More game!

Last night at dinner Abby dropped her sippy cup on the floor. She motioned the more sign* to Daddy. He picked it up and gave it to her. She took one swig, tossed it on the floor, started cracking up, and did the more sign again. Looks like someone already had a sense of humor! Daddy played along for a few more rounds. Then we realized this may not be the best game to encourage. It was cute though.

* We taught both Abby & Anna signs for "more" and "all done." "More" is putting two hands together. "All done" is shaking both hands.

Spring photoshoot

Daddy got some great shots of Abby in her car this weekend:

Abby loves to inspect small things - like this leaf.

Abby loves to wave - to Anna when she first gets up in the morning, to friends who come and go, to the train at the mall, and to the garbage truck.

Standing up for herself!

Anna is usually very good with Abby - including her in activities, helping to feed her, reading to her, etc. Of course though there are times when Anna takes toys from Abby or pushes her if she is crawling towards something that Anna has set up.

Today, for the first time, Abby spoke up for herself. Anna took a toy away from Abby and Abby screamed at Anna and swatted her hand at her. Whoa! When I told Matt he asked, "What did you do?" Oh - what sophisticated parenting tactic did I use - uuuh, I laughed! I couldn't help it. It took me by surprise. And Matt said, "What did Anna do?" She was just shocked - no response.

2 years and 10 months

While our 10 month is still hammin' it up for the camera, our 2 year and 10 month old is not yet practicing for the red carpet:


Although we catch few smiles on film, Anna does spend much of her time with a big smile on her face. Besides playing store and giving Abby tubs, this month Anna has been busy doing a lot of artwork with glue, riding her tricycle, playing soccer, reading books, dancing, playing with her baby dolls, and hosting birthday parties. Some of her latest artwork can be seen behind the birthday cake picture from Daddy's party. Her gluing project began by gluing shapes I cut out to paper. Then one day she took it 3 dimensional - she starting folding the shapes so they stood off the paper and finally folding the paper around her 3-D shapes. The final product is "secret" because the paper is folded around it.

We've had some warm enough weather to be outside a bunch this month and Anna has enjoyed riding her tricycle and playing soccer. Sometimes she combines the two by giving the ball a big kick and riding the tricycle to get it. Recently she starred in a solo soccer game at our local high school. (She requested that Daddy go into the stands and cheer for her while she ran around the empty field with the ball.)

Anna still likes Curious George and Berenstain Bears books. She's runs right to the shelf where they are located upon arriving at the library (sound familiar, Uncle Dan?) She's also been enjoying Berenstain Bears and a few other new shows on the TV (besides Curious George Sesame Street, and Dora which were the only shows she watched for a long time).

Anna has had a greater interest in her baby dolls recently. She's just learning to put some of their clothes on and off herself. She also likes to take them for stroller rides and rock them to sleep. Once they are sleeping she tells Abby and I to try to be a little quieter and tells us not to go upstairs.

Anna is always trying to figure out cause and effect now and why different things happen the way they do. Yesterday I was going to blow up some balloons for Anna that were left over from Daddy's party. I had trouble getting the first one started. I said I didn't know if I could do it and she said, "Are you an adult?" Apparently Daddy had told her that only adults could blow up balloons. Ha - I guess adults except for Mommy.

A surprise shot:

10 months

Abigail is 10 1/2 months old now and she's doing great. She's busy moving her feet around while she holds onto the couch and the coffee table. Her favorite place to "cruise" is at the small table and chairs in the corner of our dining room:

She loves to hang out there while I'm working in the kitchen. A few times she's managed to push the chair out from the table and use it as a walker to walk herself right into the kitchen. The look on her face while she's doing this is very similar to the picture above :) The other activity she likes to do at the small table is play "store." This is actually a game that Anna started. Anna and Abby both act as store keepers and I come and buy things from them. Anna sets her stuff up at the big table and Abby sets her stuff up at the little table. Sometimes Abby looses interest and crawls away. Then Anna & I like to tease her that she is not a very good clerk and her store is not going to make any money.

Besides cruising, another big theme of Abby's 10th month is tub time. Anna & Abby love taking tubs together. Another popular activity is for Anna to help Daddy give Abby a tub. There were a few weeks were Abby was getting a tub from the Daddy/ Anna team almost every night.

Sporting their matching outfits from Nana:




Cruising at the basket of toys:


Yogurt face:

Happy Birthday, Daddy!

This past Saturday was Daddy's birthday. Matt had Friday off and we celebrated all weekend. Mom & Dad kicked off the weekend on Thursday night with a beer, chip, and salsa tasting:

And the winner is... Blue Moon Blonde Spring Ale

On Saturday Mom & Dad had a special date bowling and yesterday Mom, Dad, Anna, & Abby had a party! Anna had a great time helping to make and decorate the cake. Abby had a great time helping to open presents. And we all had fun eating cake (yes, even Abby!)

I wrapped it myself, Dad :)

Happy Birthday, Daddy! We love you so much!

Sisters!

Yesterday Anna said, "I want to get my picture taken with Abby. I want to hold her on my lap." Sweet! I've been waiting for this day for a while. Here are the best two I got:

Surprisingly Abby was the less cooperative one this time. Once Abby was done posing Anna said, "Can you just take a picture of me alone?" Oh yes, Anna, it would make me so happy:

beautiful girl :)