First Fake Smile!

So we have had a few firsts around here lately. First, there is Samantha's first time in her exersaucer. She took to it like a pro. Barely falling over and already almost too tall for the first height setting. She has a kung fu grip on anything that comes close to her little fast hands. She takes hold, hard and fast and instantly pulls whatever she has palmed into her mouth.



And then, we put Elliot to bed after her bath without combing her unruly mane. Somehow the hair styling fairies visited her in the night and she woke with a hairdo we would have paid money to style ... we took out the camera, seriously, did not comb a lock and tried to get some pics. She resisted at first, was confused and then broke into her very first, and caught on film, FAKE SMILE! Oh, the joys of photos to come.





There it is. In all its fake-smile glory.

Below, Elliot shows Samantha some crib tricks while decked out in matching fishy pjs.



Another thing we did not make up: Elliot LOVES broccoli. She is starting to love it less. As in eating only half a head at a sitting instead of the full, but we were able to capture some of it while she is still in this phase. Here she is with a little after-dinner dessert of broccoli cone. Stay tuned of the video of same event.


Every morning, like clockwork, Elliot is up at 5AM (sometimes earlier, UUGGGHHH!) and is full of energy. Like here, when we again let her coax us into allowing her in our bed only to find out, she is not going back to sleep at all, but instead going to bounce all around us and Samantha. Sammy J just wants to go back to sleep...but not as much as mommy & daddy do!


And then when it is time to leave for school, Elliot is all tuckered out and wants to spend some quality time with Sheffield - who can sleep through just about anything and is looking a little annoyed to be woken to be somebody's pillow.

Hanging Around

She is fast becoming a swinger. And below, she is fast becoming faster.


Here is Samantha minding her own business and telling mommy a story.


Here is Elliot about to pummel her with a Football!


Finally, Elliot is washing up after a hard day of naked cooking in her play kitchen. What is up with my girls sitting around in just their diapers? Don't I have some kind of rule against this? I do, but I must not have been home during these shots.

Chugga Chugga Choo Choo

Check out the Choo Choo train Elliot created in her room. She first collected all the tickets from the passengers then climbed up in the caboose to feed her doll.


Here, Elliot rides a Swan Boat in the Public Garden with mommy. No feeding the duckies, so hold on to that animal cracker! Below is a picture of an actual swan in the Garden protecting its egg. For weeks now, Elliot has reminded me of the "Goose. Neck. Egggg. Haa haa haa!"




Above, Farmer Elliot swipes some cups from her and Sammy's new ride, the Dubbo Stwolla.

And of course, this is Elliot holding her hands up for a Touchdown! while yelling, "Football!" when I told her we were going to Uncle Brad's house.

"More Party Please!"

This weekend was our 32nd annual block party, and the first one we have attended in 4 years that has not been rained out and moved inside the church.  And what a great surprise:  when it's not rained out, it is literally right in front of our house.  We had front row seats from our porch.  A little confusing for Elliot that on this special day she gets to freely walk in & out of the house, our into the street and take food from strangers while discovering the joys of a wonderful new phenomenon called "pot luck".  One of the hallmarks of our block party in years past is a counting of how many different kinds of lentil salad appear.  To buck our crunchy granola stereotype, the Heywood clan brought enchiladas ... with full fat and outlawed tomatoes (well, from FDA approved areas) and avoided many of the lentils.    Out of the blue a fiddle band appeared and people started dancing.  Did I mention the heaven Elliot was in?  We took her in to get ready for bed and pajama'd.  That's when she requested, "More Party Please", so we took her back out for more.  And the only reason I am posting the video is because it is annoyingly sideways so you can't see clearly how horrible we are, but also to try out the upload from my camera and because you wouldn't believe I did not add an audio track - what you hear is actually what was playing (for FIVE hours) outside our front window.  Who's coming to visit us in Mayberry for the 33rd?

These are a Few of Our Many Milks

Commentary is failing on these photos now that maternity leave is over for me. I seem to only have time for pictures or the words to accompany them. So, by all means let your comments do the talking. In the last couple of weeks, I have gone back to work, Samantha has started day care, Samantha ended her refuse-to-take-a-bottle strike, Samantha came down with a 24 hour stomach bug, the next day Elliot got it, 2 days later, Samantha got it again, 2 days later, Ben got it, then me! Then I hit Ben in the head with the car door and almost needed stitches, and now, now it is sunny outside and we are healthy, so nothing to complain about - just going to write off the last week or so! Here are some pics from the happier times. OH! And the milk.

Keeping milk stocked at our house is a full time job! There are 4 of us and 5 different kinds required:




Samantha and some imaginary friends before day care:


Samantha making goo goo eyes at Daddy.

Elliot in Boston's Public Garden playing in a dry fountain.