Holidays

It has been a while indeed because we've been so busy.  Halloween was quite a blur in our household.  We had heard rumors that we should expect 1300+ in the 2 hours of trick or treating in our neighborhood, so we were expecting the evening to be interesting and boy was it.  First, Fiona didn't want to wear her costume.  That was fine really; we had expected that even though we had been talking all about costumes and Halloween the few weeks before.  No biggie; she enjoyed helping us hand out candy.  Then about 30 minutes in, she hit a wall and couldn't care less about trick or treaters.  This was around when the line to our door started.  Having grown up in a house that NEVER received trick or treaters, it was a shock.  By 7pm things were insane and dark!  We had brought out Fi's picnic table so she could sit in the yard and watch the line at our neighbors (they had a witch in their yard that she was very interested in).  It was great until we lost Fiona in our own yard!  Eek!  Fortunately, as I was entering freak-out mode, a mom mentioned a girl standing at the top of stairs at our walkway--that was our Fi.  Phew.  I was relieved when we ran out of candy at 7:30--30 minutes before trick or treating ended.  

From Halloween through Thanksgiving and on have been a little nutsy in our household.  Fiona is doing phenomenally though.  She talks so much and knows so much now!  Animals are one of her specialties--she can point out polar bears, foxes, turtles, elephants, penguins, etc.  She has also been loving her tutu and generally playing around the house with us in the evening.

We are enjoying every bit of the Christmas season with Fiona.  The Santa picture didn't go so well (even though she was very excited while we waited in line and walked herself into the boat).  But everything else has been a blast.  We went to a tree farm to pick out a tree.  It was cold and windy but she had fun running through the trees.  She helped us with lights and has been consistently pointing out all the ornaments we put on the tree.  Fortunately, she hasn't been pulling at the ornaments, and even though she knows there are presents under the tree, she hasn't tried to unwrap them.

 

18 months old!

Today is Fiona's 18 month birthday.  As of tomorrow, she is closer to 2 years old than she is to 1 year old--oh my!  It isn't so surprising really.  She has become such a big girl.  Her vocabulary is growing like crazy.  Some of her favorite words are no, up, down, cookie, bowl, coffee, paci(fier), and nuts (actual nuts--not "aw, nuts").  She is also becoming an animal expert and knows a lot of the animal noises, although her meow sounds more like moo.  Fi is also finding new fun games.  Recently, she has enjoyed running the obstacle course around the ottoman, under my legs over her chair and around she goes; she gets a big kick out of when I have the blanket since she has to go under my legs and the blanket. She has a little mind of her own too.  Until this weekend when I tricked her into the jacket shown, she refused to wear it.  I still haven't been able to get her to wear any shoes but her Sperry's but she did wear socks finally (phew, it was going to be a rough winter otherwise)!

Pumpkey Picking

We took Fiona out to pick a pumpkin--or in her words a "pumpkey."  She loved the barn area where there were piles of pumpkins.  Actually being in the pumpkin patch was less exciting for her.  She didn't like walking in the patch because there were tons of twigs and things to trip her up.  But we got a pumpkin, and she had a nice wagon ride with the pumpkin and hayride back from the patch. 

Hello Fall

After one last hoorah at the shore this past weekend, Fiona is ready for fall.  The leaves are changing quickly here and are starting to fall.  Fiona methodically picks the leaves out of her water table, but we will see how long that lasts as they increase in number.  She is growing like a weed and it has been a challenge to keep up with her and the changing weather.  But, it has been fun to see her in some new outfits (new to her at least--thanks Colleen!) tromping through the leaves.

Long time, no update

Fiona has been just so busy, there hasn't been time for updates.  She spent Labor Day weekend at the shore with her cousins.  It may be her last good beach time for the year, and she enjoyed every bit of it.  She even made some new friends out on the beach that she played and shared snacks with. 

She also spent a good bit of time with her grandparents in Maryland.  She was definitely excited to visit.  As I was packing her up, including her bathing suit and cover up, I told her these were for the pool.  Now every time I get her bathing suit or she sees it, I here "pool," in the most adorable little voice ever.  There was lots of pool time at Aunt Tadpole and Uncle Mark's house.  And a whole lot of playground time too (I think they visited 5 different playgrounds).  And a walk on the Promenade in Havre de Grace.

Fiona's travels didn't end there.  This weekend we went to New York City.  Fiona and Aunt Mary hung out on Friday night while Tim and I went to see the Book of Mormon.  Then we all went into the city on Saturday.  She loved the train ride but was very confused when the scenery went away as we went underground or through tunnels.  Out first stop in the City was St. Patrick's Cathedral.  She tried to say the word "cathedral" but clammed up after some failed attempts.  Next stop was the Central Park Zoo.  We arrived just in time for the sea lion show, which was fantastic.  We also visited the penguins, the red panda, and the tropical birds before calling it a day.  The little lady is understandably pooped--she barely stirred as we moved her from the car seat to bed tonight.

Playground Fanactic

Fiona has developed a strong fanaticism for playgrounds over the last two weeks.  We started taking her over to the playground across from our house, which has quickly blossomed into two to three playground visits a day.  Every time we leave the house or she gets a glimpse of the playground from the back door, she points and whines.  She has tried to charge across the road twice to get there (scary!).  Here is a compilation of Fiona and playground photos from Maryland to Pennsylvania.

15 Month Check-up and Cousin Love

Fiona had her 15 month check-up last week.  She is sticking to her curve.  31 inches long (59th percentile), 19 pounds 10 ounces (24th percentile), and head circumference of 18.5 inches (81st percentile).  She checked out just fine and was suitably distracted by the purple monkey on Dr. Argeson's stethoscope.  Fi wasn't as thrilled with the nurse who gave her two shots (maybe they could monkey on the needles too), but we managed.

Fiona had a fun-filled Saturday with not one but two parties to attend.  She had a blast at Claire's 3rd birthday party at the Elmwood Park Zoo.  It is a great sized zoo for kids her age, since she could walk a little on her own and explore, which she most definitely did.  It seemed like every time I put her down in the picnic pavilion, she would make her way towards the barn to see the sheep and goats.  She also enjoyed sitting with the other kids at the picnic table to eat lunch.  She was very social (I swear she is indeed Tim's and my child).  My favorite part of the party was watching her and Janie cruise around together.  We have some great pictures of them charging along one of the paths. I think these two may be terrific partners in crime.

Playing in the Dirt

Fiona loves to get dirty outside.  We are doing a lot of work around the house so there is tons of dirt for her to get into.  Today, she found a terrific stick to march around with.  She contently swung it around and poked at the dirt piles in her pretty white dress.  A couple weeks ago, she was hands and knees on the sidewalk as the sprinkler that was watering new grass seed drained over the brick.  Again in a lovely pale dress, she ran her hands in the crevasses of the brick, digging up as much mud as possible.  Oxiclean is an important part of our lives right now. 

15 months old!

We haven't been doing monthly photo shoots like we were, but we are trying for at least every three months, so here we are.  She is quite the lovely lady even as she shoves all of her fingers in her mouth.  At least she is smiling since we are heavy into teething again.  Two new ones appeared up top and maybe more--she doesn't like me to look.  

Her personality is really starting to come out in funny ways.  She has been sporadically showing her goofy side.  Lately, it has been the goofy face.  She started doing it out of the blue a couple weeks ago.  I don't exactly know where she picked it up, although it isn't a completely foreign look, but I just can't pinpoint it.  Let the pictures speak for themselves, so commence the goofy face series!

Growing Girl!

Woohoo! Fiona truly decided to walk this week.  On Tuesday, she decide that she wanted to walk and spent the hour before bed just cruising around the living room to our delight.  We worried that it was just another bubble of interest, but it persisted.  She walked inside, outside, with shoes, and without shoes.  We are ecstatic.  She is growing leaps and bounds, climbing up in her chair to do a puzzle and using more and more "words."  Exciting week of development. 

Vacation's Over

Vacation is over, and it seems like Fiona's interest in walking is over too.  She's seemed really reluctant to walk for some reason.  She gets ready to walk--balanced and hands out ready to go--but then squats or sits and cries.  I think her teeth are bothering her because she has been extra clingy too.  She hates to be put down and has been frantically tightening her arm around my neck when she thinks I am going to do so.  Hopefully, the post-vacation walking slump is over, and I will have more to report in the week.

Beach Time and First Steps--Finally!

We have spent a lot of time at the shore the last couple weeks.  Fiona has been loving it.  She can play in the sand for hours and continues to charge fearlessly into the water no matter how cold it is.  Even the seaweed didn't slow her in the ocean.  She has also been loving her cousins.  She breaks out a silly beauty pageant (or politician?) wave anytime she sees them, particularly Grace and Maddie.  She has been giving them and us kisses (with a mwah sound), lots of hugs, and dancing up a storm.  My favorite moment from the week has been her finally taking her first steps.  We have been waiting eagerly for a while now, and with her having Tim and I around all day for some extra walking practice, she did it!  We were sitting on the porch, Tim and I sitting on the floor, and she toddled back and forth between us several times.  Those Brown's donuts must be quiet an incentive.  Looking forward to seeing her walk some more!  

 

Party Girl and Beach Babe

We celebrated Josie's first birthday party on Saturday with Lori and Ryan.  Fiona and Josie are just two months and a day part.  It is so cute to see them together.  Fiona didn't quite know what to do around her--lots of parallel play, checking out what Josie was doing across the room--but I'm looking forward to seeing more collaboration!

Since we were headed that direction for the party, we made it a shore weekend.  Fi still loves the beach.  She was our little archaeologist helping us comb for shells in the sand.  She is also a fearless water baby. Tim took her down to the water, and she kept on charging forward into the ocean despite waves hitting her above the waist.  She also was pretty happy sitting in the sand and letting the waves lap over her even when they came in high.  Fi was clingy though, like she has been lately.  It felt like she was playing King of the Hill as she climbed on my back while I laid on the blanket.  She sat on my back, rested her head on my butt and stomach, and assumed pretty much everyone possible position that put her in direct contact with me.  I am looking forward to spending the week at the shore over the Fourth.  First steps at the shore?  She is so close but not quite there, although she now does an adorable version of the sign "all done"!

Picnic Table, Coloring, Block Party, Father's Day = Pictures!!

My posts have been pretty brief lately, but I actually have stuff and lots of pictures to share this week!  It was quite a week.  First up: picnic table fun.  Aunt Mary Jean, Uncle John, and family gave Fiona a picnic table for her birthday.  It has lived in our kitchen for a while now, and Fiona has taken a strong interest in it this week.  One day this week I walked in the kitchen to find her sitting on the very top looking out the window--and since then she has been sitting up there doing other shenanigans.  I know she has been standing on the benches too, which she still does.  The only thing she hasn't seemed to do is actually sit at the way she should.  I had been trying to teach her to sit at the bench, and it seems like it wore off to some extent, because one day I turned around when cooking dinner to find her sitting there with both arms up, chilling!

Second up:  To Tim's annoyance, I leave pens, pencils, and highlighters everywhere.  Serendipitous result, Fiona has gotten pretty good at picking them up and manipulating them so I thought we should try out some crayons.  It took a little coaching for her to use them on paper but she did it!  We ended up with a lovely artwork created on the back of evaluation objectives from my Bronx Zoo project.  Reduce, reuse, recycle!

Third:  On Saturday, the neighborhood had a block party right next to our house.   We met some new neighbors, Fi met a lot of new kids, and she had fun at the playground and with the games.  Fiona was a little shy at times, and we took her for a walk as her pre-nap crankiness kicked in.  Tim was thrilled because on her wagon ride, she was bear hugging the Hobbes stuffed animal that Chris Woytko gave her.  It was a swinging back and forth, I love you forever hug we have never seen.  Very cute. 

Last but not least:  Father's Day!  It was a pretty low key day, but Fiona enjoyed some good quality time with Tim.  She treated him to coffee this morning, took him to Home Dept, watched him mow the grass while eating toast with peanut butter, then took him out for an ice cream soda that she insisted on sharing.  Phew!  Busy week!  Oh yeah, and her nose is running like a faucet.  Allergies?

Lovely Pocono Raceway Weekend

We didn't go to the Pocono 400, but we had a nice Pocono Raceway weekend.  The weather was gorgeous both days so we enjoyed a run, bought some flowers at the farmer's market, washed windows, and generally spent a lot of time outside.  Downtown in Stroudsburg on Saturday, the Sherman Theater hosts the Pocono Raceway Festival.  We took Fiona out in her wagon to check out the festivities: mostly bands, some vendors, and rides.  She seemed to enjoy the spectacle but enjoyed sharing Tim's cappuccino ice cream the most.  She is an odd one ... like's tiramisu too.  I guess my fancy Starbuck's coffee craving wore off on her in utero.  

 

Bumps and Recoveries

It felt like quite a week for us but I don't have many pictures to show for it.  The week started with Fiona tumbling of the porch.  She had quite a goose egg, and the doctor suggested waking her every two hours that night been though she seemed to being doing alright--good appetite, playing, talking, etc. Bottom line, she was fine.

I worked at the Bronx Zoo on Friday and Saturday so Fiona and I went to stay with her Thursday night and Tim joined us Friday night.  She was a pretty good girl.  She wasn't too sure of Winnie early Friday morning but within a few hours she was reaching out on her own accord to touch Winnie.  She didn't like when Winnie got in her face to lick her but she learned to avoid it.  On Saturday, Fiona visited the Bronx Zoo.  She wasn't too interested in the animals but that may have been because she hadn't napped.

 

Memorial Day at the Shore

After some tumultuous travel days, mostly for Tim but also for me and Fiona, we made it to the shore for Memorial Day weekend.  It was a beautiful weekend, almost summer-like, and Fiona bounced back well from the Seattle time zone.  Fiona went on her first bike ride with Tim.  She did really well aside from wearing the helmet.  On our way up the boardwalk, she periodically tugged at the helmet, while on the way back, she just cried (being pinched by the buckle probably didn't help the cause).  We can try again later this summer.  

 

The bike may not have been her thing, but Fiona really enjoyed the beach.  She liked moving sand from the beach onto her towel, but wasn't too sure about standing in the sand.  Once she got moving though, she bee-lined for the ocean.  I thought that when she hit the waves she would freeze, but she just kept going.  Tim actually had to slow her down from going in above her head.  Looks like we have a water baby.

 

Seattle and the San Juan Islands

Our time in Seattle has been a blur.  Conferences will do that to you.  I think Fiona had a pretty good time.  If nothing else, she got a lot of fresh air on nearly daily walks to the Olympic Sculpture Park and Pike Place Market.  In the last few days, she even got in a few boat trips.  First, a quick ferry ride out and back to Bainbridge Island with great views of the Seattle skyline.  Then today, a longer ferry ride from Anacortes to the San Juan Islands and then a whaling excursion around the islands.  

The San Juan Islands and the trip out there were beautiful.  It really is a magical area of the country.  Timing was not on our side today though.  Fiona fell asleep not too long before we needed to wake her for the whaling tour.  Plus, we had to put her in a gigantic life-jacket that she hated.  Since we were in the cabin, I tore it off at one point just so I could hold her close to me and calm her.  Once the life-jacket was off, she was pretty happy but tired to the bone.  I don't even know how she stayed awake.  No whales were spotted but boating around the islands is gorgeous and we got to see a sea lion, seals, eagles, and porpoises. Fiona slept like a log on the ferry ride back, and is sleeping soundly now, likely to be awakened by me in order to get her to the airport and our flight home.