August 30

It's nearly Labor Day weekend, which means the end of swimming season. But with the remnants of Hurricane Isaac bearing down on us, Chris knew that we needed to get one last swim in today. With all of the rain they're forecasting, there will be no swimming this weekend.

So before dinner, we all headed down to the pool.

Do you remember that we gave Caleb a scooter for his third birthday because all of the neighborhood kids ride their scooters to the pool? Chris wanted to let Caleb try riding his to the pool tonight.

It did not go well. I ended up scooping them up in the car and dropping them off at the entrance to the pool parking lot. Caleb was able to glide all the way down to the pool, which he thought was pretty fun.

My little scooter! It's fun to think about how different he will be next summer when the pool opens back up. He'll be nearly four then; how much farther will he be able to ride his scooter?

My boys, at the end of their inaugural riding-scooters-to-the-pool-together experience. Chris may have been more excited about it than Caleb was.

The big pool was much too cold for swimming, but the baby pool was tolerable. Caleb did some preliminary splashing before jumping in.

Splash!

These three had so much fun! Both kids are much more confident in the water than they were at the beginning of the season.

Happy boy.

Happy Dad. He loves taking his kids to the pool. They all have so much fun!

Daisy even did some pool walking. You go, girl!

Now that we have the water confidence taken care of, we can start learning to actually swim. What fun!

August 29

The children were not at their best today. They wouldn't eat their lunch, they took crummy naps, and they fussed and whined all afternoon. But this morning? Oh, this morning was lovely!

We went out on the porch, as per our new routine, and waved hello to the schoolbuses.

Daisy is now a fan of whole milk. (We're still nursing, just trying to add in some extra calories wherever we can.)

She's also a fan of pulling up to standing and cruising.

She is not a fan of the mosquitoes who gave her those two angry red spots on her face.

Caleb brought Lightning McQueen and Sally out and zoomed them all over the place.

A diaper and wardrobe change later, I got this photo of my girl: 

I think I may recreate it in sixteen years when it's time for her senior pictures.

Really, she was trying her darndest to reach the doorbell.

Poor thing, she's just not tall enough!

Then lunch, naps, blah blah blah... Daisy took a crummy nap. Caleb woke up while I was in Daisy's room for the third time, trying to get her back to sleep so she could finish her nap. (OK, I'll admit it: she had been asleep for two hours, but she was definitely NOT ready to be awake.) I set her down on the floor and went to find Caleb, who was wandering around the house, looking for me. Meanwhile, Daisy was screaming in her room and I was growing increasingly agitated. I found Caleb and asked him to go see if Daisy was okay. A few  minutes later, Caleb came into the kitchen and I could hear Daisy scooting down the hall behind him. No fussing.

I asked Caleb what he did to make Daisy happy, and he replied, "I sang her a little song!"

Love that boy.

Then, Daisy did this: 

No, not walking. Standing independently. Most babies do this between 11 and 13 months, and Daisy is a week shy of her 16-month birthday. But still, it's a big milestone for us!

And look how happy she is about it! Walking, here we come!

And this boy? He was SO proud of his baby sister!

August 28

I had book club tonight, so this post isn't particularly timely. Sorry about that.

Our new favorite thing is hanging out on the front porch. Most mornings will find us there; I sit on the porch swing and sip my coffee, while the kids play, wave at passing cars, and wait with eager anticipation for the passing schoolbuses. (One great thing about our house that I've just discovered: apparently we sit on a thoroughfare for buses. Each morning, no fewer than five buses drive past our house, and possibly more.) Our neighbors across the street are usually out on their porch, too, and Caleb tries to shout a three-year-old conversation across the street. We say hello to runners, to kids walking to the bus stop, to dog-walkers. It's pretty idyllic. 

We repeat the process in the afternoon, minus the coffee. The only downside? Mosquitoes. Lots of them. The kids look like they have leprosy.

Here are some scenes from our afternoon porch time:

Daisy loves climbing up into Daisy-sized chairs. The only problem is that she also loves standing on Daisy-sized chairs. Can you say, "Danger?" Most days I give her a chance to use them appropriately, but end up putting them away.

She's totally into the "ugly smile" right now - she scrunches up her face and grins so hard that I'm afraid her face might burst. It's not cute at all, but it is so adorable!

Schoolbus!

She's also into her babies right now. She just discovered Caleb's babydolls, and they are now absolutely hers. Blessedly, Caleb's attachment to them seems to have waned.

Acorn!

No no, Daisy. Those are for squirrels to eat, not for you to eat.

Chris got home while the kids were riding their bikes. 

Daisy is remarkably adept at her tricycle. She still can't figure out (or reach) the pedals, but it doesn't seem to slow her down.

How cute are they?

(Also, Caleb chose his clothes today. When it came time to pick out a shirt, he said, "Mommy, can I wear two shirts today?" Why not? So he did. I even cuffed the sleeves to show off his fashion statement.  Surprisingly, I think it looks pretty good!)

Then I fed the family and went off to book club. When I returned home, Chris told me that Caleb watched a little bit of Happy Feet before bedtime. (It's our latest library pick.) At bedtime, Caleb said, "Daddy, I have something to show you. Watch this!"

And then, with a serious expression on his face, he began stomping and tapping and leaping and twirling. He was focused on his moves, and when he finished, he beamed proudly up at Chris. He was dancing just like Mumble the penguin! (Here's a video of Mumble's moves to give you an idea.) I nearly died laughing when Chris told me about it!

August 26

I went grocery shopping today while the kids napped. Sadly, just as I pulled into the parking lot, I heard a loud rumble and the skies opened up. I hate missing the opportunity to nap during a good thunderstorm. But I soldiered on, and did my shopping.

I returned home to find a perplexing sight: Chris, washing my car in the rain. Then Caleb woke up and joined his daddy.

Really, it was barely sprinkling at that point. The rain you see in the picture is actually Chris, spraying Caleb with the hose. But Caleb insisted that he needed his umbrella and rain boots. I just barely talked him out of wearing his rain coat.

Then Caleb got the hose and began spraying every passing car. 

He gets that from his dad.

Happy boy. What a stinker. 

Daisy was entertained by her brother's antics.

Let's be honest; Caleb was entertained by his antics.

Just one more picture of my sweet girl.

August 25

On Tuesday, we made our regular pilgrimage to the local library. While I was busy getting Daisy settled, Caleb found his own book and sat down to read it. He chose a book that I would definitely not have chosen for him, and he loves it. Jodie's Passover Adventure is about a girl who lives in Jerusalem. Her father is an archaeologist, and he allows her to explore an ancient tunnel/cave with her trusty flashlight.

Since his first reading of the book, Caleb has been begging me to take him to the zoo. It took me a while to connect the dots: in the book, Jodie explores a cold, dark, wet cave, and Caleb remembers his last visit to the zoo, where he also saw a cold, dark wet "cave".

Today, we took him to the zoo. Chris and I planned ahead, and we got there right as the zoo opened. This meant several wonderful things for us - we got a great free parking spot, the weather was cool, the kids were cheerful, the zoo was mostly empty, and the kids got to ride the carousel and pet the stingrays for free. It was an all-around win.

Daisy reached a new milestone today. It was the first time she's ever kept her sunglasses on for a prolonged period of time! Perhaps next she'll tolerate a hair bow? The sunglasses are a big deal because 1. they protect her eyes and 2. they elicit adoring gazes from every random passerby. And clearly my daughter deserves everyone's adoring gazes.

Caleb was a bit skeptical of the carousel. He chose to ride on a puffin. The only downside was that the puffin moved up and down, which added an unpredictable element to the whole spinny-ness of the carousel.

Eventually, he loved it.

Daisy loved the carousel, too.

Then, on to the stingrays. 

I have never before attempted stingrays for several reasons. Mostly, I was afraid that Caleb would be terrified. Also, most of our trips to the zoo are with friends, and not Chris. Attempting to pet stingrays with a cagey Caleb and a wiggly Daisy and no help would spell disaster.

But today, we had a 1:1 ratio, so we tried it.

Win! 

Caleb got to pet several stingrays. See the fin under his hand?

And see how delighted both he and Daisy are?

After the stingrays, we finally made our way to the place that initiated our visit - the tunnel. 

Caleb enjoyed the fish for a moment,

then pulled his little flashlight out of his pocket and set to exploring.

He discovered stalactites and stalagmites, but no mutant monsters or dragons.

Daisy liked standing and watching the fish.

Cool, huh?

And then a turtle swam down to say hello. Daisy was thrilled!

After our cave exploration, we had snacks in the sunshine.

Then, back to the cave one more time!

After a final visit to the elephant fountain (Caleb's favorite), we were done with our zoo adventure. We left at 10:30, right as it was starting to get crowded and hot.

What a great morning!

August 24

It's our nightly ritual, and it never ceases to entertain me:

Chris takes the kids for their evening run. 

They only run down to the stop sign and back, but it's a lot of fun.

Since Daisy doesn't walk yet, she "flies".

Since Daisy flies, Caleb is a helicopter.

Tonight, he ran up the hill and down the hill.

My sweet little helicopter boy.

August 22

Daisy had her appointment with the immunologist today. 

You know, the appointment we scheduled three months ago? It was today.

I was really hoping that the doctor would miraculously find some small, easy-to-fix problem, and offer us a simple solution. No such luck.

It turns out that Daisy has a lovely immune system. We're doing a bit of follow-up testing, but all lab work indicates that she has a great immune response to most viral issues. The fact that she keeps getting sick? Apparently it's a normal part of being a baby. The doctor attributed it to an immature immune system, but said she would grow out of it. His cure for the recurrent colds? Keep her out of the church nursery (our known trigger) until she's two.  

TWO. 

As in, TWO YEARS OLD.  

As in, eight more months.

*sigh*

But she's healthy! The doctor was honestly more concerned with Daisy's weight gain than anything. They weighed her at the appointment, and Chris and I were thrilled (nay, ECSTATIC) to hear that she weighed 18 pounds, 8 oz.  And then I realized that the nurse had weighed her with her diaper on, despite my protests.

Girl doesn't weigh 18 pounds, 8 ounces. She might weigh 18, maybe. I'm kicking myself for not forcing the nurse to weigh the girl naked, so that we could at least have a valid measurement. Oh well.

Bur regardless, he was concerned about the weight, and pressed me on what our primary doc was doing about it. When I told him that we were hoping it was an immune system related thing, he decided that we needed to see a dietitian and a gastroenterologist. I agreed to the dietitian, but thought a gastroenterologist was a bit much, so we're waiting on that one.

But she's healthy!

And smart. So smart.

See? Putting on Caleb's rain boots, all by herself.

She even got them on the right feet, something her brother only does 75% of the time!

Caleb got to play with Grandma while Daisy, Chris and I were at the doctor. He has already figured out the magic that is Grandma, namely, that if Mommy says no, Grandma will probably say yes. And that's OK.

Now he wants to be with her all the time.

Back to my smart girl. Here, she's signing and saying, "more". She was eating ice.

Caleb said his favorite part of dinner was the crunchy carrot. His hair's all sweaty and rugged-looking from his bike helmet.

What a sweet boy he is!

I showed Daisy the picture of Caleb smiling for the camera, and she promptly showed me a big smile, too. Love that girl.

Thank God she's healthy. I hope He'll forgive me for skipping church for the next eight months.