pictures we should have added ages ago...

Daphne playing in Tony's bed. Whatever he's doing, she's trying to do.
Tony, in one of his many dress up styles. This time he's a mommy with a baby (his dog, which he named Bolt after the movie). Lately he's been really into putting on Daphne's Leia wig. He also pretends to make eggs with the over-sized Easter eggs filled with blocks. Stirred with the remote control. He has put several in the freezer.
Daphne with Jeanne and Mom, circa early February?

Here's one of Daphne's favorite pastimes: crawling into the dishwasher. Once she actually kept pulling things out and handing them to me to get it emptied faster, then tried to crawl in and play.


Here's Daphne eating rice for the first time. It's hard to judge how much she really got in her mouth. In other news, last week she took her first steps! It really is amazing how fast she's grown. These pictures really show how big she's gotten.

Daphne's first birthday bash

Daphne in her bumbo seat, lookin' cute and waiting for everyone to gather around and watch her make a giant mess.
Here's Tony, planning how to sneak another gumdrop off the cake. Notice how the castle is beginning to buckle under it's own gooey weight at this point. I was just relieved it made the trip to the park, down the path, and onto a picnic table!



Here's Daphne after her first little taste of cake. By after a couple of more bites, she went face-first into the cupcake, getting cake up her nose and in her eyelashes.
Here's Dax clowning around with Mateo and Tony, who had a great time playing with Lizzy (Dax and Laura's border collie), blowing bubbles, playing ball and generally just running around like a couple of three year old hooligans.

Holy Cow! Daphne Sabine is one year old!

A year ago today Daphne and I were hanging out in a state-of-the-art birthing suite, being pampered as the fourth mother and baby to come through that hospital. At this point little Tony was at home with Grandma Clyta, blissfully ignorant of how his world would be turned upside down.

Daphne can now walk holding onto my finger, and says mostly gibberish, but something we are sure is "See!" when she notices something. She waves bye-bye and blows kisses when prompted. She is not a fan of strangers, or even not completely familiar people who try to hold her. She is a HUGE fan of high-pitched screaming to indicate happiness, frustration, boredom, pain, tiredness, elation, or you-name-it.

Tony is doing much better at the potty training. He still doesn't go on his own, but has been accident free about six days out of the week for a few weeks now. He amazes me with his curiosity and observance of the things around him. He is very aware of sights and sounds, and has taken to asking me what we are listening to on the radio every time it comes on. We are having some swearing issues this week, but other than that he is gearing up to be a great three-year-old boy.

I am so lucky.



We got Daphne some cute little leg warmers for her crawling expeditions. I Thought they'd be great with her cow diaper!

the 2008 visit to Santa

We somehow managed to keep Tony and Daphne entertained and able to smile by the time we snaked through the line to see Santa. Tony had been convinced ahead of time that he MUST not poop ANYWHERE but the potty during this visit, because Santa would not want a dirty Tony on his lap. Tony told us, "Yeah, he'll throw up." I was amazed that Daphne let this stranger hold her and then even smiled at the camera.
As you can tell, potty training is in full swing around our house. It is not for the faint of heart or stomach. Today Tony took off his underwear (he used the Spanish word "chones") and defecated on the floor of his room. When asked why he did this instead of going in the potty, he told us that Emily and Thomas (yes, the toy tank engines) had killed his chones.
Daphne is all smiles and giggles. She has started pulling up on things and loves to stand while holding my hands. She gets a big kick out of "Pattycake" and anyone who will take the time to sing a song to her. She smiles at everyone, just like Tony did at that age. I am so lucky to have these kids that have this knack for infecting people with happiness.

Halloween - finally!

And now, Tony as a mouse and Daphne as Princess Leia. These pictures were taken the day after Halloween, which was also the day after Daphne got 4 shots, so she was in a pretty foul mood. Still, she couldn't help but look adorable.

Daphne is scooting all over the house now, showing us just how often we really sweep the floor. Tony is precocious as always. Tuesday, within the course of an hour he had stolen a stick of butter off the counter and run to his room to try to eat it ("I don't like this, Daddy"), smeared the expensive diaper cream on Daphne's floor, and run off again, this time with a bag of shredded cheese. Today the poor little dude has strep throat, so Mommy played hookey with him once again, and he and I went to see Madagascar 2 and eat popcorn. He made me sing "Popcorn Goes the Weasel" on the way there.


"Somebody get this walking carpet out of my way!!!"
If you take a mouse trick-or-treating, he will ask you for his candy. When you give it to him, he will only want more. If you hide his candy, he will find it immediatly and throw a fit to get more. If you tell him he can have more candy if he goes poopoo in the potty, he will still throw himself on the floor and demand candy. But, the mouse will definitely take cute pictures. If you can get him to stand still for 3 seconds.

a shmattering of cute pictures

The kids are growing like little weeds. Tony is constantly cracking us up with his new directness and confidence. He does things like dump Fruit Loops out in the car and then tell me not to pick them up because, "it's for the birds, Mommy," or push me away at the park and say, "Go over there. I swing by myself." Today it was a little too quiet in his room so Bobby went to check on him, and found Tony had set up a mobile office using Daphne's walker and his LaughTop toy computer. So that he could have a "working lunch," he dumped his cup of Goldfish crackers out on the keyboard.

Daphne is baffling me with her ability to grow while I'm not looking. It seems every other day I pick her up at daycare thinking, "that huge baby over there isn't mine. I have a tiny infant!" Wrong! She is getting ready to crawl (we're in Scooting Backward phase right now) and has two bottom teeth. She can sit up when placed that way, and will play sitting up with the Boppy around her. She LOVES Tony, and kicks and laughs every time he comes around. In the mornings on the way to work he sings and she squeals her Velociraptor ear-splitting screams of joy. It is quite a party back there. She loves to laugh and play, and is as good natured and adorable as Tony was at that age. We must be the luckiest parents in the world. (Bobby just looked over my shoulder and did his Lou Gehrig echo as he read. Jackass). Seriously. They don't get cuter than this!

the cutest little girl in the whole wide world