If You Give a Cora a Toothbrush. . .

A day or two after Christmas, Cora's very first tooth poked through for its long-anticipated grand entrance. (This picture is of her tooth as it exists today. She now has another one just barely appearing next to it, and a large lump in her upper gums above that. I'd say she's 100% in the throws of teething now. Poor child.) Santa was perceptive and had placed a toothbrush and toothpaste in Cora's stocking, and she was very excited to try them out.

Of course, I didn't remember she had a tooth to clean until the evening of New Years Day. So, on January 1st 2011 at 9:35 pm, I snapped this picture of Ally with Cora brushing her teeth for the first time, and then Cora took four steps forward. She'd taken one or two steps on occasion over the last few months, but never enough to qualify as walking. She's preferred to walk on her knees or just crawl. Ally and I got very excited and tried to coerce her into doing it again for the camera. After a few failed attempts, we did end up capturing video of her mobility skills. Of course, not wanting to be normal, Cora chose to walk sideways for her first visually-documented walking adventure. We've known that she was capable of walking for quite some time, and now we have the proof. Happy New Year, Cora! You're days of being carried around are numbered!



If I'd known the key to getting Cora to walk was as simple as distracting her with the joys of tooth-brushing, I would've given her a toothbrush long ago. Thank you, Santa, for providing her with such a fabulous gift.

A Christmas Wish

All I want for Christmas (besides Cora to have at least 2 front teeth) is a little elf to magically update our blog while I'm all snug in my bed with visions of sugarplums dancing in my head. Probably won't happen, so I hope to find the time to do it myself really soon. Until then, here's a pic of our kids with a jolly old soul we found at the local craft fair . . .

May all your wishes and dreams come true.

Feliz Navidad!

Documenting October

We harvested a lot of yellow squash, zucchini, and tomatoes from our garden. In spite of chronic neglect, our garden also produced acorn squash, bunches of Romaine lettuce, and four large heads of broccoli this year. Our green beans, cantaloupe, and watermelon never made an appearance; but we again had rogue, giant sunflowers sprouting up near our grapevines. Speaking of towering plant life: Did you know that the broccoli plant, if left unattended after the head is harvested, will grow into a 6-foot-tall bush? Not that I'm admitting to ever having had 4 broccoli bushes on our property or anything . . .

One afternoon Ally, Cora, and I decided to visit the pumpkin patch with our friends. We drove out to Pasco, only to find that the patch wasn't open on weekdays. We reverted to Plan B (a trip to the public library), which turned into an unplanned opportunity to tour the local fire station with a homeschooling group. When we arrived at the fire station at the appointed time, all the doors were locked and no one was there the meet us. We all walked up the hill and played running games for half an hour while the angry parent who had coordinated the trip made multiple phone calls and a lot of grumbling noises. After awhile, an off-duty fireman showed up, and it was discovered that the missing firemen were all out fighting fires at two separate locations. Imagine that, they were doing their jobs! (Can you tell I was annoyed with the angry parent? I was grateful she and her group let us tag along, but very annoyed with her attitude and assumptions of the firemen's disregard of her time.)
When a few of the firemen returned from their call, they gave us a short tour of the station and showed us the firefighting equipment on their smaller truck. Ally got to see how quickly a firefighter can get dressed into all his gear, and she now knows how strange a fireman looks and sounds while wearing an oxygen mask. After we left the garage, they turned the siren on, and it was VERY loud.


A few days later, on a Saturday, the girls and I took Daddy out to Pasco to visit the open pumpkin patch. Besides your typical patch full of pumpkins and a giant corn maze, they also had a hay bail maze, a bounce house, a blow-up obstacle course, a giant slide, potato guns (that we didn't use) and big and little hay pyramids. On our way out, Ally decided to attempt the giant slide with me; she quickly regretted that decision and cried/screamed all the way down. (I don't have a good picture of that.)




Before beginning our search for our own Great Pumpkin, Ally and I whizzed around the patch on an animal train. Our creature of choice was a spotted cow with a sheep's head, mainly because it was up front. Ally's friends were more adventurous and sat in the back, with hopes of greater whiplash. The train moved a lot slower than in years past, which Ally was quite grateful for. We had a fun ride and saw lots of potentially "perfect" pumpkins.


After our trip in the mutant cow, we all boarded a flatbed trailer and returned to the patch. Daddy found his great pumpkin, Ally found her white pumpkin, and I found a bunch of cool-looking gourds. And Cora, as always, had fun because she was being carried everywhere.

We took our pumpkins home, and a week or two later they were decorated for Halloween. Which I've already blogged a few posts back. Yeah! Now to tackle November.

Looks Like Winter

When I got up this morning and looked out our kitchen window, this is what I saw.





When Ally got up this morning, I had her look out our front window. This is what she saw. Then she said, "Looks like winter is finally here." I think she's right.

After 45 minutes of preparations, the girls and I were dressed and ready to go have some fun outside with the first snowfall of the season.


This was Cora's reaction after touching the cold, wet white stuff for the very first time.




This was Ally's reaction after tripping by the tree and face-planting in the snow. Surprisingly, she stood herself right back up, licked the snow off her face, and started laughing. I'm glad she's learning how to cope.

While I snuggled with Cora,
Ally had fun tromping around making circles and squares with her bootprints. She also made a snow angel (her imaginary friend Anna had taught her how) and threw handfuls of snow at us.



After about an hour of playtime, we went back inside. Then it started to lightly snow again. Our walkway and the streets are now covered with another inch of wintery goodness, perfect for a snowman or a snowball fight once Daddy gets home.

Daddy's Announcement

 
More details to follow. . .

What a Girl Wants

Somebody got into her big sister's Halloween stash and helped herself to something mighty blue and tasty too. Although I'm not happy with her mischievous little feat, I am happy it gave me a chance to record just how mad Cora can get when she can't have what she wants.

PS- I just showed Cora this post.  She's now sitting on my lap, giggling at the baby's little antics, and repeatedly hitting her hand on the desk (her signal for I like that, please do it again).

A Halloween Pictorial

Ally decorated a pumpkin. She started with her name (in characteristic right-to-left fashion) and then added about 50 other stickers to it. Per tradition, Daddy carved a pumpkin with some supervisory help of our little manager who insisted on a not-so-scary face this year. For 2 months now, Ally has been having what she calls "skeleton dreams". The only way to make them stop is to sleep with her eyes open, so that's what she does. We can't wait for the princess dreams to return.






We took the girls trunk-or-treating in the church parking lot on Saturday night. Cora went as Pooh Bear dressed as a Honey Bee, holding her best friend mini-Pooh. Fairy princess Ally was escorted from car to car by her SWAT boyfriend Devon.  (An A-list celebrity cannot leave the house on such an important night without the proper protection.)  They collected lots of candy, 2 sets of princess playing cards, and some fresh-picked Fuji apples.  Cora dreamed away most of the event in the comfort and luxury of our car.




Daddy eventually turned back into Daddy, but Ally remains a fairy princess. And we intend to continue living happily ever after. . .