Erin at almost nine months is pretty much as hilarious as Alek was at the same age (and every age thereafter, really). She has recently acquired so much personality that she deserves her own bulleted list of accomplishments:

Erin being a big girl, and without a bustle!

• Crawling with gusto and speed
• Waving bye-bye! Even if it's with both hands at once!
• PPPPBTH-ing up a storm, with heavy precipitation
• Two front teeth, coming in crooked, just like you-know-who's
• Developing her own language: "Click click, clack, click click". She'll go on for hours as long as someone clicks back.
• Playing games - taunting mom with the bottle, trying to get it into mom's mouth, then veering wide and smacking mom in the face with it, laugh and giggle outrageously, repeat.
• Clapping her feet, which she has not outgrown in the least, has expanded to include "Clap the belly" and "Clap the knees", on command.
• Speaking of feet, trying to stand on them, all the time.
• Imitating her big brother - Erin's own version of the "Peanut Butter Jelly Dance" is truly something to behold.
• Speaking of big brother, she is already fascinated by buttons, knobs, and light switches. Uh oh.

Meanwhile, Alek has 17 teeth! When did THAT happen? He's still exploring the world of pretend in new ways every day; tonight he told me he was a little guy like the tug boat, and he was mighty too, and he was going to bring the big Dog ship and the big Pirate ship and the big Car ship into harbor. He's turning into an honest-to-goodness not-so-little boy in front of our eyes - when I picked up his DVD by sliding it across the table, he said "No, don't scratch it! It's scratched already!" (It was, he was right.) The innocent stream-of-consciousness toddler-ese is becoming more deliberate and focused; way beyond "I wanna go there" and "No, Alek do it", we're now in the realm of "Don't pick that up because it's mine and I want it to go there, not over here, where you put it."

The longer I go without updating Erin's and Alek's baby books, the more Freather entries you can expect to see - an attempt to fill in the void, without any clear plan of how to carry it into the future much less preserve it for posterity. The way Alek is heading with computer skills, I'm sure he'll find a way someday to delve into the archives . . . because I'm sure he'll really need to know exactly how many teeth he had by the age of 2 years and 8 months. Maybe I just hope that they'll read this when they are adults, and realize that their "Mom" and "Dad" were not only once "Mama" and "Dada" but actual people, too! (Don't worry, Mom, I do finally realize that you went through all this too! Yes, it's the moment you were waiting for all those years ago when you said "I hope you have a child just like you" and "Just wait until you have kids of your own".)

"I need a gorilla bar!"

- Alek, while searching the pantry for a granola bar

"Mama"

- Erin, who was pretty surprised by my reaction, enough so that she figured out it must have meant something REALLY cool

Pictures and actual content to follow. Right now, I'm waiting for Alek to go to bed so I can do the same. Pretty sad state of affairs for 8 pm on a Saturday night. I've only had two days back at work so far, hardly enough to even begin recovering from taking the month of December off. Meanwhile, an archive photo from days before kids:

Erin in the window seat

As predicted, Erin's endless land-swimming has finally culminated in progress. She gets her knees way up under her, rocks back and forth a few times, and flops forward - it moves her a few inches, and involves levitating her butt off the ground, so we call it crawling. She loves it - whole new worlds have opened up, worlds that previously existed inches from her grasp. Combined with her ability to roll and swivel, she is pretty much mistress of her domain. As long as there isn't a big wall in her way, or at least one higher than a couple inches.

And today, she said her first word and it wasn't "Mama." Of course, she is Daddy's little girl. And the "D's" are easier, I hear. She even said it twice on command. Now she can combine her first sign with her first word and make a sentence: "No, Dada!" Ha ha. It's just a matter of time.

Meanwhile, we're hanging out in The Sea Ranch on the Northern California coast with Mimi and Papa Alan for the week. We flew into San Jose last Friday and stayed with Sara and Rene and their little girl, Isabel (who knew that her shirt said "Purrrrfect" and that Isabel starts with "I" - so cute!). It was so wonderful to stay with friends who so graciously and gracefully absorb all the chaos that comes with the Frederick family! Isabel had Alek up in her bunk bed in no time, "picking berries" on her starry tent, and he showed her how to jump off the top bed - he was by far the worse influence. After a couple days that just flew by with fun and adventure, we drove up the coast to the only city in California that starts with "the" (according to the Garmin GPS). Erin has stubbornly clung to "EST", or as we have come to call it, "Erin Standard Time." Alek is loving sleeping in Mama and Dada's bed, not that sleeping has been a big part of the trip for anyone but Alek, since Erin is getting up at 4 am every day. On the dot. No matter when we put her to bed.

Alek wants "up" and to see some pictures. I'll go get some and put them right . . . here. Below: Alek and "Tigger" overlooking the ocean; Erin in the highchair; Erik pointing out seals to Alek.

There are no end of beautiful photo opportunities out here, even without our kids in the pictures. We've really enjoyed walking along the trail every day - there's "Pee Rock" in one direction (so named by Alek for obvious reasons) and "the big log bench" in the other. The best thing about the trail is that it's only yards from the house and provides a way to get Alek away from all the fine china in the cabinets with the most-compelling sliding doors. Papa Alan is actually encouraging Alek to play with the DVD player (so he can get it replaced, he says) and insists that he can still get work done with Alek in his lap. He even found "dancing banana" with a single Google search, at Alek's request. Meanwhile Mimi is getting used to the complete lack of privacy that accompanies a toddler and the complete lack of peach and quiet that accompanies Erin - she's either screaming with displeasure, or giggling with delight, but either way you know she's there. Other than constantly worrying about keeping the house safe from the kids and vice versa, it actually is relaxing!

(Place cute pictures here, as soon as we put them up.)

December. So far, it's a month of extreme sweetness. By which I mean:

• Christmas cookies.
• Frosting Christmas cookies.
• Candy canes (a special treat for Alek from Tonya for trips to the mall to see the singing bears and he knows the rule is "always brush teeth after candy", right Papa Joe DDS?)
• Brown sugar in oatmeal (Alek actually started eating his oatmeal with the wooden sugar scoop this morning)
• Erik just announced that all Alek wants for Christmas is a "big chocolate candy cane." This from the child who didn't see a refined crystal of sugar cane for the first 18 months of his life. We screwed up somewhere. It may have been with the chocolate milk.

In less sticky terms, Alek and Erin are both treating us to a lot of adorable sweetness. Alek gave me a big kiss goodbye this morning, complete with runny nose. He says "please" and "thank you" almost every time he says "I want", which comes out a LOT still. But in more sophisticated ways each day - "I want that!" has become"I wanna touch that thing over there on the mantel by the fish . . . right there, yes, there you go" and "I wanna press the cramera button" has become "I wanna take out the memory card and plug it in right there and take the battery out and charge it until the light turns green."

Erin, of course, is still full of yummy-ness. She sits up like a champ, and is getting better and better at expressing herself. She's been a bit cranky with her first tooth and those still coming, which may be why her first real "sign" is shaking her head emphatically "no." It started off as the "shake the head game" and now, there's no doubt about it, it means "No Mama, I don't want the bottle, yes I want some oatmeal," and five minutes later, "No Mama, no more oatmeal, I want pears." She's generally well-rested and happy though - sometimes she goes down for her 5 o'clock nap and sleeps through the night. She's longer and leaner every day, and her hair is still inspiring comments from strangers on the street - naturally, we think she's gorgeous, but it's sweet to hear other people say it too.

Meanwhile, we're off to California tomorrow to visit Mimi and Papa Alan, home for a week after that, then up to B-lo for Xmas with Papa Joe, Nanna, and the gang. I start the new job in January, and unless I have another baby (a thought that still makes me more than a little squeamish, honestly) I will likely never have another 5 weeks off in a row for the rest of my life. Good thing I'm taking advantage of it and sleeping in every day, taking lots of time for myself, catching up on my reading . . . . ha . . . ha . . . ha. But with these sweet kids to keep me company, I wouldn't trade it for anything.

That's my big brother!!

One of the reasons I keep up this so-called "blog" is that I am planning to use it as a memory crutch someday when my kids start asking me pointed questions, like "Mom, when did you stop breastfeeding me?" or "Mom, when did I start peeing on the potty?" I don't know why I am so concerned that my kids might someday have such a keen interest in these early years, or that somehow I'll forget all this if I don't write it down. But just in case they ask: Erin (and Alek), I made it to 7 months and after that you both lost interest; and Alek, 28 months. More likely, they'll grow up indifferent and oblivious like we all do until we have kids of our own.

Lots of cuteness this month, and a couple milestones as usual. Erin is sitting up pretty solidly - and I do mean solidly. Her bottom section is so round and dense that she's been able to sit unsupported for a month now; the milestone is that she now has enough tone and control to sit back up after she folds herself in half to chew on her toes or reach for a toy. She's getting more and more interested in everything and everyone around her - she lights up like a Christmas tree whenever she sees a familiar face, and she's all giggles and smiles unless she's tired, hungry, or has a poopy diaper. Who can blame her?

Alek has moved himself into Erin's room - it started as a "Why not? What could it hurt?" kind of decision when he declared one night last week that he wanted to sleep in her room, and now we've come too far to gracefully back out of it. It's actually been rather cute, but now instead of cooing herself back to sleep at 6:30 AM, Erin coos her brother awake, who climbs into the crib with her and then keeps HER awake, and then we're all pretty much up. Coming from the kids that used to sleep until 8 Zero Zero, it's been an adjustment. On the other hand, they adore each other and that's hard to complain about.

October is my favorite month for various reasons. Change of season, crisp cool evenings, less mosquitoes, end of Daylight Savings Time, and the return to baggy clothes and fleece sweaters aside, it's a time of 6 month olds and 2 and a half year olds, and what could be better than that?

Erin at 6 months is . . .
- charming, flirting, eating, and a very round, happy little girl
- playing games: Mama shakes head; Erin shakes head; Mama laughs; Erin laughs; Repeat.
- looking a lot like Auntie Oates and a little bit like Mommy. She's a Mummery!
- in love with her toes - the diaper comes off, the toes come up; the tights come off, the toes go in!
- in love with her big brother - he loves to make her laugh at bedtime; running in her room and jumping on the bed works every time
- 18 pounds! How about that!
- very excited about "solid" foods, which mostly come in liquid form; she opens her mouth like a little bird waiting for a worm every time the spoon comes near her mouth

Alek at 2.5 years is . . .
- potty trained! Mostly. Close enough.
- resistant to the power of suggestion: "No I am NOT tired. No my eyes are NOT heavy."
- the ultimate procrastinator, a la "I have to pee on the potty! I want my milk! Mama come lie down with Alek!"
- long and lean, and still in size 12 month pants (he did get a little skinnier without the diaper) but up to size 8 in shoes. Looking more like his daddy every day.
- master of pronouns, a bittersweet milestone - no more "Carryou downstairs!" or "I want your milk!" (Except when he really does want my milk).
- really trying to figure out the world, or at least which half has a penis - he asks just about everyone he meets, e.g. "Poppie Doug, do YOU have a penis? Erin does NOT have a penis!"

This October was also very special because it was our first trip up to Buffalo in the minivan and our first chance to meet our one and only nephew - Jack alone was worth the 13 hour drive! Erin and Auntie Oates and I went to Elmira to show off Erin and see my cousin Neal get married, and Alek and Erik went down to Olean so Alek could learn how to drive a speed boat and pull Uncle Tim on water skis. In between all that, Nanna and Papa taught Alek how to drive an ATV on the lawn. What can I say - you have to love a month that starts with solid foods and potty training and ends with Halloween. We're looking forward to dragon costumes, monkey suits, and chocolate for everyone. Stay tuned - pictures will be coming.

In case you're keeping up, Erin turned 5 months this week and has officially bridged the gap from breast-milk-only to solid foods without a period of formula-only. This is a big milestone. She's a hoss and nothing keeps that image up like eating like a hoss. She's taken to solid foods with a gustational gusto ne'er seen before. There is a theory around which correlates solid foods with an improved LES (lower esophageal sphincter) tone. This would be a good thing too since Erin's been eating zantac twice a day since she was 3 weeks old.

Meanwhile, Alek is hilarious. He came up with a burp joke tonight and I can't imagine that fart jokes are far behind. Momma says "Erin burped" Alek says "No Momma burped" "Momma burped" he insists. Laughing 'cause he knows it aint so. He's also taken to various airborne antics including the 'crib jumpin seen in the video above and "playin on the roof" where he balances on a Fisher Price garage then leaps onto the couch, writhes around a bit before returning to balancing on the roof. It's all very scary as a parent, and I tally up co-pays and my great desire to never meet a pediatric neurosurgon every time I see him do something like this.

The other great milestone we achieved today was a successful conclusion to the official part of the screen porch project. The inspector showed up today and gave us the green light. This had been hanging over my head for a few weeks now, and now that it's done I feel a great weight off! Turns out it was no big deal. Moral of the story? Just get it done.

On Thursday night I said "Let's go to the beach this weekend," on Friday night I got home at 6 pm and Erin was already strapped in her car seat, and by 6:15 pm we were out the door. By 6:17 pm we were back at home getting the quesadilla out of the microwave that Erik forgot to bring for Alek, and by 6:18 we were actually on the road heading straight for Wrightsville . . . with a 45 minute detour through and around the Taco Bell parking lot somewhere in the middle. But we finally got there around 9:30 pm, tucked Erin in for bed in the Pack-N-Play and lay down for sleep promptly, instructing Alek to make himself comfortable in the closet on the floor (with pillow, Eyore, and sleeping bag to make a cozy nest - how much more can you ask for?). Ha. Anyway, Alek bounced himself into exhaustion by 11:30 and fell asleep some time thereafter, though he seems to be a perpetual motion machine in his sleep, preferring to splay out all four limbs as widely as possible and lie horizontally across the middle of the bed. How cute. But the point is, we did it - we made it to the beach, had a great time, and got both babies in the ocean and pool for all kinds of fun and adventure. Yea, minivan!!!! Thank you for making it all possible!

By the way, I just finished re-reading some early Freather posts about Alek's first few months, and let me just say it once and get it out of the way: it is AMAZING that after all the sleep torture we went through with Alek (having to let him cry it out at 3 1/2 months of age, twice nightly feedings after I went back to work, the shenanigans of the past few evenings with inventive and outrageous bedtime delays, and everything in between) we went on to have a child who has slept at least 11 hours every night since she was 11 weeks old. Erin, you are an angel. None of our love is conditional on how well you sleep, of course . . . or on anything, come to think of it . . . but we ARE grateful! And we really don't mind that you are only barely starting to flip over (we have video of Alek crawling at the same age you are now - yikes!). The longer it takes you to figure out how to open the doorknobs WITH the childproof protectors in place (and how to lock the door through them as well), the better. You take your time, honey.