Spring Break 2009!

For many college students spring break means travel to warm destinations. Well things aren't necessarily that different for the Bowes family. We packed our bags, got up far too early, and caught a plane to Los Angeles. Spring break - woohoo!!

It didn't take us long to head back to our old stomping grounds on the Hermosa Beach Pier. It was fun to walk down the strand, eat breakfast, and watch Callie chase the dogs and the pigeons. The picture below captures Callie at a rare moment of repose on that sunny day.




It was warm and in the 60s, so we also made sure that Callie spent some time in the sand. She had a lot of fun with the sand in between her toes, working on her farmer's tan.



During our time in LA we stayed with Gretchen, Scott, and little Josh. Josh is now five years old and Callie was smitten. She would walk into their house and say, "Osh?" Here the two of them spend some time building sand castles on the beach in Hermosa.




Josh also showed Callie and Sarah how to look for the good shells along the seashore. We had a great time just hanging out, playing in the sand, and enjoying the company. We also tried not to get wet and failed. And, as you can tell from this photo, we also sought to capture these fun moments artistically. There is something about the ocean in southern California that brings out the Ansel Adams in any person with a digital camera in their hand.


There were many important reasons for our spring break trip, and one of them involved Claire and Nora Leshney, two five month old bundles of joy who live in Pasadena. Callie was just as excited as we were to finally meet the Leshney twins.





Tyler, the twins' father, grew up with John back in Madison. They were also roommates for three years in Manhattan Beach. Boy have things changed since 2004. Tyler married Stephanie, they moved inland and have doubled the size of their family. Pretty impressive.


Here is proud papa with Nora. It is amazing to see Tyler and Steph as parents. They obviously have mastered their roles in a short time and Nora and Claire don't know how lucky they are to be their kids. It should also be noted how quickly these two little girls have their 6'5" father wrapped around their respective fingers.




Now, how can you resist this face? Seriously. And the hat? Priceless. It is so much fun to see how early the personalities of the two girls are coming out. It may not look it here, but Claire is the energetic feisty one of the crew. And Nora is the serious, no frills kind of girl.



Now what can be said about this next picture? How about this - six years ago the two men pictured below lived in a rented house in Manhattan Beach with a cat and a ping-pong table in the garage. It was common for them to stay up late playing video games. Now they still stay up late, but video games are seldom if ever part of the picture.





One thing we can tell you is that this group is going to have a lot of fun in the years to come. And as much as Tyler and John complain about being the only boys in the group, they are loving every minute of it. Stay tuned.





But our trip to Pasadena, while fun, was only for an afternoon and evening. There was still some partying to do. More specifically we had a birthday party to attend. You may remember that back in October Callie had a group of California visitors for her 1st birthday. One of those visitors was Kate Perrone. Well now it was time for Callie to hop on a plane to celebrate Kate's big day.



Our first picture finds the birthday girl posing with some of her guests. These beautiful women were only a few of the many who spent the afternoon in Manhattan Beach admiring how much Kate has grown in her first year.



Callie wanted to make sure she had some one-on-one time with Kate during the party. Kate showed off her four new teeth as well as her standing and almost walking skills. It's cool to see how much they enjoy each other's company. Each time time they have hung out they seem to enjoy each other more and more.


Of course a birthday party requires the star of the show to wear a special hat. Although Kate was not tremendously pleased with the feel of the elastic on her face, she wore the hat to keep her guests happy. And it is safe to say that she made the hat look good...she is just so darn cute!





Outside of the hat, the other mandatory activity of the 1st birthday party involves the consumption of a cake or other sugary substance.


Kate did not hesitate when confronted with a tasty cupcake. She used both of her hands to dig right in and within moments her face was covered with chocolate, frosting, and sprinkles. This is something that made her mother very nervous and a bit uncomfortable. For those of you who don't know Lauren very well, she is very neat, organized, and healthy. The toddler years could be a bit painful.



The party didn't end there. We then went outside to soak in some sun and play with some bubbles. It was so fun to watch Callie actually blow bubbles and say the word bubble. She had a great time showing Auntie Pi her new skills. Truth be told, she may have also sipped a bit of the "bubbly", so to speak. Although we waited for it, she didn't burp any bubbles the rest of the day.


To wrap up Kate's birthday and our trip the adults went out for dinner and drinks. These trips are never long enough and we always hate to see them end. However, as usual it was wonderful to catch up with everyone and watch their families grow. Hopefully we will see all of them sooner rather than later.

And remember, for anyone interested in visiting us, April in Lexington means the spring meet at Keeneland. All the Kentucky sunshine and horse racing you could ask for. The guest room still has some open nights for April and the following months. Take care.

Hanging Out and Having Fun

Technically speaking, we are still at the rate of a post a month. In reality, this post is way overdue and we are writing this with less than four hours left in the month of February. Quite a bit has happened since Christmas, so pull up a chair, take a deep breath, and enjoy.

Where to start? How about we start next door at our neighbors, the Chrismans. We have mentioned them before, but it is worth saying again how lucky we are to have them living next to us. And Callie loves Sharon and Chris.


But she especially loves when their daughter Sarah visits and brings her dog Claire. This is one of many photos that we took of Callie just squealing in delight over the mere presence of Claire in the house. Claire, meanwhile, was jealous of any attention her owner gave to Callie. It was quite a show to say the least.



As many of you know, some of our closest friends in Lexington are Fiona, Charles and their son Iain. Iain is now ten months old and it is fun to see him and Callie actually playing together. When we gather at our house, Iain and Callie get to hang out in Callie's play corner and Callie loves to share her toys. At times this means she dumps them in Iain's lap. We are working on the "gentle" share.

We're sure all you parents out there can understand that it can sometimes be difficult to get a night out on your own. Therefore we have negotiated a monthly babysitter barter with Charles and Fiona so that each couple gets at least one night out a month. January was all about both couples being able to go to the movies for the first time. So the following pictures are from the afternoon/evening Iain spent with us while his parents were enjoying "The Dark Knight".



Now that Iain can crawl, he and Callie can move around the house together. Callie is more than happy to revert back to her crawling days so the two of them can get some quality time together.

Fortunately, both kids love a good book. Here John points out some highlights from both children's parents' past through a dramatic reading of "Good Night Los Angeles". Nothing puts a kid to sleep like a parent talking about the good old days.




Many of you might remember a similar picture of Callie like this about a year ago. She certainly has grown a lot since then, but she is just as interested in looking out the window at the winter wonderland in our backyard.




January 2009 brought an ice storm to Lexington that closed both UK and EKU down. Indeed, EKU cancelled classes for 4 out of the 5 days of the week. When we first moved to Lexington, we heard a lot of stories about the "Big Ice Storm of 2003". Everyone talked about it, and quite honestly, we thought they were being a bit over dramatic. Oops.


Here's the front of our house after a half day of precipation. The first was freezing rain and the second was snow. This picture makes it look kind of pretty, but underneath the snow is about two inches worth of ice. Our poor trees were not happy. And with every passing hour the branches dipped lower and lower with the weight of it all. It really was crazy to watch. When the storm had passed, thousands of trees throughout Lexington and the surrounding areas were destroyed. We got extremely lucky and none of our trees lost more than a small branch or two.


This is our backyard. Speaking of lucky, we never even lost power. Again, that was pretty amazing considering we have really big old oak trees just hovering over our power lines. Most of the people we know lost power for a day, and some of John's colleagues down in Richmond lost power for a week. However, we were ready for any trouble because Sharon Chrisman (a.k.a. our local MacGyver) hooked us up with candles, matches, and safety tips for surviving without power in an ice storm. Thankfully none of those tips were necessary.


Of course, when all is said and done, there was snow on the ground and a hill nearby. We wanted to take advantage of the time together and introduce Callie to some sledding. Unfortunately, she did not enjoy the experience as much as we had hoped she would.



This picture does not truly capture Callie's general unhappiness with her time sledding. It also does not capture Sarah after her one run down the big hill where she caught air and busted her butt. Seriously, she was in pain for a couple of days. That is what we get for going sledding after an ice storm.

Fortunately the weather improved in time for a visit from Callie's Auntie Gret. Gret flew in from LA for the weekend and made the most of her time in Lexington.


Here are Callie and Gret at the water station in the Explorium in downtown Lexington. We bought a membership for the Explorium and it has been great, especially since all of the bad weather has made the outdoors less inviting. We enjoy it and were particularly pleased when even Gretchen gave it her stamp of approval. Gretchen is the director of education at the California Science Center, so she knows what she is talking about.


It was so wonderful to see Gretchen and Callie spend time together. We are excited that in just a couple of weeks, Callie will not only get to hang out with Auntie Gret again, but also with Uncle Scotty and Josh.



Knowing how great a job Gret and Scotty have done raising Josh, we can only hope that their parenting rubs off on us. It certainly seemed like Callie enjoyed having Gretchen read to her. Perhaps it just felt right because she instinctively knew that Gretchen was her first out of town visitor when she was born.


We have already been to the Explorium about a half a dozen times this year, and the slide is always one of Callie's favorite stops. She loves to make sure everyone is watching before she heads down the slope. Now before any of you make judgments about the length of this particular slide, I (John) would like to point out that Callie loves all slides - and that includes going down slides at outdoor parks that should frighten a girl her age. I (John once again) am both scared and delighted that Callie appears to have inherited the fearlessness of her mother. It's a good thing most of my hair is already gray.


So, apparently Callie is growing up and becoming a little person. We should not be surprised by this. And yet, every new development amazes us. She has been using some very basic sign language for quite some time now, so we have been communicating. But lately she has expanded her sign language and has thrown in some vocal work as well. It makes us happy to see her sign "thank you" to a kid who has given her a toy or "please" when she would like milk. But when she makes the sign for please and also says "please," we start to giggle. Is this really happening?


One of Callie's latest words is "baby". Auntie Gret brought Callie the baby in the picture to the left. And one day, Callie just started saying "baby" and going to get this little doll. What has been even crazier is that she keeps trying to feed the baby and give her milk. This picture was taken in the morning, and Callie had to have her baby sitting next to her for breakfast.


Before we talk about the last picture and end this post, we need to tell a story that captures Sarah's most frightening parenting moment yet. John was out of town and Sarah was cleaning the bathroom while Callie was playing in the hallway. As Sarah was finishing up she left the bathroom to grab some paper towels. In the moments she was gone, Callie entered the bathroom, shut the door, and managed to lock the deadbolt. When Sarah returned she noticed the shut door, went to open it, and realized it was locked. At this point her heart jumped into her throat and panic set in.

Her first instinct was to dial 911 but she wasn't sure what anyone could really do. So she tried to be as calm as possible and asked Callie to unlock the door. Then she ran to get a screwdriver to take the doorknob off. However this wasn't quite possible on a door in an eighty-year old house. The knob wasn't going anywhere. After a bit more panic, Callie continued to play with the doorknob and the deadbolt and happened to unlock the door. At this time Sarah opened the door, hugged Callie, and tried not to cry. There is now tape over the deadbolt to eliminate the need for future panic. The great thing is Callie never knew there was anything wrong. There's that fearless streak again.


This last picture was taken at the scene of the crime above, the downstairs bathroom. As you can see, Callie laughs in the face of the dangers presented by the aforementioned bathroom.




Callie truly does enjoy life, as this picture illustrates. We feel blessed everyday that she is our daughter. Even her current phase of screaming when you take her winter jacket off cannot take away from the fact that she is a wonderful little girl who constantly makes our days better.

We are looking forward to the spring and hope to see you all soon!

A Very Callie Christmas

We apologize that it has been so long since we have updated our blog. The year has certainly been off to a busy start and only now are we able to sit down and reflect on the final holiday of 2008. Because Thanksgiving was in Connecticut, Christmas was obviously going to be in California. It had been nearly 6 months since we had last visited northern California, and Callie was very excited to get there.

Pictured below are two of the big reasons for her excitement - Grammy Gayle and her partner in crime, Cheyenne.



As we have said many times, Callie loves dogs. But there is a special bond between her and Cheyenne. Now that Callie is fully mobile, she chased poor Cheyenne around the house, grunting and growling. And yes, that was Callie grunting and growling, not Cheyenne. But she was just so excited! Amazingly enough, the excitement never wore off. And before any relatives or "friends" get any ideas, at this point we only plan to visit people with dogs - so no surprise gifts for Callie for now.


Callie has started to enjoy the play areas in the middle of the mall, the airport, and any other place that has large foamy things to jump on and slide down. Here she is caught mid-slide at the wonderful play area in the Roseville Galleria Mall. Not pictured but also enjoyed on this trip was a great play area in the Dallas-Fort Worth airport. We may very well write a book on such things by the time Callie is in high school.



After we hit the mall our first official visit was to Callie's Great Grandmother Lucas. She had just moved into a brand new place and we wanted to check it out and take some time to catch up. We definitely had a wonderful time and Callie especially enjoyed the Christmas decorations.



However, those decorations were nothing compared to the sweet ride that Great Grandma Lucas had. Callie was able to not only get Great Grandma Lucas to take her for a spin up and down the hallways but also had her parents taking laps after Great Grandma needed to sit down and take a rest.




Next stop was Great Aunt Teri's house where of course she had some activities lined up for us. In fact, Callie got the opportunity to make her first ginger bread house. Knowing that Callie has never eaten any candy, Teri thought it would be better to use different cereals to decorate the house. But even those cereals were more than Callie had ever been exposed to, and it was amazing that any of the cereal (Froot Loops, Apple Jacks, etc.) even made it on the house. And as you can see, instead of putting the sprinkles on the house, Callie just chose to stick the bottle in her mouth and would not let go of it. It was the like the first time she had sugar...oh wait, it was.(Okay, not the first time, but possibly the third)


Pictured below is the construction crew with the final product. If you look closely you can see the sugar rush in Callie's eyes.



All of the above occurred in the lead up to Christmas day. Callie had busy days and then when she went to bed her parents had busy nights driving around Sacramento making up for all of the shopping they did not do in Lexington. Unfortunately, the busy days, the long trip, her first molar, a cold, and as we found out later, a urinary tract infection, made Callie a little cranky throughout the Christmas festivities. However, she is a fighter, and she managed to enjoy all that came her way.


Here is Callie opening her gifts on Christmas Eve after our traditional dinner of chicken enchiladas. She is still a bit timid with the unwrapping process - her paper ripping skills need some work. Ironically enough, Callie's favorite gift was the dog toy given to Cheyenne. But she also enjoyed spending the evening with her Uncle Zac and cousin Keith.


She was also fortunate enough to get to open her stocking on Christmas Eve. Apparently Santa had Sacramento first on his stops this year. Her favorite gift in the stocking was the tiny snow globe that she loved to shake.




On Christmas day we visited the Lucas clan again. This time Haley, Ryan, Sara, Tyler, and little Brady were all there. Brady is so big and so cute. And as you can see in this picture, has a great smile. He also had pretty good unwrapping skills - Callie might need to get some lessons from him. It was great to see everyone and there is never enough time to catch up with everyone. And John wishes he could have bowled just a little more on the Wii with Tyler, Ron, and Ryan.


The next day we headed to San Francisco. Yes, that's right, on the day after Christmas we went to one of the biggest cities in California. And yes, we went to Union Square, one of the popular tourist destinations in the city. The day was a little hectic, but it was great spending time with everyone. And we got to spend some quality time with Christy, Zac's girlfriend. Here is the whole crew in front of the Christmas tree in Union Square. Quite a good looking bunch, if we don't say so ourselves.



And if that wasn't hectic enough, we also threw into the mix meeting up with Denise, Lauren, JP, and little Kate.


Here we see the girls in front of the same tree. Kate was enthralled with everything around her and spent much of the time outside looking up. Callie wasn't always sure which way to look or what to do. Unfortunately she was still soldiering on fighting a fever and a runny nose. When we look back at this we are pretty impressed with how much of a trooper she is.


So what do you do in this kind of situation. If you're us, you spend the night in a hotel in Fremont and then get up the next morning to drive to San Jose to go to a cool exhibit on Leonardo da Vinci at the Technology Museum. But that's not enough. You jump back in the car, go over the hill on Rte 17 and meet the Nice family for lunch near Santa Cruz. And as was the case with so many of our visits, it was great to see everyone and there was not enough time to really catch up.



Pictured above is the whole group enjoying a fine lunch. Even Callie is looking at the camera and smiling. It was a great day and we were back in Sacramento in time for dinner, which meant we got to fulfill one of our California trip necessities - a meal at In-N-Out. So tasty...even now I can still smell the double-double animal style.


This is a fitting picture to end our update. By the time we landed in Lexington all three of us needed the next week to recover. With that being said, we would do it all over again in a heartbeat to spend time with our family over the holidays. Well, everything except the molar, the fever, etc. You get the idea.


And now that a new year is upon us, we can only guess at what it will bring. Frankly, we can't wait. But we do hope it brings us, our family, and our friends, good health, happiness, and much laughter. Here's to lookin' fine in 2009!

Turkey Day '08

Everyone knows that a little bit of exercise before the big meal makes Thanksgiving much more enjoyable. That's why we are starting this post with a glimpse of the next great women's soccer star going to work in the living room.



She still has to work on her finishing ability, but that will come with time. She definitely has potential.

As many of you know, Thanksgiving for us means travel. And well before we even met we were traveling somewhere else to eat turkey. Sarah and her friends developed a great tradition in Hermosa Beach known as Thanksgiving Observed to make up for it. They would have all of their friends over for a big potluck meal before folks left town for the holiday.

Well we decided that the time had come for us to bring that tradition to Kentucky. So on the Saturday before Thanksgiving, we cooked a 19 pound turkey and had sixteen people over for dinner. Here's a picture for proof.





We had a lot of fun and for the first time we actually had a fire in our fireplace. Callie enjoyed playing with Iain, Eli, and Jackson. It's pretty obvious that she enjoys being the center of attention, or maybe she just enjoyed the ratio. Hard to tell.


But we finally got on the plane and made our way up to Connecticut for a good old New England Thanksgiving. Nana Taffy was very excited to pick us up, especially since we came in at a reasonable time. And Callie was happy to get some one-on-one time with her Nana.






Suzy was also able to make it in from Colorado, and she and Callie got to hang out quite a bit during our visit. Callie is not much of a morning person, but it is clear that Auntie Suzy can make mornings so much better. As for the gift from Suzy that is sitting in her lap in this picture, Callie has been playing with it non-stop ever since we got back to Lexington.


Holidays are all about relaxation, and we tended to stay in our pajamas as long as possible, as you can see below. What you can also see is that Callie is becoming more and more playful every day. You probably already knew that Sarah and Suzy were playful. Clearly Callie is following in their footsteps. Here the three of them perform the wave.





Did we mention that Callie likes to be the center of attention? She truly enjoys the time she gets to spend with her Uncle Chris and her cousins Brendan and Michael. The two Balestracci boys are so good with her. She has them wrapped around her finger and we're pretty sure she knows it. It is so much fun to see them all together.





But playtime was not reserved to the youngest members of the crew. There is nothing quite like a good tradition, and the adult kids of the Bowes clan are hoping that they have started a new one. It's called, leave the kids with Nana and Grandpa so we can all go out and have a tasty dinner and a good adult conversation.


So pictured here we have the crew as they prepare to head to the Stone House in Guilford. Not planned, but charming nonetheless, are the argyle bookends that frame the three lovely ladies in the middle. This hearth has been the site of many Bowes family pictures over the years, and it is good to see that tradition continue as well.



It was great that all of the Connecticut folks got time with Callie, and of course she loved getting some time in with everyone as well. Here she is with Auntie Katie, who apparently was able to push her own sons aside to get quality time with her niece.




Obviously Thanksgiving is all about family, but it would not be complete without friends. Here Callie plays around with Logan and Finn, the twin sons of Alex Gross and Mark Matlosz. Alex and John are good friends from high school and it is a bit crazy for them to have their kids playing around at their foot. And in that brief hour that the Matlosz boys were over, we realized how lucky we are to only have to chase one little one around.





Speaking of friends, we also got a chance to go over to the McBean/Conroy household down the road in Fairfield. It was a house chock full of little ones, and Callie had a blast with Jackson's toy car that had a horn and Hayden's little kitchen set. Here she and Hayden are hanging out in one of the rooms that is clearly built for kid entertainment.



Whether it was the travel or just the joy that is daycare, Callie came down with a post-Thanksgiving virus that did a number on both the poor little girl and her parents. We were awash in pedialyte as we tried to keep Callie hydrated while she refused to keep anything in her body. It was the kind of fun time you hope to never have again. Callie was a trooper though, and below you can see the shadow of a smile as she sits in what we dubbed, "The Sick Nest".




Really, the whole nest was a simple safety precaution to keep all manners of liquid eruptions off the couch and us. Is that too much information yet? Trust us, that's nothing compared to what we could have told you about.


It was clear when Callie was getting better, because she was soon up to her old, and new, tricks. We learned she had an obsession with paper bags a few weeks ago. It started with her trying to carry a paper bag that was just as big as she is. We intervened and gave her more size appropriate bags. Witness the joy those bags bring in the video below.





Although the director yelled cut and the cameraman complied, our viewers should know that Callie jumped up quickly after the above spill and made her way to Sarah with a smile on her face and her bags in hand.

To truly turn the corner from Thanksgiving to Christmas, a visit to Santa is necessary. Needless to say, this also entails a trip to the mall.


Some parents hope their children won't cry on Santa's lap and some hope their child will sit still. It's not clear what we were hoping for, but this picture truly captures the spirit of the moment. First, the Fayette Mall Santa is a very nice man and he has a very gentle smile. Second, Callie was not quite sure what to make of him. Callie likes hanging out with strangers as much as the next person, but it doesn't mean she won't stare at that stranger to get a good sense of their character.


With the visit to Santa concluded, we visited the local toy store where Callie had fun hugging some stuffed animals. We truly enjoy this age because she gets excited about playing with the toys but we don't have to buy anything. Unfortunately we don't think this will last much longer.


And now we sit here in Lexington listening to a quiet house. Callie is asleep, the TV is on mute because we can't focus with the volume on, and the sounds of freezing rain/sleet/who knows what comes and goes. Apparently we are in winter storm warning mode, which means the Bluegrass is truly at Defcon 5 high alert. And in five days we will be getting on a plane for Sacramento, where we will spend eight glorious days and possibly eight crazy nights with our West Coast family and friends. Life is never dull and we wouldn't want it any other way.

Callie's promotion and tenure review

Although Callie turned 1 nearly two months ago, the bureaucracy at the Bowes household has taken a bit longer to review her paperwork. The results finally came in this past weekend, and based on the information that follows, two decisions have been made. First, we will allow her to turn one and maintain that age for the following year. Second, we will keep her for another year at which point we will conduct another evaluation. The following addresses the highlights, and some unfortunate but correctable lowlights of Callie's recent development.

This is a recent photograph of the subject in question. Notice the confident smile she had when submitting her materials.






We'll start with the basic numbers and medical reports. At the beginning of November Callie visited her pediatrician. They found that she weighed 19lbs 9oz and stood at a grand 30 1/2 inches. That means she is the 75th percentile for height and the 20th percentile for weight. Still tall and a little bit heavier than in the past. Her noggin is still tracking large, and is in the 75th percentile.

Unfortunately, Callie also had another first-year medical evaluation. This one entailed a catheter, x-rays, and an ultrasound. All of this was to monitor the progress of the kidney reflux that had been diagnosed even before she was born. The good news is that the level of the reflux in her right kidney has decreased. The bad news is that they found evidence of reflux in both kidneys. Prior tests had led us to believe that only the right one was effected. As you can imagine, this was hard news, especially since we had grown to rely on the idea that you can live with one kidney. At the same time, it is important to note that both of our doctors are positive and have told us multiple times that this is a problem that can be easily repaired if Callie's body doesn't take care of it naturally over the next several years. Just as important, this has had no impact on Callie's day to day life. She takes her antibiotics every night without complaint and beyond that, shows no physical discomfort.

So with that aside we can now move onto other matters crucial to this review. They fall into three basic categories - daycare, development, and social skills. In daycare, Callie has now transitioned from the busybee to the waddler classroom. Unfortunately they gave us limited time to prepare her for the skills necessary for waddler survival, a.k.a. sippy cup use, finger food, and designated nap time. Needless to say, there was a period of adjustment involved. It took about three weeks for her to accept the sippy cup, and she still expresses some reservations from time to time about the absence of the bottles. Up to this point she has still had two bottles a day at daycare, although we just used the last of the formula, so that ship has sailed. Finger food has gone much better. She loves noodles, bananas, dried fruit, and obviously Cheerios. Unfortunately the finger food veggies have been less of a hit.

In the new class, everyone is supposed to sleep from noon to two on little cots. Callie has a hard time following suit. This has resulted in a few days without naps entirely, and a few discipline notes home. Our nurse called Callie petite, but Miss Donna at daycare has had to inform us of Callie "bodyslamming" a classmate when she was supposed to be napping. Our little nutterbutter has also apparently put her six teeth into not such productive use by attempting to bite a classmate on the forehead. We still think she was trying to give a gentle kiss. Finally, Callie's production of fine art has skyrocketed since entering the waddlers. Since the end of October she has come home with a number of fall-themed art pieces. Quite impressive, Miss Donna.

Now for Callie's general development. Her level of communication is on the rise and indicates some of the most important aspects of her life. She is beginning to verbalize, but has some trouble finishing. Duck becomes "duh" and dog becomes "do". Ending consonants appear to be low on her priority list and we have suggested that she do a bit more work on that.

Callie's sign language has also improved, and she now signs milk, eat, more, all done, bath, book, and ball with some regularity. Some have equated Callie's sign for bath with the universal sign for the chicken dance, but we know what she means. Outside of those signs, Callie also likes to give high fives, hugs, and kisses. She even blows kisses. The main place for improvement here is she needs to close her mouth when she goes for a kiss. She shows every sign of self-confidence, and has taken to clapping for herself any time she does something deemed worthy of praise. Fortunately she is not skimpy with such praise for others, and even clapped for every item her father removed from the dish washer and put in its proper place this morning.

There are few things that fall into the social skills category. She continues to be very comfortable with people and enjoys spending time with just about anyone who will pay attention to her. She has also shown increasing comfort in the house the more she walks around. Callie goes to her own cupboard to get her sippy cup and knows just where her play corner is and what toys are there.

Overall, Callie has shown clear signs of progressing towards becoming a little girl. Even her fits of crying and frustration normally are due to wanting to be more independent. We continue to be overwhelmed by how much we love her and love spending time with her. And we can't wait to have you see the above developments for yourself as we begin our annual holiday road trip.

Callie for Change in 2008

We are not the people in your neighborhood with signs in the front yard even though we are passionate about politics. But Callie is a different kind of political animal. She was not going to be satisfied until she made her feelings known on the blogosphere. So we have this post.

It is a gorgeous day here in Lexington. Not only is the sun out and the leaves are in full autumn display, but it is also much sweeter because John and Sarah have the day off. So we had a leisurely breakfast, got dressed, and walked to our polling station. Here is Callie, making sure we know the right direction to go to vote.




We left the polls to head to our local Starbucks for a free tall coffee, and along the way passed numerous signs indicating support for the various candidates. Callie could not resist striking a pose next to her favorite sign.





Now, Callie is obviously the type who wants everyone to vote regardless of who they are voting for. But she comes from a long line of strong women on both sides of her family who have never just sat on the sidelines, so why should she?