October 1-8

Matthias has found his thumb.  It does not work as a soothing device, but he is quite adept at yelling around it as he holds it in his mouth.  He is also pretty good at scooting around on both his back and his stomach, though he has no knowledge of the progress he is making.  This talent really shines when he is mad: he will put his face down and muscle himself across our entire queen sized bed if given the opportunity.

Kaitlyn can do a somersault.  I'm not sure where she learned how to do it since the older girls don't do them, but she is excited about her new skill.

When Gretchen holds something up for me to observe, she sticks it right in front of my nose.  So close, in fact, that if I breathe too hard then my nose will run into whatever she's holding.  When I attempt to back up, she follows me, thrusting her prize in my face even more insistently, "Look at it, Mommy!"  I'm not sure if she's extremely nearsighted or if she just thinks other people are.  Or perhaps she's worried that if she doesn't take up my whole field of vision then I won't properly pay attention.

Olivia and Matthias are good buddies.  Olivia always wants to help, and is very proud of her ability to hold him.  Matthias, for his part, has decided that Olivia is the least of three evils and seems to know that she will keep him safe from the greatest of three evils.  He smiles at her more than he smiles at anyone (except that car baby), and he is generally content to sit with her for a few minutes while I take care of other things.

Since we didn't know when in July Matthias would make his appearance, I had to find a way to let the girls know that not everything on their calendar was set in stone.  I decided on parentheses, and after I explained them to Olivia she immediately loved them.  She happily adds parentheses to activities on our calendar whenever it looks like we might not accomplish them.

We took one last trip to the zoo on Monday.  It closes for the season today.  Kara was able to meet us there, and we spent quite a pleasant day visiting Australia and Africa.  We lingered over the reef since the fish are so visible and exciting.  Normally we can only stay so long before the noise of a dozen or so children in the small, echo-y space drives us out, but this time we were the only ones there.  After we saw the kangaroos, the girls wanted to see the lions and giraffes, so we took a rather speedier trip through Africa.  Kaitlyn had a chance to feed a giraffe, but she panicked and threw the lettuce at its face rather than holding it still.  Related note, giraffes do not catch food like dogs do.  Her reaction is probably due to the fact that the last time she fed a giraffe (a few zoo trips ago), it licked her thumb.  She's been traumatized ever since.  After Africa, we sat down for a picnic lunch and then we headed home.

On Saturday we went to the park.  There was another family there, and Olivia screwed up her courage and asked a little girl what her name was.  They happily played tag together until a third family came.  The third family had a little girl who apparently already knew the girl Olivia was playing with, and those two went off to play their own games.  Olivia persisted in trying to join them, so points for not being scared off, I guess.  When we went home, she told us all about her new friend and explained that even though the other girl came, they could still be friends all together (thank you, Sofia the First).  She does want to write a letter to Arabella, and perhaps even visit her house.  She does not understand that we don't know where this girl lives, or that the likelihood of ever seeing her again is slim.

Pictures:

Olivia does tummy time with Matthias:

He has Superman bloomers (or whatever boy bloomers are called).  Yes, that's a cape:

Kaitlyn's Monday:

Matthias is pretty much Olivia's baby:

Gretchen likes Matthias, too, and wants pictures with him.  Even if he's crying:

And Kaitlyn can't be left out:

Water beads and pond play with Gideon:

Daddy and Matthias:

Zoo pictures from Kara: