Papa's Desmond's Got a New Pair of Shoes!

When we first got to Pittsburgh on Wed evening, we stopped off at the new Tanger outlet malls and went shopping for new shoes for Stella and Desmond. Desmond got his very first pair of hard soled shoes...he was not a fan of it at the store...he was walking around like he had his feet stuck in cement blocks. The big guy's feet are 5 1/2 wide and the stage 1 shoes (these are more flexible and provides a smoother transition from the soft soled Robeez he has been wearing) for beginning walkers only run up to size 5. But once he got a little practice wearing his new shoes indoors, he had no problems with them outdoors. Here he is wearing his brand new brown big boy shoes as well as the new winter coat that Mama recently bought for him!!!

Stella got some snazzy sneakers and a pair of black mary janes to wear with dresses. Even though we got a good deal on them, it is so crazy that a lot of kids shoes are as or more expensive than adult shoes!!!!

This bit of the post is long overdue, but we finally took a picture of Desmond in his car seat facing forward! Since he got the green light at his 1 year checkup (must be at least 20 lbs & be 1 year of age to ride facing forward), we turned his car seat around in early November. If he looks like he can't move in this picture, you would be right. He is like a stuffed pillow when he is strapped into his car seat when wearing his winter jacket. The first time he rode like this, he didn't say word during the car ride and just kicked his right leg [the only thing he can move :)] back and forth to the music!

Bowling Fun

Our last full day in Pittsburgh was yesterday and we all went bowling and had so much FUN. It was Stella's and Desmond's first time and Stella absolutely loved it and was very sad to leave. It helped that we went to a place that had bumpers so that the kids (and adults =:)) didn't have to worry about any gutter balls!
Stella got help bowling her ball from Poppa, Ommy, Dada, & Mama.

On the occasion when Stella did bowl by herself, the ball would roll so slowly that it would stop somewhere in the middle of the lane and we would have to roll another ball down in order to knock the first ball down to the end of the lane =:)
Desmond was initially contained in his stroller, but he soon got tired of sitting around while everyone else was bowling and having lots of fun. So we let him out and he walked all over the place...often in people's way. He has a lot to learn about proper bowling etiquette =;) He especially liked putting his fingers in the holes of the balls.

But Dada let Desmond "bowl" a few times and he seemed to like it.

Here he is clapping all proud of himself after his first bowl!

We had a great time bowling as a family and can't wait to do it again!

Making Gignerbread Houses

We went over to Aunt Betty Ann's house today to make gingerbread houses...a time honored tradition in the Z household. It was lots and lots of fun and the day was capped off with some yummy food as usual and even more yummy desserts (i.e, ginger cake with some homemade pumpkin ice cream...YUM)!

Stella started off helping Mama with the gingerbread house but she quickly became more interested in eating the various candies rather than using them to decorate the gingerbread house.

When she grew tired of eating the candies, she went off to play with her cousins. She had a ball "playing" ping pong (which meant holding onto the balls), chasing each other around the house, and of course, playing dress up. So Mama was left on her own to finish decorating the gingerbread house.

Desmond just roamed around trying to figure out what he can pull down and destroy. When the kids were chasing each other around the ping pong table, Des would join in the mix and thought it was the funniest thing ever.

Des getting some lovin' and a pretzel stick from his Ommy

Posing for a picture with the finished product...

Happy Thanksgiving!

Ian, Zoe, Des, Stella, Eva, & Eli

We headed over to Pittsburgh on Wed to spend Thanksgiving with Dada's family. Aunt Tara & Uncle Tommy and their 4 kids also stayed at Ommy's house along with us. Stella and Desmond had a blast playing with their cousins Zoe, Ian, Eva, and Eli.

Although, Des was very weary of all of the new adults in the house, he had no problem with the kids. He especially took a liking to his cousin Ian who is an absolute sweetheart with a heart of gold. Here's Des just chillin' with Ian in the morning before breakfast. Shortly after this picture was taken, Des leaned over and gave Ian a hug and a kiss without any prompting from anyone.

Des loved putting his finger in the space where Ian had lost his baby teeth and sweet Ian was kind enough to oblige.

Stella had a love-hate relationship with her cousin Eli who is about 1 year younger than her. They would readily play together and then all of sudden, one of them would be complaining about the other one taking his or her toy, followed by running and chasing each other around the house, which usually ended with one of them in tears. But when they weren't playing with each other, they would seek each other out. It was sweet to see Stella trying to comfort Eli should he be crying about something, as long as it didn't involve "her" toy. One day, Stella brought down her blankets from upstairs so that she could get "cozy" with Eli on the couch while watching some TV. Too cute!!

Zoe, Eli, & Stella doing a puzzle while Des eats his lunch

Ommy and Poppa hosted Thanksgiving dinner at their house and the food, most of which was made by Ommy, was DELICIOUS!!! Stella initially sat at the kids table...

...but really wanted to come sit by Mama at the adults table and Ommy was kind enough to let Stella have her seat.

Des absolutely LOVED Thanksgiving dinner!!! As soon as Dada would put some food on Desmond's plate, he would push Dada's hands away so that he could eat his dinner. He didn't even have the patience to let Dada cut his food for him. Des made up for what Stella didn't eat!

After dinner, the kids found some time for dress up play. Des got in the mix by putting this blue top hat on.

Then Poppa popped in the the Tinker Bell movie for the kids to watch. Stella is not into movies and so only watched a little bit of it here and there. Here's a sweet picture of Stella at the start of the movie sitting on Zoe's lap. Zoe is really good with little kids and acted as a wonderful big sister for Stella and Des during our visit.

Zoe, Stella, Eli, Aunt Marisa, & Eva

Meanwhile Des just continued to play in the living room with Legos...

...and with his buddy Ian, not paying attention to the movie at all.

A good time was had by all!!!

Our Little Man

Last week, Desmond wore a button down corduroy shirt (a gift from Appachen) for the first time with khaki pants and looked like a little MAN. Mama wasn't able to take any pictures of him from head to toe standing up (b/c Des is walking nonstop these days) so the above picture is the best she could do. Dada said that it's when you put kids in miniature versions of adult clothes (in this case a button down shirt and khakis) that you realize how small they really are!

Do You Like My Bob?

Mama gave Stella a haircut yesterday and we think it came out pretty well. Stella's hair was getting too long and so Mama gave her a cute little bob. Mama had been telling Stella that she was going to give her a bob haircut and Stella was excited about it. But when Mama finally sat Stella down to cut her hair, Stella got all nervous and said, "I don't want you to do my hair like Bob the Builder!". Poor Stella thought that when Mama kept saying that she was going to give her a bob haircut that it was going to look like "Bob the Builder". LOL! (By the way, Stella would not smile for the picture no matter what Mama did so the above pic was the best we could do.)

A Picture Is Worth a Thousand Words!

Stella drew this self portrait today and we were very proud of her. She drew eyes, eyelashes, eyebrows, ears, a nose, a mouth, and some hair. Up until now, she had been just drawing very simple happy or sad faces. But now she is drawing more details like the things mentioned above. It is so neat for us to see her evolve as a budding artist. We think she was inspired by Blues Clues (the main character on the show draws the clues he comes across in his handy dandy notebook), Stella's newest love. She started watching Blues Clues last week when she was sick with a fever (she is all better now) and absolutely loves it. It is up her alley since it is designed for preschoolers. We think she loves Blues Clues more than Mickey Mouse Clubhouse.

As Clear as Black and White

Dada took these beautiful black and white pictures of the kids yesterday and we are posting some of our favorite ones. Out of all of the b/w pics, the three above are Mama's absolute favorites!

Things Des is Doing

Desmond is learning new things at a fast pace and we haven't been doing a very good job of documenting it all here on the blog...it's hard to keep up with the little guy. So here's an update on all of the things that Des is doing these days.

• Des will often hold a toy phone to his ear and says "vavavava" as if he is talking on the phone.
• Makes a wet raspberry sound for what an elephant says. Can also do the sounds for a lion, a pig ("unk unk"), snake, cow, dog, cat, duck.
• Mama was reading him his bedtime stories and one of his favs is Goodnight Mr. Moon Little Bear (it was Stella's favorite as well). In the last page, he was pointing out the moon, the owl, and the little bear as Mama asked him where each of these things were. When he pointed to the little bear, I said "yeah, that's Little Bear and he is sleeping", Des laid his head down on the book to show what sleeping is. It was so cute!
• Des understands a lot of things you ask him, like where is the light, the fan, Mama, Dada, Stella, his shoes, his feet, his belly button, his hair, his tongue, etc, and will point these things out to you if you ask him.
• Says "sss" for shoes and socks.
  

First Puppy

Another gift we had given Desmond for his birthday was this pull puppy that barks and wags its tail as you pull it along with its leash. This toy was a big hit with Des. Des will often bring the pull puppy over to us gesturing us to pull it while he walks behind the puppy giggling; he also loves chewing on the leash.

Stella loves this toy too and claims that it is her puppy and not Desmond's, leading to many a fight between the two. By the way, Mama just loves Des in this cute little outfit that Appachen bought for him.

"Look At Me, I am So Civilized Eating with Utensils!"

We purchased a set of three suction bowls to help Des in the process of learning to eat with utensils. The fact that the bowl stays in place helps out as tiny hands learn to maneuver a spoon or fork into a bowl while minimizing the mess (aka flinging bowls from highchair trays). The bowls stay in place until an adult breaks the suction by pressing a special tab. Des was given yogurt and boy did it end up getting messy. Even though the bowl stayed in place on his tray so no yogurt ended up on the floor, Des managed to get a lot of yogurt in his hair...by rubbing his hair with the spoon of course.

Great Balls of Fun

One of the gifts we got Des for his birthday was this inflatable Cozy Coupe car that is filled with 25 large plastic balls, similar to the ones in moon bounces. The kids both absolutely love this toy.

Stella likes to rock the car and tip it backwards or sideways, as she is doing here in this pic...

...whereas, Des likes to just dive right in, head first!