Lighter Moments & Kade's Birthday Party

I had mentioned that Kevin got a cow puppet from Gram and Grandpa G. in his Halloween goody bag. He loves to chew on it, and stare at the black and white pattern. He often falls asleep with it when he's in his swing, too. :))

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Kevin had his first encounter with the exersaucer last week! He was fascinated by all the toys, and enjoyed looking at, and trying to grab, everything. He got tired pretty fast, though, because he's still working on strengthening his neck and back muscles. I think he'll be more comfortable in the exersaucer in a few more weeks. :))

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Kevin has been keeping me company while I wrap the Christmas presents. He is very interested in the pretty paper, and he likes it when I sing him Christmas carols! He can also be depended upon to keep all the Christmas gifts a secret. :))

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When Andrea's at daycare, or sometimes when she's napping, I let Kevin lay down on her fold-out couch and squirm around. He likes it because it's bright and soft. On Thursday, she left her Doras on the couch; he became very excited, and started chatting to them! I turned on Big Dora's talking and singing function, and he thought it was awesome! He was all smiles and giggles and coos, every time Dora lit up and talked. Needless to say, we could NEVER do this when Andrea's around. That's "my comfy!" and "my Dora!" :))

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Ah, the Doras . . . they must go everywhere, and do everything, with Andrea--especially Big Dora. She has to have Dora when she watches TV, and when she goes to bed. But lately, Dora's adventures are expanding: Dora eats with us; Dora goes for car rides with us; Dora sits on the counter and watches Andrea have her bath. When Andrea leaves for daycare, she gives Dora to Mommy, and Mommy has to hold her until Andrea is out of sight, because Mommy promises to babysit her and take good care of her while Andrea is gone. :))

And as for how much we watch Dora . . . well, let's just say our VCR/DVD player just broke down this weekend, and it's only about 2 years old!

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Today we went to our friends Mark and Sara's house for Kade's first birthday party. Everyone was surprised by how much Andrea is coming out of her shell. As soon as she got in the door, she ran downstairs to where the toys were; and we don't think she stopped playing until it was time for cake!

Andrea was very excited when it was time to "sing-ging habbe burday" to Kade!

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Happy 1st Birthday, Kade! I'm sure your mommy's going to have fun cleaning that cake out of your ear!

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Andrea was impressed that there was a table and chairs just her size! She plunked herself right down in the middle of the bigger kids, and proceeded to eat THREE mini ice cream cones! Notice Dora, under her arm? The adults got a kick out of how she was feeding her ice cream to Dora, and saying, "Mmm, yummy, Dora!"

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Kaia, Mark and Sara's dog, helped clean up Andrea's ice cream drips. She was highly amused by that, and kept giggling and saying, "Hi, puppy!"

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Kevin had fun at the party, too. He had lots of people willing to cuddle and entertain him, and lots of pretty decorations and new faces to look at. He was particularly delighted by the duck calls of Sara's dad, Frank. Frank has an unbelievable knack with kids; I remember Andrea being drawn to him when she was a baby. Frank was making Kevin wiggle with excitement, and giggle like crazy!

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Thanks, Mark and Sara, we had a lot of fun!