17 Months - What's the Buzz?

The Little Bug-gers ready for Treats

Ava and Bettina are now 17 months old! They shared the event with Mommy who had her birthday on the same day as their "month-day!"

So, what are they up to now? Here's a quick update:

Ava says, "Boo!"
Ava:

• Loves to play hide-and-seek mostly by curling herself into curtains or throwing a blanket over her head. When there are no props, she simply covers her eyes with her hands. When you say, "Where's Ava?" and walk around the room like you're trying to find her, she giggles and jumps out saying, "Boo!" You can distract her from nearly everything with this simple game.
• Is going through a tough bat of separation anxiety. Mommy is the focal point of her life right now.
• Measures in the upper levels of coordination, especially when it comes to dancing and jumping, which she takes with the upmost seriousness. You should see her face when she's concentrating on her feet to make sure they both leave the floor at the same time when she jumps.
• Loves to be tickled under her chin and on her belly.
• Uses "No" to answer most questions and to tell you what to do. She has other words such as "Mommy," "Boo," "bye, bye," but she prefers to use her sign language. She's up to about 10 signs including "hat," "up," "down," "milk," "please," "hungry," "thirsty" (although she incorrectly uses the same sign for hungry for this), and "help".
  
  
  Tina says, "Boo!"

Tina:

• Has been caught singing along with The Wiggles from her carseat to the song "Kneading Some Dough". She, of course, likes to sing the chorus: "Dough, dough, dough, dough, dough, dough....."
• Is much more aggressive than Ava, often pushing her completely out the way to play with a toy or go down the slide first.
• Has become more independant, but has also started her tantrums, which are difficult to distract her from.
• Hasn't embraced her sign language as much as Ava with the exception of the word "hat." She loves to wear the silly Ariel crown that came in the McDonald's Happy Meal. She will search for the hat and then come to me signing "hat" until I produce it. It's really cute!

Both are doing well and looking forward to Halloween! BOO!

Going on a Pumpkin Hunt...

The Pumpkin Patch

While Uncle Patrick and Aunt Ainsley were in town, we decided to go a visit the pumpkin patch. And, while we're at it, let's go to the biggest one around!

The Twins Club has had a lot of email traffic about the pumpkin patch out in Livermore called G & M Farms. It's a little far to drive, but is right off the freeway exit, so it's easy once you get there. G & M Farms boasts of everything that you'd look for in a pumpkin patch: farm animals, pony rides, pumpkins, a 6-acre corn maze and a little hay-bale maze for the tinier tots. There's a little bit of a haunted house - more like a display - and of course, little red wagons to help you carry all your loot!

We had a nice time and did just about everything there was to do (the corn maze didn't open until 4pm on weekdays and the ponies only come out on the weekends) and took lots of photos. It's a really nice thing to do for fun and to make memories. You should definitely take the time to try it for yourselves!

Here are the pictures: click here!

16 Months Week 3 - Fun at the Park

To The Moon!!

We're again in another new temporary housing location... while more family members enjoy some vacation time, we get to enjoy stable housing. We explored today another park nearby the house. It's really meant for older kids, but the girls found things to do. They particularly enjoyed this double wobble-ride.

Shortly after this, Tina wandered off toward the play structure behind them and a very nice little girl (of about 4 years old) gave Tina her fushia colored Care Bear teddy. Tina looked up at the little girl with such appreciation and a giant smile. She immediately turned and hugged the bear like I've never seen her do to a stuffed toy. She didn't put it down for a good 15 minutes. When she did, the little girl came back, dusted the tanbark off the bear and lent it to Ava, who was equally thrilled by the generosity. When it was time for the little girl to leave, I thanked the her for her grace and thoughtfulness and told her she was the nicest friend to the girls in the whole park. She just looked at me like she does and hears this stuff every day, smiled and skipped away. I hope my girls can do that someday.

16 Months 2 Weeks - The "Boo" House

The "Boo" House

Paul had an opportunity to finish his work on the house a bit early this weekend. We decided it would be fun to go to what Ava and Tina call "the Boo House;" a festive pumpkin walk created by stacks of baled hay, a little red bridge covered in corn stalks and a web of neoprene curtains where the girls like to hide and then run out calling "Boo!" Grandma and I had so much fun earlier in the week watching them invent this game, we just had to bring Daddy there to experience it for himself.

After doing many laps of the "Boo House" and visiting the farm animals, we found another special treat: a tomato tasting. Tomatos are one of the girls' absolute favorites! Here's some video of Ava asking (with her sign language) for more tomato (this is like her 4th different variety - she seemed to like them all!).



Tina was asking earlier, but by the time Mommy got ready with her camera, she was tired of repeating herself.

16 Weeks 1 Week - A Quick Road Trip

Rub-A-Dub Dub - Three Kids in a Tub

Well, since our latest temporary housing fix doesn't allow dogs (didn't find that out until the night before), I decided to go up with the girls and dog to visit my long-time friend who recently moved to Reno, NV until our next temp housing (that is dog-friendly) is ready for us. My friend's husband was out of town on business, so we strangely thought that this would be a great opportunity for a girls' weekend: 2 of us; 4 of them! The "them" is all four of our daughters. The oldest just turned four, so that would be 4 kids aged 4 and under. Not to mention the 2 black Labradors!

We actually had a ball - rather intensely, but fun none-the-less. We visited a great pumpkin patch complete with pony rides, a corn maze, little wagons/cart big enough to pull all three toddlers, a hay ride behind a real tractor and lemonade sold by little kids. We also got to visit Virginia City which I thought was a sell-out to cheap figurines and t-shirts that cater to the Harley Davidson crowd.

We did manage an adult dinner at the neighbors and a nice lunch at Baja Fresh (only the best and most luxurient meals for busy moms).

Driving back down on the way home, the girls, having not yet napped that day, slept all the way to Davis (more than 2 hours!). When the did wake up, they were starving. We made a quick stop into McDonald's where in their Happy Meals they have apples instead of fries, milk instead of soda and yogurt and fruit parfaits that the girls just love. Each of the girls got different toys in their happy meals, but after Ava started a fight over Tina's Little Mermaid crown, we decided just to go and see if we could trade to get two. Surprisingly enough, days later they are still carrying them around the house and ask people to assist in coronating themselves. They love them - can't you tell?


Mermaid Queens, gratis a McDonald's

Playing House with Dean

Playing house
Well, at least it's not "doctor"...yet!

This is a cute photo that was actually taken a couple of weeks ago when we had a play date over at the girls' friend Dean's house. Everyone was in the "Storybook Cottage" playing with the pretend food. They had fun opening and closing all the doors and windows multiple times. Then, instead of throwing the food at them, Dean shows a "softer side" and offers Tina a bite of corn on the cob. Oh, yeah! He'll be a heartbreaker!