Dragon training and a new toy

We have been trying to figure out how to better entertain an inquisitive almost one-year-old who loves to explore and get into everything. The current solution: an activity table with lots of lights and sounds.

And if that fails, who says you can't take a bath in the living room?

Or borrow Caden's Perplexus game?

This week was Caden's last week of school, so he is now a third grader! He had a fun week, with games, a movie, and field day. School ended on Wednesday, but Extended Day continued for Thursday and half of Friday. Dada picked Caden up at noon on Friday, and he joined us for lunch at the Bio Sci year-end picnic (catered by In N Out Burger - yum!) before we headed to Fashion Island to watch How to Train Your Dragon 2 and do some shopping.

Building and bonding

This week, we finalized the flooring and granite in our new house. Above, you can see Finn helping out at our final meeting. Now, we can enjoy our summer adventures in Alaska and Oregon while the builders finish the house. If all goes as planned, we will close escrow on Sept 8.

Finn absolutely loves his brother, and Caden has a great time being silly to entertain Finn. Other times - such as in this picture of Caden playing with his new Perplexus game - Finn simply watches with rapt attention.

In other weekend news, Caden has lost another tooth (his sixth) and Finn has gained another tooth (his fifth).

Crawling and pulling up

Finn is now on the move! Last week, he figured out how to crawl, this week he started pulling up to stand, and he is now rumbling around the apartment, trying to climb on everything.

Ready for Christmas

Despite our rapidly approaching departure from New England, we had lots of fun getting ready for the holidays. The weekend after Thanksgiving, we found a little (4-5') fir at the local tree lot. Because we didn't really want to unpack and then quickly re-pack ornaments, we went simple with tree decorations. Caden became expert at making snowflakes out of paper, and soon the tree was covered in white lights and Caden's snowflakes. This year, for the first time, Caden set up his Christmas train by himself! We celebrated a family Christmas last Sunday, with cinnamon rolls, eggs, and presents to open. And tomorrow, we fly west for two more Christmas celebrations!

Piano tipping

As we prepare for the upcoming move, one of the items on our checklist was to make sure that our piano was ready for the journey. The base was sagging, and it clearly needed to be assessed and re-attached. The piano repair guy came over and tipped the piano on its back to repair the base. Here, you can see Finn and Mama checking out the piano, tipped on its back in our living room.

Under the hood:

A visit from Auntie Sally

Auntie Sally flew out to Boston for a conference this weekend and spent the day with Caden and Finn on Sunday. Highlights included a trip to the aquarium (for Sally, Mama, and Caden) in the morning and time with all of us at home - including bath time - in the afternoon.

And later in the evening, Finn was being super-cozy and talkative with his mama. You might need to turn up the volume to hear his little voice.