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.

Back again...

Friends

Do I have stories to tell, or what? This is me at a random beach in Iceland.

After 2 weeks of touring Norway, Sweden and Iceland, I'm back home, and all is well. Not too much jetlag - though it's taken the editors a few days to catch up enough to make this posting. Between all of the shutterbugs, there's probably about 1000 pictures of the vacation, so that needs to be trimmed down, and I'll probably add a link to an online album -> stay tuned for that.

I had such a good time with the family - the whole gang, but possible my cousins more than anyone. It's very confusing when they're not here anymore. I've been asking for them and farmor almost every day.



So we flew to Norway via Iceland, and that was pretty uneventful - a delay in Minneapolis caused us to be about 4 hours late, but no big deal. After a few days of hanging out in Oslo, we went down to Stugan.



The weather wasn't all that great this year, so swimming was pretty limited, but Grandpa took us out on the boat and he even let me drive for a little while. That was fun. I got to play with crabs and shells again this year, and we went for a hike too. Last year when I was there, I wasn't walking yet, so this was a pretty different experience.



Lest I forget - we went with the Pasta family too, and they were much better about posting the play-by-play on their blog, so check that out if you're curious. After 4-5 days at Stugan, we moved on to Stockholm via train, which I thought was pretty exciting. In Stockholm, I got to see a "real pirate ship" at the Vasa museum, and got to ride a boat through the archipelago and see a moose.



From Stockholm, we flew to Iceland and stayed in an apartment in Reykjavik. We had a car so we got to see parts of the southwest of the country. What a beautiful place. Very dramatic landscape - geysirs and waterfalls, and that black beach that you see above - we just randomly stopped along the side of the road.



I was a great little traveller - even when the days got long, I was a trooper. I was a pro on the planes, and just in general about the easiest 2-year-old you could want to bring to Europe.

I've had a bit of a vocabulary explosion again. I've said a lot of funny things on this trip, not all of which anyone remembers, but I was a hoot.
More pictures coming, and probably more stories, but the editors now have to move on to get Rachel's blog updated too.

Love, D.

Sitting Pretty!

Folks



I've learned this new skill called "sitting". It's fun, and I'm really good at it. I can sit for as long as I want to. I actually taught Sean how to sit on our vacation. He knows a lot of tricks that I don't, but he didn't really teach me anything back.

I have been drooling like you wouldn't believe for weeks now, but no teeth yet. Can't really explain that one, but I have to wear bibs at all times or I soak my clothes.

So I've been travelling too, and I got to be part of all of the same adventures that my brother did - but it was all new for me. My favorite part might have been going to the blue lagoon in Iceland - basically an outdoors pool with bright blue water that they keep at body temperature. I loved it.

I did well on all of the travels - slept for large chunks of the long flights, and at no point did I behave in a way that made the other passengers wish they were sitting elsewhere on the plane. That's pretty good for a 6-and-a-little month old.

On the trip, I got to spend lots of time with my new buddy Sean. Sure I'd seen pictures, but it was fun to just hang out together.

I got to hang out with the cousins and their neighbors - the only girl in a house of 4 boys. Give me a little while and I'll get them eating out of my hand. For this trip, it was more a case of being held a lot - though Jacob took his turns feeding me too.

I ate a lot of new things on this trip - almost to the point now where keeping track makes less sense. Apples, pears, raspberries are all good. So is the Norwegian porridge I got, but I'm less fond of apricots and pasta with broccoli.

I'm now old enough that Mama could take me to the daycare at the gym, but I was having none of that. Pretty much as soon as I couldn't see her anymore, I let the staff know of my unhappiness. So no workout for mama.

That's about it for now. I have lots of pictures, and I'll try to get those posted soon. Also, I actually turned 6 months old, and there are official "me" pictures that look frighteningly like Papa did at the same age (please, let me not get his hair).

The editors are considering merging the two family blogs - it sometimes seems that this one gets the short end of the stick, because stories are already told in the other one. Feedback? Is there anyone who reads this blog that doesn't also read the other one?

That's the family, by the way. You too could look like this.

Love, R.

Six months old!

Friends

As of Monday, I'm six months old. That means that I get to round up to one... I'll be in Norway by then, so I thought I'd post a little early.

There's a visit to the pediatrician at six months, and it's not one of the fun ones. Four big needles rammed into my tender little thighs. I did not like that one bit. Got a little bit of a fever that evening, and was tired from all the activity, but I'm my normal cheery self now.

I'm 13lbs 10 oz. That makes me a lightweight for my age at the 10th percentile. I'm 26 and 7/8th inches long which places me in the 90th percentile, and my head is in the 45th percentile. So I'm still tall and skinny, but with a bigger head than last time. Dr. Matt says I'm doing great, but that I could perhaps be eating a little more. So I'll probably get a little formula going forward. I've added sweet potatoes to my list, and they are starch-y.

The video, you ask? Not terribly exciting, but it's me coo-ing a lot.

I rake items toward me. I can just about hold a bottle, I juggle pacifiers. I'm cute as all heck, and hopefully everyone still things so after a 15 hour flight to Norway.

Until next time.

R.

Going to airport yet?

Friends

All week, it's been the same question: "Going to airport? Going to see (insert one of) Farmor, Grandpa, miss Barbara, Sean? " I'm very, very excited about this trip.

I've been using forks and spoons for some time now, but only recently did the folks let me try a knife (plastic) for the first time. This two-handed eating thing is a little tricky.

Other skills - well, I'm now walking up and down stairs while holding the handrail -> that's a transition from sliding down backwards on my stomache.

I'm a heck of a dealmaker these days. The other day I wanted to bring all of my bedbuddies downstairs (Alex the tiger, Lisa the dog and blue bear) which is something the parents disapprove for several reasons. Mom grabbed ahold of Alex and said in a falsetto voice "Hi Daniel, we want to stay in bed where it's nice and cozy". Well, I wasn't about to be outsmarted by Mama, so I held blue bear and said (in the same falsetto voice) "Hi Daniel, I want to go downstairs and play with you".

And so he did. (the others stayed upstairs)

The city we live in sponsors outdoor concerts a few blocks away from our house during the summer. I was completely fascinated by the guitar player and drummer. You can't see it in the picture, but I'm bobbing up and down to the music.

A friend of Papa's forwarded a little Youtube video about bedtime to him. I'm pretty easy these days, in that I will go to sleep without a protest if Papa reads "enough" books to me. There have, however, been times what that wasn't true, and the video is worth a watch.

It turns out that cowboys don't wear pants....


This is probably the last posting before the trip to Iceland, Norway and Sweden. Unca Dave is ignoring popular opinion on the question of puffin consumption, but I'm sure we'll stil have a good time.

Until next time.

Love, D.