Growing Up So Fast!

Stella slept in her underwear last night, as opposed to a pull up, and she stayed dry all night long...yeah! What a big girl she is getting to be.

Today is also the first day of her transition into the pre-K classroom where she will join the other 3 year olds at school, many of whom were her classmates in her two year old class. In 2 short years, Stella will be starting kindergarten...we are not ready for that!!!

Say My Name, Say My Name!

Tonight, Stella came around the corner and Desmond looked up and Dada heard him say "Tewah" to which Stella replies, "You said my name Guppa!" Des repeated again, "Tewah" with a big smile on his face. This is so special for us in many ways. First, Des not only knows who his sister is but can say her name. Secondly, Stella understood right away what Des was saying while Dada had to hear Des repeat Stella's name twice before he realized what Des was saying...it is so sweet that Des and Stella can communicate with each other.

Des sure does love Stella and vice versa. On the car ride home from Pittsburgh, Des would look over at Stella and start laughing out aloud and then Stella would get excited and join in the laugh fest. This cycle repeated itself over and over again and it was so sweet for us to witness it!

The following series of pictures cracked us up. Here is Stella and Desmond squeezing themselves into the Cozy Coupe car that Stella received for her 1 year birthday.

The Cozy Coupe is aptly named because it really is not big enough for the two of them!

Z Family Reunion 2008

Saturday was the day of Dada's family reunion, but before we headed over to Aunt Betty Ann's house, we had a very leisurely morning with the kids having fun doing what they do best...playing!

The girls had fun reading.

Stella was nice enough to help Desmond on the rocking horse...

...and he loved it.

After lunch and naps, we headed over to Aunt Betty Ann's and Uncle John's house for the family reunion. Aunt Betty Ann lives out in the country with lots and lots of beautiful land (as you will see in the pics below) that is ideal for kids and adults to run around and let loose. Aunt Betty Ann and Auntie Avril had set up different games for the kids and if the kids participated, they would each get a bag full of gifts, regardless of who won...so fun! Kids and adults enjoyed jumping into the pool, playing T-ball, baseball, badminton, and grilling out. It was a fun filled afternoon catching up with family.

Aunt Betty Ann's cute collection of birdhouses in the backyard.

Stella playing with bubbles...

...playing baseball...

...blowing bubbles with Auntie Avril...

...playing ball...

...blowing more bubbles with Mama...

...playing frisbee...

...and enjoying some cuddle time with Auntie Marisa.

We think our Des is more of a city slicker and didn't take too well to the country, but we suspect that it was more a case of "stranger danger" with all of the new faces he was encountering.

Here he is with Auntie Avril sampling the water sponges to make sure it had his seal of approval...

...having a conversation with Eva...

...hanging out in his stroller playing with his phone...

...and modeling his swim trunks which he didn't really get wet because he didn't even like getting his feet wet in the pool!

Playing Dress Up!

Stella had fun playing with her 4 cousins who got into Pittsburgh late last night. Since we are all staying at Ommy and Poppa's house (6 adults & 6 kids), the house is a zoo, but the kids are all having a blast. Stella enjoyed "playing" Connect 4, coloring, and dress up with her 4 cousins. Here are some pics from the dress up play.

Our Little Flapper Girl

Stella, Eva, Ian, & Zoe


Stella, Zoe, & Eva had tons of fun jumping out from behind the window curtains and striking silly poses!

Another one of Stella's dress up outfits that was pretty loose on her...

...Stella even got Des in on the dress up action but Des was not into the purple hat and was more keen on taking it off and crushing it...such a boy!

KennyWood

We all went to Kennywood, an amusement park in Pittsburgh, yesterday and had lots of fun.

When we first got their, we first headed over to Kiddieland so that our Stella can ride her first amusement park ride. Stella chose to ride the Steel City Choppers (miniature motorcycles that go around in circles) and was the first on and buckled into her bike and was all smiles as shown below.

There was a good bit of waiting as the ride monitor was helping other kids onto their bikes. All of this waiting, and the fact that adults weren't allowed to accompany the kids, and the seat belt tightly buckling her in all led to Stella freaking out and screaming to be freed and we obliged. The motorcycle ride left a bad impression on Stella and at this point she didn't want to go on any rides but was content to just sit in her stroller.

We finally convinced her to try the carousel, (which she has ridden many times before without any fear or objection) after Mama, Dada, and even Desmond (sorry no picture) rode it several times. Soon, Stella's spirits perked up and she was brave enough to try other rides. She rode the swings next and she loved that.

Afterwards, Stella and Mama rode the Lil' Phantom roller coaster (a miniature version of the big Phantom's Revenge roller coaster)...

(Stella & Mama are in cart #2)

...the Crazy Trolley (which she didn't like so much), and the SS Kenney (a boat that swings up and down). Stella then ate some yummy funnel cake and rode on the swings 4 more times...her favorite ride by far. Here's a little video of Stella on the swings...nothing but smiles.

We only realized after we got home that we didn't get a single picture of Des at Kennywood, sad, but rest assured he had a rather good time watching all of the activity around him from his stroller.

After about 3.5 hours at the park, Ommy and Poppa took the kids home, bathed them and put them to bed, while Dada and mama stayed behind to ride the adult rides.

Desmond's Second Word

We arrived in Pittsburgh late night yesterday for Dada's upcoming family reunion on Sat. We decided to come up a few days early so that the kids can get some quality time with Ommy and Poppa and also take in a few of the local attractions.

As stated before, Des's first word was "uh oh" and he used it correctly 3 times yesterday. Today, he said his second word, "baw" for ball. Now every time he sees a ball, he will say "baw".

We are not sure if he knows what "Dada" means but he will say this word a lot...especially when you ask him to say "Mama", he looks at you and smiles a devilish smile and says "Dada". We think he knows what Dada means.

He also can wave "hi" on command and was waving "hi" to his sister over and over in the car yesterday during our ride to Pittsburgh and the two would laugh out aloud every time...it was so cute to see them playing and entertaining each other.

Also, Des will clap his hands if you sing "Pat-a-Cake" to him. It's so cool for us to see his development as he understands the world around him more and more.

"I'm Awake!"

We had quite an interesting experience with Stella in the wee hours of this past Sat morning. It was 3:30 AM and Stella must have gotten up to pee and after peeing, instead of going back to her bed, she came downstairs, turned on the TV and was trying to get an episode of Mickey Mouse Clubhouse from our cable network's On Demand program. When Dada heard the TV, he came downstairs to investigate and saw Stella sitting on the couch with the remote control in her hand. He asked her what she was doing and she just simply replied "I'm awake!" Silly girl!!! It took Dada another 30 minutes or so to convince Stella to go upstairs, get back in her bed and go back to sleep.