elizabeth & helen & john: November 2007

Messy

Helen insists on feeding herself; she will actually refuse food offered to her by someone on a spoon. When oatmeal is on the menu, though, she often ends up with a facial and hair mask along with her breakfast.

Fortress

Sometimes, when you run out of things to do and it's too cold to play outside, you just have to build yourself a tent out of chairs and an old sheet. Luckily, mommy is a master sheet & chair tent builder, and the girls (plus the cat) have been hanging out in their new favorite spot. Even the cats had a bit of kittenish glee, batting at each other from opposite sides of the sheet, after the girls went to bed.

Argh!

Another funny face by Elizabeth, this time caught on camera at the Berkeley waterfront. We all went for a nice walk around the bird sanctuary and dog park on Saturday, followed by a nice little play time at the playground nearby.

Funny Faces

Elizabeth thinks it's hilarious to make funny faces while being photographed these days. Helen will usually give me a ridiculously big smile. But here, they seem to be caught unawares, and are a little more natural looking.

Life with two little ones is getting a tiny bit easier every day. More and more, they are able to play together without hurting each other and are able to eat with the grown-ups like a real family. There are still struggles over toys, diapers to change, and the occasional "I don't like this" over food offered, but all in all, we have two children rather than two babies.

Funny Faces

Elizabeth thinks it's hilarious to make funny faces while being photographed these days. Helen will usually give me a ridiculously big smile. But here, they seem to be caught unawares, and are a little more natural looking.

Life with two little ones is getting a tiny bit easier every day. More and more, they are able to play together without hurting each other and are able to eat with the grown-ups like a real family. There are still struggles over toys, diapers to change, and the occasional "I don't like this" over food offered, but all in all, we have two children rather than two babies.

Growing up Helen

What a little doll! Helen loves playing with stuffed toys,

and doing puzzles.

She has a knack for acquiring Elizabeth's things. Here is the pumpkin that Elizabeth picked out, but that Helen grew attached to. This causes problems many times, but I see that big sister Elizabeth is really learning to be good about sharing.

Helen loves animals, too. She was especially fond of the chickens at a friend's house, as you can see from the photo below.

She continues to grow way too quickly out of babyhood. She is starting to talk: so far being able to say "mama," "dada," "thank you," and "uh-oh." I think she said "grandma" this week, but I haven't heard that more than twice. I think she also says "bear" but it often just sounds like "ba" to me. And she's walking and climbing everywhere. She insists on feeding herself. And finally, she is interested in books. She will allow me to read her a short story now. Even Elizabeth tries reading to her!