Just Because I Couldn't Leave August Out...

I realized I hadn't posted yet in August and felt I couldn't not do this month it's justice (All you English majors are totally cringing at that sentence... I can feel it). So here it is, the fat and the skinny of it:

This month I got old(er).

I applied to school districts all around this area (we are talking Tacoma out to Snoqualmie) and only got one callback (to the job I think I wanted the most out of everything that I applied for; it was teaching math at an alternative school in North Bend with a student body of about 300), but they ended up not wanting me. Turn out schools like prior experience... Go figure. So, I am going back to the job I got last February. I am happy to have a job, just annoyed to not have made any progress in the getting-out-of-my-parent's-house-and-having-a-stable-life direction.

Chelane is 11 months today! She is a crawling fiend and is starting to lean out. She is still very happy, loves to play with her brother, and enjoys cleaning things up (or it might just be "putting things in" because, many times, she promptly takes them out again...). You know how people call kids "ankle-biters"? Well Chelane is a "knee-biter" and I am not saying that to allude to her height... she really is a knee biter.

I am sure there are cute pictures around here somewhere, but chances are my mom took them (since my camera SUCKS) and I haven't gotten them on my computer yet. She is following in her brother's footsteps as a curious, energy reserve of moving chaos (I like to call Dallas "Entropy in Motion" because I am a geek). She is still sweet as can be and we all love her to death, even when she is trying to eat the rocks in the bottom of Grandma's bamboo planter...

Dallas is getting more and more verbal. He is attempting words and yesterday when we were walking out of a store to the car, I was telling him we were looking for the "red car" (because our car is, you guessed it, red) and I asked him where it was. He was looking around with me and trying to say "red car" but he didn't have a strong 'r' or 'd' sound; so it was more like "eh co." I asked Cam if he could hear him (Cam was a few steps away with Chelane) and he couldn't. But I could tell what he was saying.

Wow, that was a very anti-climatic story. The point of it was that I can't recall Dallas doing spontaneous correct sounds before, many times he just mumbles and then you have to focus his attention on your mouth so he can get the visual cues and have him try again.

Anyway the kid is doing more compound wordage (more than one word at a time, so like two-word sentences?), mixing words in with his signs, and can be frequently caught babbling or singing to himself (and others). It is all very exciting for us since he didn't do that babbling or singing when he was younger. The language is coming!

I feel like I should write something about Cam... but he isn't doing anything nearly as exciting as the kids. Although, he did do chores yesterday (lots of them, in succession) without being asked; that is pretty major for him.

Out of the Mouth of Babes...

While at a resturaunt for Mom's birthday, Dallas had some deep conversations with his uncle Dane...

Dane: Yeah, we were just talking about stocks and stuff. Dallas what are your thoughts about the economy?

Dallas: (after a short pause) Uh-oh.

Now That is Talent

This was taken the last Sunday in June. Our church is from 11-2, prime lunch and nap time for Dallas. When we get home we stuff some lunch into him and try to get him in bed quickly. Once and a while (when we are unlucky) he falls asleep in the car home and is a mess until he is able to go back to sleep (or he catches his second wind and refuses to go back to sleep at all).

The last Sunday in June was an interesting case...

Bed Time

Dallas tends to fight going to bed, but really what kid doesn't? Cam and I try to have a routine around bed time of: cleaning up, putting on pj's, brushing teeth, reading books, and saying prayers before putting (locking) him in his room.

It has become a family affair with Chelane joining in on the fun; although she escapes the teeth brushing (which we should start soon) and usually is spared being locked in the room right away. She even participates in the cleaning up by putting toys in their bins. It can be the cutest thing you have ever seen a 9 month-old do.

Anyway, the book-reading and prayer-saying takes place on Dallas' bed, which can barely accommodate one adult, let alone an adult and two children.


Chelane tends to smack Dallas when they are in such close quarters. Dallas usually just says something like "no, ses" ("no Chelane" or "no sister"... we aren't too sure which one) and moves her hand away. Other times he just takes it and doesn't complain. He is a great older brother.


Cam has been laying off the drugs since that last picture was taken, I promise...

Dallas enjoys putting baby leg-warmers on his arms. I think he is trying to start a trend.

Another nighttime ritual on Wednesdays is a bath. We used to bathe the kids separately, but since Chelane is sitting up just fine, we decided to see how they fair together.

They have a blast splashing and dumping water on each other. Chelane has picked up how to drink bath water from a cup thanks to Dallas' great example...

Miss Independent

Chelane has started waving her arms frantically around after a only a few spoonfuls of food, inevitably hitting the spoon and sending food flying onto her tray and face. The frustrating thing is that she is isn't doing this because she is full, oh no, on the contrary she is still hungry. Someone is starting to not want to be fed anymore (or at least that is my diagnosis).

So, Cam and I decided to stop fighting it. Last night for dinner and this morning for breakfast Chelane has fed herself finger food. She seems to enjoy doing things herself. We set up Dallas and Chelane's chairs right next to each other as well to encourage Dallas to share.

Last night dinner consisted of some cut up canned pears, peas, half a cheese stick, and cheerios. Normally we give Dallas his peas frozen but, since his sister was trying solid peas for the first time (and she only has two and a half teeth), we heated the peas to room temperature. Chelane decided she really liked peas. She has the cutest little pincer grasp and shoveles those peas right in.

Cam and I discovered Dallas should only be fed frozen peas. He discovered how far you can launch the insides of peas by pinching their shells... he almost shot one into the living room.