Abby Turns One!

 Abby pushing Corin on a little car.

Abby turned one a couple weeks ago and we had a couple of parties for our little girl.  On her actual birthday a couple of friends of ours came over to play.  Abby had a little chocolate cupcake and enjoyed the portions of it that she managed to get into her mouth.  She got a little play kitchen and some play food.  Corin has always loved playing in mini kitchens at friends’ houses, so he was thrilled as well.

A few days later Pop and Lola came into town, so of course we had to have another party.  Abby went for the white cake this time and seemed to enjoy it just as much.

Abby had her one year check up with our new doctor.  She weighed in at 20 pounds, 4 ounces (35^th %) and is 29 inches tall (70^th %).  So she is tall and slender, although you wouldn’t guess it looking at her chunky little arms and legs.  But she’s using those chunky legs to walk around the house.  She is officially walking, which is a fun thing to watch.  She falls a lot, but she just stands back up and tries again (unless she is in a big hurry to get somewhere and then she will crawl since that is still faster for her).

We’ve had some warm weather here, so the kids have had plenty of chances to play outside and in the water (which they love).  A local sports club had an open house to try and attract new clients.  We don’t need a new gym, but we took advantage of the opportunity to take the kids swimming outside.  As an exciting treat, they had pony rides for the kiddies.  Corin got to ride a couple times and was very upset when we had to take him away from the “neigh”.

While Pop and Lola were here we all got to take a tour of the White House.  It was a nice treat to be able to walk through the house with all of them.  I carried Corin in the backpack and Abby in our arms…luckily they were well behaved.  The first family wasn’t home, but we did see Bo the family dog running around the south grounds.  Corin announced “Doggie!” to make sure that everyone saw the pooch.  

Summertime fun

It has been a little while since our last update, so we have some ground to cover…

Kristi, the kids and I went back to Indiana to celebrate Aunt Emily’s graduation and visit with friend and family.  We had a great time, but for some reason didn’t take any pictures, so you’ll just have to take my word for it that our children were adorable the entire time.

When we got back, we had a visit from Grandpa and Mimi.  We had a little belated birthday celebration for Corin’s second birthday.  He got a play tent and tube (which he loves to hide and play in) and a little plastic airplane held together by plastic bolts.  The plane came with a toy power drill and Corin LOVES taking the plane apart and putting it back together.  Abby loves to turn the drill on and feel the plastic screwdriver bit spin on her gums (which still have no teeth in them).  She turns into a slobbery mess, but she is smiling the entire time.

There was a little traveling carnival that came through town a couple weeks ago (similar to the Fun Frolic for my Indiana peeps), so Kristi and I took the kids.  Corin got to ride the train and the planes, and then we all rode on the merry-go-round together.  Abby was smiling and pumping her legs the entire time…she was so excited.  Corin was rather reserved while he was on the rides, but was unhappy every time we had to take him off, so he was obviously enjoying himself.

As mentioned above, Abby still doesn’t have any teeth poking through, but she has started eating some softer grown up food.  She has little dissolvable poofs and enjoys mandarin oranges.  As long as she is hanging onto the couch or wall or walker, she can get anywhere she wants to go now.  She climbs the steps quickly and loves to do it so we have to keep a close eye on her.

Corin is definitely turning into a little boy.  He is saying more words and it is nice that he can ask for things and answer “yes” or “no” to simple questions.  You still need a familiar ear to understand a lot of what he is saying, but we are moving in the right direction.

We went to a friend’s house yesterday and had a little cookout and pool party.  Corin and Abby both love the water and they had a blast swimming.  Corin loved jumping into the water and having someone catch him.  He does a fairly good job kicking in the water and doesn’t have too much trouble with his face going in the water.  This was Abby’s first time in a pool and her adorableness didn’t disappoint.  She was kicking and squealing in her tiny swimsuit.

Today we went to the National Aquarium in downtown DC.  They were having a Tots and Tales program that we thought Corin would enjoy.  The program was a bit of a joke (quick book read, putting trash in a fish tank to see if it would float / sink, and then coloring), and the aquarium was very small.  But Corin had fun running around the displays and looking at a few of the fish.  The one smart thing they did was have a tank that has the two main fish from Finding Nemo in it, and Corin honed right in on that.  At least he enjoyed that and had fun running around the National Mall on the way back to the car.  Unfortunately, he had so much fun during the day that when we got home we were sitting on the couch together and he vomited all over.  He seemed fine after it was over and he calmed down.

Kristi and I had tacos tonight for dinner and there was one extra taco shell on the table when we were done.  Corin climbed up and grabbed it and was running around the house eating the taco shell.  Then we went out on the front porch to watch the sprinkler in the front yard.  Corin ran out into the yard and got soaking wet in the sprinkler.  He was running around, giggling and eating his soaking wet taco shell.  You just can’t beat the look of pure joy he has on his face when he is doing something like that.