And so Yaya is now 55 months old. Five more months before her first half decade! [[image:2013-yaya55month-05.jpg:Let’s make orange juice!:center:0]] * Mouse over the pictures for captions Food status: no change. Although I did catch her tasting one of her own boogers, and she almost tasted a strawberry ice lolly. I did not however, reward her with a new toy for the little booger stunt. A small win: she ate pizza by picking it up and biting into it like a regular person (like Peppa Pig, apparently). Normally we have to cut the slice up into little fork-sized pieces. God forbid that the child gets her hands dirty in order to eat! We felt that having her handle her food with her own hands was a big win though. Also, Yaya has been helping Papa squeeze oranges and tangerines into juice. Sadly she will not taste the fruits of her […]

So two weeks (and a day) after Adik’s first birthday we had a small gathering of friends and neighbors at our home, to celebrate Adik’s birthday (again!). [[image:2013_rafe1stbday03.jpg:Another party! Yay!:center:0]] * Mouse over the pictures for captions It sure is much harder to prepare to get anything completed on time with two little kids running around, but we did our best. Thanks to our guests for their patience in waiting for the food to be served and the festivities to commence. [[image:2013_rafe1stbday01.jpg:The group:center:0]] [[image:2013_rafe1stbday02.jpg:Yaya getting tips from Natalie, a real artist:center:0]] Finally food is served and it is time for cake! Thanks to Natalie for taking these photos while Vin and I ran around being party hosts. Unfortunately, it did mean that we didn’t get very many photos of Natalie herself. [[image:2013_rafe1stbday04.jpg:Yaya can’t wait to blow out the candle, while Adik wants to get his hands on the cake:center:0]] [[image:2013_rafe1stbday05.jpg:Happy […]

So here we are, at 11 months! Only one more month before Adik turns 1! It’s really amazing how quickly time has passed. I mean, it’s almost a year since he was born! And look how far he’s come now. [[image:2012_1129_rafe18.jpg:Happy Adik:center:0]] * Mouse over the pictures for captions Adik is growing so fast, we can hardly believe it. He is a super fast crawler (four-point) and pulls to stand up by pulling on anything and everything, disregarding his own safety for the most part. He also walks along the coffee table and other furniture as long as he has a hand-hold. He also stands without holding on to anything for short bursts. But when he needs speed, he goes on all fours and motors away. Vin predicts that he will be walking by age 1 – the clock is running, Adik! 😉 Along with “Ma ma ma ma” (his […]

52 Months! And backdated entries are a good thing. 🙂  [[image:2012-yaya52month-15.jpg:Happy Yaya says Hiiii:center:0]] * Mouse over pictures for captions Another month has passed – without traveling again! Things are pretty quiet at home, even Lily the cat seems calm and relaxed (she’s tense when we leave her). Food status: Another slight success. As mentioned last month, we imposed a new rule that Yaya will not get a new game (on the iPad) or new toy until she tries a new food. This past month she tried nutella (she dipped her finger and tasted it). And for that she got a new Team Umizoomi game on the iPad. Sadly, the Peppa Pig Sports Day game is only available on iTunes UK and I can’t seem to download or purchase it without making it seem like we’ve moved to the UK and will only shop iTunes UK from now on! May […]

And so Adik is now 10 months old! (And change, if I were honest – thank goodness for backdated entries!).  [[image:2012_1029_rafe01.jpg:Cheeky toothsome slobbery grin!:center:0]] * Mouse over the pictures for captions Adik has abandoned the commando crawl and graduated to the traditional four-point crawl! And wow, he is pretty fast! When he wears footed ‘jamas, sometimes one foot will come out and he will get stuck, poor baby. But on the whole, he is quite quite mobile. He sometimes crawls in such a way that one of his feet is actually flat on the floor – like a reverse-lamed horse? Very amusing. He still loves to head towards the forbidden areas – cat food area, kitchen, downstairs bathroom (and catbox). We have our work cut out for us chasing after him! Vin cleared the playpen of toys (we had been using it as a toybox to store all toys) as […]

And so another month has passed. The numbers are rising! And the girl has definitely come a long way in 51 months [[image:2012-yaya51month-14.jpg:Yaya loved the train ride at the outlet mall:center:0]] * Mouse over the pictures for captions We had another fun month, but no traveling this time! A nice stay at home month for us (or has the hibernation begun?). Food status: slight success. Yaya ate home-made pancakes! She ate them dry and without syrup, but she ate them. I made them special Yaya-sized little medallions and she ate some of it. We were terribly proud! We thought perhaps we could springboard from pancakes to other bread-like foods, like naan bread, or nutella or peanut butter on her toast. But no luck. The pancakes were it. So now, as an incentive for her to try something new, we told her no new games on the iPad until she tries […]

Another month has passed and now the boy is 9 months old! [[image:2012_0929_rafe22.jpg:Beautiful eye:center:0]] * Mouse over the pictures for captions Adik has continued another month of commando crawling – he’s fast too! He loves heading towards areas that he is not allowed to go, like the kitchen or the cat food area, and squeals and shrieks happily when we chase after him. So he already loves the game of tag :-). He has a bit of a callous now on the key bits of his body (i.e., his knees) which he uses to push himself forward when commando crawling. He crawls up the stage steps with no problems and is crawling down headfirst (and tumbling down). He can climb over pretty high obstacles now with no problems so we have to be very careful with him on the bed. We no longer use the changing table to change him […]

50 months! 50 months of Yaya! 🙂 This month’s activities included our first work-related trip (to Chicago), seeing Becky and Phil in Elkhart for Labor Day weekend, Yaya’s first ever haircut (given by me!) as well as the usual stuff that we do at home. [[image:2012-yaya50month-15.jpg:Teapot so we can play masak-masak:center:0]] * Mouse over the pictures for captions Alas, the girl remains a toastivore and cannot be tempted to even try anything new. She did consent to eat a few french fries so I guess that’s OK but even pizza has fallen out of favor this past month. She remains faithful to her toast, bananas, and milk. On the plus side, we can safely say that the girl does not eat any candy or junk food! We did also learn that Yaya has become a bread snob. She will eat her cinnamon raisin Thomas’s english muffins (lightly toasted with butter), […]

Another whirlwind month filled with stuff to do, places to go, and people to see has passed.  And Adik is 8 months old! [[image:2012_0829_rafe16.jpg:Yes, yes I am:center:0]] * Mouse over the pictures for captions So Adik is still commando crawling and starting to crawl over low hurdles (e.g., 1 pillow, 1 outstretched leg) but still has trouble crawling over anything higher than that. He’s terribly funny when he learns to do something. He yells a wild war whoop when his attempts finally succeed, and then he goes around and repeats the thing, practising his little heart out. Adik is very determined, and it’s so funny to see him putting his game face on. We still have to keep him from being trampled by his sister, but he is starting to stand his ground against her. He keeps going after the things she’s playing with (after she’s grabbed it out of […]