Caught!

Can Veronica pull the towel off of the oven door? Yes.
Can she open the drawer? Apparently.
Can she rearrange and remove the contents of said drawer? I should think so.


Ask me how I know.

Cookies, Cookies, and More Cookies

Hamilton loves being in the kitchen (which in our open-concept place is pretty much part of the living room and dining room...we call it all "the other room"). He also fancies himself an amateur chef. He will confidently declare that we need "1 cup flour and one egg" for pancakes--which is actually correct, though incomplete.


My sister Mariam, who also loves being in the kitchen, had the brilliant idea of bringing over some cookie ingredients on a recent visit. She and Hamilton mixed, rolled, and cut to their hearts' content.

...and of course someone needed to do some quality control on the taste. Please don't ask why he's on the counter. I really don't know. I do know that he has been crossing his ankles like that since he was a baby. It's his trademark move, but not really relevant here, so let's move on.


Fast forward a few weeks...and Hamilton gets another chance to perfect his cookie making skills. This time, his partners were Emily and Allison (cousins from Texas). Hamilton was intermittently interested, mostly towards the end when there was opportunity for sampling.

Checking the progress

Hands-on Time

"I think I can get that bit of frosting, Mom. Please don't wipe my face."

The finished product

Semantics

Hamilton is very much into categorizing the new words he's learning (and he's learning a lot of them!). It's really fun to hear him process and get a peek into how he works. For example:

Freeman (on the way to the bus stop Sunday morning): Hamilton, check out that snow plow!

Hamilton: That's not a snow plow; that's a dump truck.

Freeman: It's a blue snow plow.

Hamilton (insistent): That's not a blue snow plow; that's a blue dump truck.

Jenny (who's been a part of a few of these conversations): Hamilton, it's a special kind of dump truck that's called a snow plow.

Freeman: Yes, it's a dump truck until they add that plow to the front.

Hamilton: Okay...it's a snow plow dump truck.

He then proceeded to let several people on the bus know, "I saw a blue snow plow dump truck."

I think we have a scientist on our hands.

And, because there is no picture to go with this post, enjoy a fun one from Thanksgiving...

Stickers, Hats, and Why we don't have more video of Veronica

Hamilton loves stickers. In fact, on a bus ride home Wednesday evening, he spotted some stuck to a window sill across the way and was set on peeling them off so he might have them (that is until Freeman nixed that idea).

So you can imagine his delight when he turned the page in a coloring book and discovered an entire sheet of stickers...right there for him to play with. This is what I find after leaving for a few minutes to take a shower.

Then, this past Wednesday at Puggles (the 2-year old AWANA program) was Crazy Hat Night. I knew that this would be hit or miss with most of the 2 year-olds, but thought we should be prepared. So we found a crazy ball from Oompah and safety pinned it to his stocking cap (which he'd be wearing anyway...it's COLD out there).

And here's Veronica donning the cap.

And you may be asking why there aren't more videos of our sweet Veronica. Well, one reason is that most videos end up looking something like this:

Or, there's this version, which I think looks a little more like a commercial (maybe for insurance?).

The Vacuum

Our children are very similar in many aspects. They both are not afraid to let you know what they want, they seem to like and dislike the same foods, they enjoy music and dancing, and on and on.

One way we can tell them apart, though, is by turning on the vacuum.

Veronica's response looks something like this:
Yes, she scurries to catch up with the vaccum and pulls herself up, sometimes stopping to taste test. She seems to really enjoy the blast of air that exits the back of the shop vac (what is the technical name for that; exhaust sounds so bad). She's actually gotten some practice "walking" while I vacuum lately.

You can see a bit in this last picture the waves of air hitting her sleeper.

Hamilton, on the other hand, looks like this:

In fact, he informed me this evening that vacuuming, "is not kind, mommy."

He also wanted me to share this photo with you...it's of his soup.

Skipping Rocks

Uncle Wan spent some time teaching Hamilton how to skip rocks today. I don't know that Hamilton picked up the fine art, but he was inspired to sing "Raindrops Keep Falling On My Head" by the stones hitting the water and seemed to very much enjoy the attention.

Veronica was not inspired to sing, but enjoyed the trip to the park in her own special way.

Where the Whitneys Go When It's Cold

If we could harness Hamilton and Veronica's energy, we'd never have to pay ComEd again. But, we can't turn it into electicity, so the best I can do in the cold weather is take them to a place where they can crawl, climb, run, jump, and MOVE to their hearts' content.


The Children's Museum--just a bus ride away--fits the bill. And Wednesdays are great because the art studio is geared towards kids 5 and under. So, if it's Wednesday and it's cold, you can pretty much guess we are at Navy Pier enjoying the bright colors and crazy mirrors.

This mirror was cool enough to set down the stainless steel mixing bowl to check out. (Have I mentioned that Veronica is complete mobile now?)

Meanwhile, Hamilton is examining the way things work.

You may recall Hamilton's time in the garden (at about the same age as Veronica is now).



She also seems quite interested in agriculture.



Another Hamilton/Veronica moment.


She seemed genuinely surprised and pleased to see me.


Yup, little girl is pulling up to standing now.


Hamilton fishing.

Fall Outing

A couple of weeks ago, we headed to a pumpkin patch/petting zoo/working farm with Oompah, Amira, Syazwan, Mariam, and (a surprise appearance by) Sharif.

Hamilton was a little starstruck to see "Ming Ming," the duck from The Wonder Pets (shhh....don't tell him this duck's name is really Quackers). Veronica was also quite interested, but was being held firmly in place by Amira.

We did see chickens, turkeys, pigs, sheep, ponies, horses, a donkey, and rabbits, as well, but Hamilton went from fascinated to concerned when the animals were larger or faster than him.

So, onto the next bit of fun...a sandbox made of dried corn kernels. I think Hamilton could have stayed in there all day.

Syazwan played with Hamilton, even though it meant his black shirt would turn grey...what a cool uncle.

Uncle Sharif opted to stay clean and swing our motion loving little girl around.

After a quick climb on the haystacks,

We enjoyed some freshly prepared fruit from Amira.

Veronica even got in on some cantaloupe.

Hey, Uncle Sharif....where'd you put the rest of that 'lope?

But the real treat of the day (as much as we like fruit), was some homemade ice cream from the Plush Horse. Hamilton couldn't decide whether he wanted a cookie or ice cream until Mariam told him about cookie dough ice cream. He could not have been more pleased with the discovery.

Yes, the ice cream is almost as big as his head. And, yes, I did let him eat as much of it as he wanted. But, in my defense, I ordered the "Baby Size" (and he didn't finish it). My pumpkin pie ice cream, on the other hand, was all but gone and I had the normal adult size.l

Pictures and Captions...Plain and Simple

Dimples and Drool

Double Dimples

Hmmm...what is this "walker" thing?

Whoa, I think the ground just moved.

Uncle Wan and Foofa's blocks

At the Zoo with the Whitney Kiddos (July 5)

Ever since we took a day trip out to Aurora, Hamilton knows who his Whitney cousins are (he's getting to the age where it's sticking). In order to identify them, though, he says all of their names in a row (even when just talking about one of them), "Joshua-Saraina-Kadin-Paloma-Autumn." (whew)

We were thrilled when the Aurora Whitney's (aka Whitney Kiddos) drove into the city for a little zoo and pizza excursion. We so enjoy seeing them and always have such a nice time.

Veronica loves her Auntie Kia

Checking out animals

and more animals

and big boy Hamilton joining his big cousins to check out even more animals.

Autumn enjoying the ride

Then we went for some pizza, and these three love pizza.

Sweet cousins

Little Miss Veronica

At almost 6 months, our little girl is certainly showing a lot of personality. She is adventuresome and inquisitive and doesn't mind a little rough housing (that's what you'll get with a big brother, I suppose).

She is happiest in the upright position and will do this...

...if you try to convince her that reclining is also a good option.

She's got some strong legs and seems to think that we're holding her back.

Notice that I am holding her arm for balance while she holds her weight in the first picture. I had to grip a little more tightly in the second picture as she tried to get away from me.



Of course, she does have her calmer moments.

We love our sweet Veronica so very, very much!