Thanksgiving 2008

Friends

Turkey day came and went, we did our best to help the economy on Black Friday, and now the holiday is drawing to a close. At the risk of sounding cheesy, we have so much to be thankful for - the kids, our friends, the health and wellbeing of our extended family. There's so much good right now, and very little to complain about.



We spent a couple of days down in Houston to celebrate an early thanksgiving with Kayla, Chloe, Brayden, Aunt Erin and Teresa and Grandma Babe. Everyone had a good time playing together, which is fun given the age difference of the kids.















Then we came back to Denver and had the annual thanksgiving party with the Bliss and Finch families. Last year that party was, quite frankly, rather chaotic, but this year the kids ate and played on their own merits, leaving the adults the chance to actually have conversations - it was nice. Daniel, Harrison, Ethan and Reid more "play around" eachother than together, but there is some interaction and negotiation over toys.






What's up with Rachel? Well, we all have had this rather nasty cold, but Rachel has it the worst - she's coughing, all puffy-eyed, runny and generally miserable. Adding to that, she's teething. So she slept through the party last night. She seems to have hit a growth spurt lately, and her hair is finally coming in strong -> hopefully we'll get to the point where people stop thinking she's a boy. Oh, and her vocabulary is increasing. She definitely said "Papa" the other day, and today we got "Cat".

We got some snow, and Daniel has a new snowsuit, so he wants nothing more than to play outside now. He found an icicle and thought that was neat. His cognitive skills are outstanding for his age, and he just says what he's thinking, so he can be a lot of fun to be around. Yesterday, while driving home from the mall, he wanted to drive the car. He didn't just say that, though, he tried to make it my idea: "Papa, can you say "Daniel, come drive with me"? and was upset when I wouldn't say it.



Speaking of which, Daniel knows how to drive my car - at least partially. He knows to turn the key in the ignition, release the handbrake and open the garage door. Luckily he doesn't currently have the strength to release the brake on his own. Potty training is still going very well.

And that's about it. Here's hoping that all of you had a blessed thanksgiving too.

D.A.R.E.

Cruising...

Friends

What's new around here? Well, the big news has to be that we're on another round of potty training for Daniel, and this time it seems to really be working. He's has a couple of days now without any accidents, and he's pretty proud of that.

The secret? Well, it could just be that he's older this time, but the other variable is that we ditched the pull-ups this time, and went straight for underwear. When he made a mistake with pullups, it was pretty much absorbed, and "no big deal". but with underwear - well, it's noticable. Plus, he has "Cars" underwear, so it's rather devastating. "I pooped on lightening McQueen..."

Rachel is cruising like no-one's business. She walks along couches, transitions between chairs and crawls up stairs. And she loves being in control of her movement. Just knowing that she can get to anywhere she wants cheers her up, and there's nothing that makes her angrier than if she slips or falls. She'll be starting sign language courses in December, but we've already introduced a few words. We're pretty sure that she knows "light", but there's a chance that she thinks it means "Mama". But she'll copy gestures, and is just pleased as punch when she is communicating.

Anida's camera is back for repairs for the second time in 6 months (don't buy Canon, they're nice, but break), so the pictures are somewhat sparse. This is from a goofing-around session at the kitchen table the 0ther day.
There are, of course other things going on, and it's probably due to Rachel being a second child that we're not noting everything down. Long-time readers will remember that we noted every new food that Daniel ate - not so much with Rachel - she'll have bites of most of what we eat now. For the first-child perspective, we read and adore both Sean's blog and Claire's blog - both of them within weeks of Rachel's age, and the same things are going on. So we feel a little bad for not celebrating the milestones in the same way, but Rachel's doing just fine by any measure.

Going to visit the Texas cousins (and aunts, and Grandma) for Thanksgiving. More after that.

Love, A.D.E.R.