Florida: Day 4

Day four was a lazy Saturday that started out playing Vivian's favorite game, "put something on my head". This game has lots of variations, but she especially enjoys soft clothes on her head so she can tear them off and smile at you. Perhaps we played a bit too long, though, and she got a bit bored by it all. After a while she gave up taking the onesie off entirely.




Pip, always wanting to be outside, took a dip in the pool with Mommy. Here is one of his favorite past times, ordering us around. While I can't remember the specific command below, it was probably something like, "No Daddy, you stay over there!"

Cara and Mike gave Pip some spinach to feed the fish in the canal. It was hysterical listening to Pip call the fish. Here's a pic and a video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fbEfALpQhXw

That evening Mom volunteered to watch the kids after they went to bed and Phil and I joined Cara and Mike for an evening of fun. My personal checklist for the vacation was complete when I got to dance myself silly. Thank goodness Cara was there so I didn't have to do it by myself. We rocked it! Here are some pics at the Elbo room, pre-rockin it.

Florida: Day 3

Day three started out poolside. As you might imagine, the most frequent word Pip uttered during this experience was "AGAIN!"

Jumping into the water with Daddy:





Being thrown up in the water by Daddy:




Kicking those legs:



Here are some videos, Pip bouncing in the pool:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZCriadfxLS4



and Pip jumping into the pool:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p38gb9noWE0



Vivian and Mommy looked on:








After much excitement, Pip needed to warm in the sun like the iguanas so we took a watermelon break:








After nap-time, we decided to hit the beach again for an evening run. Although the water was 74 degrees, Pip decided he was NOT all about it and spent a good deal of time trying to avoid it. Phil (aka Mr. Sandcastle to you) readily jumped to his rescue and built him a fortress. Pip was duly impressed with his castle where the water does not get me!

Mom and Vivian decided to take a walk down to the pier and apparently Phil was watching with the camera:

Florida: Day 2

Q: What is the very first thing we do in Florida?

A: Hit the beach!! (easy one)

This was Viv's first time at the beach (ok, save a debacle when she was 3 weeks old in insanely hot, humid, and windy conditions that we are all trying to forget). She loved it! She was so curious about the sand and shells that she basically stopped crawling for hours at a time. Considering that all this little girl wants to do -- EVER -- right now is crawl and cruise and stand, this was amazing.

Here she is looking cute:



Eating sand:


With Mommy:


Pip, of course, was off and running immediately. Grandma and Daddy were all about helping him play in sandbox heaven.








Gotta post one of Daddy looking studly:




Later we went home and got cleaned up and lazed about outside in the warm evening air. Here Viv plays with a coconut tree frond:

Pip explores the pool with Grandma:

Pip finally comes over and says cheese with Mom and Vivie:

Takeoff to Florida

Get ready for vacation photos!!!!!!!!! We just returned from our first family vacation. It was utterly fabulous and we are already thinking of when to go next. But for now, let's reminisce.

First things first, we had to get there. Pip had been talking about going whoosh up in the air in an airplane for days. He was fascinated by all the planes up close:





After a few minutes of that, he and Vivian met three lovely boys all around Pip's age at the airport and Pip took an especially strong liking to them while we waited to board. For at least 3 days after we landed he kept asking us where his friends were! Awww...

Pip was very we behaved on the plane. He was comfortable in his seat with his gum (and later Cheetos's and apple juice) watching lots of videos on the JetBlue TV's. Phil took a clandestine video during takeoff:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IMpZdFCx8dI

Vivian feel asleep in the sling on my lap like clockwork during takeoff. I was so proud of our airplane parenting and organization skills, until she woke up 15 minutes later when the attendant came to take our drink order. After that she was wide awake and flirting with everyone in sight for the next two and a half hours. I distinctly remember muttering to Phil several times that this was going to be a disaster (anyone who knows how flustered I get can imagine what fun it was to be around me) -- Phil took the reigns and walked the aisles with her, trying futilely to get her to sleep. Eventually we gave up and let her just enjoy her surroundings.


Once at the airport we patiently disembarked and got our luggage. Pip had so much fun riding up and down the escalator with Daddy that by the time we got to our baggage they were about ready to cart it away!

Antics

Vivie's adventuresome spirit is a perfect match for Pip. Recently he's been showing her the ropes.

Jumping in bed:


Climbing out of bed:


Racing in cars:

Sofa sledding:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7zdQy7owiHk

The Daddy swing:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dp4wD4XcwV8

Every once in a while they slow down for Mom to grab a kiss.

Dr. Dan the Bandage Man

It's been a busy several days around the Balas house as we prepare for our trip to visit Mike and Mom in Florida. Pip is super excited about flying in an airplane and I'm thinking maybe I shouldn't have mentioned it so much in advance of our trip. He keeps talking about how he's going to "rescue" me on the plane - he has it in his head that that is what you do on airplanes. I try to tell him we aren't flying until Wednesday and he just responds with "Ok Mommy, we'll go this afternoon". He's very impressed with himself that he understands "this afternoon" as in some time in the future.

We also averted near disaster when Pip sliced his finger with his little knife while cutting apples on Saturday. I was literally standing next to him watching him carefully saw the apple as I had showed him, marveling at what a great parent I am not to be afraid of things but to let my child explore safely. Yada, yada, yada. Then he got too close to the finger holding the apple and blood squirted everywhere. Up until this point bandaids were only used for fun. He was quite scared of using it for the real thing and luckily Daddy was around to help hold and calm him. Once the bandaid was applied he was quite proud of his brave self and insisted it stay on at all times. He also exercised great caution in using the finger going forward. Even ate a whole bag of Cheetos without getting the bandaid orange. Every night since then he's requested "Dan the Bandage Man" as one of his nighttime books.

Viv is also getting her share of bruises commensurate with her wild crawling and cruising skills. We'll be a formidable family in Florida, I think.

For the cute files, Pip and Viv went with me to get a swim suit for our trip Sunday. I had to cart them into the dressing room with me and as I put it on I instructed Pip to tell me how beautiful I looked when I asked him. A few seconds later I said, "Ok Pip, how does Mommy look?". He turned, looked me up and down, smiled big and said, "Mommy, you look so comfortable!". I guess I'll take it.

Here's Phil's morning report:
It was a pretty fun morning at the homestead. Pip was up by 6:45, but I opted not to get him from his room. He was being very cute and singing songs to himself, so I just lay in bed and listened for a while. He was belting out Old MacDonald verses like a champ! Eventually we got up and went downstairs for cereal and yogurt. He watched Handy Manny while I showered. Viv was still sleeping and finally woke up around 7:40. She was in a good mood, but hungry as usual. Once fed, she crawled around happily for the rest of the morning. It was very cold and windy, so I had to carry Pip to the car and then to school. He's a bit of a baby when it comes to that. He stated that he didn't want to line up, and fortunately the kids were already in PS1, so bullet dodged. It turns out that Isabelle and Morgan both had boo-boos on their fingers, so Pip swapped some war stories and was very excited. He almost forgot to say bye, but finally he ran over and threw a kiss at me and Viv. Viv had a good drop off and told everyone about her upcoming vacation. All the ladies were jealous.

Vivian's first word was...

"DADA!!"

It's official, Vivian's talking. It's also adorable and more like a babble, but she fulling intending to talk! Phil's taking full credit for her saying Daddy and it's hard to argue when you see this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=92qEJEnihEo

In addition to talking, she loves to make this hysterical grimace where she purses her lips together and puffs out her cheeks. Here are some shots of that:




In other, more frightening news, Pip had his first night terror last night. He began screaming in his room at around 10:30pm and when I went up to check on him he was sitting at the edge of his bed shaking uncontrollably. His arms were flailing and he was kicking his feet and while his eyes were opened, he wasn't focusing on anything. I initially held him, then picked him up and took him downstairs to see if that would snap him out of it, but it just kept on going. Phil quickly went on-line to research what was happened and we learned more about it. Apparently all attempts to wake a baby in this state only make it worse and we were supposed to put him down where he would be safe and wait it out. So I took my screaming, tortured little man back to his bed and waited nervously by his side. Sure enough after about 10 more minutes he closed his eyes, switched to moaning a bit, then fell asleep. We are hoping he was just over-tired from the excitement of the weekend and maybe an accumulation of preschool stimulation added up to a perfect storm. Today he slept in late then had a fabulous day as if nothing happened. Yikes.

On the fancy-schmancy side of things, we FINALLY bought a new car!! We're riding in style in a 2009 Honda Pilot that we picked up tonight. Yahoo! Adios 1992 Accord!!

Valentine's Day

Vivian is eating finger food and loving it! Here she deftly balances some banana, and below she enjoys her first pancakes (leftovers from breakfast in bed Dad got for Valentine's Day ... banana & maple syrup pancakes with fresh fruit).





Pip celebrated Valentine's Day by sharing cards with his classmates. He signed "P-I-P" with a flourish on each of the 13 cards. It looked more like a wild circle/oval, but who's the critic??



Vivian ate her first Valentine!

Phil and I enjoyed two special evenings. Saturday we made Shrimp Fra Diavlo with a mixed green salad and ice cream for dessert. We had our sitter, Ashley, come Sunday and we went to Absolutely Fabulous at Cedar Perk for a really wonderful meal. Then we saw Pink Panther 2 at the movies because light-hearted laughs won out over serious flicks.