Another week....

 

Our baby is growing and growing.  He had a check up recently and weighed in at 23.5 pounds.  At this weight, he would be average--if he were a 14 month old.

 

He doesn't sit up yet, but is enjoying sitting in the Bumbo chair.  It gives him a new perspective on his toys, and makes it easier to put them in his mouth.  

 

He's definetely a grabber and a sucker--he'll try to grab anything in sight and stuff it in his mouth, just like his sisters.

 

 

 And he is also a talker and generally a happy baby.  He is not stingy with his smiles.

 

And one of his favorite activities is still taking a bath.  Even if he is fussy and tired, when he hears the sound of the water running in the bathtub, he cheers right up. 

 

He likes splashing around in there but will accidentally splash water onto his eyes and will start crying because he doesn't know how to wipe the water out of his eyes.

 

And Gabriel gets to watch his sisters' crazy antics.  Such as when Karina is feeling mischevious and decides to torment her older sister.  In the picture below, Eliana is minding her own business when Karina decided to sit on her.  And not get off.



Eliana is all of a sudden turning into a little artist, and goes on "kicks" where she draws the same things again and again.  Here she had just figured out how to draw hearts, and had drawn a picture of Mom and Dad, surrounded by hearts.   (And she is wearing a princess crown, of course).

 

We are homeschooling Eliana, doing a Kindergarten curriculum.  Most of the work is pretty easy for her, but we are finding her weaknesses.  One is a complete inability to write her numbers facing the right way.  You will notice here that every number that can be inverted (other than 5, she is very good at 5) is!   We're also not sure if she truly can't write the numbers correctly or if she is just doing this out of stubborness. When we ask her why she writes the numbers backwards, she says she likes them better that way.  She sometimes likes to write her name backwards as well. 

 

We aren't too worried, since she can write all her letters the right way! 

 

 

Karina isn't that into accessories, but she probably thinks she's supposed to like them since Eliana wears necklaces, rings and anklets all the time.  In the picture below, Karina sort of looks like Mr. T with a ring on each finger.

And Karina is a very good helper.  She has started helping with setting the table, even though this is Eliana's job.  Of course, Eliana is more than happy to let Karina take over.



And here is Karina after a bath.  Her hair is very fine, so when we dry it with a towel, it ends up looking like a stringy mess.

 

This past week, since it's gotten colder here, the girls got new fleece jammies.  It's very exciting to wear matching pajamas!

 

After bath comes bedtime.  Here is Eliana's bed currently.  There are four blankets on it, probably 8 or 9 stuffed animals and a couple of dolls on it.  When asked why she needs so much stuff on it, she answers that she needs them to fall asleep.

 

Maybe she's right.  One night she decides to cover her head with a pink fleece blanket and get under another one.  She ended up waking up an hour later, hot and sweaty and crying.  Oops, too many blankets!