Happy Thanksgiving!

Whereas Mommy's favorite holiday is Halloween, Daddy's favorite by a long-shot is Thanksgiving because Miri makes his favorite stuffing just this one day a year. So Daddy started early in the day warning Ari and Alex that they best stay away from his stuffing!

We had a pretty quite day playing in the house and turing on the TV for just a bit to watch the Thanksgiving Day Parade, which Ari and Alex were quite impressed with for all of about 10 minutes.

After a nap and early baths, we headed over to Miri and Opa's house for a nice Thanksgiving dinner with Cousins Denise, Jason and Ayden as well as family friends the Fajgenbaums (including Daddy's childhood friend Jonas and his son Emmett). The kids had fun running around with each other and playing with the trucks Miri and Opa keep at their house, and Kira liked playing with Ayden and trying to find his belly button:

Kira was the best eater of the evening, enjoying spinach, corn souflee, stuffing, cranberry sauce and cheesecake. Ari did OK with a few bites of stuffing. Alex did great-- on dessert.

Today Daddy had to work so Mommy took Ari, Alex and Kira out for just a little bit of Black Friday shopping, as her favorite running store was selling $100 running shoes for $25, so she couldn't resist. Ari and Alex were great helpers, holding onto the boxes Mommy wanted to buy while frenzied runners grabbed for the remaining boxes. It was a little hectic but all three kids were great and in the end, Mommy scored a pair of running shoes for Daddy, racing flats for herself, and even a pair of casual shoes (also in the pile of running shoes) for herself. Of course we got home and Mommy realized that one of the boxes had two different sized shoes inside, so now we have to make a trip back later today to pick up the mis-matched shoe!

When we got home, our friends the O'Connells came over for a playdate. Mommy, Laura and Patrick went to high school together and now Laura and Patrick have their own "twins plus one," also 19 months apart. Their boy/girl twins, Jack and Abby, are six months younger than Ari and Alex, and their youngest daughter, Kate, is six months younger than Kira. So they're basically on the Reichmann plan, just six months behind us. It was so much fun to reminisce about high school friends, catch up and share notes on parenting "three two and under." It seems like just yesterday that we both had infant twins-- it's amazing how much can change in just a few years!

Family, friends, health and happiness- couldn't ask for more for which to be thankful.

Yes, We're Still Here

It's been quite a while since our last post, but rest assured all is well in the Reichmann household! Daddy has been out of town a lot and we did have about a week of passing around a minor virus/cold that kept us from playing with some friends, but it seems like everyone is now well again (knock on wood!) and having lots of fun.

This weekend we took it easy and enjoyed having Daddy back in town. He's not the only one in town, though- Cousins Denise, Jason and Ayden are also visiting from Arizona, giving Ari, Alex and Kira the chance to catch up with their buddy Ayden. The kids are all old enough now to play with each other and enjoy each other's company, so it was fun watching them all interact. We went to Miri and Opa's for an early dinner on Sunday night, where we had a chance to (try to) get a picture of all of Yayita's six great-grandchildren.
Ayden came over for a playdate on Monday afternoon and again on Tuesday morning, and Ari, Alex and Kira enjoyed having a new face around.

Today while Ari and Alex were in school, Kira had a playdate of her own with buddy Ella. Kira is especially enchanted with anyone younger than her- her face lights up and she points and squeals "baby!" even if the other child is just a matter of days younger than her. Mommy supposes that she's so used to seeing her older siblings and their friends, that when she sees someone her own size she gets particularly happy!

Also in the news this week, Kira apparently has given up her short morning nap. She started this past weekend when, after waking up unusually late (after 8:00 a.m.) she was able to make it until the big afternoon nap shared by all three kids. Ever since, she's been particularly resistant to going down at all in the morning so Mommy has finally given up and we just push very hard to get Kira to last until all three kids can go down for a big nap together. Mommy isn't worried about Kira giving up her short nap, but if Ari and/or Alex decide to give up their long afternoon nap permanently, that will be another story altogether!

Liftoff-- Finally!!

While Kira is far from immobile (as she scoots around pretty quickly), she had yet to master crawling. She has been receiving physical therapy for a few months now, and even our physical therapist told us that since she was so comfortable with scooting that we shouldn't expect her to crawl, and eventually she would just move straight to walking. However, crawling develops important muscles and skills, so our physical therapist really did want us to encourage crawling if possible.

Just when we had about given up on getting Kira to crawl, today she took her first few "steps" forward! It started when Nana, Poppy and Aunt Lori came to visit this afternoon, and then this evening after bath time she showed us it wasn't a fluke, as she crawled down the entire upstairs hallway. She still clearly prefers scooting, but hopefully this will encourage her to crawl, as well.

Kira also learned how to sit up in her crib this week (scaring the daylights out of her!), prompting Daddy to lower the crib to it's lowest setting today. So it seems like Kira is really on a roll with her gross motor skills this week!

We had a pretty low-key week this week after Alex came down with a fever early Tuesday morning. It had broken by later on Tuesday but Mommy kept everyone home from school on Wednesday just to be safe. To keep us busy, we did lots of baking- zucchini muffins and honey whole wheat bread...yum! Thursday was another housebound day, just to make sure everyone was fully healthy before returning to our regularly scheduled program, and also because of the nasty, cold, rainy weather. We did take a quick trip out to our favorite store, Target, to buy Ari some more underwear. Yes, Ari is officially, fully potty trained. Mommy can't really take the credit, as Ari did it all herself and doesn't even wear a diaper to nap or sleep. She's been going potty out and about (at school, shopping, etc.) and even uses the "big potty" at home now with the potty seat on top. Ari was the first one in her class to become fully potty trained and is referred to by her teachers as a "trailblazer." We are so proud of our little over-achiever!!

Today we started the day with a visit to the Smithsonian's Udvar-Hazy Center, an extension of the Air and Space Museum. All three kids LOVED seeing the airplanes, space shuttle and helicopters. Ari even went on a simulated space shuttle ride (which was actually pretty scary!) with Mommy, declaring at the end "I liked it!" Alex declined the opportunity to go on the ride when he watched it shake and rattle from the outside.

In the afternoon, following a visit from Nana, Poppy, Aunt Lori and Ozzie, Mommy took Alex and Ari to friend Jacob's 3rd birthday party while Daddy and Kira spent some quality time together at home. Ari and Alex had so much fun running around with their friends and Mommy enjoyed watching them (they seemed so independent and grown-up today!) and catching up with her own friends.

Celebrating Kira

Today started with brunch at our friends' and neighbors' house to meet new neighbors that moved in this summer. It was such a nice chance to catch up with each other, welcome our new neighbors, and for the kids to play with all of their friends. In fact, Alex and Ari both cried when we had to leave- they wanted to stay!

But we had to get home for naps to rest up for Kira's birthday celebration. We delayed it for a week since Miri was out of town last weekend for Kira's actual birthday. We celebrated with grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins and some of Kira's friends at the indoor play area at the JCC. Everyone had a fun time playing in the play area, singing and dancing with the instructor, playing with the parachute and, of course, eating delicious CAKE (which also happened to be kosher because of the JCC's rules, but if Mommy had known how yummy kosher cake was, we would have been eating it all of our lives!) The birthday girl finally got to dig into cake herself...up until today she's had some tastes but never an opportunity to go crazy. It was a special celebration and Kira, Mommy, Daddy, Alex and Ari feel so lucky to have been able to celebrate with our family and friends.

After the party, we joined our neighborhood crew for dinner at a local pizza buffet. It was a remarkably civilized experience considering there were 13 adults and 15 kids in all! What a nice way to cap off a fun day of celebations.

In other news, we are hoping we will not jinx ourselves by saying that Ari seems to be officially potty trained! She has now gone four days with just a couple of small accidents, and has even pooped in the potty. She is a bit more nervous about going while we're out and about, although she did go on the special toddler potty at Kira's party today, but she seems to be able to hold it long enough to get back to her familiar potties at home. We'll see how she does back at school this week, but Mommy is hoping that we're officially down to just two in diapers!

Beginner's Luck?

Earlier this week, Mommy instituted a "star chart" to reward Ari and Alex for good behavior. The list includes saying "please" and "thank you," sharing, cleaning up their toys, and a host of other behaviors we are trying to encourage. Mommy added a line for going to the potty, but only in anticipation of using it in a few months when we tackle potty training.

This morning Mommy was reading over all of the ways that Ari and Alex can earn star stickers, and mentioned going to the potty. Ari declared that she wanted a star for going potty, and went to the bathroom, took off her pants and diaper, and promptly peed in the potty like it was no big deal. She then declared that she only wanted to wear underwear today. Skeptical but willing to try, Mommy put her in underwear and kept asking her if she needed to go potty. We even went out to the playground to watch the elementary school kids get on the bus and play with friends Andrew and Mitchell, and Ari stayed dry. When we got home, Mommy again asked if she had to go potty, and Ari was very proud to show Andrew how she could go potty. Another star for Ari!

We then went to Target for Kira's first birthday pictures. Mommy was very hesitant to let Ari go without a diaper, but she insisted she would "be fine" so Mommy packed an extra pair of pants and diapers and we headed out to Target. A photo session (which went great- we got lots of cute pictures of all three kids) AND lunch later, Ari was still dry. She tried to go potty at the store but then decided she would rather wait and go until we got home, so Mommy just hoped we wouldn't end up with a wet carseat. Sure enough, as soon as we got home, Ari went on the potty again. She didn't even want to put on a diaper for her nap, so Mommy convinced her to put a diaper on OVER her underwear, "just in case." Ari stayed dry during her nap, and then went in the potty again when she woke up. She showed Daddy how she goes on the potty when he got home, and Nana when she came over to visit (she obviously likes to show off her new skill).

Mommy wasn't sure that Ari would be able to go on her own without being reminded, but tonight after dinner, two times Ari told Mommy she had to go and ran quickly to the bathroom where she went potty. Mommy and Daddy are pretty surprised. We had to convince her to wear her underwear over a diaper overnight, just to see how it goes at nighttime, but it looks like at the very least we have had one diaper-free day for Arielle! Mommy is going to send Ari to school in her underwear tomorrow, along with a clean change of clothes, to see if this trend continues. We're afraid of jinxing ourselves, but it's at the very least a good (and early) start.

Alex, on the other hand, has shown NO interest at all in joining his sister in her new achievement. As Alex says, though, "that's OK, there's no rush!"

One Year Stats

Kira had her one-year appointment at the pediatrician's office today, so here are her official stats:

Weight: 20 lbs, 2 oz (45th percentile)...also means we can officially turn Kira's carseat forward-facing, which is a good thing since we did that a little early this past weekend since Kira's long legs didn't seem to like being scrunched against the back of the seat!

Height: 30.75 inches (92nd percentile)

Looks like Kira is shaping up to be tall and thin like her sister! Kira also had two shots and an iron blood test (which showed her iron levels in the normal range). She goes back in two weeks for the second of her two Flu shots. Kira is now at an age where she remembers the nurse who gives her the shots and today was not so pleased to see her- she held on to Mommy for dear life and started crying as soon as she saw her!! Everything else checked out well and the doctor was impressed with Kira's vocabulary and her good eating and sleeping habits. A+ for Kira!!

Halloween, Part II

First, some more pictures from our Halloween fun trick-or-treating with our neighbors, courtesy of Nana:

Saturday night, after celebrating Kira's birthday, Mommy and Daddy got to go out to their own costume party at friends Shara and Kailey's parents' house while Nana stayed home to make sure Ari, Alex and Kira stayed soundly asleep. Ari and Alex thought it was funny to see Mommy and Daddy dressed up in their own costumes to go to the party:

Sunday morning (after an early wake up at 6:30 a.m. due to the switch back to Standard Time...Mommy hope that doesn't last very long!) we all headed back to Shara and Kailey's house for Kailey's naming ceremony. It was a beautiful event and Ari and Alex were excited to see Shara and their other friend from their old gym class, Madeleine. We were all so impressed with the beautiful cake Shara and Kailey's mommy made herself!

After very late naps, friends Sammy and Izzy and their parents came over for a playdate and dinner out at Chipotle, where the four older kids monkeyed around and had each other laughing hysterically.

With all of the celebrations our weekend flew by, but we're excited about our upcoming week!

Happy Birthday Baby Kira!

Where has a year gone? Our baby Kira isn't really a "baby" any longer!

We're officially celebrating Kira's birthday with family and some of Kira's friends next weekend (since Miri had to be out of town this weekend for a conference) but we still celebrated Kira's big milestone today with some gifts and a special dinner with Nana (Poppy Jack was on a boat cruise) and Opa at the Star Diner followed by Cold Stone Creamery Ice Cream (the birthday girl got free ice cream!) The birthday girl donned her special birthday tiara and ate mac and cheese followed by chocolate ice cream.

Kira checks out her Madame Alexander doll from Aunt Candy, Uncle Jerry and Cousins Jared and JordanThe princess waits for her meal at the DinerFree birthday ice cream at Cold Stone Creamery with NanaOf course Ari and Alex (and Mommy and Daddy!) got some ice cream too

So what is Kira up to at one year?

Kira is quite the talker. She can say more than ten words now, including: baby, ball, up, night-night, Mommy, Daddy, Alex, Ari, Nana, bye-bye, hi, knock-knock and doggie. Kira is also a great sleeper, going to bed at 7:30 and waking up after 7:00...at least while we're still on Daylight Savings Time!

Kira is a prolific eater, often eating more-- and better-- than her big brother and sister. Her favorite foods include yogurt, mac and cheese, grilled cheese, cookies, grapes, apple, string cheese, banana, Cheerios and pretzels. She even likes lasagna, beans, rice, edamame and corn. She does NOT like carrots or mandarin oranges (maybe she has an aversion to the color orange?) She had a very easy transition from formula to whole milk and from bottles to sippy/straw cups, so she was already fully transitioned off of her bottles even before she turned one. She has six teeth-- four on the top and two on the bottom, with more possibly coming in judging by her recent drooling and bit of fussiness, which is out of character for our usually happy-go-lucky girl.

Kira is the happiest baby on the block and people always comment on her happy disposition. She's always smiling and laughing, although she does play coy around strangers, hiding her face in Mommy or Daddy's shoulder.

We're working on hard on Kira's gross motor skills, particularly her crawling, cruising, pulling up and her first steps. At this point it seems that Kira is going to skip crawling altogether and just go from scooting (which she is very adept at) to walking. She can stand comfortably (with assistance) and can walk while holding onto Mommy or Daddy's hands, although she still hasn't quite figured out how to cruise around the room holding onto furniture. She is making very good progress with her twice-monthly physical therapy appointments, where Ms. Dee teaches Mommy exercises to do with Kira to help her learn to strengthen her muscles.

Kira loves playing with her big brother and sister, and particularly likes to get into their "big kid" toys like their puzzles and laptop computers. She also loves her weekly music class and our "Baby Babble" DVD, which may be one reason she's speaking so well.

Happy Birthday, "Baby" Kira...we can't wait to see what the next year has in store!