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.