Noelle took three small steps today. With that maneuver she walked into the classification of "toddler." At least in my mind. Those first toddling steps signified the passage from "baby" into "kid"-dom.
I wrote the above on July 23rd. Admittedly this news is rather stale, as she's been improving on the feat for close to three weeks. She's already moved past the stumble stage and can sustain a respectable march for a solid five to ten yards down the hallway, demonstrating superior maneuvering skills in avoiding American Gladiator-quality obstacles like piled baby clothes, a yellow chicken that belts out the 'chicken dance' upon a light touch of its orange chicken foot, and a dog bowl with yesterday's soggy morsels. Still, these stunts play second fiddle to her crowning achievement: walking up to a mini soccer ball, planting properly with the opposite foot, and administering a determined kick, propelling the ball into the next zip code (or, more accurately, onto the next square on the rug pattern). Though still on all fours, Lucas is clearly priming for the WT soccer showdown when he can return her volleys with rocket shots of his own; presently he's limited to side swipes at the ball and a double-handed over-head throw, as if returning and out-of-bounds ball back into play.
As Florida summers are not a matter to be taken lightly, we've spent a good percentage of our free time submerged in five inches of lukewarm non-chlorinated water. We hold these shenanigans in our considerably low-tech inflatable pool, a blue and red rectangle no wider than a twin mattress and most certainly not as long, ten inches high at full rigidity (sorry), not tall enough for a stern "No Diving" sign yet high enough to trip over when pacing the backyard on a moonless night. We've yet to encounter a limit to the joys one can experience in this pool. No, that's not true. The unexpected deposit of solid waste particles by one of the short Wieleckis has indeed dampened the fun on a few occasions. Lately swim diapers have been required accessories.
A month ago NL had their somewhat delayed first birthday party. Oh, this could be an entry in itself. But it won't be, as the news is several weeks old and would fail to deliver that spark of interest. Let's just say the kids dressed up for the occassion, then dressed down to get into the relocated inflatable pool, then dressed up for the main festivities, and finally dressed down to indulge in wild cake-squishing and -smearing abandon. The sun had both barrels blazing and the breeze was on holiday in the Caribees.
Also slightly "off schedule" was NL's one-year pediatrician appointment. Noelle still outpaces Lucas in weight, but by a shrinking margin; she's 21lb 8oz, he is 20lb 14oz (60th and 20th percentiles). Injections were down to two apiece. Of course this was a month ago, so Noelle's stats have surely climbed into the >22 lb. category, meaning she officially exceeds the manufacturer's weight limit for her car seat. Another topic for another entry, for another month, likely in another year.
Curiously, Lucas has skipped ahead of Noelle with his linguistic dabblings. Though she can easily stumble around him to a gold medal, in speech class she takes a back seat. So far Noelle is restraining herself to "mama", a rough allusion to "dad", and a single-note "eeeeehhh!" siren. Meanwhile, Lucas dives full larynx into all sorts of verbal escapades, parroting most of my moronic sounds and producing some originals. Generally these consist of "baaah!" but he puts quite a bit of effort into them and occasionally comes impressively close.
I wrote the above on July 23rd. Admittedly this news is rather stale, as she's been improving on the feat for close to three weeks. She's already moved past the stumble stage and can sustain a respectable march for a solid five to ten yards down the hallway, demonstrating superior maneuvering skills in avoiding American Gladiator-quality obstacles like piled baby clothes, a yellow chicken that belts out the 'chicken dance' upon a light touch of its orange chicken foot, and a dog bowl with yesterday's soggy morsels. Still, these stunts play second fiddle to her crowning achievement: walking up to a mini soccer ball, planting properly with the opposite foot, and administering a determined kick, propelling the ball into the next zip code (or, more accurately, onto the next square on the rug pattern). Though still on all fours, Lucas is clearly priming for the WT soccer showdown when he can return her volleys with rocket shots of his own; presently he's limited to side swipes at the ball and a double-handed over-head throw, as if returning and out-of-bounds ball back into play.
As Florida summers are not a matter to be taken lightly, we've spent a good percentage of our free time submerged in five inches of lukewarm non-chlorinated water. We hold these shenanigans in our considerably low-tech inflatable pool, a blue and red rectangle no wider than a twin mattress and most certainly not as long, ten inches high at full rigidity (sorry), not tall enough for a stern "No Diving" sign yet high enough to trip over when pacing the backyard on a moonless night. We've yet to encounter a limit to the joys one can experience in this pool. No, that's not true. The unexpected deposit of solid waste particles by one of the short Wieleckis has indeed dampened the fun on a few occasions. Lately swim diapers have been required accessories.
A month ago NL had their somewhat delayed first birthday party. Oh, this could be an entry in itself. But it won't be, as the news is several weeks old and would fail to deliver that spark of interest. Let's just say the kids dressed up for the occassion, then dressed down to get into the relocated inflatable pool, then dressed up for the main festivities, and finally dressed down to indulge in wild cake-squishing and -smearing abandon. The sun had both barrels blazing and the breeze was on holiday in the Caribees.
Also slightly "off schedule" was NL's one-year pediatrician appointment. Noelle still outpaces Lucas in weight, but by a shrinking margin; she's 21lb 8oz, he is 20lb 14oz (60th and 20th percentiles). Injections were down to two apiece. Of course this was a month ago, so Noelle's stats have surely climbed into the >22 lb. category, meaning she officially exceeds the manufacturer's weight limit for her car seat. Another topic for another entry, for another month, likely in another year.
Curiously, Lucas has skipped ahead of Noelle with his linguistic dabblings. Though she can easily stumble around him to a gold medal, in speech class she takes a back seat. So far Noelle is restraining herself to "mama", a rough allusion to "dad", and a single-note "eeeeehhh!" siren. Meanwhile, Lucas dives full larynx into all sorts of verbal escapades, parroting most of my moronic sounds and producing some originals. Generally these consist of "baaah!" but he puts quite a bit of effort into them and occasionally comes impressively close.
