Another Thursday at school

Decorating a heart that will made into a class quilt for the school auction...

A little pirate potato head is always fun...

In charge of the hose...

Rolling out dough for his pretzel...

Little monkey on the bars...

Galloping during circle time...

Robot arms...

Listening intently to the new "Harold and Piggy" story...

Another great day at school!!

9 months

Dear baby girl,

How is it that I only have 3 more months of having you as my baby?  It is kind of crazy how change you can change so much in a month little girl.

Over this past month you have gone from eating puree foods to feeding yourself to wanting purees again, while feeding yourself!   The high chair is an exciting place for you to be and eating is something you truly enjoy.  You make all kinds of noises and yelling when it is time to eat. You now eat breakfast, lunch, and dinner!  

You have been devouring food on her own and really love to feed herself...it is SO messy but I love watching your little fingers, using the pincher grab and shoveling the food into your mouth.  Some things you have been eating by yourself are tofu, broccoli (which you thought was the best thing ever), carrot coins, roast butternut squash, Pacific cod, tilapia, blueberries, raspberries, banana, yogurt, meatloaf, turkey burgers, goat cheese, zucchini...who am I kidding, you love whatever is put in front of you.  You actually have preferences too, if I put fish and something else, you always go for the fish.  I know this can pass quickly though, your brother used to be the best eater and now it is like pulling teeth to get him to eat sometimes.

You have gone from being a vorocious nurser, to going on a nursing strike, to back to nursing mostly at night.  You have definitely slowed down in the nursing department, you are much to interested in other things to nurse much during the day.  I am crossing my fingers you make it to one year.  You may or may not nurse when you wake up in the morning and then the rest of the day is a toss up.  Sometimes you may nurse once or twice, sometimes not.  You definitely make up for it at night.

You have gone from not really moving to turning and scooting (backwards) yourself all over the place.  I can no longer leave you in the room alone for more than a moment or you have scooted yourself somewhere to get into mischief!  The other day, I peaked around the corner and you were way over by the plant, trying to pull off the leaves.

You can now go down the slide by yourself and have come to love the park.  You get super excited when you know we are getting close and now get upset when it is time to leave.  You love to be in the swing and just laugh and laugh, with your mouth wide open, especially when we push you higher.  When your Ge Ge pushes you, it makes your day.  You have figured out too how to hold onto the swing handles.

You have gone for your first solo car ride in the red push car.  Now, whenever you see it in the garage, you try to dive bomb to get inside!  You try and yell to your Ge Ge, telling him to slow down on his bike, so you can catch up.  When he stops for us, you just look at him with the smile, the smile that is special for your Ge Ge.  

You started the month off with some great stretches of sleep, waking only once in the night.  I was actually feeling rested for a couple of days.  Then it changed again, back to waking twice, in about 3 hour intervals.  Those are the toughest nights, I feel like the walking dead when I wake up in the morning.  You go to sleep at night around 6:30, you would sleep earlier but I just can't get you into bed any earlier. You wake up between 10:00-11:00 and then again between 2:00-3:00, then up for the day around 6:30.  It is an awful schedule and I hope you start sleeping longer.  I don't have the heart to let you cry since you are really nursing and it is the only time of day you really like to nurse now.

You are a fantastic napper though (knock on wood). You take 2 naps, usually one around 9:00 and the second one around 1:00.  You usually sleep for about 2 hours, which is fantastic.  You still love to fall asleep with your little lovies on your face and a binkie in your mouth.  When we go in your room to get you, after you've woken up, it is heart melting how excited you are.  I love it...love the way you smell, love how warm and rosy your cheeks are, love how your hair is an absolute disaster.

Some other fun things you have been doing this past month:
-you are no longer in the moses basket!!
-started waving bye bye to Baba while he was leaving for work
-didn't put anything in your mouth at music for a couple of weeks!!
-you love, love, love your books
-you have been enjoying playing with some "big kid" toys, like the little people farm
-you make sounds with the back of your hands
-you help take off your shirts and still help get your sleep sack on
-you love watching mama dance, it makes you laugh so hard.  You also love to dance and make music.
-bath time is one of your favorite parts of the day.  You have your favorite bath toys and get very upset if I have to take them out of your hands, even for a second to wash your hands.  You love splashing your Ge Ge in the bath.
-you are an amazing ball thrower.  You love playing catch, absolutely love it.
-shaking your head "no no", it is really cute you are doing this again.
-loves, loves, loves to get your socks off.  what is the deal with not liking sock on your feet?

Things you are not too fond of:
-your changing table.  It is such a challenge to keep you still and/or not crying when you lay down on your changing table.
-getting into the car seat if you haven't been out of it for long enough
-any sort of transition, if you need to get out of the swing or need to leave the park
-having your toys taken from you, oh my goodness, you scream

It is so fun to have you in our family Malia Belle.  You are the light of our lives, all of us just adore you.  Your Ge Ge loves to hug and kiss you and is really excited you have started to play and are able to do more things with him.  You have your Baba wrapped around your tiny fingers.  He is putty in your hands.  And I just can't get enough of your smile, your laugh, sweetness and squishiness.  We love you baby girl.

Love,
your mama

a small moment

As I was rushing around this afternoon, trying to get everything together before we left for music class, I walked in on this cute scene.  I could just feel the love and the silliness between these two kiddos.  I love them so much.

Malia drumming

Today in music class, Kekoa showed Malia how to drum and she was hooked!  Good job little miss 9 months old.

This is how you do it baby girl.

I got it!!

ram sam sam

Kekoa loves to sing and works really hard to learn the words to songs.  Each week at school, they sing "ram sam sam" and Kekoa just loves it.  It never gets old for me, watching him singing and doing the hand motions.

Almaden Quicksilver hike

Well, this isn't the place to take a 3 1/2 year old for a hike, if you expect to get anywhere.  The trial is really steep, very beautiful, but steep.  The perfect place for a hiking backpack to put the 3 1/2 year old in.  Kekoa actually did really great, considering how steep the trail is. Malia on the other hand was in a mood.  She didn't want to be in the carrier.  Scott tried putting her in the carrier like a backpack, she didn't like that either.  She just wanted to be carried, by her mama!!

Even though we didn't make it very far, I'm still glad we went.  I have been wanting to come here for a long time.  It has very interesting history, there was mining going on all in the hills.  Plus it was a gorgeous day.  Scott and I will just have to come back, without the kids! :)

birthday party

Saturday we went to Oak Meadow for one of Kekoa's friends birthday party.  I really can't believe all these kiddos are turning 4 this year!  It is unbelievable.

Anyways, Kekoa had so much fun, running around in the park and eating his favorite flavor of cupcake...chocolate!!  In the car, on the way over, he told me that he was hoping the cake would be chocolate. :) 

Malia had a great time too.  She just loves being around all the big kids and really tries to squirm out of our arms because she wants to play too!

 Oh my goodness, these two boys were having the best time going on the slide.  They thought is was so funny they would bump into each other at the end, pretending they were a train!  It was the cutest.

 I love Kekoa's laugh...

loves his letters

Kekoa is fascinated with the alphabet, especially trying to write the letters.  I found him today, with his "kiddy platter", tracing numbers and asked him if he would like me to write him out the letters of the alphabet to trace.  He was quite excited by this and couldn't wait for me to finish writing them.

It is so amazing me, how smart our little monkey is and how eager he is to learn.  It's pretty fantastic and I hope he always has this love of learning.

throwing the ball

Malia loves to play catch.  She is really good at throwing the ball back to you. It is really amazing.  She has the best Baba in the world, who has already taught her how to play catch. 

What is that Ge Ge doing?

Huh, throw that ball...