Octobrrrrr

Hello October!

It appears that I have fallen into the habit of writing once a month (and usually with a nudge from CaliforniaGrammy, at that! Thank you and keep it up!) as it is now October. Contrary to the title, we have been enjoying a brief return of sunny, warm weather. The month of August was filled with fun and outings and the month of September has been much more low-key.
Unfortunately, we have spent far too much time in hospitals this month: my father had been diagnosed with squamous cell cancer of the tongue so he spent about three days in the hospital getting it and some of his lymph nodes removed. And then the next week my father in law was in the hospital for an angiogram and ended up with three stents. He had a few complications so was in for a week or so for additional observation. Thankfully both fathers are back at home, recuperating nicely, cancer free and feeling great. We are so glad they are doing well!

David has been busy with his performance of Evita. It is a wonderful show - this particular theather does a great job with recruiting good actors, singers and musicians, as well as putting together fantastic costumes and sets.
I have been falling back into the rut of hanging out in front of the boob-tube at night watching "What Not to Wear" and re-runs of CSI and all of the Law and Order offerings. So I recently picked my knitting back up: it's slow going, but in a day or two I should complete my second bootie for Sam. Truly, slow going!

Anyway - enough about us. A few of the fun things that Sammy has been doing this last month: speed crawling around the Zoomazium (a kid-centric indoor play area in our zoo - a mere three blocks away!), playing her dad's keyboard, pulling herself up on anything in reach. And showing off her parents' fantastic parental skills by falling into the fountain head-first at the Pacific Science Center. Go, Sammy! :-)

Recent achievements in the sign language department: David and I were trying to count all of the signs she now knows: milk, more, food, grapes, music, book, grandpa, dad, home, cat, bird, dog, sleep, balloon, bed, tree, yes, spider, and various words that she knows that we have yet to figure out!

As of this last week, she has ten teeth - her front four on both the top and bottom, and her first two molars on the top. Crazy. I just felt the second of the two molars today - she doesn't seem to show any symptoms that we can recognize as teething pain.

Here are some photos of our soon-to-be-walking little girl. Enjoy.

I love hand-me-downs!!

A rapt Sammy watches Sesame Street

Yummm...corn on the cob!

It's a blurry picture, but...Sammy's standing!

It's been so much fun watching the two cousins become more aware of each other on our Monday Cousin Night. Here, he would rather hear Sammy read Wacky Wednesday!

October of 2006

October of 2005

My, how they change!