8 months

We all agree: You are the busiest baby we have ever seen. Nothing is off-limits or impossible in your eyes. If we allowed it, your favorite toy would be a magazine. You would eat too much of it, though. "No" is just a minor interruption in your never-ending quest. You love to explore and are not easily distracted. Getting you dressed in the morning and at bedtime is an interesting challenge. Determined is one of the words that best describes your personality. After happy, of course.


You love your sister to the moon. And she loves you that far and back. Your smiles are extra-big for Caroline. She loves caring for you - giving you juice in a bottle, showing you how toys work, teaching you sign language. You already have such a special relationship with each other and I pray daily I can foster that as you both grow.


Dancing, singing, and making music are joyful activities for you. If we are dancing together and I stop, you jerk your legs in excitement until the dancing begins again. The piano provides several minutes of entertainment, much to my delight.

Despite all your busyness, there are a few moments of calm in the day and I cherish them. One of my favorite things is to be around when you first wake up from your nap. I take you up and you are happy and cuddly and peaceful. The end of the day is lovely, too. You snuggle your head against my chest as we rock. Your energetic-self gives up for the day and is ready to recharge. You grow warm, soft, heavy in my arms. I hesitate every time I lay you down, remembering that this time in your life is so short. Too short. Your Daddy and I stare at you as you sleep, marveling at the wonder of you.

You remind us that our lives, plain as they feel on some days, are the biggest and most exciting adventures of all. We see that big things really do come in tiny packages.

Lollipop Symphony

The Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra has a special set of concerts for young listeners, called the Lollipop Series. It was the perfect introduction to the orchestra for Caroline! They gave out crayons and fun programs in the lobby. All of the musicians wore colored shirts that coordinated with the family of their instrument (strings wore red, brass wore blue, woodwinds wore yellow, and percussion wore green). The program included instrumental pieces, singers, ballet dancers, and sing-alongs. The theme of the program was Thanksgiving, so the pieces were about thanks, food, and animals. It was so much fun and Caroline really enjoyed it. Her favorite piece was the "Old MacDonald Sing-Along" and her favorite instruments were the big drums and the trumpets.

Going to the Symphony is one of my most favorite things and I really hope that is something we can continue to enjoy together.

Mermaid

Caroline passed Level 1 swimming lessons! On to Level 2...

Mommy: Caroline! You swim like a fish! I'm so proud!

Caroline: No, Mommy. I swim like a mermaid!

Prima ballerina

Last week was Parents' Day at Caroline's dance class. Luckily, Kevin worked nights last week, so he was able to come with me. We were so enchanted by our oldest girl's dancing. We were proud, proud parents that afternoon! We took some video, but now need to figure out how to get it off the video camera. Hopefully, I can figure that out soon!

There was a lot of singing, which was nice. This is "I'm a Little Teapot."

Their last tap dance routine was to "Mama Mia" and was adorable!


And this is Caroline's favorite part every week: the Choo-Choo Train.

Indian summer

Y'all, I've got so much to post and I'm so far behind in posting it!


We really, really enjoyed every moment of the warm weather two weeks ago. It was wonderful.


I let Caroline do some art projects out on the deck.


Helen is always up to something.


We took a trip to the zoo. It was perfect - warm weather, no crowds. Awesome.

We've been busy! More to come...

Playing Mommy

Caroline's best friend at school is Sydney. She tells me every day that her favorite part of school was playing with Sydney. They play "Mommy" many days. Kevin probed her a bit tonight at the dinner table to find out exactly what playing Mommy means.

Daddy: So, Caroline, how do you and Sydney play Mommy?

Caroline: Well...usually Sydney is the Mommy.

Daddy: And are you a Mommy, too?

Caroline: No, I'm the Honey!

It was all I could do not to die with laughter at the dinner table!

Cuties

Here's just a cute picture of the girls before ballet class last week...

Preschool songs

Caroline's been learning several songs at school. It's so fun when she comes home and just breaks out in a new, cute little ditty. For Halloween, they did a little song about 5 Pumpkins.


And this one is about 5 frogs. You'll probably get the gist of this one after one verse!

Halloween 2009

We had a very fun Halloween! Doing little things like making sucker ghosts and having a spooky meal make Caroline so excited. That's so much fun for us as parents.

Caroline (with a little prompting) decided a long time ago that she would be Emily Elizabeth from "Clifford, The Big Red Dog." I ordered a little Clifford for Caroline to take to her preschool Halloween party. Dogs don't go to school, according to Caroline. And then Kevin and I decided it would be fun if we could dress Tigger as Clifford by painting him red. As you can see, it worked really well! Tigger is such a good sport. Caroline - I mean Emily Elizabeth - and Clifford were a neighborhood sensation! Everywhere we went, people wanted to take their picture! They laughed and thought it was the best idea for a costume. And of course, they wanted to know how we made our dog red. Kevin and I really didn't expect the costume to create such a stir. We couldn't stop laughing!

It was really sweet to get out the cute duck costume for Helen. She stayed toasty warm in her suit and was very content riding in the stroller, taking in all the activity.

This is one Halloween we'll be talking about for years!

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