Rub-A-Dub-Dub

We're in!! After over a year of "we should be moving in within the next 2-months," we are now living in our "new" house, which is really our old house. The girls are in "big girl" twin beds and Baby Brother is for the first time in a crib (no rolling out of there!). We're like a kid in a candy store! Paul was so excited, he and all three kids tried out the Jetta jacuzzi tub within hours of settling in. My, it's good to be home!

Academy of Sciences

Family Outing

How does a family of four go out on a trail ride with only one horse? My dream come true...

Ava's strike with Misty is apparently over since Bettina got a new riding helmet. Now when we go to the barn it's not just Bettina who goes racing into the tack room to get her helmet, pleading to ride before Misty's even clean. Her stipulation is that she rides on the saddle and gets to sit in front (she doesn't like the Buddy Seat that sits behind the saddle).

Monday we didn't have school (Veteran's Day), so we went to check in on Misty. Imagine my surprise when Ava asked to go on a long trail ride "up to the mountains." Who am I to deny, right? Well, we wound up on the trail for 1.5 hours walking toward the mountains along the cliffs that overlook Montara State Beach, Ava in the saddle, Bettina in the Buddy Seat, Alessandro riding shot-gun in the Ergo walking with me on the ground. The girls loved watching the waves and the cars below on Highway 1. They chatted about which bird calls they were hearing and protested when I said it was time to turn back. "We'll go again on another day," I say, "It's starting to get dark."...while I also am thinking, "Yee-haw! They got cowgirl in their blood!"

Doesn't Know His Own Strength

Little Alessandro is growing by leaps and bounds! He is constantly testing his own strength and yearns to stand, reach, and pull. I no longer can hold him and expect to hold something else. While feeding the girls a quick breakfast before school one morning, little Alex knocked over the "family" bowl of Honey-Nut Cheerios 3-times before I decided he had to be banished to the jiggle-chair until we were all done. Ava no longer wants to sit too close to him as he swoops down to grab a fistful of hair while she innocently watches TV.
His hands and arm constantly move while he feeds. He kneads his hands sometimes pinching me quite hard. I don't have to wait for him to bite me before thinking about weaning him for sure. I also tease him calling him the Bronc Buster for, as he nurses, his right arm will swing wildly around as if trying to sit the 15-second ride in a rodeo. He's an object of perpetual motion!
He pulls nearly everything he can reach and stuffs it eagerly to his mouth to chomp on it. His favorite toy has certainly been my fingers and hand, however, as his chomping strength increases, I've been trying to get him to transfer more and more to teething toys. His favorite toy has been the wooden orb atom-looking Squish toy held together with an elastic cord. It is incredibly easy for him to grasp and chew on. It was also one of the girls' favorites. This Oball toy would also be a great one. More and more he's reaching for toys and engaging with them.
His strength is encouraging, but also startling. To his parents' horror, last night he "practiced" his back bends so well, he launched himself off of the bed! To do this, he had to travel the length of the queen-sized mattress in transverse crawl of back-bend arches, push the protective layer of pillows out of the way and onto the floor, and then follow suit himself. He was none-to-pleased with the results, and neither were Mommy or Daddy! Gone are the days of trusting the child to sit still. Get ready, world -- Alessandro's on the loose!