Standing

Just a quick post to note that Quinn has progressed to pulling up to standing often, even doing downward dog, trying to stand on her own. She is courageous, trying to let go of the hands supporting her or the table, in which case she crashes to the floor and sheds a few tears. Today she even cruised from the coffee table to the couch, a big moment for our big little girl. She is still not into supported walking~ if we hold her hands and try to get her to walk, she just kicks her feet against the ground like she's dancing a jig, not supporting any weight. And here are a few recent pics of the cutest almost one year old in town:

Watch this cool trick

We finally conquered the fear, or whatever it was that was holding her back, of summersaulting! Strangely, she first did one like this down the "ramp" onto her Bee. Then, the next day, did one on the flat floor. She thinks it is Hilarious when she has to stop for a Quinny Crossing. That girl's laugh is magical! She's really into doing "tricks" these days~ the "hop-jump," spinning, crafty ways of climbing onto/off of the couch, laying on her stomach on the dining chair, standing with her legs crossed, balancing on one leg, etc. All prefaced with, "Hey Mom, watch this cool trick." Then, "What's this called?" as she performs.

At 3

Ella at 3 years old, despite the usual challenges of raising a preschooler, is the most fun sidekick. This week was Spring Break at school, so we had the whole week together. I was a little nervous about the lack of me-time, but we really had a great week. We visited the zoo with her friend from school on Monday. This is her first friendship forged (almost) completely on her own. They ran around like crazy ladies together, laughing and screaming and being silly. On the longer walks between animals they even walked hand-in-hand! And gave eachother hugs! It was so sweet to see.

The most momentous change in our big girl this week is 5 days and nights without a paci. And her front teeth are already starting to move back in her mouth! Sunday night she cried for 30 minutes or so, then went to sleep and slept all night. Monday and Tuesday nights she peed in the bed before she went to sleep, during her protest (read: on purpose). Mom and Dad NOT happy about this. Mom took away TV for the rest of the week. Wednesday night, we reminded her to not pee in the bed, and she said something along the lines of, "but I don't want to give up my paci yet." We said, sorry, it is done, gone, over, go to sleep. And she eventually did. Now she really is a big girl of 3 years old~ her last tie to babyhood is her Bee, but we have no plans to ever take that away.

Random March Moments

Quinn's latest favorite activity~ back and forth, back and forth. And she started waving "hi" to the moms at preschool today!

Teddy Bear Picnic

Her first signature, now repeated, with the correct number of lines on her "E"

On a walk at Washington Park and Arboretum Heights. The cherry blossoms have been quite a sight. And, my favorite time of year is only days away, I can feel it...tulips! Some of mine have buds coming up now in the yard. I cannot wait to fill up my giant vase with an arm full of them!

Sister Love

Milestone

Just a quick note, so I can add to her babybook later, Ella wrote her name, all by herself yesterday! The "E" had one extra line on it, and the tail of the "a" is separated from the circle, but (I think) it is legible. I gave her too much praise for it, and she refused to do it again. I didn't think 3 year olds were supposed to get embarassed yet?

11 Months

Quinn's eleventh month was an eventful one! I think the change of scenery and different stimulation made some new connections and got a few things going. It was exciting and kind of relieving to see her grow and develop in so many ways in such a short amount of time. Last month, she was contect to sit around and play with whatever toys happened to be in reach. Now, she is crawling all over the place, desperately trying to get whatever Ella is playing with, and expressing major frustration when she can't or isn't allowed to do what she wants to. Turns out, she does have opinions! She pulls up on tables, chairs, windowsills, toilets just because she can, does the one-knee-one-foot crawl on the hardwoods, dances to music, singing, or even just a beat, sleeps through the night (6 pm-5 am), chews real food, spits out food she doesn't like, always crawls after "maaa" or "ma-ma," only drinks from a bottle, etc. Basically, she has done some major catch-up and now is like most other 11 month olds.

Quinn's New Laugh

While in AZ, Quinn started a new laugh...it doesn't replace her normal laugh, but she does this more often now:

Ella's Party

She had been asking for a pinata at her birthday for a few months, so G-ma made it happen. We all pulled a ribbon, and Ella got to pull the magic one to open the door. Then the adults raced to collect the candy and the kids raced to collect the Dollar Store toys.

Ella asked for hot dogs, so we had a bar-b-que with fruit salad and potatoes.

She was deciding between a rainbow, cricket, and heart shaped cakes for weeks...and two days before her birthday, she decided on a panda.

Presents!

Cousins Visit

Maggie spent a lot of time holding Quinn. She's a baby lover.

Zoe spent a lot of time entertaining Ella: Reading books, BrianQuest cards, playing, etc.

And, the three big(ger) girls played together a lot too. This is the start of a "horsey race."

Thanks for skipping school for us, guys! We miss you!

xoxo

At Long Last

Quinn Legitimately Crawls (as of 3/2/2010):


She also wears pigtails:

Greg's Hair

As I said, almost bald!

Kidding!

Quinn Talking

This is before our trip as well~

Ella's Birthday at Preschool

This is ruining my chronologically ordered blog, but the videos are too funny not to post. Ella celebrated her birthday at school before we left for AZ. Her teachers made her a cute birthday necklace, but she refused to wear it. She chose to bring vanilla yogurt with sprinkles, strawberries, and blueberries for snack. The sprinkles are pretty much the only flair we are allowed at her school...no sugary snacks, nothing homemade allowed. Such a bummer for the birthdays, but oh well. Maybe I don't need to be spending my precious time baking up a storm.

The first video is their exit from circle time to washing their hands for snack:

The second video is her Happy Birthday serenade...except that all the kids are silent! Anything out of routine, and they all just freeze up. 2-3 year olds are hilarious.

Baby Play

The week after Anne's wedding, we were lucky to have a few days to see Aria, Gardner and their precious baby Anja (4 1/2 mo.)before they drove back to CA. It was pretty funny to see Quinn and Anja side-by-side! Ella spent most of our visits with them hiding, hiding her eyes, or playing with Grandma. Someone is getting more shy by the day...

Dear Anne Franke,

Do you remember asking me to be on my blog last May, when you came to Phoenix for a visit and Quinn screamed the whole afternoon and evening? When you entertained Ella for hours like the great Auntie you are? I'm pretty sure our air conditioning went out that night too. It could have been totally miserable evening, but because you were there I was able to hold it together. Thank god for good friends like you! After the kids went to bed, we searched around online looking at engagement rings and wedding venues...flash forward to now, and you've survived the logistics of the wedding weekend, had an amazing honeymoon, and are a Mrs! Consider this your Franklin Family Blog debut:

Beautiful Bride

Aria, Anne, Me

Tulip made an appearance at the reception!

I love you friendy! I hope you have the happiest of married lives.

Embarassed yet?

HOME

And...we're back. We had a wonderful 2 1/2 week vacation to Arizona. A lot has happened since we left~ most excitingly, Spring arrived in Portland! Everything is blooming and budding and I imagine all the beauty will continue until July when it gets hot and everything is just green (or brown like our dead grass). We're busy planning our vegetable/strawberry garden and taking note off all the little gems planted in years past in our yard (bleeding heart, tons of bulbs, witch hazel, etc).
Anyways, back to the trip. I have tons of photos and we did a lot while there, so I'll do several mini-posts over several days instead of one big dump. Highlights of our trip: one of my besties got married in Flagstaff (such a beautiful bride), the cousins visited from Tucson, Quinn weaned herself, Quinn learned to sit from her belly, Quinn pulled up, Quinn slept throught the night, I didn't cook dinner for 2 1/2 weeks (sorry mom), I got to know Anja and spend some qt with Aria the other bestie, Ella turned 3, Greg shaved his head almost bald!