Another milestone - ARGH!

Emma was our last to turn over (6 months - on the dot) and our last to crawl (about 10 months). She was our last to walk and run (walking at 17 1/2 months and just recently running). One milestone she hadn't tackled yet is the stairs.

I have tried numerous times to show her how to climb up and come down on her bottom, but she had no interest. Not only did she have no interest, but she seemed terrified at the prospect.

Perhaps it was the fact that she tackled the feat of climbing on the couch at Oma's and Opa's this weekend. Perhaps its the fact that she has parlayed that into an ability to climb up on our couch. But NOW she has decided that she can climb up the stairs. Last night she just headed for the back stairs and instead of stopping and asking to be picked up, she just kept going...and going...and going - and alas, she was at the top.

While I'm happy that eventually I won't have to carry her up and down the steps anymore, I'll now need go up and down with her each time until she does it consistently without falling - and when I'm not with her, I'll have to put up the gates at the top and bottom because with THIS child, anything is possible!!

To those who have inquired...

... and to the one that I don't (surprisingly) seem to have an email for:

Moon Sand is a "cross" between Play Doh and Sand.

Here's one
Here's another

There is evidentally a problem with the manufacturer because everyone is having trouble.

Good News is that my sister found a set and is shipping them to me, and I got some off of eBay at a "not too bad" a price, so the Stopper Family will have some Moon Sand to play with this Christmas!

She's not asleep!

And how do I know that? I just coughed, sitting on the couch in the family room. All of a sudden I hear this voice from beyond - from the bedroom at the top of the stairs. It said, in the sweetest of not-yet-two-year-old voices, "Bless You".

Getting a jump on things!

I remember last year that Christmas snuck up on us. I think maybe someone removed a week or so from the calendar and forgot to tell me. I found myself around the 12th of December and I hadn't even thought about what I wanted to do.

But not this year. I've already started thinking about it. The kids have perused the "ToysRUs" Toy book that came in the mail a couple of weeks ago. We usually also take a trip through the toy aisles at Target for ideas. After that, I will finally be able to provide the grandparents and aunts and uncles ideas for gifts for my kids.

Of course, one of the "hot toys" this year is Moon Sand. Can't find it anywhere. My sister says she found some in Texas, so she is going to try to go back and get some for me. In addition to looking cool, it will actually be very good for Michael's Sensory System.

I actually have a couple of ideas for my nephews as well (you notice I didn't say "nieces" - I don't HAVE any nieces) but will look forward to ideas from my siblings as well.

All in all, I look forward to possibly having some gifts wrapped and under the tree BEFORE December 23rd, which is when I started wrapping last year.

Here's to the best laid plans of mice and men!

Almost Heaven!

To give you a little background on this post, I wanted to tell you about something I did in college. On a typical Sunday afternoon, after spending the weekend visiting one of many places, I would settle in to do homework or study for the following week. I would often go to the library and check out the Star Wars trilogy (the original one, this was 1990 and 1991 after all). I would put these three movies in the VCR, in succession, as background noise when I studied. It worked well - I seemed to need the background noise and since it was something I was familiar with, I wasn't distracted actually trying to pay attention to the movie. I did this MANY, MANY Sundays!

Anyway, this past weekend, the Cinemax movie channel has been running a Star Wars Marathon - all 6 movies in order. Over and Over. All Weekend. It started Friday and its going until early tomorrow morning. And, since we actually get an east coast AND a west coast feed, I actually have the movies on two different channels - so I can switch back and forth based on which scenes in which movie I'm interested in seeing. So, its been like heaven here. You'd think after 3 or 4 times listening to the movies, I'd be tired of them, but no. I have washed and folded laundry, I have napped, I have planned the lessons for the next two weeks, played with Emma and done any number of things, all with one of the six Star Wars movies as background!

Well, its unanimous!

All of my kids have loved Teletubbies!

We were first exposed to Teletubbies when Samantha was about a year old - it was on during the time we were getting ready for work, and she would sit mezmerized while it was on.

Michael watched it too - although not a lot because it was no longer on in the morning when we were preparing for work.

Now, with the wonders of technology, we can have an episode of Teletubbies any time we would - with our cable's "On Demand" service. Typically, Emma gets a good dose of "Noggin" in the morning while we are trying to get some lessons done. But even that isn't keeping Emma occupied these days.

Recently, Mike pulled up an episode of Teletubbies for Emma when he wanted her to calm down before bedtime. She was catatonic. She didn't move for the entire episode (much like you see in the photo above!)

She doesn't call it Teletubbies - she calls is "Poe" (one of the characters on Teletubbies). Her favorite part is the baby face in the sun that laughs from time to time - she laughs right along with that baby.

So now, when we need Emma to calm down and sit still (if only for a few minutes), we just have to turn on an episode of Teletubbies and we're set!!

Sometimes the best photos are the unplanned ones

Didn't have much to say today, but I finally went through the photos that I took during our annual trip to the Cox Farm pumpkin patch last weekend and I found this really sweet photo of Emma eating an apple that I wanted to share.

Trick-or-Treat

The kids had a great time trick-or-treating. Every year, they go out a little bit longer and hit a few more houses.

After I got the obligatory photo on the front stairs - which wasn't easy with Emma looking away and BOTH of my other children blinking at odd times - they kids headed out. I did finally get a good group shot.


















I am also sharing individual photos of Michael and Samantha, since I shared an individual one of Emma yesterday.

I wanted to get a photo of Emma walking away to trick-or-treat, but she was too quick for me. She ran DOWN the driveway and down the street after Samantha so fast that Mike had to run to catch up with her. I can't get her to even leave the driveway on a normal day - and we couldn't catch up with her last night.

So Emma went to just the few houses around us and then Mike brought her home. He headed back out with Samantha and Michael for a bit longer before they all returned tired. We have huge piles of candy in the house now - and we are rationing it to the kids so I don't have to peel them off the ceiling in order to get any schoolwork done.

Happy Birthday Granny!