Summer days...

We are having incredibly hot weather here--this past weekend it got into the 90's!  Ok, maybe it's not that hot compared to where you are, but we're used to it being overcast and in the 60's.  We decided that a great way to cool off would be to turn the sprinklers on so that Eliana could run through them... except for the fact that Eliana has never done that before.  So Elvin got in there to show her how...

And with summer also comes the delicious fresh fruits like watermelon.  You can watch Karina, who we're sure would win a baby competitive eating contest, eat her fair share...

Karina is 1 year old!

The past year has flashed by and our Karina is now one year old!  Her birthday was this past Saturday.  Since her birthday coincides with our anniversary (yes, last year we spent our anniversary in the hospital), Emily's parents came over around noon while Mommy and Daddy snuck out for a quick lunch at a restaurant.  It was very strange to be able to hold a conversation without being interrupted by a little girl every 20 seconds.

Later that afternoon, we baked cupcakes for Karina.  Eliana helped out.

We all had dinner together.  Karina now wants to eat whatever she sees the grown-ups eating and will point, beg, and scream until someone hands over their food.  We were having ribs that night, which we didn't think was appropriate for her, so Karina had to just deal.

Then we opened presents, or rather, Eliana helped to open Karina's presents.

The birthday girl got a toy cell phone for her birthday!  She is constantly wanting to play with ours, which we rarely let her since she likes to slime them with her saliva.

Here is Karina multi-tasking--both standing up AND pressing on the buttons.

And she knows to put it up to her ear!

Afterwards, we sung happy birthday for her in English and Portuguese.

Eliana helped to blow the candle out.  And Karina thoroughly enjoyed the frosting.  After eating about a third of the cupcake, she threw the rest on the ground and started begging for another one--one with more icing.

We gave her instead a graham cracker with a little more icing.

Which she smeared on her face.  It made her look like Santa Claus.

And there you have it.  Our Karina is growing up quickly, learning new signs everyday, and we think will be walking soon too!  (Yes, her pajama pants are way too long, but just right around her very ample waist, buns, and thighs.  If we used pants that were the right length, they would never make it over her thighs.)

Summer Activities

We went to a concert at a park recently. The band was playing music catered towards kids. But by far, the highlight was not really the music, but the playground at the park.

They also had cotton candy.  Since it was just $1, and since Eliana had asked for it about seven times, we got her a serving.

She was very happy about that.  Who wouldn't be?

In the past few weeks, Karina has made leaps and bounds in her gross motor milestones.  She can pull herself up on the furniture pretty easily and cruise around.

She can also stand up by herself without holding on to anything, when she puts her mind to it, or isn't too distracted with something else.

In this version of cruising, Karina's figured out that she can push the kitchen chairs like a walker and get around that way.

And Karina loves to play peek-a-boo.  She'll hide behind the curtain and say "a-booo!"  Eliana is also in this video, providing a running commentary and other random thoughts about her day.

  And Karina LOVES to play with water, as with most kids.  Here she is at the water table we have outside.

Karina and Eliana, most of the time, will play very well together.

Here are the two girls playing with a toy that teaches kids how to write letters and numbers.  Karina certainly tries to copy things her sister does, like in the picture below.  She'll also get a crayon or pen and scribble on a piece of paper while Eliana is drawing.

And here they are playing together on Saturday morning.  Daddy is watching them so that Mommy can sleep in.

And we might have mentioned that Eliana is now taking Chinese lessons.  We found a Chinese language teacher on Craiglist who has experience teaching pre-schoolers.  The teacher has been coming once a week and Eliana has been picking up vocabulary.  Eliana really likes singing, and retains the words pretty well, even in another language.  Here she is singing "Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes" in Chinese.  She is having a little trouble at the end, and needs some unappreciated prompting.  Karina now recognizes this song as well, and leans down to her toes while we sing, and claps at the end.  You can see her clapping in this video.