On an airplane...

So Matt left this morning for a whirlwind trip through Chicago, Indianapolis, Durham, NC and Lancaster OH. While Abigail knows that he's on an airplane, and headed to Chicago, I'm not sure if she even know what Chicago is, let alone that he won't be back to tuck her in tonight.

So far we had a really good morning. Got to school on time, had pancakes for lunch and currently they are both napping. Day 1: so far so good

This morning as we were headed out the door, Abigail did something funny (I don't remember what) and it made me smile. She saw me and said, "Mama, I cracking you?"
"Yes, honey. You crack me up."

Isa now says "yep" and "bread." And now that she's walking she is all over the place. She loves it when Abigail pays attention to her. They're actually starting to play together sometimes. It's so fun to watch.

Isa Turns 1!

Isa turned 1 on Feb 11, 2005.

We invited our whole team and all the kiddos that go along with that to help us celebrate Isa's first birthday. She did great - no meltdowns! (I was a bit worried b/c she was a bit cranky right before everyone arrived, but once she saw the other kids, she was fine.) It was her first time ever having cake, and she wasn't too sure about it really. She absolutely loved having all the other kids there to play with - Jack and Emma, Madeline and Anna, the babies Eli and Jonas, and of course, Abigail.

Abigail had been so excited about the party all week. "We have butterfly cake Mama?" "No, honey. Not until Friday at Isa's party." "Oh. Friiiii-day." 30 seconds later: "Friends come over today to Isa's party and eat butterfly cake?" "No, honey. Today's Wednesday. Not until Friday." "Oh, Friiiiii-day." And on and on and on . . .

Even though we were juggling three cameras - video, 35mm and digital (amazing how at the same time making life more "convenient" technology also makes life more complicated!) We managed not to overwhelm Isa with too much posing, flashes and reenactment and we were all able to just enjoy the party.

I had my own little blast from the past when we gave out little "bolsitas de cumpleaños" to all the "big kids" (meaning over the age of 15 months). They were just party favors filled with candy and junk food - very typical of any Spanish birthday party - but they also had a big thick balloon with a rubber band attached to one end, so that when it was blown up you could bounce the ball off of your fist. It created quite the raucous with five toddlers all pounding on those things at once, but it was really fun.

If you want to see more pics from Isa's party, post a comment, and I'll email you a photo story from her party narrated by Abigail.

Isa's First Birthday!  

Isa's walking!

Here's the latest with Isa:

She's now walking! She took her first steps at the end of January when Rebecca was visiting and form there proceeded to maybe walk 2-3 steps a day until this past Sunday. It was like something clicked and she was up and walking all over the place. Very cool. Abigail loves to cheer her on. I love that they have each other.

She is also starting to talk a bit - she says: juice, bread, down, ma-ma, da-da, and yeah.

Isa gives the greatest hugs. I'll be holding her and ask her for a hug and she'll lay her head down on my shoulder. It's the best. She'll also give hugs to stuffed animals and her dolls.


And of course Abigail:

All the kids and moms at school call her, "Abi." It's way easier to pronounce in Spanish. In Spanish her name is said with four syllables. Kinda tough for the other 2 year-olds in her class.

She's been helping me teach English to my class of 2-3 year-olds. She's great - although sometimes she'll forget which language we're supposed to be speaking in. She's really picking up Spanish. The other day I overheard her have an entire conversation with her teacher.

Sometimes Abigail will ask me a question in Spanish and I'll answer her in English and she'll tell me, "No. In Spanish mama."

Abi's quotables:

We're visiting Matt while he's working at the cafe. We're sitting at the bar and the place is pretty full. Abigail belts out, "Are you stinky?" Matt doesn't answer. Even louder, "Daddy, are you stinky?" apparently she's picked up on the fact that Matt takes a shower after his shift because he smells like grease and smoke when he gets home. Wow.

"We should might be clean up it."