Halloween

I know you are all anxious to see the kids in costume, so here they are -- adorable, aren't they? The one of Kyra gives you the full effect of the octopus and Daniel stood still barely long enough for a couple of photos.

Daniel and Luke had a great time trick or treating but eating the candy seemed to be the priority. Kyra just wondered why she was being forced out in the 45 degree weather in a funny costume. I'll try to load more pictures to Flickr tomorrow so you can see the real story! Both kids had trouble going to bed but probably not surprising given the activity and sugar. Well, not for Kyra -- her excuse is a cold and stuffy nose.

More teeth, less sleep

Note this should have been posted on Sunday night...

The kids took a bath together for the first time tonight... Is thumb sucking hereditary? Here are some pictures.

For some reason the baby now sleeps and Daniel gets up twice each night... it's collusion, I say. Kyra may be up tonight because she had a bit of a grumpy day due to more teeth. Two of the top four have come in but two more are coming along. Daniel's been excessively tired but refuses to give up and sleep. Today, I took him upstairs for a nap he'd been fighting and within 5 minutes of stopping reading, he was zonked. Of course, he only zonked for an hour. We're using the time conversion to try and get him to bed earlier in the hopes we can get past the over-tiredness. I've also resorted to reading a sleep book - which I know deep down will only result in more frustration because it won't have a direct answer... but I'm not sure how to address this -- do we lock his room so he can't get out and just deal with him crying and banging on the door until he realizes it's fruitless (i.e. Baby Boot Camp) or do we gently walk him back to his room each time he comes out until he realizes it's fruitless (but this approach really isn't fruitless for him because he does get to see us) or do we just give up and sleep with him... of course that didn't work the night we slept with him and he was awake for 2+ hours. What's keeping him up? We know you can't make them go to sleep so what are the options?

We're looking forward to Halloween. Daniel's school had a Halloween party on Friday night and the kids were adorable in their costumes. Of course, I had no camera. Supposedly, the school should email us the family picture they took. We'll certainly take pictures on Tuesday. Daniel's friend Luke is coming over to trick-or-treat with him. It should be fun!

Teeth

I forgot to mention that Kyra got a new upper tooth with a second one poking through and two more imminent. Poor baby! She's a trooper, though.

Friday night is the Halloween party at Daniel's daycare so we'll get the kids all fancied up and take some photos!

Walking...well, sort of

Kyra is standing by herself now for up to 5 seconds and has taken a couple of steps on her own. I expect she'll be walking soon and into more mischief. She is very funny these days -- she'll look at you and blink and if you blink back, she'll do it again with gusto, putting her whole head and body into it!

Daniel comes up with funny sentences sometimes. When we were in Phoenix, he picked up a Twix candybar from my mom's vending business and brought it to me and said, "Mommy, eat this." I said, "No thank you, I don't want that right now." He replied, "Eat it - it will make you heavy and strong."

The restaurant is coming along. We've got just under a month until opening!

Doctors

Today Kyra had her 9 month doctor's appointment. She is 22 lbs. 10 oz. (95th percentile) and Doctor says he's not worried at all about her weight. She's 28 3/4 inches tall (90th percentile) and head circumference is 17 3/4 inches (75th percentile). She's feisty and busy and doing wonderfully. Yesterday she took her first steps -- two steps, twice. Here's a picture of her with Basil.

Daniel went to the doctor, too. He's had a nighttime cough all summer and I was wondering if it was more than just one cold after another. The doctor thought it's an irritable throat and gave us a prescription for chewable medication that's essentially a very low dose of the same stuff for asthma inhalers. He says there's a spectrum of difficulty in breathing from irritable throat to wheezing coughs to asthma. One does not lead to the other but it's possible he has the irritable throat. We would stop using the medication once the nighttime coughing stopped and begin using it again if it resumed. If the medication doesn't help, we'll try an inhaler type solution. Right now he actually has a bad cold -- he's been up with coughing fits for the past two nights. Last night got better around 3:30am -- not sure if he's feeling better or the cough suppressant finally kicked in. He hasn't been as bad today and is napping now with no coughing at all... Hopefully, he's on the mend - just in time to head back to daycare tomorrow to bring something new home!

Pumpkins

We made it back from Phoenix in one piece. Kyra was up most of the flight and did pretty well. Didn't help that the seatbelt sign was on most of the flight. Daniel was wonderful and I have to say that the DVD player was a godsend as much as I hated to tune him in to it for 2 hours. "Piglet's Big Movie" has been a hit.

Kids are sleeping better (at least last night) -- Kyra slept through and Daniel didn't wake up until about 5:15 and then went back to bed until about 7:30.

Today we went to the pumpkin patch with a group of our friends and their kids. The kids loved running through the field and were soaked to their knees from the water on the grass. Fortunately, it only sprinkled for a bit while we were there. Luke was there so Daniel was giddy. They are a riot together. Kyra had a good time exploring the pumpkins, too.

Kyra's new tricks are clicking with her mouth and smacking her lips together. She also officially knows who Mama is and evidently cried for Mama on Saturday when I was at a presentation and she was left with a babysitter. Matt said to her this morning "Can you say 'Dada'?" and she replied "Ba ba ba ba... Mama" It was quite funny. She puts her arms up over her head (sort of like a touchdown) and smiles and is very ticklish. She also climbs the stairs and waves bye-bye.

Daniel's new tricks... hmmm... Daniel's his usual, adorable, independent self. I love it -- most of the time.

I also added some pictures to Flickr -- see the link on the right hand side of the page. Let me know if you can't access them and I'll be sure you're on the friends & family list.

Greetings from Phoenix

I wanted to post a quick note with our antics in Phoenix. Daniel has really enjoyed hanging out with his cousins -- both 15 year old Damien who played chase with him for over an hour one day to 2.5 year old Devin who also runs with him. We also had a visit last weekend from family friends which included 1.5 year old Vaughn. Kyra loved watching Vaughn walk around and throw the ball -- he was a bit more her pace than the big boys are. It's been great seeing everyone.

I need to buy the "What to do with kids in Phoenix" book because it doesn't seem to me a very kid-friendly town. No children's museum, no aquarium -- a zoo but it's too hot to go. Today we visited an outdoor mall area that had a fountain that kids could run through. Kyra and Daniel loved the spouting water. Daniel was drenched and Kyra would have been, too, had we let her. I took some pictures with my phone and will download them when I get home.

A couple days ago, Daniel was making up songs and they rhymed. I was really impressed. He is also changing the words to songs so that every word starts with the same letter. For example, "Twinkle twinkle tittle tar, tow I tonder tut tou tar." Interesting. He's still fighting nap time and bath time and getting up once per night. I feel he's generally not getting enough sleep but not sure what to do about it. While we've been here, he's skipped naps a couple of days and fallen asleep later in the day on the floor. The only way to ensure a nap is to be driving at nap time and then drive around until he wakes up. Kyra's not happy with this solution so it usually means dropping me and Kyra off at home and Mom and Daniel driving around... not ideal... or skipping the nap altogether, also not ideal.

Kyra's new trick is raising both hands over her head and smiling big. It's adorable. She also loves it when someone mimics her sounds. I finally found the perfect costume for her, too -- an octopus. Perfect for my Miss Grabby Girl. Daniel can't decide what to be -- we bought a police motorcycle that is held on with suspenders because he loved it in the store but now he's asking for the penguin costume (which will be adorable). My guess is that I should either 1) wait until the day before and buy whatever he likes then or 2) buy something and don't mention it again until that day and make a big whoop-tee-doo about it then.