I (Chris) was getting Isabella ready for her nap, we were talking about middle names (inspired by Morgan, her older cousin.) I told her that her middle name was DiAnne and that Nonny's (my mom) middle name is Dianne too. She thought that was cool. I then told her that Nonny's first name is Shari. "Can you say Shari Dianne?" I asked. "No," she replied, "That's a mouthful." I had to laugh.

Fire truck

Tonight Isabella and I (Chris) went out looking for dishwashers. Yes, ours has gone on the fritz (actually it is pouring water out the front corner, so we can't really run it.) Despite the suggestion of some relatives that dawn and a dish rag are the cheapest replacements, we went looking for a new dishwasher tonight. We pulled up to Sears Grand and I got out of my car, looked two rows over and saw the hood of a car explode upwards and a fire start to consume the car. Isabella saw the fire and wanted to know what was going on. I called 911 and they said the fire truck would be on route.

Isabella and I moved quickly up to the store and watched as the a guy in a tow truck pulled up, jumped out with a fire extinguisher and put the fire out. She was pretty excited. "Man blow out fire!" We went in and looked at dishwashers and then came back out in time to see the fire truck that showed up. Isabella was fascinated. She waved to the firemen then said, "Tell mommy about fire truck when get home!" And that is just what she did. I'm betting she'll be talking about it for a long time...

Zach's latest weight

Zach had his wellness visit today, and as I suspected, he overtook his 9-month-old cousin, Marissa, in the weight category. He weighs 17 pounds, 12 ounces and is 26 5/8 inches long (I'm a little surprised that nurse is willing to be that precise in light of how they measure babies.) He seems so big, but still only registers in the 50% for weight and height. His head is a little bigger at 80%. He did so well considering they made us wait an extra long time so he was starving by the time the nurse came in to do his shots. Isabella was very good also, although she did bang her head against the wall while spinning around making herself "bizzy".

Monday fun

Yesterday, I, Chris, had Zach and Isabella for the morning. This is not a big deal. It's normal. I also had Katie Cavanagh, which is also normal for Mondays. She is Andy and Ashley's daughter and the girls enjoy playing together. Andy and Ashley are dear friends of ours, so we are glad that I can watch all 3 kids on Monday and Ashley can take all 3 on Friday. It works well... most of the time.

Typically when Katie gets here, it is about time for Zach to take a nap. This leaves me with 2, which is easy for the most part. Then when Zach is waking up, it's time for Katie to go to sleep, so we switch them out. When it's all done, out of 3 hours of watching all of them, I only really have 3 at a time for a few minutes.



Then there was Monday. Katie got up at 5am so she went down for a nap just prior to coming over. When she got here, she was happy as a clam and had no intention of going back to sleep. Thankfully, Zach was tired, so he went down. Isabella and Katie played well together for quite a while while watching an episode of Blue's Clues. After a while, Zach woke up again.

I thought, "this is the time to get them all out of the house. We'll go do something fun, like drive in circles killing time, or buying milk at sams." Brilliant plan. I put Zach on the floor, I put Isabella on the couch. I start to put her shoes on.



I then hear screeching from behind me. I look back and Katie (15 months) has Zach's top lip up over his nose. I let out a "yipe" and she then proceeds to bean him on the face 3 times in the not so gentle "Pat Pat Pat" that her parents have taught her to do to things she likes. Turns out more like "slap slap slap" on the face, and Zach bursts in to tears. I grab Katie and set her up the chair, all the while saying, "no Katie, no. be gentle with Zach. no hurt Zach." She bursts in to tears.

I go back to Zach and pick him up and discover that he is FINE and he starts to settle down.


However, Isabella then bursts in to tears saying, "No Katie hurt Zach! No Katie be gentle with Zach! No hurt my Zachy!" By this time, Zach is back to smiling and being happy. Katie is sitting in the chair wondering what just happened and how she's going to climb down. Isabella is beside herself and wants to personally inspect any possible damage done to her little brother. She then takes up the guard position between Katie and Zach as to fend off any future hostilities.

All of this should have had be laughing, but let me tell you, three little kids screaming at once can really ratchet the stress-o-meter right to the top of the scale. When it was all done, I was ready for everyone to come home!

I'm just thankful that Ashley gets to experience the joys for 3 at once as well on Friday's. I'm willing to bet that she is calmer about the whole thing. :-)

Chris

Jesus Loves Me

Click here to watch Isabella sing "Jesus Loves Me."

A Few Pictures

Zach the traveler. Mostly he is gets around by the face in the carpet tummy inchworm method, but with a little help he can get around a little easier. He's not walking yet, but he's having fun trying.

Isabella was so excited when Zach got to go swing with her at the park. They had a great time.

"Daddy Red, Mommy Red, Zach Red!" Isabella exclaimed as she looked around the room through the top of a ziploc container. She thought it was cool that everything was red.

What kind of p?

Isabella is continuing to improve on her alphabet song, but she is still figuring it out. For the last couple of days, it has been "ABCDEFG, HIJK "APPLE-P" QRS, TOO UV, WXYZ...."

Funny, when I was little, I thought it was an "Elmeno-P" I wasn't sure what that was, but it didn't matter. She has decided it must be an "apple-p." :-)

Chris

Talking with Zach

This morning at breakfast Isabella was sitting next to Zach and eating cheerios. Zach was eating his food and Isabella kept saying "talk Zach, talk to Belle." He wasn't very cooperative, but smiled at her alot. So she started babbling baby talk at him. Later in the car she was very pleased when he started talking to her.