At the zoo

Cold and rainy, but Addie still goes and goes... Calvin sleeps.

Addie at school

I took a few pictures of Addie at school last week. She was so engrossed in the playdough she didn't look up. Her favorite room is dramatic play where we have a new theme every two weeks, right now it is market so there are foods and cans and shopping carts.... Addie loves the shopping carts.

Christmas Books

The tradition of a Christmas book off the shelf each night is going well. Addie seems to like most Christmas books, tonight was Babar, which was way too long... So there was some paraphrasing going on in the Alvarado house.

Farmers market

We went to farmers market after dropping Damien off at the airport. The highlight for Addie was getting to use her umbrella and stomping in the puddles. I am trying to teach rain etiquette since some of the stomps got others wet (fortunately it was mainly me and not others).

Pizza pizza

Addie is still really good at sharing; she gave Calvin the entire pizza from her set which Calvin promptly stuffed in his mouth.

Calvin is sitting

Calvin can sit on his own for a few minutes now. Addie likes to give him a hug which usually makes him keel over, I guess it isn't a bad way to go.

Addies Shopping Cart

Addie wants a shopping cart for Christmas. It is the only thing she says she wants and of course we got her tons of other stuff but no shopping cart. This week at the Y they added a shopping cart to the kids area; the same one I had ordered the day before. I was happy to see that she played with it nonstop while at the Y. I hope it is the same at home.

Picking out a Tree

We went to get our Christmas tree last weekend. Calvin feel asleep so he didnt partake in the selection. We asked Addie for input but after walking the rows several times she just kept saying "Ummm...." and "No, not that one". After about 5 minutes we over-rode her feeling that there werent any quite good enough and picked out a tree that we thought would fit well in our living room. 

Fall cleanup

Our trees are now bare, and they are big trees. Fortunatley we have gardners but they dont cleanup all of our leaves that blow onto the neighbors sidewalk so we spent an hour cleaning them up, all 6 bags full. Addie loved helping, she had a small rake and enjoyed moving the leaves around (sometimes the opposite way we had hoped). Calvin spent the time in the backpack and was content watching others work.

Addie at the Market

Crazy driver, loves to pull things off the bottom shelf... Dad gave in and got the huge car cart.

New Christmas Tradition

I read about a tradition that I thought would be nice for Addie since she loves books. Each night during the month of November we open 1 book from a row of 23 wrapped and placed along the mantel. There are so many great Christmas books, my mom would always get out the Christmas books each yerar and I remember how fun it was to get to read them all again. The first book was Elf on the Shelf (Addie has named her elf Elfie and loves seeing where he is and saying "Hi" to him). She wants a shopping cart for Christmas and is starting to get the whole Santa brings gifts to good little children. The second book we read this morning while Damien was still here was the Polar Express. Over the next few weeks we have Babar's Christmas, Madelines Christmas, Carls Christmas, the Wild Christmas Reindeer and many more. I am looking forward to reading them all with her, the last one will ne the Night Before Christmas on December 24th. It should be a fun tradition for all of us. You can see all the books wrapped on the mantle in the picture, so far Addie hasnt climbed up to get them down and unwrap them all; but I probably will have to check on her if she is too quiet in the living room for more than a minute or two.

The Flu...

I have a backlog of pictures to publish but with Damien gone most of the week and then him home for the weekend, posting things seemed to fall by the Wayside. To add to that I am pretty sure that Addie has the flu, she threw up this morning before breakfast and then was fine the rest of the morning so I thought it was a blip. Until the ride home from the airport where she threw up all over herslf and the carseat (plus the door and wondow). Good times cleaning that up all by myself. She doesnt seem phased, she still wants to go to the park, she sees Calvin spit up all day so she just equates it to being like Calvin, poor thing.

Probably wont get much posting done until our house is puke free.... the upside is that I am giving everything a through cleaning (I think the last time her carseat was washed was about 6 months ago). Plus I found all sorts of good things under her carseat that should have been cleaned out a while ago. Plus, I get to launder the couch now too; by the time Damien comes back from this next week in Dallas the house will be totally disinfected and clean everywhere. There is always a silver lining.

Both Addie and Calvin are napping now so I will try to get through a flurry of posts from the week that I havent gotten up.

Mister Calvin

Calvin does seem more grown up than baby at times. The hat is a little too big still but he loves beer bottles (I think it helps with the teething, the cold bottle not the beer).

Ring Master

Addies new favorite thing at the Y are the rings. She got to use them for 15 minutes straight the other day at open gym. She hangs on, runs and swings all by herself.

This is how Calvin Rolls....

Have giraffe, will travel. This is Calvins look when I got him out of the car after dropping Addie off at school. He wasn't chewing or sucking, just liked the foot stuck in his mouth.

Blustery Weather

Cold and wind have settled in Seattle.

Calvin can hold his bottle... Almost

Calvin is getting close to sitting by himself and grabbing his bottle. Close, but not quite there. PS. Notice the baby food on the top of Calvins head? He is getting better about being a less messy eater but we still get food all over the place.

Addies Happy Meal

Addie got a happy meal tonight, the fries come in the cutest fry container I have ever seen. Also, the smile is the look Addie now gives any time I say "say cheese".... I think we will try more candid photos :)

Day 1/ Day 2

Day 1 of Damiens 5 week stint in Texas, day 2 of Addies new hair. Missing dad but liking the hair.

Yes, we finally did it

Addies first haircut. The whole family was in attendance and we had one of the women who works at the YMCA and sometimes watches Addie there cut her hair. Addie did really well, not a single tear and she had a shampoo, haircut and a blow dry. Calvin was there for moral support. We had 3 or 4 inches taken off so her hair is now shoulder length.

Group Halloween Picture

Our parenting group still meets a few times each month since we have now evolved into friends and every year there is a Halloween Party. Below is a picture from the first year (Addie was Princess Leigha) and this year where she was the little mermaid and Calvin was Sebastian the crab.

Calvins Showers

At first Calvin hated showers, he now seems to like them (some parts atleast). We havent braved putting him in the bath tub with Addie quite yet.

Addies First Day

Addie got into a coop preschool and her first day was today. We took a tour of the school yesterday so she could meet the teacher and see the classroom. We brought Calvin along too but he fell asleep half way through (with minimal fuss, yeah). They have one big room with an art table, sensory bin, play dough table, reading area with futon and a dining table with wood fruit to cut.... I thought it was awesome, the room was 4 times as big as the place that she was in at the old daycare. And then the teacher said "Let me show you the other rooms". There was another huge room with dramatic play (a farmers market with bins of all sorts of fruits and veggies) a block area, wheel barrows to carry the pumpkins, etc. Then another room with puzzles and legos and last a room with a playhouse, play structure and basketball hoop.

The first thing Addie said this morning when she woke up was "I want to go to preschool". It is Thursday and Friday for 2 hours so it is perfect, not too much or two long but something to look forward to. The preschool is a co-op so I work in the classroom one day a week with 8 other parents and the teacher and Lauren watches Calvin. Then on Fridays I can drop her off and spend the mornign with Calvin.

When we arrived they had mentioned that most kids clung to their moms and it was normal so not to worry. Not Addie, she didnt even wait to get through the doors before she was off playing. Aparently she made friends, we had a parent meeting later tonight and one mom said her daughter had been talking about her new friend Addie and how she wanted Addie to come over and play. I was at the playdough table all morning so I didnt see her most of the morning since she spent mose of the time in the room with the play structure, but she came back to check in every 10 minutes. I think it will be a great fir for her since it is short enough for her not to get too tired or confined (it is free play for 1 and a half hours so she can do whatever she wants). I didnt take pictures since I am not sure what the protocal is but when I get it figured out I will get a few up.

Addies first Trick or Treat

Due to the cold we reverted to the lion costume she has, no mermaid (she had dressed up as a mermaid for the kids Halloween party). Damien came up with the concept of a hybrid Wizard of Oz with the lion and Dorothy shoes. We went to 5 neighboring houses and she is now hopped up on 2 candy bars.... I think it will be a 10:00 bedtime.

Kids Museum with Dad

On Sunday we went to the kids museum with Damien so it was way easier chasing Addie with two of us. She was still running to all the exhibits and didn't slow down for 2 hours. Calvin seemed to enjoy the rise and be entertained watching his big sister.

Heart palpitations

Addies new game is to ride the bee full speed at the highchair, grab the legs of the highchair and swing off the bee under the highchair... I hate to think what the high school years will bring.

Addies little pumpkin

Addie got her own pumpkin this year to carve, we are keeping the knives away from her though.

Pumpkins

We went to market last night to get our pumpkins. I remember always picking the biggest one and my parents usually suggesting a smaller one; now I understand why. I talked Addie into one of the smallest ones I could find :)