Where has the summer gone?

We've been slow at updating the site this summer. It's been a busy one for us between work and visits with family and friends. Our 2008 home renovation project is underway, which means no office access (and no computer) access until late next week. We're off to Montreal and Quebec City for a long weekend to celebrate our fourth anniversary and to get away from the construction zone.

Willa is doing something new almost every day. In the last few weeks, she's begun chattering nonstop. We can't understand most of her words, but they're repetitive sounds which is a good indication. She knows what they mean based on her expression and the way she says her "words", like bwezee, buday, luh luh and several others. The understandable words are mama, dada, beh buh (baby), boo (that's book without the 'k' sound), te you (thank you), and la la (the kids at school can't say her name so they call her La La so we've started saying it, and now she does!). Our neighbors say they hear her talking away and get a big kick out of it. I have a feeling she'll be a chattermonkey like me.

She's not walking yet, but the neurology folks tell is it's not for lack of strength. She just needs more confidence, so we have a walking toy that she loves. She's always on the move and one of these days she'll forget to hold on and will take off. She does some cute things now, like give kisses, blows kisses, lays down and sticks her hiny up in the air and pats the floor when you say "night night", and plays peek a boo with you - and with the other baby in the mirror. She laughs most of the time, except when her teeth are bothering her!

Two of her molars have broken through and I think another one or two are on the way. Speaking of teeth, she loves to brush her teeth - she does hers while I do mine, then I do a follow-up on her teeth to make sure they're clean (I think she just likes sucking the water and fruity toddler toothpaste off the brush). Oh, she can feed herself now, too, as long as you put the food on the fork. She really wants to do it herself and we let her try (and then clean up the inevitable mess).

She eats well, both in quantity and in what she'll eat. She's totally off baby food and eats what we have for dinner. Last night she had some Indian food and loved it. Last week she had pork and couldn't get enough (I think it's partially that she likes salty food). She likes her veggies, too - broccoli, peas, carrots and potatoes are favorites, and she loves fruit, too - melon, berries, stone fruits. She tried grapes yesterday and cucumbers today and I think she loves the cold, crisp/crunchy texture. It probably feels good on her gums. And of course she looooved the three bites of water ice I let her taste last night. It was red raspberry so she had a lipstick look going on.

So, each day really does seem to bring something new and we find ourselves continuing to laugh and smile at our little girl each day.

We'll try to update from Canada or after our trip. That's right - baby girl has a passport! We'll have to scan in one of the extra photos from the passport photo session; the look on her face is pretty funny.

Oh yeah, the construction - we're finally getting the third floor shower retiled, a ventilation system installed on the third floor, replacing the floor on our bedroom (second) level, gutting our master/family bathroom, rebuilding Willa's closet, and replacing the stairs going to the basement, and a few other odds and ends. It's messy because work is being done all over the house but we're excited for the end result. Markus has been taking pictures throughout the process so we'll try to post a gallery at some point in the process and then be sure to add all of the "after" pictures.

I know this was a long update, but we were pretty far behind. After we return from our trip, we should be able to update more consistently. Happy Labor Day!