What we've been up to...

So, another nice summer's week in the books. Here are some highlights:

On Saturday, we saw Auntie Mel's Ugly Duckling show for a last time. Auntie Linda and Mikayla came, as did cousins Elizabeth and Jerry, and our friends Rigo and Colleen and their kids, including Violet's friend Liana.

After the show, we caught up a bit over a Starbucks, and then went on to Ikea with Elizabeth and Jerry.
Cora was such a loving, friendly girl with everyone! Overall, she has been a very good girl lately. We have our moments, but in general Stace and I are really enjoying our Cora Rose at 4.
On Monday, we went to a pool playdate with some MOPS friends, and Cora had a ball. Violet did, too, but since I was in the pool with her, I couldn't get any photos. Cora is much more comfortable in the water, and when she finishes her swimming lessons, I'm sure she'll be swimming on her own.
Last week, my college friend Lylia and her 4-year-old, Kelsie, came over to play. The girls had fun at the park after a bit of dress-up time at home.
Violet played with big girls. At least, she thought she did.

Our 14-month-old

Violet Mae is now 14 months old, and becoming more of a toddler than a baby with every passing day.

She is much better at walking. She still wobbles a bit here and there, but she can sometimes run a bit without falling down. Thankfully, she hasn't yet reached the point of demanding to walk on her own whenever we're out and about.

Violet likes to make us laugh. While we waited for our dinner last week, she was having a grand time playing with Stacey's sunglasses. She also entertained us by being super silly, dancing around and throwing her head back and forth while laughing like crazy.

In the next two photos and video, Violet was being funny by playing with the (clean) silverware by pretending to use each piece. "Yum, mmmm, mum, mmmm," she was saying as she pretended to eat with the spoons.

I'm proud of something Violet did this morning.

Lately, I've been putting her on the toilet, on Cora's princess seat, when I can tell she needs to go No. 2. When she does so, of course, we make a big deal about it and clap and cheer. We've been doing this for a few weeks, and have had a number of successes.
Well, this morning, I could see her standing in the dining room, and it looked like maybe she needed to "go." I asked her if she needed to poo, and Violet immediately toddled off toward the bathroom. She waited until I opened the door, and then went over to the toilet, waiting for me to remove her diaper and lift her up. Sure enough, we had success! So, she is starting to understand.

I should point out that I'm NOT expecting to have her potty-trained any time soon. But I figured, why not get her used to using the toilet, while she isn't into the defiant toddler/2-year-old phase.

Dentist trip

Cora had very successful dentist visit this week.

I was amazed on her maturity and cooperation, and so proud of her! What a big girl she is becoming.

Cora had her first experience with x-rays, and though she thought they were uncomfortable inside her mouth, she stayed still. She's holding a Dora the Explorer book about going to the dentist, which explained about the x-ray machine.

In the x-ray images, were able to see her adult teeth under her baby teeth, and her six-year molars beneath the surface.

Cora got a clean bill of dental health from Dr. Mindel, and he made her laugh out loud when he tickled her finger with the tooth-polishing tool. (Cora's face is overexposed in the photo from the bright light, but see that laughter?)



Stace also had a good checkup, and Violet impressed all the staff by toddling around the office.

She and Stace then had a hilarious time putting stickers on each other's noses.

Settling in

Our new cats are settling in very well. They are such sweeties! Spencer is a little more outgoing and Sebastian a little more skittish, but both are very friendly, happy, purrrrr-y cats. They love to play and sit in your lap, and neither have a problem with either of our girls.


We're mostly keeping the food and water up on this sideboard, away from Violet. She's already sampled the cat food and spilled the water, of course! This is Sebastian - you know it's him by his two extra toes on each foot!

Cora's box of dress-up clothes has been a source of fun and amusement for both cats.

This is Spencer. His eyes are brown, while Sebastian's are more greenish.
Blurry photo, but you can imagine how cute this scene was - Violet crawling under the train table to get to the kitties! She wakes up in the morning and from naps asking for Gia and for the kitties, using her "meow" noise to refer to them.
Sebastian playing with the foil ball. We toyed with changing his name, while keeping Spencer's name the same, but Cora was already attached to both names and wouldn't hear of it.
Stace has been watching all the Star Wars movies this week, in honor of his birthday. It seemed like a good time to introduce the boys to his favorite franchise.

Sebastian inside, Spencer looking in. So far, they have been very well behaved. A bit of curtain-jumping, but not too bad. The main problem is when they jump on the dining table. And, they've been a tiny bit sick twice, because they're eating parts of toys - theirs and Cora's.

I was concerned about being up all night with two kittens, since Somer kept us up all night her first week or so in our home. Come to think of it, she kept us up other nights, too. What a talker she was!

But perhaps because they have each other for company, Spencer and Sebastian are just fine in the house overnight. We've tried to let them in our room at bedtime, and Spencer is a real lovebug, but he purrs so loudly and walks around so much that we can't sleep. But when I put him out and close the door, he and his brother are super quiet all night.

Happy Birthday, Stace!

We celebrated Stace's birthday Tuesday with dinner at Stone Fire - their barbecue chopped salad is our current favorite.

I gave Stace an English classic car magazine - hey, everyone needs to have a dream - and a Kinks CD and a trip to Guitar Center for a new capo.

We then had ice cream together. Violet especially enjoyed eating Cora's cone.

Happy birthday, Babe. Thanks for all you do to give us the life we've lead together for nearly eight years.

Father's Day car show

We spent Father's Day at an Italian-focused car show in Beverly Hills, with Juliana, Daryl and their girls.

At top, we have the dads and their girls, in front of our future family hatchback - a Ferrari FF. Well, when that future includes us winning the lottery - these babies are going for more than $350k.

The second car would be a more doable choice for us.

The Fiat 124 Spider is a classic convertible Stace has been interested in. Not that he's getting another classic in the near future... but he is looking at Craig's List and eBay motors every day!

There were dozens of Ferraris at this car show, including the yellow Dino, another of Stacey's "favorite cars of all time."

Fiat was the focus of this year's Rodeo Drive Concours d'Elegance car show, as the Italian brand comes back into the U.S. market with the new 500. In the last photo, Cora and Maya pose in front of the original 500.

It was a great day out, and fun to spend it with our good friends.

Happy Father's Day, Stace. You're the best Daddy I could wish for for our girls.
And, a special greeting for my dad and for Gord - we love you both, too.

New kitties!

Just in time for Father's Day, Stace is no longer outnumbered at our house!

Exciting times at our house Saturday, as we brought home two four-month-old brother kittens, Spencer and Sebastian.

We went through Forgotten Angels cat rescue, at the recommendation of our veterinarian.

When I spoke to the rescue guy Monday, he said these two boys sounded like a good fit for us. Young, playful and friendly, they aren't scared of the youthful energy of our girls. And we said we wanted two, and these two are well-bonded litter mates.

That way, when we are gone for a week or two at a time, they'll have each other for company.

We drove up to the Palmdale PetSmart, where the rescue has pet adoptions, to check them out.

It went really well, and here we are! Home, with our two new friends. We are doing a one-week trial, and if all goes great, we'll finalize the adoption in a week or so.

So far, we're thinking we'll keep their current names. Spencer and Sebastian are, at the moment, in Cora's room, and at 10:30 at night, she is nowhere near falling asleep.

Not that I can blame her; I'm just wishing I was back to being a four-year-old with a pair of kittens. Such fun!

Following Violet's wild and crazy Friday night, I think tonight is going to be another long night.

Toddler Violet

Violet is 13 months!
OK, I'm just a couple of weeks late in marking the occasion on the blog.

She's walking everywhere, still in that stiff-legged and cute way. And she's a toddler in more ways than that one - she's having little temper tantrums when she's mad, and she doesn't put up with Cora doing whatever Cora wants when they're playing together.

In these photos, I'm learning and relearning that I can't leave things on the changing table within Violet's reach from her crib. First, it was the toilet paper roll. Then, the diaper drawer was open and she pulled out a lot of diapers to play with.

Now that Violet is walking, I find her often attached to my leg. For several days, she would bite my leg when she was holding on - I had to nip that one in the bud! No biting for the last week or so, thankfully.

This week has been a bit rough for Violet. Monday and Tuesday nights, she was up in the night and wouldn't settle down to sleep.

On Wednesday she had a fever, which lasted for over a day, and then progressed into the cold Cora has also had.

Wednesday and Thursday nights Violet slept fine, but then on Friday night she woke up at 1:30 and didn't fall back to sleep until after 4. Violet's never had a night this bad.

Flipping through the toddler sleep book, it mentions teething, learning to walk and illness as all being reasons to wake up in the night. Hmmm. In addition, I've weaned Violet to nursing only in the morning and evening in the last week or two. So I guess I shouldn't be shocked that all the above is affecting her sleep.

New camp

Another week in...

Cora started a summer camp class through the city this week. It will last four weeks, and her old friend Miss Diane is the teacher. It's two days a week, from 9 to 12:30, so significantly longer than Terrific Tots.

She's enjoying it, and Violet and I are getting the groceries bought and house straightened out during that time.

On Thursday, my college friend Jason called and was going to be in SClarita for work, with his baby Morgan. We had lunch together, and the little ones did great.

Morgan will be 1 next week, and she was born 10 weeks early. It's a blessing to see her so healthy and happy - no repercussions at all from her way-early arrival.

Cora and Violet are continuing to play well together. Friday morning, Cora got a book out and Violet willingly complied with her request to sit in her lap. It was adorable. Almost made me cry!

Sleepy girl

Last week, while we adjusted to California time, Cora was very tired when she went to bed.

One night early in the week, we checked on her and found her sleeping like this.

After I took the book away, her hand stayed in place.

The next night, this is what we found.

Most of the week, Cora woke up very early (by her standards) and played quietly in her room during naptime, rather than catching up on sleep. But by the end of the week, it caught up with her. She had been asking repeatedly when she could come out (naptime ends at 4 if she doesn't fall asleep). At 3:50, I told her she had 10 minutes. At five minutes past 4, this is what I found when I went in to get her up.