M-I-A-M-I!

We took Isabelle to her first Miami football game today and had a great time!  The game was sloppy and slow, which was not good for the 'Canes, but probably better for the running dialogue we had going on in the stands.


Our original seats, 50 yd line with Duke season ticket holders.


After the first half we moved to the other side of the stadium to sit with the Miami fans and see if we could get Sebastian's attention.

Hooray for a UM victory!

Time to celebrate with the largest ice cream cone Isabelle's ever seen.

Eating and walking proved a slow process, so Belle rode in the "Papa Chair" all the way back to the car.




Happy Half-Birthday Isabelle!

So the Belle is 3.5 today.  I told her it was her half birthday and she asked if she was all grown up and could cook now.  As the pictures here illustrate, she is a spirited, funny, goofy girl!

Happy girl sitting on the steps (with Lulu on her shoulders).

Goofy girl, doing her patented shimmy-shimmy-shake-shake.
Retro girl, going for the baby/80's look with an 18mo onesie and a doll's pacie.

Giggle girl, mid-pillow fight.

Morning love

 Lulu and I were enjoying some waffles downstairs when Isabelle woke up and joined us.  She wanted a waffle too, so I asked her to watch Lucia on the couch.  Isabelle wanted Lulu on her lap, and Lucia didn't care, as long as she could keep eating her waffle - which she then decided to share.   Aww, they do get along sometimes!
       

Pumpkin Pickin', Part II

So after the official pickin' was finished, we ran into our neighbor and his two girls.  They and Isabelle ran off to the far edge of the field, while Lulu toodled around.  I was taking pictures of the merriment and noticed Lucia playing with some dirt (one of her favorites).  Then I realized it wasn't dirt.  It was an ant hill.  A few minutes of hysteria followed as three of us stripped her down, diaper and all, and tried to remove all of the ants.  They were between her fingers and toes, in her diaper, all over her dress... so the poor kid finished out the afternoon in just her diaper and came home with welts everywhere.

If you enlarge this one, you can see that she's actually picking up the "dirt" and playing with it!
The good news is that the welts all seem to have disappeared without further incident.  Phew!

Pumpkin Pickin' 2010

Despite the 90 degree weather, it's still October, which means the big pumpkin patch has sprouted near our house.  We made two trips there this weekend, Saturday for small pumpkins and Sunday for face painting and the big ones.  Though it's impossible to get both girls to sit still, let alone look at the camera or smile, I gave it a go. 










14 months old

Lucia "celebrated" 14 months of life by catching a nasty virus.  Four and a half days with a 102 fever left her wiped out ... she would just lie down on the living room floor!  The dogs were good nurses throughout, motivated equally by concern for their little sister and by the opportunity to score her crackers while she wasn't up for a fight.  Her fever finally broke, followed by three days of a crazy rash, but she's well now and back to her mischievous ways!


Updates for 14 months (since this is pretty much her baby book):  Lucia is saying words for doggy, Isabelle (Isa), kitty, and fish (along with Mama and Papa), and signing better too!  Things like airplane, diaper, please are now in her repertoire... but her preferred mode of communication is still the grunt-and-point or high-pitched shrieking!  She also makes sounds for elephant and duck. 



She is Trouble, with a capital T, if you turn your back.  Recent favorites include climbing up on her music table (climbing on anything for that matter), tearing off toilet paper and dipping it in the toilet, and chucking food off her tray to the vultures, er, dogs below.  She also really likes to wear socks (mine or Isabelle's) over her feet pajamas in the morning, and has adopted a pair of sweat bands Isabelle got at the dollar store.  She's quick with her adorable little laugh, especially for a tickle - or if you say the word "No."  Oh, and she loves baby dolls, which she calls "adah".





Backyard boss