July 21, 2009: So far this summer we have spent most of our time going back and forth visiting our parents in Boston and Greenwich. When we are in Greenwich we spend most of our time in the pool, and we have taken a trip to the Bronx Zoo and a few trips to the beach. Casey is getting better and better at swimming, just last week she started using her arms and can propel herself faster and farther under water than she could before. On the 4th of July we took the girls to Belle Haven and they went in a parade in a decorated wagon.
Casey jumped off the diving board into the pool where James was waiting. She did it 4 times and it was so funny.
That afternoon the club had a party with a jumping castle, pony rides and a petting zoo. Casey loved everything and went for a ride on both ponies. Julia loved the animals in the petting zoo and was going nuts over the baby goat.
In Boston we have taken several trips around the city.
We took the girls to the Bunker Hill Monument, the Tall Ships, on a ferry ride, to see the seals at the aquarium, in all the fountains of the new greenway in Boston, in the public gardens to ride the swan boats and see the scenes from 'Make Way for Ducklings'.
Casey has started to show some signs of being a two year old. She is more whiney and defiant than she has ever been. Right now she is sick with some summer virus and that makes it even worse. She is still napping well and sleeps pretty well at night. She cries out during the night some times but we just let her work thru it on her own. She is getting so big it amazes me to look at her. Time flies! She is getting much better with her potty training. She will never have an accident if we are inside and she is naked and now she does not want to poop in her diaper. So the other day we went and got her "big girl underwear". She wore it for about 2 hours without peeing then when she got home and was near the bathroom she peed in them. So we're still working on it but progress is being made.
Julia is doing great too. She is on two naps still, an hour in the am and an hour and a half or so in the pm. In the last week she suddenly refused to eat any baby food out of a jar so she is testing the waters with real food. We've given her some ham, turkey and chicken, crackers, American cheese, grapes, nectarine, whole wheat bagels. She does pretty well with everything. She has been in the pool a few times and seems to like it.
She is clapping her hands a bit. When we clap or sing patty cake she will clap. She went thru a stage where she would shake her head very quickly from side to side when you did. I would shake mine then she would copy over and over again. It was always very funny. She loves to put her blanket right on her face when she is sleeping. Some times I will go in and pull it off her face but it always ends up back right on top of her head again. When we go in to wake her from a nap or in the morning she is so funny and cute. She is so happy to see us and in her excitement she pulls her blanky over her face and hides, then pulls it off smiling and laughing. She also lifts her legs up into the air and slams them down onto the crib mattress out of excitement. She is not crawling yet but is getting much more comfortable on her stomach and scoots around in circles but cannot move forward. Sometimes when she is up on her arms she pushes herself backwards. She is slowly learning to get up on her knees but progress is slow. Se goes in for a check up in a week so I will report weight, etc then.