No, I didn't...

Friends

Sorry about the delay - wrote this a week ago, but neglected to promote from draft to final.

Most of the time, Daniel just amazes us with how he has picked up language or phrases and uses them in the correct context. It's just plain old fun to watch him string ideas and phrases together.

Though for the last couple of days, he's been in a mode where he'll deny something repeatedly, and no amount of logic, proof or argument will change his mind. "Daniel, did you poop?" "No, I didn't" (you can smell him 8 feet away). "Daniel, did you hit Rachel?" "No, I didn't" (she's bawling). I'm sure this ability to deny the patently obvious is completely normal and will pass.

Daniel started playschool on Friday, and he seemed to enjoy it, but we really haven't heard too much about his day. He made "an art", but he doesn't talk about the other kids or his teachers much. Still, he seemed to enjoy his day, and I'm sure we'll hear more as time goes on. Something in our PC caught fire the other day in the middle of videoconferencing with Farmor and Grandpa, and D was quite shaken and worried that the PC had crashed while Farmor was "inside" it. It must have just been some dust, because it was smoky, but everything is working fine now.

Rachel may have finally crossed a barrier to crawling -> she's been pushing herself backwards, but in the last couple of days, she has pulled her legs under her and "lounged" forward to get where she wants to be. It's not smooth, but it seems to work. There's also a hint of a first tooth.

Anida has been helping our friends Harrison and Gretchen at the Palissades wine festival this weekend, so Eric's been getting a taste of parenting 24/7. It's gone reasonably well, though it certainly is a full-time job juggling the two of them, and they've missed mama a lot. Sunday, Grandma Babe comes to visit for the week, and it's also the annual PKD walk, so Eric and the kids will have walked in it by the time this is posted.

And that's about it for now. Hope everyone is well.

Love, Daniel, Rachel, Eric and Anida

Welcome to our new blog

Friends, Family

We're glad you chose to follow us over here to our new blog. The name obviously refers to the age difference between the kids.

All of the posts from the "old'" blogs are here, and there is still some tweaking to do, but if we wait to be "done", we'll never launch the site. I'll eventually add back the photo albums, and my goal is to introduce "tags" to classify the posts.

What? The editor speaks in first-person on this blog? Yeah, the whole writing as Rachel or Daniel is done for now. That was cute at first, but got kind of strained after a while. Other "new" rules involve not using our last name or those of our friends.

But enough rules. On with the updates.

Daniel is starting playschool these days. It's a drawn out process of getting started. Because he's going on both Fridays and Mondays, there have been two open sessions and two orientation sessions, but this coming Friday we finally start "for real". He seems to really enjoy school so far - with no separation anxiety, and a big smile on his face at the end. We introduced potty training for real in the last couple of weeks, and there have been some victories where he's voluntarily told us in advance, but also a number of missed chances. So it's a work in progress.

Rachel is in the process of realizing the permanence of things - particularly mama. Until recently, she'd get upset if mama left her sight, but she's starting to realize that things that disappear from her vision come back. This has allowed Anida to start going to the gym, because Rachel can now stay in the daycare there. The goal of crawling is tantalizingly close - Rachel will push up on her arms, thereby sliding backwards, but just in the last week or so, she's started pulling her legs under her like she's going to crawl. Right now, nothing makes her happier than pulling up to standing with a little help. She gets this big "look what I can do" grin on her face.

And that'll have to do for an initial post. Please do check back - there will be regular updates here at 21monthsapart.

Love Daniel, Rachel, Anida and Eric.

HONK HONK. You're killing me, lady...

So, it was bound to happen, wasn't it?

I was playing at the local playground, and I grabbed ahold of a steering wheel on the play structure and the title of this post is what came out of my mouth. The parents are now on notice that I'll pick up just about anything and repeat it.
Yeah.

So, since last time, I've been down to Houston, to visit my other cousins Kayla, Brayden and Chloe. Oh, and that's also aunt Teresa and aunt Erin in the picture. Grandma Babe is taking the picture, so we can't see her, but she now has a webcam, so I get to talk to her on the computer all the time.

This fall, I am going to go to playschool twice a week for a half-day. I got to go to the open house for that last week, and I'm really excited to finally start. I'm in a class called "young three's", and I'm the youngest one there, but not by much. My teachers, Ms. Pat, Sandy and Sue all seem nice. I think there are 4 other boys and 7 girls. More on this in a future post, I'm sure.

After getting back from Houston, we started potty-training around here. It has been a mixed success so far. I've gone a few times, made a few messes and have not-quite-gotten the idea that I need to use the potty every time. I do love the reward system though and may be too smart for it. It currently stands at "every time I go in the potty, I get a matchbox car" (from the stash of 100s of cars we found when we moved in). So, often, I go, get a car, then want to go again immediately to get another one. I guess the old adage "you get what you measure" is true.

In other news, I took a trip back to my foot doctor to follow-up. They are very happy with my walking and running, and say it's completely normal. We're good.

I'm still a fireman sometimes, and I went back to the firefighter's museum yesterday, but most of the time I want to be a garbageman. On wednesdays, I help move the garbage to the curb, and if I'm lucky, I'm home when the truck shows up. I told the real garbage man of my ambition to be like him, and he really liked that.

And that's about it for now.
Love, D.

7 months old...

Friends!

You simply wouldn't believe how much I've changed in the last month. In the last month, I've gained over 2 pounds, which has bounced me back to the 25th percentile weight-wise. I've started babbling continuously, and also playing with toys. There's nothing more fun than playing with my brother's toys, but he doesn't like that so much. Actually, there's no-one that is quite as much fun and can make me laugh as hard as he can.

I almost titled this posting "Back to the future", because I've been scootching myself backwards for the last couple of days. Oh, I want to go forward, but I end up pushing myself back, and you wouldn't believe how frustrating it is that I get further and further away from my goal. I'm experimenting with pulling my legs under me, so it's just a question of time before I crawl.

I like standing up. I can't get there myself yet, but with a little help, I can pull up to standing, and that's where the fun starts, I can tell. I want to be like Daniel.

I do have my first battle scar. During this particular photo session, I dove forward and bumped my noggin and scratched my nose. Nothing to ruin my modelling career, just a little bruise and scratch.


Still no teeth. Still amazing amounts of drool. I frequently have to change outfits during the day because I'm soaked. Still, I'm expanding my food repertoire, and today I had animal crackers (which I gummed up) and pasta for dinner. So I'm getting there, but a couple of teeth would be handy.

Oh, I might have forgotten that I roll both ways now, and I may be sleeping through the night again. It's too early to call definitely, but last night I gave Mama a solid 8 hours, which was much appreciated.

My most striking feature? Well, thanks for asking - it would have to be my eyes. They are big, blue and beautiful.

That's about it for now.

Love, R.