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.