Shoes - It's What's For Dinner

When Olive stayed at my parents' house last weekend they dressed her up and took her to church with them. Here is a fun photo shoot before the service. (Look how straight her hair looks - it must not have been very humid out that day.)

Fall Fun

Here are a few fun things that we have been up to lately.

Last Monday my mom picked Nikos up from daycare so he could go to Mason's 4th birthday party at Chuck E Cheese. By all accounts he had a blast - I think Mel will be posting pictures of Mason's party soon. After the party Nikos went back to my parents' house and they put him to work.

The following night Nikos and I headed over to Sarah's for a playdate with Sarah and Marco.

Here the kids are spellbound by the...uh...theatrical production that Sarah and I are putting on. Or Go Diego Go. I mean, it was one or the other.

Note the fact that in the picture above Nikos is wearing handmedown pjs from Marco. Ha!

Nikos took this candid pic of Marco and I. As you can tell, Marco can barely take his eyes off me.

Ocho!

Baby O celebrated 8 months on the 11th of this month. Here are some of the things about her that we are enjoying this month.

Still lovin her brother. Very into whatever he is doing. Note the struggle I had to get her to pay attention to ME during our monthly photo shoot.

The last photo also highlights the perpetual rat's nest that is the back of this poor child's head. I swear I can not keep up with it. It seems like we are constantly spraying it with detangler and painstakingly trying to comb out the knots. I'm looking forward to when she is sitting up on her own more and maybe rolling over onto her tummy in her crib so it will give the back of her poor head a rest.

She's very into grabbing things and inspecting different textures.

With two teeth, she's tried the teething cookies for the first time. She isn't really sure what to make of them yet but she seems to enjoy them.

She's great at trying all kinds of different foods and doesn't really seem to avoid anything yet. We are mostly trying out prepared baby foods, fruit and veggies. We gave her some shredded cheese for the first time this week and she tried a little piece and then summarily dumped the small pile on the floor for Bosco.

Here's Nikos at 8 months, testing out his first meatballs (he wasn't a fan.)

Licks Happen

The Warlock of Berkeley

This is what happens when you are lazy and take too long to pack up your Halloween decorations.

How freaky is this one? Looks like he has no head.

Loofa, Loofa!

Oh look, another way Taki shows off that his company is cooler than mine. Booo. I mean, I am sure Mellon Capital is going to come out with some cool, funny commercials any day now. (Note to readers: don't hold your breath.)

Love the video - although I am a little freaked out by the chic's freakishly skinny back, complete with the alien-like spinal vertebrae.

Pain Management

When Nikos gets "hurt" and starts crying Taki tells him to run and touch the wall. Nikos runs across the room to the fridge and touches whatever hurts (hand, foot, head, etc.) to the front door of the fridge. Invariably he stops crying along the way. A few times I have been in the other room and have heard him run into something or fall or do something to cause some pain and then I hear him sob "I'm going to touch the wall." Hysterical.

Tonight I came home from work with an upset stomach. I was sitting on the couch next to Nikos and I told him that my tummy hurt, to which he replied "Momma, run and touch the wall."

He Said, She Said

Things heard in our house lately:

From Momma:
do not hit that with the bat.
you can only hit balls with the bat.
the bat is for outside.
please stop pitching the alphabet magnets.
why is your lego man in the wine fridge?

From Nikos:
go get it!
daddy run bases!
bosco i love you.
all-iff, don't cry.
nikos sniff you. (followed by a lick to your hand.) bosco sniffs me.

From Dadda:
hit it as hard as you can!
where's his giants bat?
i need a chai.
(taki says less than nikos and i do)

From Olive:
dadadadada
(giggle giggle)
waaaaaaahhhhh

And since Mel says it's not a real post without pictures. Here are a couple of recents.

Nikos with his first (borrowed) Lightsaber.

Here are the Neeky - Nicolai and Nikos. Nikos call our neighbor "Big Nico" and himself either "Little Niko" or "Baby Niko."

And here's a shot from when we were trying to capture Olive's tooth. From the tutu you can bet that I dressed her that day.

Rainy Day Activities

It's been a rough week in the house, what with the chief blogger being down for the count with a cold. Luckily Taki has been letting me catch up on a bunch of sleep so I have been able to get some new posts up.

On Friday I took the kids up to Habitot for the first time in awhile. The plan was to walk up but when I looked outside it was raining so I decided to drive.

The seasonal exhibit had changed again, this time to a firefighter exhibit and Nikos was thrilled.

He drove his firetruck over to the station.

Answered a call...
And raced off to fight the fire (here he is making the rushing water sound.)

He decided it would be smarter to fight fires in proper attire.

Meanwhile, Olive played in the Infant/Toddler garden.

And she met a friend in the Baby Wash exhibit. (Formerly the car wash exhibit.)

Trick or Treating in the Hills

This year we joined the Cecchins, D'Angelos and the Cecchin neighbors for some trick or treating in the hills of Oakland. Compared to our usual trick or treating route in the Berkeley flatlands!

Nikos decided at the last minute that he would rather roll as a baseball player than a duck - so Utley it was! He joined Marco the boxer for some trick or treating prep.

Brooke also chose to eschew her puppy costume in favor of a cute Halloween shirt. Marco tells her she can be Adrian to his Rocky.

On the path to treats.

Olive also had a costume change (more out of warmness since Eeyore did not cover her feet) and became a penguin.

The crew in route.

Avery - Marco's neighbor.

The kids waiting to say Trick or Treat!

After about an hour collecting candy we headed back to the Cecchin house to relax and unwind. We let the kids stay up a little later than usual and this is how they were lookin' at the end of the night.

(Nikos in Brooke's costume's hat.)

Until next year!