New Experiences

Riley is spending more time awake and he is starting to smile. He likes when we do "MotorBoat" sounds. He is responding more to Cameron which she likes and makes playtime much more fun.

This week Grandma Cindy came for a visit. She got to spend the afternoon with Riley while Cameron and Mommy took swim class and enjoyed the evening playing with Cameron and the new puzzle. We enjoyed dinner with Uncle Greg, and Tim&Turtle which we followed with a visit to a real ice cream parlor (they make their own icecream.) Cameron really liked having Grandma Cindy around and cried when she left. :-(

She wasn't sad for long because Tim&Turtle invited us over for a Wii Party. Cameron got to play the driving game with everyone. You may think that since she is 2 she doesn't really play, but you would be surprised. I was! Cameron exclaimed "Hit the wall, Stuck! Help!" and it was true, her part of the screen (cut into 4 for each player) had her car stuck against the wall. We told her to hit the "1" button to go backwards which she did, unfortunately she immediately hit the wall again. Its so cool how often she surprises us with what she can do and understand.

Cameron has seemed pretty bored at school and to make matters worse, Yoga and Jumpbunch has been canceled. I decided to take her to The Little Gym for a free class to see how she would like it. Oh my gosh, she loved it. She was great and could do all the skills, handstand (assisted by the wall), flipping over the handbar (with help), walking the balance beam, and to everyone in the class surprise, she did a nearly perfect tree pose (Thanks Ms Jackie!). Her Yoga proved to be a perfect precursor because you could ask her to do the appropriate Yoga pose for the skill, ie. "Downward Dog" for tumbling or the handstand. Because she liked it so much, Jeff is going to start taking her once a week. He is looking forward to having this Daddy time with Cameron.

This week also marked the first time PJ showed interest in Riley. He gave Riley a sniff and a taste of his nose. Riley wasn't so sure about the nose but was very interested in getting the up close look at PJ.

Butterflies in the City

This weekend we took the kids to the Conservatory of Flowers in Golden Gate Park. They have a special butterfly exhibit. Cameron was very excited about seeing the butterflies and talked about it on the way to the city. But when we arrived she was interested but kept her distance. This is typical for Cameron, in new situations she always stands back to assess the situation and some of these butterflies were scary looking. You can see all the pictures by clicking on Picasa.

Uncle Greg went with us and Cameron was very excited about this. She likes to explore with Uncle Greg. He showed her all the butterflies and pointed out all the flowers. She liked the water features in the different rooms. Its fun to see her interact with Greg. This was actually Riley's first outing, but he went to sleep after we got out of the car and stayed that way until we left, but I'm not complaining about him sleeping alot (definitely not).

After visiting the butterflies and exploring the other rooms at the conservatory, we walked through the outside gardens and explored the kids area within the park. Daddy was melting in the conservatory so we took Cameron to ride on the carousel and play on the play structures. We were all hungry so we finally had to leave to go eat. I expected Cameron to fuss about leaving the playground given the fact that she hadn't had a nap, but she didn't.

But on the way back to the car, we walked through the tennis club. There was a doubles tournament and when Cameron saw the players she looked at daddy and said "Watch Tennis?" Daddy was hungry, but he is always in the mood to watch tennis. He told her they could watch a few points. When he tried to leave, she again said "Watch Tennis?" but this time daddy said we had to go. She didn't fuss about the playground, but she did about leaving the tennis courts. She cried on the way to the car, "watch tennis daddy!" and although Jeff was firm (eventually, they did watch a few more points) he was grinning ear-to-ear. Totally daddy's girl!

Cameron, the big sister

Cameron is really getting the hang of being a big sister. She really enjoys sharing. For instance she shares daddy and lets him carry them both around the house. She has started to share her toys and enjoys showing Riley what to do with them. Not only did she share her legos but she also shared her dress-up clothes, he got to hold the wand as she pranced around her room in her heels.

She is also a really big help. This week she gave Riley a bath and he did not cry at all.

Her biggest thrill was giving Riley a bottle. We think she prefers him having a bottle rather than needing mommy. She told Mommy to give him a bottle instead of nursing him. It was funny. She likes him to go on walks with her and she now tells Mommy when he is crying. She is a great big sister.

Happy 4th of July

Every year the Rivermark Moms coordinate a 4th of July picnic at Live Oak Park. Although we have been here since 2003 we've never attended either because we didn't have kids, or have been out of town. This year figuring Cameron was old enough to enjoy the activities we went. One of the activities is a kids parade. The kids in the neighborhood decorate their cars and wagons and parade around the playground. Since I've never been I didn't know what to expect, so I made a float for Cameron and Daddy using the new wagon. Cameron's float was quite a hit.

Riley was actually awake for much of the parade and even was awarded and honorary medal even though he did not participate. Next time we'll have them both in the wagon!

After the parade we played with all our new bubble gear. Uncle Tim and Turtle used the magic wand to make giant bubbles. It took a few tries to actually get the bubbles off the wand but Turtle figured out that you had to twist the wand. Today I appreciated the wind we always have in the neighborhood, it makes bubbles easy.

Cameron, and several other neighborhood kids loved catching the giant bubbles. But bubbles are always more fun when you get to create them yourselves. Cameron used one of the wands to make her own bubbles. After she dipped it in the liquid she would blow at the wand. The wind actually did the work but she thought it was all her and was very proud.