Five Months Old!

A trip to the ER

Julia took a spill about ten days ago... and fractured both bones in her right wrist. She also hit her head and has quite a shiner on her eyelid. It was a stressful day for Mom and Dad, but not really for Julia, who acts as if nothing has happened. In fact, check out the video at the bottom to see her cutting a rug tonight after dinner. Sorry that the video is dark.

Julia should be cast- and shiner- free in two more weeks.

Meanwhile, Charlotte continues to develop well. She has begun pushing her bottom up, either in a yoga-esque downward dog position, as in the left photo, or on all fours, as in the right photo. She has started drooling profusely (getting teeth?) and eats three meals a day in addition to a lot of liquid snacks in between. Her meals include rice cereal or oatmeal, squash, yams, bananas or applesauce. Her healthy diet has made us feel guilty about ours and we have started trying to have fruit or vegetables at each meal. Not easy!

She also flashes a big, wide grin when well-rested and laughs from time to time. Tonight Charlotte was laughing repeatedly during Julia's dance routine, making it even funnier.

YES WE CAN

Francis Scott Key (as long as she does not get Dad's genes)

We sing to the kids every time either of them goes to bed. Kara (surprise) has the broader repertoire and the (surprise again) much better singing voice. Aaron usually copies Kara's ideas or sings either the Star Spangled Banner or America the Beautiful (sung every week at his school's assembly). Julia has heard some of the songs so much that she sometimes spontaneously breaks into one song or another.

Here is a slightly orchestrated (forgive Aaron for his voice) version of the National Anthem (pay close attention to the very end).


(Another new post below...)

Our once-monthly update

Hmmmm. It seems to be November, and we've just realized that we haven't posted since September. Our apologies.

The girls are keeping us on our toes, and they continue to amaze us in one way or another every day. We went to the NYC marathon today and Charlotte watched the runners contentedly from her carriage or the Baby Bjorn. Julia snacked on leftover Halloween candy (thanks, Eric Pinciss) and goldfish while cheering, "Go Runners" repeatedly. Though we got no pictures, we had a lot of fun. Julia also met Dad's high school friend Bowe, who she called "Bo Peep."

Halloween was Friday and Kara and Aaron hit the streets accompained by a small butterfly and a smaller spider. Julia actually enjoyed giving candy to trick-or-treaters at our house more than visiting other houses herself. Nevertheless, we visited our neighbor-friends' houses, and Julia got a few items in her plastic pumpkin (which she calls a "grocery pumpkin")

In other news, Charlotte recently turned 4 months and got a clean bill of health from the doctor. She is 26 inches long (90th %ile) and 15lbs, 3 oz. (70th). Kara has gotten her on a good schedule of two naps a day (something we were never able to do with Julia) in order to help her sleep through the night more consistently (she still wakes up 2-3 times per night). We've also started her on solid food, including rice cereal, bananas and applesauce (homemade from apples Julia picked with Emily, Val and Aaron during Rosh Hashannah). She continues to be active, as she now log-rolls the whole way across the floor.

Finally, a fun little video showng Julia's most recent evening routine - watching the evening news. Julia has found an affinity for "Brian Wilmiams" (listen closely)