We took the kids to Zoo Lights at the Point Defiance Zoo tonight.
Colin's favorite part was this huge rainbow
The aquarium building was also open, so Colin wanted to check out the fish. You might remember from past postings that when his Uncle Tony was visiting, he caught a dogfish while fishing. Colin still remembers this, so when he saw the dogfish tonight, he pointed out and said "There's the Tony fish".
As usual, Ciara is hidden in the stroller bunting because it was a pretty chilly night.
Hanging out when we got back from the zoo. She was watching the rest of us on the front porch because when we got home from the zoo, we discovered two raccoons playing around in our yard. So, we stepped out to let Colin take a look. He thought it was pretty neat because they were walking around in our garden and then climbed out tree and started playing.
After checking out the raccoons, he came inside and took a ride. When I asked him tonight what toys he wants to bring with him on our trip to Texas, he said his choo choo trains and his "spinning thing".
Our X-Mas lights
Laughing at Daddy
Some tummy time at her play gym. She really likes watching herself in the mirror
Hanging out with Daddy
She was really cute with her "Spots" tonight. She was leaning towards it and grabbing at it and staring very intently. Maybe she will be as attached her to it as Colin is to his Spots.
Since we will be down in Texas visiting family over X-Mas, we celebrated our X-Mas Sunday. Santa made a special trip to our house to visit Colin and Ciara early :)
After coming downstairs, the first thing Colin ran for was the "choo choo train" table that Grandma & Pa-Pa got for him.
This is a small clip-on mobile that we got for Ciara. It is really a smart toy because it runs on batteries and can be attached to lots of things, including the bar on her infant seat. It turns and plays music, and she really seems to like it.
This was Ciara's present from her big brother. I took him to Toys R Us so he could pick out (almost) anything he wanted for her for X-Mas. Out of the whole store, he picked out a stuffed leopard that strongly resembles his best friends "Spots". So now Ciara has a Spots of her own. We thought that was a really sweet thing for him to do.
This is a play gym from Ciara's Aunt Shana, Uncle Tony & Gabe and Aunt Ashley, Uncle Fernie, Alexyss and Anjanette. They all went in together and got her a couple different things. This play gym works with a baby MP3 player that Santa got for Ciara. The music player can be put into play gym. It comes preloaded with some good music but we can also put our own music on it. She loved the gym and laid there a really long time looking at it and batting at the toys. The lights on the gym are really neat too.
Colin decided to check out what was in his stocking next. Here are some M&M's in a "candy candy" as he calls it.
Here is a little stuffed Rudolph because he recently watched the cartoon and liked it a lot. He also likes singing "Rudolph".
The aunts and uncles and cousins on Mommy's side all went in together to get Colin several things too. Most of them, he will be getting in Texas. He got this Sit 'n Spin from them. Daddy had to show him how to use it, but once he got the hang of it, he liked it a lot. He would smile really big and say "I'm spinning!".
Colin will take strips of paper and call them a tape measure and pretend that he's measuring things. So, we decided to get him this kid's tape measure.
Also got him a jack-in-a-box after seeing how much he liked the jack-in-a-box ornaments we have on the tree.
One of the neat things about Ciara's new play gym is that the big arm flips upside down so that she can look in the mirror and play with toys during tummy time. She liked biting on the stuffed doggy toy that's attached. I'm hoping that she will stay on her tummy more now that she has this because she tends to not like it for very long.
Opening his "Goodnight, Gorilla" book
Colin's big present from Santa was this toy piano.
We got Colin a set of Dot markers, which are essentially bingo dobbers with washable ink. He likes to use his regular markers to make dots on paper and it always messes up their tips, so we thought he would enjoy these.
I think this was the longest she's every stayed on her tummy! While she was laying her playing, Colin would bring little toys of his over to her and lay them next to her. That's why you see the little X-Mas duck in the background. Guess that was his way of sharing his toys with her.
This is a nighttime soother, also from her aunts, uncles and cousins. Again, it is in the same set with the MP3 player so we insert the music player and it will play whatever music we want. It has a daytime and a nighttime mode. She really liked the lights. It also projects lights onto the ceiling. She was really mesmerized by these at bedtime when we tried it out.
Back to the stocking...opening some chocolates that are shaped like airplanes.
We put an apple in the bottom of Colin's stocking and this was one of his favorite things :). He would keep it with him while he was walking around playing with his toys and take a bite every so often. We gave him this because Daddy's parents used to give him fruit in his stockings, and we thought it was a really good idea to give him something healthy.
We got Ciara a couple books. One of them was a soft book with tags on it.
She got a couple small toys in her stocking too. There was a set of teethers that rattle. She liked biting on them. Thought they would be good because she is always chomping on her fists. She even chews on her tongue.
Colin wanted to help her play with the teethers.
Taking a break from the excitement to have a snack.
Hanging out with some of her new toys.
This is the main housing for the MP3 player that Santa got Ciara. The little player is the silver part in in the back. It clicks into the bigger music player. The front has a huge play button that's easy for babies to push. It also has really neat lights that play along with the music. It's nice because it's something that she can use for years.
I have a feeling that the MP3 player is a toy that Colin is going to borrow from baby sister pretty frequently because it already has some of his favorite songs loaded on it.
This is the Smart Cycle that Boo Boo and Grandpa got for Colin. It's a really cool video game toy that you hook to the TV. The games are educational and also incorporate exercise with bike, so we thought it was a really good idea for him. Here Daddy is showing him how to use it. It's an especially good idea up here because he can exercise even on rainy days.
Ciara's present to her big brother was a Mr. Potato head set.
He put the potato head on top of the piano, and then stopped to play a song.
Checking out the trains again.
We also got him a wooden set of food for the play kitchen that Boo Boo and Grandpa got him last year. Some of the plastic food we had gotten was easily smashed. And since this is still one of this favorite things to play with, we thought we should invest in some sturdier food. Pretty much every day, he will go into his kitchen and cook us some food.
Taking a break from the excitement to have a snack.
Playing some songs later on in the day, after eating some breakfast and getting dressed.
In the evening after dinner, we got out a Gingerbread House we had gotten for Colin. Daddy built the house and then we spread the icing over everything. Then we gave all the candy to Colin and let him decorate everything however he wanted. Here is is decorating one of the gingerbread people that came with the house.
Here are some of the finished people and trees.
Whenever he's working on a project like this, I'm always impressed by his attention span and concentration. He gets very serious and focused.
Towards the end, he stood up all the people at the front of the house. :)
He stopped every once in a while to sneak a piece of candy. After he was done, he started eating some of the excess icing. When we asked him what he was doing he said "Eating the icing. That's the best part!"
Playing some more with his potato head before bed time.
We dressed the kids up today and took them to see Santa Claus. Ciara fell asleep in line but woke up right before it was our turn. Colin did a great job waiting patiently in the long line. He also did well telling Santa what he wanted for X-Mas.
Playing with a X-Mas dog that sings Jingle Bells and rocks back and forth on it's sled.
Ciara can sit in her chair for just a little bit longer than she used to, and sits up a little straighter. She still thinks it's fun.
Singing to Ciara.
12/04/07 Playing on her mat. She does a good job of lifting up her head and chest.
12/04/07 Colin hard at work at his art desk
12/06/07 Some of Ciara's "talking"
12/14/07 Colin sings so frequently, that I thought it would be a good idea to capture some of his favorites on video. Here he is singing the alphabet song. He calls them his "AB's" instead of "ABC's" :)
Singing the "Elmo's World" theme song.
Singing "Jingle Bells"
Singing "We Wish You a Merry Christmas"
She was trying pretty hard to roll over. Didn't get a good picture, but it's amazing how high she can lift up her legs.
She's really starting to enjoy her toys now. When I put her down, I lay them around her, and she reaches for them. She seems to have really good control of her hands for her age. She does really well grabbing things and also pulling them into her mouth. She also "talks" to her toys a lot. Then sometimes she seems to get mad when they don't answer :). She's a very vocal baby, so we may have another talker on our hands like Colin.
She discovered her feet the other day too. She hasn't pulled them into her mouth yet, but she kept kicking them and just staring at them in amazement. It was really funny.
The other thing she has started doing is laughing just a little bit. She has done it a couple of time when she thought something Patrick or I did was really funny. But then I also discovered last night that if I tickle her stomach I can get a little giggle out of her. It's cute.
Trying to eat her bear's paw
She was reaching for her ducky toy above the piano
She discovered her feet the other day too. She hasn't pulled them into her mouth yet, but she kept kicking them and just staring at them in amazement. It was really funny.
The other thing she has started doing is laughing just a little bit. She has done it a couple of time when she thought something Patrick or I did was really funny. But then I also discovered last night that if I tickle her stomach I can get a little giggle out of her. It's cute.
She really likes this cube. It plays music when she hits it, so she will grab it or push it around.
In her Boston Red Sox outfit that we got last time we were up there. One of her grandfather's is really going to like this picture and the other definitely will not :)
