"new" shots uploaded to snapfish

new photos HERE

these are "new" more in the "____ to you" sense rather than the "brand ____" sense. photos lately have been hard - she's really grabby at the camera on the one hand. on the other, when she's not grabbing the camera, she's doing cute but also dangerous things. what i'm saying is, i'm not trying to take pictures of her when she's stacking up books and climbing the pile so she can reach / dismantle the modem, even if it is adorable (and clever). so these are all from october and early november (and included are some shots from my bday dance party w special guest grace's godpappy will!)
happy thanksgiving everybody, we're celebrating out here in ny with a great friend, far away from our families and so many friends, and missing you all!
love,
the f-m's.

words

we realized we were tracking all these images on the blog (and yes, there are more to come) but not paying such close attention to developmental milestones. our last post along that lines was when she learned to walk. now she can run and almost jump (she's obsessed with learning to jump, which makes her a big fan of the elevator, her favorite place to practice). and what about words? here are her firsts:

a LONG time ago she said "mommy" first before anything, one day when she was sad andrea was leaving. this broke john's heart.
then she started saying da-da all the time, calling all people and especially john dada. this mended his heart. but andrea's heart was breaking. lately she says both a lot, and everyone's happy.
soon after that she started saying hi, and taking a crack at other repetitions: apple (papl), harper (her friend at daycare: parpr), bye bye, bottle (ba ba). and WOW.
certain obsessions have developed (have i mentioned obsession already in this post? i wonder where she gets that side of her personality?) - everything was a doggie, and then a duckie, and then baby.
lately she's not just putting up her arms to get picked up but actually saying "up."also, she says "uh oh" if something falls, and she shouts bubba when we blow bubbles from her dora dispenser.
and today in her first ever attempt at bilingual communication, she tried to copy her toy cell phone when it said "adios." ("adi. aa. ahhh. adeee. oh." or something like that).
it's pretty awesome. shes also just talking a ton, even when it's not words, i think she just likes the feel of talking or the sound of her voice (wonder where she got that?). it usually sounds like some variation of "jupudupadupajupadupa" in long strings with LOTS of inflection, tone, and emotion, like if she was actually participating in the conversation that's going on.
words words words. pictures to follow soon, computer trouble lately. i promise.

Happy Halloween!

Here we are in our Wizard of Oz costumes (minus a scarecrow) at the Park Slope children's parade. We were a bit late and missed most of the action but that may have been good. I had to restrain Grace for the photo opportunity. She was enjoying running through the streets of Brooklyn a little too much.

The reactions to our costumes were pretty great and sometimes a little unexpected. Everyone was very excited about the 6'4'' tinman. Also apparently known as the tincan and the tin woodsman (according to Sen. Chuck Schumer, who lives in the neighborhood and was making the rounds). I was also called Alice multiple times--close but not quite. Most people got that Grace was a lion but most thought she was a he. no matter.

I was interested to learn that this parade is the largest children's parade in the country. It is one of our favorite Brooklyn events.