8/31/01 It's been a busy summer! Ilea is mostly potty trained. That is to say she
will go potty, as long as it's not poop! She holds that. We're working on
that part. She is really into Veggie Tales, and loves movies of any kind.
Her 2 TV shows are Barney and Dragon Tales. Her favorite food is honey, and
her favorite color varies from day to day. Today was blue. She still loves
to read all books. She often reads to Kyler. Kyler is doing great. He'll
be 6 months tomorrow! Time sure flies by. He rolls quite a bit, and loves
to stand up. He makes motions like he wants to crawl, but right now it
looks like he's swimming on his tummy. He is a great eater (unlike Ilea),
and loves the rice cereal. We'll start introducing veggies and other baby
foods next month. He smiles all the time, and is pretty vocal. He sleeps
well now, usually taking two 2 1/2 hr naps, and sometimes a short one in the
evening. They are both in bed by 8 pm, and Kyler usually sleeps until 7 -
7:30, which is better than it used to be.

9/3/01 Sat Kyler turned 6 months, and Sun he got his first tooth. Bottom left. Finally! He's been gumming everything in sight. We also took a big trip Sun, out to Mt Rainier. It was a gorgeous day, and kind of fun hiking. We used backpacks for the kids, and the stroller, where we could. It's really stunning up close.

Ilea has a funny way of saying she's fine. Kyler woke up one night recently very upset, and Ilea has a cold. Kipp heard her coughing, so he went in to see if she needed some more med. He asked her how she was feeling, and her reply is "Looking Good". She says this no matter how you ask her how she's feeling.

She also says something funny that we think she made up. When she's playing sometimes, she'll salute, and say, "Aye, Aye, Captain Speaks!". At least, that's what it sounds like! We can't figure out where she got that from. One day she did it while Victoria was here. I thought maybe Ilea got it from Victoria, or a TV show or book that she saw at the Hacketts. So I asked Victoria "Who says, 'Aye, Aye, Captain Speaks!'"? and she promptly replied, Ilea says it. I tried to find out, but Victoria didnt' seem to know it from any place else. It's really funny!

Ilea also loves to sweep. She likes to help us in the yard, and has a smaller broom. Not her size, but not too bad. She can't use it very well, but she tries.

I took Ilea and Kyler to a big theme park on 9/28. It was out of the blue. We had never gone there, and neither had my friend. I had a friend (Marian) watch the kids while I went to the dentist, and she asked what I was doing after, and invited us. She said the kids are free, and she can get us tickets for $5. We'd only stay 2 hours while the kids went in a wading pool. OK. Sounded fine. We left at 11, and ended up staying until 4! The tickets are normally $25! Kids under 2 are free, then up to 48" are $21, over 48" full price. It was a huge place, much busier than I was expecting. It turned out mostly ok, but hard with the kids. Not much shade by the water, and lots of older kids. We met her friend there, who had a 3 1/2 yr. old son. Nori turned 2 in July, and Koji is 7 months. So it was hard because many of the rides required an adult, but we had to have someone stay with the babies. I wish I had been prepared more. I might have stayed more if it had been with both husbands, or if we had left the infants. It was too much with them. We really needed an adult for each kid, until they are much older. Turns out that Ilea loves roller coasters though! She loved the Merry go round, and a small roller coaster that really whipped around. Another ride called the Whip, which it did. I was worried she'd hurt her neck! There was a one of those huge slides that adults can go on, that you take a burlap sack down. At the bottom Ilea said, "Thank you, mama. Can we go again?" She also loved the tea cups, and wanted to spin faster! There was a large area like a McDonalds Playland, only 10 times as big, with 2 ball areas and lots of slides. She had fun in that too. It was fun, but now I know better for next time.

Ilea is also starting to recognize words. Her first word to read is UP. She can recognize it anywhere. U - P spells UP! She also knows FOOT. I'm sure more words will start to come fast!