Spoon Training, Aunties & Parks

Milestones this week for Lily include self spoon feeding. She has progressed with her spoon feeding that she can eat an entire container of yogurt by herself, with only about 25% ending up somewhere other than her belly.

Chris is less indulgent of the spoon training than I am since inevitably, it involves losing multiple outfits to the yogurt - both Lily's and whoever is in charge of cleaning her up! Another milestone is that she is dropping her morning nap and moving to only one nap per day in preparation for her to start 2-day-per-week pre-pre school. Notice the Norsk colors Chris is striking a pose with in the photo above. That ear warmer was a gift from Aunty Anne Ma who visited last week all the way from Norway,

We were so happy to have her stay at our house - and what a treat for the kids. She had so much energy to play, to read and to keep up with them. She also was extremely helpful cooking and cleaning and her sense of humor shone through in everything she did. We were lucky to have her stay with us. The fact that she came with Grandma and Grandpa Faiola was icing on the cake. 

Proving the bounty of our familial love, Aunty Sharon also visited. She was here for a book faire and conference. She cooked her "famous" kaftakari lamb balls and also played the piano. The children were rapt with attention as she played the most splendorous version of 'Twinkle Twinkle Little Star.'

We figured out that Lily is the perfect size to fit inside a roll on, carry-on suitcase and she loves it. Chris spent an entire hour rolling her around and she did not want to be done with it. She crawled in herself many times over this last week, and we've finally hidden the suitcase to protect her from (a) freezing in that position of (b) accidentally getting stuck with no parent around to help.

With the last rays of summer eking away, we have been getting in as much park time as possible. It rained much of this week  so whenever we see the sun, it's a beeline to the park and outdoor activities. These kids have energy to spare!

This picture was taken the day Chris got back from his latest trip to Saudi. He literally drove in and I hopped into the car with Jamisen and drove out, leaving Chris at home with Lily. Jamisen's new school had a school picnic and we wanted to go to get better acquainted with other families at the school. Jamisen proudly introduced me to a little boy, stating "This is my friend!" Of course, he didn't remember his friend's name (Henry) but I was pleased he felt like he was making friends. 

This is a snapshot of all the rough draft soaps that I'm designing for my next book, Pure and Natural Soapcrafting. All of these colors are achieved with a combination of nature-identical oxides and pigments and/or herbal infusions. Additionally, they're all fragranced with essential oils and over 50% of them are Palm-Oil free, a controversial ingredient in the natural and organic communities. The book manuscript is due in 6 days so this will be a week of focus and concentration as I edit and put the finishing touches on all the chapters. 

We were lucky and got to take care of Baby Alise for a night so Uncle Erik and Aunty Cheriss could go celebrate their anniversary. What a joy to see our kids play nicely with their cousin. Jamisen is especially tender and kind. 

This photo makes me laugh so much. The kids sometimes play really well together in the tub and other times, they wish they had the tub to themselves. I think you can guess which one would prefer to be by herself in the tub. =)

This Thomas the Train Shirt is part of the most adorable 'back to school' outfit I got Jamisen. He loves Thomas the Train still but seems to be drifting from the cartoon to more realistic depictions of trains. Ah, I suppose it is all part of growing up. 

As always, we are blessed, happy and thankful for our close family and extended family all over the world. 

We Love Our Cousin

Baby Alise has us all smitten and, for good reason.

She is sleeping 4-5 hours at a stretch, gaining weight like a champ and showing amazing neck strength. She is strong and showing clear qualities of thrive and domination; basically, in short, she is obviously a Faiola.

Baby Lily weighs exactly twice what baby Alise weighs so soon, Alise will be able to handily win wrestling matches just by growing a tinch more. The kids were so happy to have both Grandmas around for loving and holding (though, Alise is a hot commodity so it took a while for her to make it to very patient Grandma Kelly).

Jamisen loves, loves, loves baby Alise. It is rather endearing how loving his since he knows she's going home and not staying at his home, fighting for precious resources,

Jamisen had a hilarious little incident the other day. He is fully potty trained (and for you competitive sisters? He had three accidents. TOTAL. For all of his potty training. And that includes nighttime). The other day, when he was standing up to go pee, he relaxed all his muscles, including his sphincter muscles. He farted (or as we say in our house, "Your dog is barking!") and out popped a little loose stool. He looked back, saw the deposit on the floor, laughed and said, "A moose came out!" (Dear Future Wife: Yes, I'm sure this will make the wedding toast. Consider yourself warned).

Alise may not quite be as enamored with Jamisen as he is with her. Thankfully, she has enough strength and heft to make her dismay clear. 

We were beyond (beyond beyond!) thrilled that Aunty Anne Ma visited from Norway! Yes, all the way from Norway to visit Alise (and perhaps the other cousins and her sister, but really, it was for this amazing addition to our growing Faiola Family). She was (is!) amazing with Jamisen and Lily. It was such a pleasure to have her visit and we can't wait to host more Norwegian cousins, aunts and uncles.

Aunty Anne Ma brought some amazing gifts for us - chocolate, socks, books (oh Karius and Bactus!)  and this amazing ear warmer for our marathon running Chris. 

Lily is contemplative about this new addition that is taking attention from her but she seems to feel that her piercing blue-grey eyes and perfect heart bow lips will win the day.

Or perhaps, the long lashes may win the day but either way, Lily's place in our hearts is firmly in place, guarded by her big brother, who continues to love her 20% of the time and rue the day she arrived 80% of the time - but this percentage improves weekly. We trust they will be best of friends by 2045.

Babies Being Babies

Ah, another week, another exciting set of milestones for the kiddos. Lily has started climbing on EVERYTHING (and by everything, I mean, scaling the oven and trying to climb over the railing to tumble down the stairs). The kid has no fear, despite her Grandpa Faiola claiming she has just as much sense as a mountain-climbing goat and will not tumble off. We all hope.

Jamisen and Lily both love Mac 'n' Cheese about as much as any kid does, which is to say "a lot a lot a lot." If we would let them, they would gladly have it for both meals. They both have 'standy things' now so they can eat at opposite ends of the counter and giggle at each other. Lily loves to get into Jamisen's standy thing and steal his leftovers.

Lily also loves Jamisen's Goldfish Crackers and happily absconds with his bag at any and every chance she gets.

Jamisen has started Montessori school. We had a work party and Jamisen just dug in (literally) to help. He was happy to work on filling up wheelbarrows with fill to help his Dad spread in the playground. We're excited about his new school - and we know he is too. He just came home today with the barest knowledge of  the "I Spy" game ("I spy something orange!" "Is it the pumpkin?" "No but it's near the pumpkin!" "Is it the orange leaf?!!" "Yes!"). Yay for a new school and new games.

Jamisen remains our non-sleeping child. He fights sleep. FIGHTS it and will do anything he can to stay up. The other night, he was delaying and stalling until past 10. Until ... this. He just fell asleep in the doorway. Silly boy.

Baby Lily is curious and totally confused by Baby Alise. She isn't sure what to do with this new baby. She spent a lot of time just examining her before trying to rock her car seat.

Grandpa is soooooo happy to have a new baby to hold. For that matter, we all are! None of us want to put baby Alise down or share her at all when we have her. She is soooooo precious. Also, very smart. And strong. She is going to be our Olympian. We can already tell.

 

 Jamisen just loves baby Alise. He adores her. And loves to hold her, and pet her, and kiss her. Oh he loves to kiss her. He is sweetly affectionate. 

Baby Lily loves her newest perch on Grandpa's neck. She coughed three times in celebration, leaving him with a disgusting, drool-filled hairstyle.

Jamisen's true love remains Ava. He talks about her frequently. I wish they were going to the same school because Ava is a calming influence on Jamisen.