Halloween Happenings...

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!  Mom and I couldn't wait until later in the week to show how adorable I was today...I was seriously adorable.  We'll post a "regular post" later in the week, but for now...some pictures of my FIRST HALLOWEEN!!!

I started out as a pumpkin and ended up as a ladybug. Though I didn't go trick-or-treating, I did get to go out to the store dressed up and I pretty much made everyone's day who saw me!

The Great Pumpkin!

I'm not so sure about this...

Ladybug, ladybug...

This costume is much better (or maybe it's that it's not still dark outside and I've had a nap...?!)

Hey!  What is that bright light in the sky?!  This is Seattle...on Halloween...where's the gray!?  A ladybug loves this stuff! :)

My "Halloween Art" from school on Friday...aren't I talented?  That's my foot and handprints!!   (Ms. Audrey is so clever!)

And finally...one thing more to make you smile...I know it does my Mommy, Daddy, and Sissy (who made a surprise trip home last night).  I LOVE TO BOUNCE!!!

WEEK 22 – October 21 – October 27, 2010 – 21 weeks old

I am 5 months old this week!!!  My Mommy and Daddy cannot believe it’s already been five months since I was born. I have to apologize up front…this week’s entry is going to have a LOT of pictures, so bear with me, as I’ve got lots to tell!  In the meantime, here are some things about me at 5 months:

• I am a big girl now!  I weigh 15.5 lbs and am 25" long!  I have rolls in places Daddy didn't know you could get rolls!
• I love my foods...I've had oat cereal, rice cereal (my digestive tract does not agree with this, so we stopped it!), apples, pears, carrots, sweet potatoes, prunes, green beans, peas, and and green bean/tomato/potato soup...all of which are my Mommy's recipes (except the prunes...she just couldn't go there!)
• I love to roll over.  This is recent and can cause some problems with sleeping because I can't get back on my back due to the side of the crib...like my Mommy, I need a BIG bed.
• I am sitting with support very well, and even can "tripod" sit on my own, with my hands on my feet, for over 10 seconds!
• I love my school.  My teachers, Ms. Audrey, Ms. Kathy and Ms. Elsa are teaching me so much...every time I see one of them, I just smile big.  I'm so lucky to have them as my teachers!

So, here are the details about this last week...one of the best parts of this week was the weekend.  I got to go to my very first-ever pumpkin patch at Remlinger Farms, here in Carnation, WA.  Mommy and Daddy took me and we met up with our friends Rachel, Jimmy and Madison.  Madison is 11-months older than me, so she has much to teach me as we grow up!  At Remlinger Farms, I got to:

Sit in a pumpkin patch:



Aunt Rachel, Madison, Mommy & Me!

Look at animals in a petting zoo:

Ride around on my Daddy:

And sleep on my Daddy:

And at the end of the day we all went to lunch because everyone was hungry.  I was getting a little grumpy at lunch, but Madison knew exactly what I needed.  Everytime I’d holler or hoot, she’d reach over and hold my hand…now that’s a REAL friend, for you!

After such a big day, Mommy and Daddy left me with Aunt Jen and Uncle Ben and they went out on a date!  Of course, I don’t really remember much about that, as I slept the whole time they were away.  Aunt Jen and Uncle Ben said that I was the easiest kid to babysit ever!  (Just wait ‘til I’m running around more…they might not say that then!) J

Ms. Audrey and Me

I have been in daycare for one month and I’ve already learned so much.  I really love my teachers and this week, Ms. Audrey gave Mommy lots of pictures from my first month of daycare.  The pictures show some of the activities I do at school and how I’m learning in each of the six disciplines that are the focus for infants and our growth. My school tracks our progress in each of these disciplines, helping us meet milestones and helping our parents understand all the cool things you can do with an infant.  These actually fit right in with what my OT, Ms. Colleen, has us working on.  Together, I tell you, these ladies are going to conquer the world (at least my world!) J The disciplines we focus on (and associated pictures!) are:

-Creative Representation: Art projects, playing with toys

Mommy and me doing art on Parent's Night...

- Social Relations: Playing with other infants

Uma and me playing "Tummy Time"

- Sense of Self: Eating, learning about doing things for themselves

         

- Movement: Tummy time, sitting, crawling, walking





-     Exploration & Early Logic: Sensory activity, buggy rides

Wet Oats...FUN!!!

Buggy Ride Gal

-          Language & Communication: Reading books, babbling, talking.

Next week is going to be a busy week…my BFF, Kayla, is going to have her heart surgery, so any prayers you can send her way would surely be appreciated.  I am going for my very first visit with the pediatric opthamologist at Children’s Hospital next week…we’ll see what he says about my nystagmus.  And of course, there is Halloween!!!  Mom says we may post some pictures of that before our next “standard” post.  Have a great week!

WEEK 21 – October 14 – October 20, 2010 – 20 weeks old

I’m getting so big!  Mommy and Daddy are fascinated by me every day.  I am eating veggies or fruits twice a day and even at school now!  Ms. Audrey and Ms. Kathy (my teachers at school) say I’m doing really well with eating and even sitting up to eat!  Mommy and Daddy brought out the high chair that cousins Heather and Paul gave me and I have been using that to eat my big girl food.  I sit up really well and get VERY excited when that food comes near!



Look at me sittin' in my high chair!

In addition to the high chair, I’m starting to hold my bottle on my own for short periods while I’m drinking!  I like to put my hands on either side of the bottle and hold it up to my face.  Sometimes I get a little crazy with the hands and pull the nipple out, and then there is much mouthing and often some talking that occurs while I try to figure out just how to get it back in there.  The main thing is that I’m learning so much – EVERY DAY!

Holding my own bottle!

This past weekend we had lots of visitors.  Sissy came down from college and we got to play, we had cousins Leia, Tony, Jaeden and Tyson over for dinner, and we had a baby shower at our house!  It was fun to have lots of adults and kids there to play with.  I can’t wait to meet Baby Stowe, for whom we had the shower…I’m going to teach her SOOOO much because I’ll be an even BIGGER girl by then (next month)!  At the party, I got to play with Madison and Malcolm and Aunt Mary Ann.  I had been a tad bit grumpy (I think I’m coming down with a cold because I’ve been really stuffy all week), so I also go to have a nap on my Daddy during the party.  Sometimes it’s best just to snuggle in and get some good sleep on your Dad!



I also got to experience gardening with Mommy and Daddy first-hand this past Sunday.  It was an absolutely BEAUTIFUL weekend here in Seattle, and since we’re getting ready to enter what Mommy calls “the Dark Days of Winter,” Mommy and Daddy wanted to take advantage of the weather to do a final clean up of the yard, take down our garden, put away the flower baskets, and prune back the trees.  I got to participate in my first bit of yardwork!  No, Mommy didn’t make me weed (she says that’s her job – she actually LIKES to do that!), but I did get to ride around on Daddy while he picked up baskets, held the ladder for Mommy while she cleaned up the trumpet vine on our pergola out back, and cleaned up the back yard.  It was a little chilly, but I wore my hat and coat (Mommy needs to get a pair of gloves that fit!) and ended up taking a 30 minute nap in my Baby Bjorn while Daddy slaved away.  I’ll reiterate – he’s GOOOOD to nap on!

My OT, Ms. Colleen, came to visit me again this week at school.  She and Ms. Audrey talked about some of the exercises I can be doing during playtime at school.  Ms. Colleen was REALLY impressed with how much I’ve come along since she visited me last time.  I’m getting much more interested in toys and using my hands to grab onto them.  I’m a big fan of the hanging hippo in our classroom, and I love my Freddie the Firefly toy with all its crinkly and shiny parts. 

Mommy and Ms. Audrey have also started “Baby Sign Language” with me and we’re focusing on basics like Eat, Drink, Milk, Cereal, and More.  Mommy and I have taken to watching Baby Signing Time DVDs in the morning while I drink my first bottle, so we’re both learning lots of signs.  Mommy tries to use them when we talk about food or my pets (doggies and fish), so I’ll start to pick up on them. I don’t sign anything yet, of course, but I am very interested in the videos (along w/ my Baby Einstein videos!) and like to move my feet along with the music.  I think I’m going to be a dancer like my Grandma and Mommy…I LOOOVE music and moving those feet!

WEEK 20 - October 7 - October 13, 2010 - 19 weeks old

This week was all about fun at school. I surprised my teacher, Ms. Audrey, by performing several 360 degree barrel rolls this week! She placed me on my back on the floor and turned around to feed Benjamin, and the next thing she knew, I was on my stomach. Then, the next thing she knew, I was back on my back! We just transitioned all the “big kids” (toddlers) out of the classroom to the toddler rooms down the hall and Ms. Audrey said she was expecting some time with non-mobile kids. I’m trying to keep her on her toes, so I’m working at getting mobile as much as I can!

On my back...

On my front...HEY! What just happened??!

We took several buggy rides this week at school and I’m getting really good at sitting up in the buggy, rather than having to lay back. Also, Wednesday was Parent’s Night and Mommy and Daddy took me to school to learn more about what I do during the day and how I learn. Ms. Audrey and Ms. Kathy and Ms. Elsa talked about how we focus on sensory activities, motor activities, social activities, and language activities to prepare us for the “big kids” classroom – Toddlers! I got to work with a sensory/motor activity as a demonstration – we rolled corncobs in glitter paint and did an art project with them that night. Mommy helped me. I got pretty yellow and green glitter paint all over both of us! We also got to see Aunt Rachel, Uncle Jimmy and Madison. Her classroom is just four doors down from mine and so we went to see it and meet her teacher, Ms. Shannon. When I get big, I want to go play in that classroom! Here is a picture of my pumpkin art making-skills that I talked about a couple of weeks ago. Mommy and Daddy got to see the finished product at Parent's Night:

Mommy and Daddy have been working hard on my eating techniques. I’m getting to taste new things and learning a little more about how my tongue works. I’ve determined that I LOVE sweet potatoes. I get so excited for those sweet potatoes! I jump and laugh and giggle and talk. It makes Mommy laugh. We also have just tried carrots and I’m not quite as excited by them, but I do like them. I was heading down the “days without poo” path, so Mommy gave me some prune juice, rather than prunes. I actually find I like this a lot better than either apple or grape juice! What I can say is that sweet potatoes, carrots and prune juice all make for really pretty spit up…I am learning to color my burp cloths quite nicely! :)  Here you can watch me eating my sweet potatoes!

We had some wonderful people over last weekend and were busy, busy, busy both days. On Saturday, we had dinner with Camille and with BJ, Mary Ann, Garrett and Malcolm Burns. Malcolm tried to show me how to use our Wii…he’s 3 and is a bowling champion! On Sunday, Aunt Kim, Uncle Paul, Aunt Rachel and Aunt Sarah all came over for dinner. I got to demonstrate my sweet-potato-eating skills and show off a little for them. I sure do love them…they’re all so snuggly!

WEEK 19 - September 30 - October 6, 2010 - 18 weeks old

It’s Buddy Walk Week in Puget Sound! The Buddy Walk is an advocacy event in which everyone in the community is invited to participate. The Buddy Walk promotes community acceptance and awareness of people with Down syndrome. The Buddy Walk was started by the National Down Syndrome Society and has grown from 17 walks in 1995 to over 225 of walks worldwide today. More than 100,000 people participated across the world last year.

I am proud to say that this year was my very first Buddy Walk…and I can’t even walk yet! We walked all around Seattle Center and, well, I actually slept most of the walk on my Daddy in the Baby Bjorn.

My Sissy came down from college for the weekend and to participate in the Walk and we got to spend some quality time together before she had to go back to school. The day actually turned out to be really nice and I got to spend time with Kayla and the Sarbachs and Mommy got to talk to and play with Holly. We raised $1501.00 for the Down Syndrome Community. I’m really blessed to have so many people who wanted to support me. YAY! And thanks everyone!!! :)

In other news, I managed to make it the whole weekend without pooping! As a result, Mommy had to switch me from rice cereal in my bottle to oat cereal. I also got to try a slew of new flavors and try eating with…a SPOON!


Mommy started with prunes, which I didn’t much care for until she mixed in a little of my milk, then I was ok with it. I also tried pears, which I am here to tell you, I do NOT like. They’re pretty tart. I also managed to slog down 2 oz each of apple and white grape juice. Juice is ok, but it’s definitely NOT my own milk, so it was kind of a shock when I first tasted it. Mommy was trying to get the motor going, so-to-speak. She felt really badly taking me to daycare on Monday and telling them that I was potentially going to explode. They took it in stride and when I finally did have a movement, they called my Mommy so she could jump up and down and rejoice. And then I did it 5 more times that same day!! Needless to say, maybe I didn’t need to ingest ALL those things over the weekend! But..it’s started me on the path to new experiences and to starting to try to work with a spoon.
I had more adventures at school this week:

• I went on a buggy ride without falling asleep!
• I had my very first taste of a mini-cupcake for a classmate’s birthday. I’m here to tell you, cupcakes are WAY different than pears. They're really quite delicious. I hope we have more kids who have birthdays in my class!
• I played with string and paper to do “pumpkin art”…the finished product will be shown to Mommy and Daddy at Parent’s Night at school.
• Ms. Colleen came to school to play with me! I got to show her around my school and have her meet Ms. Audrey. She said I’m doing really well, but do need to work on grabbing at toys and focusing on finding my middle. Ms. Audrey was excited to have things to practice with me and we’ve been playing “toy grabbing” all week. Also, we agreed I should work more on sitting up. The day after Ms. Colleen came, Ms. Audrey told my Mom that I did a tripod sit for more than 10 seconds! I have a feeling that having Ms. Colleen and Ms. Audrey working together means more fun playtime and milestones for me!

Here I am playing in my jungle gym at home, working on looking up and when I flip over, I get to play with the hanging toys!

Mommy took a really funny video of me playing the "All the Way Up and All the Way Down" game...you can see it below!

WEEK 18 - September 23 - September 29, 2010 - 17 weeks old

Mommy and Daddy felt like this was one of the best weeks of my life yet. I got to experience so many new things and some very important milestones occurred.

Before I tell you about my week, I should share some important family news that happened this week. My brother, Brian, got engaged to his girlfriend, Alyssa! I met Brian and Alyssa way back when I was only two weeks old! I don’t remember them so much because I slept a lot at that point, but I understand this engagement thing is a significant event. My Daddy and Mommy are very happy about it and excited for Brian and Alyssa, so that makes me happy too!

This week at school, I got to sit up in a chair and play with wet oatmeal! They called it a “sensory activity”, but really I just thought it was a lot of fun…I got to make a huge mess and get it all over myself and was actually encouraged to do so! The pictures that Ms. Audrey sent Mommy and Daddy inspired them to try me out sitting in my “Bumbo” chair and, let me just say, I LOVE that chair! I can sit up well, look out at the world, and it’s totally comfortable. Mommy’s going to use it to start feeding me solids in a few weeks. Yay me!

Me in my Bumbo Chair!

I had some very important appointments with doctors this week. First, I went to see Dr. Patulot for my 4 month appointment. She was very impressed with me, though she had a funny way of showing it – I got shots! :) I showed her how I can sit up with Mommy holding me, how well I hold my head up, and how I have a great smile. (Of course, when she gave me the shots, I showed her how I cry too!) She told Mommy that she should start giving me some rice cereal because it will help with my digestion (I have some pretty bad reflux sometimes), and that I can start to have some juice to help with constipation! In the next few weeks, I can start to eat pureed food! I am not sure if I’m excited about this or not. We’ll have to see. In the meantime, I do love cereal in my bottle and am sort of mixed on whether juice is yummy or not! Dr. Patulot also referred us to a pediatric opthamologist because my eyes wiggle a little horizontally when I’m trying to focus on something. This is called “nystagmus” and she wants to be sure that we work on eye exercises to strengthen those muscles as well as ensure there are no other medical issues there.

My second doctor appointment this week was with Dr. Phan, my cardiologist. At that visit, they ran a wand over my chest and took pictures on a machine that looks like a black and white TV. I’m told that the process was called an echocardiogram. I just thought it was fun to look at the TV screen J. After that, the doctor’s helpers ran a test called an EKG. They attached all kinds of stickers to my body and then attached wires to the stickers to try to get a picture of my heart. During the EKG, I wouldn’t sit still, so Mommy had to hold me still so they could get the machine to work correctly.

Daddy took this picture (at the left) of me with the stickers all over me! All of this hullabaloo was due to the two holes I had in my heart when I was born. After the tests, Dr. Phan came in to talk to my parents. By this time, I, of course, was completely asleep! Dr. Phan told my Daddy and Mommy that the holes had closed themselves and the valve that was leaking seemed to be working fine! No more heart murmur! No more visits to the cardiologist! Mommy (she’s a tad bit emotional) almost cried right there in the office. Both my parents feel so grateful and relieved. I’m just glad I don’t have to go back for those tests again!

They weighed and measured me at both doctor appointments and I’m getting to be SUCH a big girl. On the “typical children” scale, I’m about 60-65th percentile for height and 70th percentile for weight; on the “kids w/ DS” scale, I’m in the 90th percentile for weight and 75th percentile for height. I weigh right at 14 lbs and am now 24 ½ inches long! I’ve grown 5 1/2 inches in 4 months! No wonder I get cranky with all that growin’ goin’ on!

Since it’s been 4 months, lots of things have changed around Mommy and Daddy’s house. They thought we should record some of the things I do that they love about me most:

• When I smile, it takes over my whole body and I just wiggle from it!


• I love to sleep with my arms outstretched and often “sleep-eat”.


• I talk. BOY do I talk…Mommy says it’s her come-uppance!


• I like to play with my burp cloths and stretch them out over my head to play peek-a-boo with Daddy.


• I love to suck on my thumb and sometimes I get so excited about my bottle, I try to put my thumb in there with the bottle nipple. It makes for messy eating, but it sure makes me happy!


• I’m learning to put my hands on either side of my bottle too, but sometimes I get a little overzealous and push the nipple out of my mouth, which can be frustrating to a wee one, but Mommy thinks it’s pretty funny.


• I am fascinated by other kids crying. It doesn’t so much make me cry as I look at them and wonder, "What the heck is wrong with you?"


• I LOVE to look at myself in a mirror. Wouldn’t you if you were this pretty too?! :)

Sucking my thumb in my bouncy seat!

WEEK 17 – September 16 – September 22, 2010 – 16 weeks old

Me sitting in a Boppy at school on my first day!

Where to begin with this week? It was so busy!

On Friday night we had a nice dinner with Sissy and her boyfriend and then packed up our cars because the next morning, we left really early and took Sissy to college! She’s going to school about two hours away and we drove up first thing on Saturday. We moved Sissy into her room, which is really nice, and gave her big kisses and hugs goodbye. I won’t get to see her for two weeks, when she comes home for the first time…won’t she be surprised how much I’ll have grown!? While we were at Megan’s school, I had to be changed and Mommy was trying to get a new diaper on me in the back seat of the car and I flipped over from my back to my front! I startled not only myself, but Mommy as well…she says she’s not quite ready for me to be mobile. Fortunately, for her, the back of the seat has a slight incline, so that helped me a little bit and I haven’t repeated this feat since. BUT…I’m REALLY, REALLY close!

On Monday, I started school for the first time and Mommy went back to work. Mommy was so sad to leave me at school, but she knows I’m in good hands there. Aunt Rachel (Lott) came to help Mommy through that first drop off. She helped carry in all the various and sundry “stuff” that comes with me to school (lots of extra clothes, diapers, blankies, etc.) and helped Mommy so she didn’t cry too hard when she had to leave me with Ms. Audrey. I LOVE my school! Ms. Audrey, my primary teacher, does all sorts of activities with us and she takes pictures of everything so she can email them to my Mommy and Daddy. I also get to play with Ms. Kathy and Ms. Elsa and LOTS and LOTS of babies. I’m fascinated by their crying and can’t quite figure out why they do that! We do tons of activities at school and I’m always very, very tired when I get home. I pretty much eat a couple of bottles, take a bath, and go to sleep – and even then I usually fall asleep on my Mommy or Daddy because I just can’t keep my eyes open past about 7:15! My Uncle Jimmy (Lott) says they must have a treadmill or something that they put all the kids on to tire us out so much. Apparently, Madison has the same issue when she comes home!

This week’s activities at school included a couple of buggy rides and my first art project! I got to use my hands and feet in finger paint – it was extremely cool and Daddy and Mommy were shocked that kids my age can do art like that! Grandpa Ward says I’m the next Picasso (whatever that means!) :)

Starting my art project...

Moving on to feet...

Look at me! I'm all done (and look at all the pretty colors I have on me!)

We had a visitor to our house this week. Ms. Eileen, a friend of Mommy’s from work, came to stay with us for a couple of days. She’s really nice and has pretty red hair. I got to play with her before I went to bed…she’s silly and makes me smile!

I also got to spend some time with Ms. Colleen & Ms. Donna this week. I hadn’t seen Ms. Donna in about two months, so she was pretty surprised at how much I’ve grown and how strong I’m getting. Ms. Colleen showed Mommy how to put me in a crawling position over the Boppy so that I can start to exercise my hip muscles and learn what it feels like to be on my knees. I have to tell you, it’s weird. I much prefer to stand on my toes over the Boppy. I push up and almost do a somersault over the top of it, which I think is really fun, but Mommy and Daddy don’t! I'm really trying hard to stand whenever anyone is playing with me. I like to push up on my feet on Daddy's lap and just stare at him and talk to him. I'm becoming quite the talkative little girl!

WEEK 16 – September 9 – September 15, 2010 – 15 weeks old

We’re back in WA and its MUCH cooler (temperature-wise at least!) than the east coast. This week has been filled with all kinds of changes and preparation for Mommy going back to work next week on Sept 20. At the beginning of the week, I got to see Ms. Colleen again. She was actually very impressed with how well I can hold my head up and how strong my stomach muscles are getting. Even though Mommy was afraid we didn’t do enough during vacation, Ms. Colleen said I had been doing fantastic! Some of the things we played were pushing up on my arms, the horsey game (it makes my belly muscles work hard!), and Ms. Colleen said I should not push back when trying to sit up because I'm over-compensating. Mom says we're gonna work on that (yikes!). We played for almost an hour before I got fussy and Ms. Colleen said that 45 minutes was really great for a baby of my age. Mommy and Daddy were so proud.

The big news this week was that I started to sleep in my own big girl bed in my own room (a crib), rather than the bassinet in Mommy and Daddy’s room. Actually, it was harder for Mommy than it was for me (she didn’t sleep so well the first few days)! I sleep really well in my big girl bed…through the night and usually 10 – 11 hours a night (from 7:30 or 8 p.m. to 5:30 or 6:00 a.m.!!)…because I can spread out. I love to sleep with my arms outstretched.

As a reward for my big girl status, Mommy and Daddy and Sissy took me to brunch! Actually, it was Sissy’s last Sunday morning at home for a few weeks, as she leaves for school next weekend. At brunch at Jay Berry’s Café here in Renton, the owner commented about how totally adorable I am (and my parents agree!)…every other week when we go in there, she says how big I’ve gotten and how cute I am…my parents think I’m pretty much a rock star wherever I go!

I also learned how to sit in my jumper seat this week. Uncles Kevinommy gave it to me before I was born and it’s taken until now for me to hold my head up strong enough to be able to sit in it. I LOVE to sit in it and play with all the spinny and hangy things on it. I also love to sit in it and watch my Baby Einstein videos! The music almost always puts me to sleep, even though I’m sitting up. I can’t wait until my toes can actually touch the ground!

I had some pretty fantastic visits this week… I went to work with Mommy for half a day. She had some meetings and I was pretty good, though I did start talking part of the way through her first meeting and continued until the end of the third meeting! I also got to go spend some time with Kayla and Ms. Holly. We went to lunch and did some shopping. Kayla and I were pretty good – we pretty much slept through lunch so Mommy and Ms. Holly got to actually eat! Mommy did learn a lesson about strollers on this outing, though. The lesson? Always ensure there is a stroller in the car! She had forgotten to put one back in the car after our trip to NY, so she ended up having to carry me around the mall for 3 hours. That said, Mommy had a great time and hopes we can all go shopping again.

One of my biggest days this week was when I went to school for the first time to start to get acclimated to everything. I met Ms. Audrey (my teacher) and met some of my classmates (Benjamin, Christopher, Uma and Lola) and found out that when one of them starts crying, ALL of them start crying. Mom is hoping I don’t pick up on that (so is Ms. Audrey!), but I was really good and didn’t cry. We all went for a buggy ride around the facility. Though all the other kids were finally silent, I talked my way through the ride. I told Ms. Audrey about the fishes in the front lobby, about the play castle in the two-year-old hall, and about the car-seat area near the infant hall…I had her laughing by the end because I was so loquacious and everyone else was just sitting and watching! Mommy left with Ms. Audrey saying how much she can’t wait for me to join the class. I know Mommy is going to be sad to leave me, but I think I’m going to like it in my class a lot!

Mommy and I also made more baby food this week. Though I’m not ready to taste it, our garden is ready for Mommy to make it! Mommy says I’m going to really love all the things she’s made. (At least she hopes so!) We made baby food carrots, zucchini, and a tomato-potato-green bean soup. I hope I like all this stuff because Mommy made a lot of it!

The hardest part of my week was that my oldest dog, Jesse, was really sick. Mommy and Daddy took her to the veterinarian (and I got to go too!) because she had a really high fever and was so sick she couldn’t walk. After a couple of days of her being in the hospital and a lot of fluids, the vet couldn’t tell us what was wrong, but Jesse was better and they let her come home. I don’t like when she’s gone…none of the dogs lick my hands when Jesse doesn’t show them the way!

All in all, this week has been really focused on me getting ready for school. That said, I still met some new folks. This week I met Ms. Ettie and Mr. Dave. They came over for dessert one night and I had such a nice time with them. They were so nice and brought me some fun socks and a toy elephant that I LOVE. I felt a little bad because I puked on Mr. Dave’s shirt (sorry, but he didn’t seem to mind too much). But I didn’t on Ms. Ettie. She is a daycare worker and she really knows how to play with babies! I’m looking forward to next week when I actually get to branch out on my own at school during the day. (Mommy is very nervous about this! Please wish her well…off I go to daycare!)