Ya esta libre!

Big going ons in the Lacroix household....  Ya esta libre la muneca....  or so said Izzy's nanny on Monday.  Translated:  Now the doll (that's the pet name Borelys has for Izzy) is FREE.  This freedom is also known as crawling and man did this kid get good at it quick.  The first official day of real crawling was last Saturday (which was also Patrick's birthday).  I say official because before that she was scooting along on her belly army style, which got her around alright but not nearly so efficiently as the full blown stomach off the floor moves she is sporting now.  Being the smart babe she is, she varies her technique depending on the floor surface.  On carpet it is a traditional arm, arm, leg, leg type crawl and on our tile floors it is more of a arm, arm, leg, thigh/butt drag crawl hybrid.  Regardless of the method she is now a serious threat to any floor detritus, which means the age of vigilance in our house has now begun. 

In other big news she also cut her first tooth at the end of last week.  The little white wonder can now be seen by all (it is no longer a figment of my imagination) and doesn't seem to be giving her too much grief.  She also has started sleeping for about 9 hours at a stretch most nights (thank goodness for small miracles).  All of this has caused me to notice the subtle transition (or maybe not so subtle) between baby and toddler going on right in front of my eyes.  With Genevieve I felt like I woke up one day and my baby was no longer a baby.  With Izzy I am much more aware that the transition is coming (or really underway) and can see the change day to day.  It is a little hard to be so aware that the baby-phase is coming to an end, but yet good because it allows me to all the more cherish each moment.   In the spirit of cherishing (or at least recording for posterity) moments here is Izzy in her first feature-length home video "Friday Puff Hunting"

Punk Rock Girl

Isadora is 8 months old and is a punk rock girl.  Her multitude of hair whorls and growing hair have resulting in a seriously awesome baby mohawk.... no gel required.  Overall, month 7 to 8 was a good one, Izzy got to meet more of her family and take a trip to DC, she started sleeping for almost the whole night (and spends all night in her room and crib...yipeee), and became a solid sitter.  She has a new favorite pastime: stealing Patrick's glasses, which involves her repeatedly stealing his glasses and Patrick smiling at her and saying "stiiinkeer!"  This game never gets old and is played pretty much anytime Patrick is around, in fact she likes it so much she has started diving out of my arms to get to Patrick to play it.  She has started to proto-crawl, aka pulling herself across the ground on her belly and can now get to a sit from laying down.  She is much more of a solids than a liquids girl and is eating ever more complex things, even if there are no teeth yet in sight.  Her favorite though is still good old oatmeal, which she eats with abandon. Oh and she also really likes to eat grass when/if she is ever given the chance.       

Better Neck Festival

To motivate Genevieve to do her physical therapy exercises we told her that once her neck was "all better" we would throw her a Better Neck Party.  Well last week she demonstrated that she could move her neck pretty much all around and hadn't needed medicine for over a week and so we proclaimed that it was time for the Better Neck Party.  This also coincided with the weekend before my birthday so we decided it would be fun to couple the Better Neck Party with my birthday and it became a Better Neck Festival, otherwise known as the Renaissance Festival.  A party isn't complete without friends so Evie brought her best friend Nanan too.  The girls had a great time with all the princesses, "queens", tree people and dragons; ate some high quality renaissance junk food; held geese with diapers (that was a bit odd) and rode a few "rides".  I think the highlight though was the crowns they picked up, both carefully chosen to match their outfits... what style!

Barney Brainwash

When I was in high school I had a thing against Barney.  The friendly purple dinosaur was the object of some sort of strange teen angst.  I even went so far as to have a Barney doll that a friend gave me tied up with a noose and hanging from the back of my 1957 Ford Country Sedan.  (This odd behavior of mine should be remembered of course when the girls are teenagers...)  I outgrew my open hostility to Barney roundabout sophomore year of college but have ever since then harbored a definite dislike.

Fast forward to mid-January and Evie's illness.  While Evie was sick she watched an ungodly amount of television and 3/4ths of that television was Barney.  I had no idea just how prolific the purple dinosaur was until we turned on netflix and saw the seemingly unending list of Barney adventures.  Barney does A,B,C; Barney and his magic school bus; plain old Barney Imagines; Barney celebrates Valentines Day, Halloween, Christmas, Fourth of July, Memorial Day, and Lent; Barney builds a tree house; Barney eats a whole cake; Barney travels to Mongolia....  Day in and day out she watched, and I was subjected to, "I loove yoou, You loove meee"  At first I cringed, then after about  a week of Barney immersion therapy I found myself immune to it.  Two weeks later I found myself singing Barney songs in the shower.  And here we are today and I find myself thinking, hey Barney isn't so bad.  Its all about music, imagination and friends, what could be better than that?  Yes folks it took over a month but I have been totally utterly Barney Brainwashed. Oh Mr. Sun, Sun, Mr. golden sun, Please shine down on me. Oh Mr. Sun, Sun, Mr. golden sun, Please just let me be, Oh little children why do you, Love that purple dino so through and through. Oh Mr. Sun. Sun. Mr. golden sun. Please just let me be.

OK maybe not totally brainwashed....