on 10/1
Kipp put Ilea to bed and read her a book called God Made my Hands. They read a bible story, and then got ready to pray. Kipp suggested that Ilea thank God for a body part, thinking that she would name her hands. Not Ilea. Thank you God for my bottom!

10/20 Jenny's parents came up to watch the grandkids alone for the first time. Kipp and I took 3 days to go on vacation alone to Oregon to go wine tasting. Kipp and I had a great time, except for a noise in the car which sent us to Sears Autorepair 3 times (turned out to be a rock, wedged in the suspension). We relaxed and enjoyed ourselves for 3 days! Our parents on the other hand, suffered through 2 kids with bronchitis, and one of them cutting 2 teeth on top of that! Not fun! I think there may have been one or two peaceful moments, but it wasn't a piece of cake, either. We sure appreciated there willingness to do that for us!

The weather for us on vacation was drizzly the first day, but beautiful blue skies the next two days. The first day we went to a few wineries, and ended up on TV! One winery was taping for Food Finds on the Food Network. They said they were still open. Then they asked us if they could film us looking at the bottles and tasting one. A red, of course, pinot noir, and we're not big red drinkers. But we did. Then they asked us if we would talk and tell them what we thought of it. We were so self-conscious! But it was fun. They don't know when it will air, but keep and eye out for us! It was at Ponzi Winery. That night, the Tercel was making an awful knocking noise. We found a Sears Autobody nearby, and had them look at it. The first time they didn't find anything. We had dinner, and driving away, heard it again. So we took the guy for a drive with us. He heard it, but then was unable to find anything. He suggested his manager. So we went to our hotel, which was nice, in Newberg. A cute little town, very small, but in pretty rolling hills. Wed morning we came back to the Autocenter by 9:30 and the manager drove with us, then looked for the source of the noise. Finally he found a rock wedged in the suspension. No charge. It was great. Kipp's been hearing the noise off and on for a few weeks. We went to a lot of wineries on Wed, and went to the movie Don't Say a Word. It was pretty good, but not great. Then a nice dinner. We went to a couple of wineries, and then stopped by Multnomah falls on the way home. We ran into the man who played the organ at our wedding, and his wife! What a shock! It was great to catch up with them. I used to be friends with their children, and knew them both as well. Anyway, it was just a great time.

Ilea still loves to play with Kyler. The other day she had her magnifying glass. She wanted to look deep into Kyler's eyes. Of course, he kept grabbing at it. I told Ilea it was teasing him to hold something up and not let him hold it. So she got one of his toys, and held it up for him. "here Kyler, hold this" He took it, and then she put one hand on his forehead, and put the magnifying glass up to his eye again and said, "OK Kyler, hold still, hold REAL still..."

10/26 We were going to MOPS, and we were taking Victoria also. I told Ilea where we were going.
"We're going to drive in the car?" Yes.
With Victoria? Yes
For a fun drive in the car with Victoria? Yes
And the wheels go round and round? (making a motion like steering a car with her hands) Yes
My head is round and round. Yes,
But my shoes are not round. They are oval. Yes.

11/4 The chair Ilea uses has slats on the back. During lunch today, she said "oh no, my elbow's stuck!" She's done this before. So Kipp got her elbow out, and tried to get her to eat lunch again. She had to stop first to kiss her elbow! Not easy....

She sings a lot. She doesn't know all the words, but is doing pretty good with melodies. She gets stuck in an endless loop on "Head, & shoulders, knees and Toes". There was a commercial for kids music, and she heard "I'm a little teapot", which she doesn't really know. She got as far as the first 4 words, then turned to Kipp and said, "Now you sing, daddy.". She is also learning "We wish you a merry Christmas and New Year".

Kyler has 4 teeth now, and is really crawling. He's been mobile for 2 weeks, and is into everything, everywhere. He loves balls, and reminds me of a puppy, because he'll chase and bat them all around a room. He's still working on balance though. He doesn't keep his balance standing very well, even holding onto furniture. He has pulled himself up twice, the first on 11/1, and hurt himself. He had pulled up on Ilea's pink car. It was wedged and stable, and his legs were wide and stable. He got excited, and started leaning over the seat (which was about waist high), to look at toys on the other side of the car. Well, a baby that's in the 95% for height, but only 10% for weight, has a very high center of gravity due to that big ol' head! Boom! Faceplant over the car. One where there's no noise, but mouth open wide and you know it's coming! After a minute of crying he picked his head up from my shoulder and there was blood everywhere! I was so worried! But he just cut the inside of his lip on those new sharp teeth, and the crying just added more saliva to spread it around. He was fine in a few minutes, and didn't even get a fat lip.

Ilea had a great time at Halloween this year, and is really looking forward to her butterfly birthday. I thought she'd want Barney or Dragon Tales, but she surprised me. I'm all ready, and I think she'll really like it.