Zachary Edwin Henderson was born on Monday, June 8th, 2009 at 10:34 pm.  He was 10 day past due on his birthday like his sister, but labor and delivery was a completely different experience.  I felt early labor contractions starting around 3:30 pm on Monday afternoon and decided to distract myself by going to Malia's preschool and helping out with swim class.  Walking around and helping teacher Amy wrangle 9 preschool kids seemed to increase the frequency of my contractions and a regular pattern started.  Malia and I headed for home quickly at that point (luckily only a few minutes away).  By early evening it was clear this was the real thing and contractions, while seeming to be short, were frequent and intense.  Chris called our doula, April, at 7:30 and asked her to join us, as I was quite uncomfortable at that point even though the contraction pattern was still hard to read (20-30 second long contractions, but very strong and only 1-3 minutes apart).  When April arrived, she helped me through contractions while Chris started packing up.  She also took charge of alerting the hospital that we were probably heading in fairly soon.  Grandma Lala also arrived at around 7 to take charge of Malia's care.  After April arrived, I decided to get into the shower to see if that would help relax me and ease some of the pain.  After about 20 minutes in the shower, I decided that it was important to get moving towards the hospital as the car ride to the hospital was likely to be very difficult with the frequency of contractions.  In the shower, I also felt my first urge to push, which while relatively weak, clued us in that we probably needed to get moving quickly.  April drove us to the hospital at around 9 pm and Chris sat in the backseat helping me through the 5 contractions that I had to endure while trying to sit in the backseat of a car.  Not an experience anyone should have to go through.  Once we arrived at the hospital, the walk in took a while, as I was having fast and furious contractions.  Our midwife, Lesley, greeted us at the entry to the L&D ward and immediately walked us back to our room.  She suggested I use the bathroom and I felt my first really strong urge to push at this point.  The midwife checked and I was 4-5 cm dilated at that point, but feeling strong pushing urges and contractions were intense and coming quickly.  Based on this, Lesley reassured us that she expected labor to go very quickly and she was absolutely correct.  Within 45 minutes, I was ready to push, and Zachary was born just over an hour after our arrival at the hospital.  It was one intense experience and I think the entire L&D ward probably heard me yelling.  Zachary weighed 9 pounds 8 ounces and was 20.5 inches long at birth, so was bigger than any of us expected.  He was almost 2 pounds heavier than Malia at birth and it is lucky he was not my first baby!  We all had to chuckle at the irony that at a 33 week ultrasound, Zachary was thought to be small for gestational age (12th percentile).  Clearly, he is not a small baby!

 

We are home now and adjusting to life with a newborn.  Sleep, as expected, is hard to come by, but we are all in love.  Malia most of all, I think.  She is definitely a little sad at times, but she is constantly giving Zachary kisses and hugs and calles him "my baby".  It's very sweet.  I am also very happy to not be pregnant anymore as our Seattle summer started early this year and the 80-90 degree weather we had last week was taking a toll on my very pregnant body.

 

Today is Zachary's first doctor checkup and we will post his stats later.

 

Love and kisses to all our friends and family.  Kathy, Chris, Malia, and Zachary

We had a wonderful Christmas this year, despite being virtually snowed in for almost 2 weeks (we ended up with over a foot in Seattle, which hasn't happened for a long time).  It was neat to have a white Christmas for a change and we were fortunately able to make the trek up north to see the family despite the over 2 feet of snow that had fallen up there.  Malia had a wonderful time playing with her cousins and spending time with grandparents.  We also found out the day before Christmas that Malia will be having a baby brother.  She came with us to the ultrasound and when the technician told us "it's a boy", Malia's first words were "Uh Oh".  It was hilarious and she had us in stitches.  We really got the best present of all when we got the good news that baby boy Henderson is healthy and developing well.  Now, we really can't wait to meet him in person (and I can't wait to get this pesky pregnancy part over with...of course, then the real work begins!!)

 

With all the crummy weather, we started feeling the urge to escape the "Long Dark" as it is known in Seattle and go somewhere warm and tropical.  With airfares to Hawaii half of what they were last year and Grandma Lala and Grandpa Roland being there for a few weeks in late January/early February, we decided at the last minute to make a trip over to Kauai.  We knew it would be our last chance for a while, with baby on the way, so decided we'd better jump at the chance.  We couldn't coordinate staying the entire time in Hanalei as we had in the past, but we still had a wonderful time.  We ended up spending 2 nights on the westside of Kauai in Waimea at the beautiful Waimea plantation Cottages and the last 6 nights on the north end in Princeville.  We were about 8 minutes from Lala, Roland and Terry who were staying in Hanalei and it worked out just fine.  The weather was gorgeous and we spent at least part of every day at one of the local kid-friendly beaches or at Hanalei Beach and then would retire to our condo at night, completely exhausted, but very relaxed and happy.  Some of the highlights of the trip included a trip to Salt Pond Beach Park, playing in the pool at WPC and our condo in Princeville, a day at Lydgate park (it was tough getting Malia out of the water that day!), 2 trips to Anini Beach (the 2nd being a bit too chilly with high winds that day, but we did get to see a giant sea turtle or Honu which was very cool), lots of shave ice and ice cream, hanging out on the beach in Hanalei and, of course, a night out at the Hanalei Dolphin for Malia's mommy and daddy thanks to Lala, Roland and Terry.  We also got to see an amazing performance by a troop of Bagpipe musicians and enjoyed some wonderful food at WPC (thanks to G-Great Auntie Linda).  Malia was mesmerized by the music although it was a bit loud for her.  I definitely have a healthy respect for how hard it must be to play the bagpipes after seeing all the coordination that goes into playing them up close like that.  All in all, the trip was wonderful and worth the 2 long days of flying.  Next time we will go for 2 weeks!!!

After an unseasonable dry and mild November, we are finally getting some serious winter weather here in Seattle.  It hasn't been this cold for this long, with this much snow in a long time.  Seattle basically shuts down in snowy weather because it's all hills and bridges, so we all stayed home today.  I finally convinced Malia to go out for a little sno-venture this afternoon and we had a great time.  We have about 5 inches of snow and she was loving stomping in it and throwing it around (it's really light and fluffy).  We attempted to make a snowman, but due to the fluffy snow, we gave up.  I think this will be a project for Daddy and Malia tomorrow.  We got our first round of snow last Sunday and went sledding out on the golf course behind our house.  It's the perfect sledding place with lots of hills and yet very safe.  Hopefully, we can get out there again before the snow disappears.  Supposedly, it will be around for another week or so at least, so it shouldn't be a problem.

 

Malia got to meet Santa Claus a couple weeks ago which was very exciting.  She jumped up and down when he came in and was the first to line up and get in Santa's lap.  Santa brought her a book about the Nutcracker and she loved it.  Malia asks daily when Santa will be coming and just can't wait for Christmas.  It's really fun seeing how excited she is about Christmas this year. 

I just posted the pics from our photoshoot with Sandi Henrich (www.sandiheinrich.com).  Once again, Sandi did a beautiful job capturing Malia's spirit.  She's a pleasure to work with and we are thrilled with the results!  Enjoy!

 

We just had a wonderful two days up north visiting family for Thanksgiving.  We managed to squeeze most everyone in except for my siblings.  We will get some quality time in with them at Christmas and can't wait to see all the cousins having a blast in a few weeks.  It'll be great fun. 

We've had a fun few weeks with birthday parties, halloween parties and lots of other things to celebrate.  Malia's birthday party was great.  It was a decidedly "Princess-themed" party and she had SO much fun changing in and out of princess outfits (thanks Auntie Rachel and Uncle Brett!) and running around playing with her new toys.  She picked out a spider cake, so there was also a bit of Halloween thrown in for fun.  She was SO excited about that cake - it took some effort to keep her fingers out until it was party time.

 

The day after Malia's party we spent going to two other parties, so it was a crazy weekend.  Malia had a blast at every event and ate way too much sugar.  It was a really fun weekend though and I hope that somewhere in that noggin of hers, Malia will remember some of it. 

 

Halloween was really fun this year and we went trick or treating in the "West Seattle Admiral District" with a bunch of friends from our West Seattle Mom's group.  The kids were adorable.  Malia picked out a Tinker Bell costume and was running around trying to fly and having a wonderful time.

 

Our biggest news of the last few weeks is that Malia has a baby sibling on the way (early June 2009, with an extra week or two factored in since Malia was 10 days late).  She has been so cute trying to explain the situation to her teachers as well as to us.  She spilled the beans at preschool, telling her teachers that "Mommy has something in her tummy" and "Mommy has a baby".  Of course, when she talks to me about it, she says "Mom, there's not a baby in your tummy, it's not big enough".  More recently, though she has both kissed and pummeled my tummy while commenting on what's in there and it's really cute (more so when there's a kiss involved).  We are excited, freaked out, and exhausted thinking about the future right now, but we are happy that so far things seem to be on track and healthy.  That's the biggest focus for us right now.

 

In other news, I thought I'd share some of Malia's latest quotes...  3 year olds are SO literal!!!

 

To her Dad tonight...

 

M: "Daddy"  C:"Yes, Malia"  M: "You aren't a man"  C: "I'm not?  Well, what am I then?"  M: "You're a Daddy"

 

To me when I call her anything other than Malia (sweetiepie, cutie, honey, etc.)...

 

"Mom, I'm not a sweetiepie, I'm Malia"

 

Today when we went leafstomping at the Arboretum in Seattle, she kept calling it the "Arburrito".  When we teased her about it, she started giggling and then we were all laughing and being silly.

 

To her teacher at Preschool one day a few weeks ago:

 

Malia: "Teacher Amy"  Amy: "Yes, Malia"  Malia: "I am trying really hard to make good choices today"

 

Oh and I wish I could remember all of the other ones.  It's a really fun age...most of the time.  Malia is a very independent, strong-willed kid and guiding her to make those good choices can often be trying.  We do our best and have our good days and our not so good ones, but all in all we are having fun and doing well.

 

 

I've been horrible about updating Malia's website and the blame for that is my return to work in August.  It's been a hectic few months for the Henderson's.  Malia turned three yesterday and it seems like just a little bit ago that she was turning two.  She has changed a lot in the last few months and it's been fun, but also challenging for us to figure out how to handle our very independent and strong-willed child.  She keeps us on our toes!  Despite my return to work, we've had a wonderful summer.  We spent a lot of time at the zoo and the beach and the wading pool and had a great time.  Malia is doing wonderfully at her preschool and gets to go swimming twice a week which has been a great confidence builder for her.  She hated swimming at first, but loves it now and has even started going down the big slide in the deep end of the pool (under close supervision, of course!).  She's learned a lot at preschool and we both feel that she is doing great in this program.  It's been really wonderful.  One of the other big milestones we hit over the summer was toilet training.  Malia was about 75% of the way there before she started preschool, but within a week or two of starting she rapidly achieved 100% potty training success.  We are so relieved that it went smoothly, although it did take about a year of starts and stops to get there.  It's been nice not to have to spend money on diapers and reduce our garbage as well.  We are so glad to have it behind us!!!  Phew!

 

At Malia's most recent checkup, she weighed in at 29 pounds 11 ounces and 35.5" tall.  That puts her on the small end of the percentiles (45th or so for weight, 20th or so for height), but she's growing and that's what counts!

 

We are celebrating Malia's 3rd birthday tomorrow with a small family party at home.  We decided to wait one more year before having all her friends over.  It's crazy enough just with all the grandkids on my side of the family!

 

Happy Birthday Miss Malia!

Summer has finally arrived in Seattle after one of the coldest June's on record and we've been basking in the warmth and taking full advantage of the gorgeous weather.  This is truly one of the most beautiful cities in the summer.  Perfect 80 degree weather - just warm enough for us to really enjoy going to the wading pool, but not so hot as to make us miserable.  Every day we've gone to the playground, beach or wading pool or combinations of all.  It's just too nice not to get out and enjoy it. 

 

Two weekend's ago, Malia and I went up to Edison for Cousin Jack's 3rd birthday party.  On the way, we paid a surprise visit to Samish Bay Cheese and got to see Grandma Suzanne and Grandpa Roger along with a bunch of adorable piglets.  Malia loved the little piggies.  She was also very impressed with and I think tried to make friends with some of the cows.  I think there was equal fascination of the cows for Malia and Malia for the cows.  She certainly didn't seem afraid of them at all.  I think she'd try to take one home with her if she could.  After the nice visit at the farm, we went over to Jack's party and had a great time.  Jack and Malia and Ava scampered about and tried to make (and catch) giant bubbles with Jack's new bubblewand.  Malia and Jack also spent some time doing some construction projects with Jack's new "tools".  Malia was completely exhausted by the time we got home.  It was a great day.

 

Last weekend we were super busy as well.  Friday, we had a bbq with Mary, Neil and Sadie and had a nice visit, although Malia was pretty darn pooped and so her more cantankerous 2 1/2 year old antics were well on display.  Thankfully, she was COMPLETELY exhausted by the time we got home and managed to sleep through the insane 4th of July fireworks going on in our neighborhood.  I don't think I got to sleep until around 2 am and that was with earplugs firmly in place!  On Saturday, we had a Young family reunion, much like last summer, except this time Uncle Ron and Aunt Rita from Brazil were in town as well.  We met at Uncle Al and Aunt Toni's gorgeous new house right on the water in Edmonds and had a great time.  Malia and Jack and Ava were running around chasing and having lots of fun.  They especially loved running in circles around Al's pool table.  On Sunday, we went up to visit Lala and Roland as I was planning to go have dinner with some old friends in La Conner.  Chris and Malia hung out and had a great time.  I got back just in time for roasting marshmallows and watching Malia eat her first smore was a lot of fun.  She LOVED it.  Of course, who can blame her? 

 

Chris is on vacation for two whole weeks right now and we've been enjoying every minute of his time off.  We tried out the West Seattle water taxi which takes off about 5 minutes from our house and crosses Elliot Bay right to the Downtown Seattle harbor.  We all loved it.  It was so much fun and we had lunch and walked around Pike Place Market for a couple hours.  On the return crossing, we found a little spot in the front of the boat and Malia peeked over the edge and looked for mermaids.  We didn't see any, but I think Malia now considers herself a pirate.  She keeps asking about the big boat, so I think we'll be doing that again soon.  Today, we met Rachel, Brett, Jack, Kieran and Lucas at the zoo.  It was a lot of fun.  Jack and Malia kept us all busy, but we got to see some amazing animals.  The cats were really out today and we got to see the Jaguar up close, Lions up close, and watch the tiger playing in his swimming pool.  Malia was singing animal songs to herself and I think was so excited about everything she saw today that she had a hard time falling asleep.  So much to see and do.  (Of course, the ice cream might've played a role in that, too (see pics).

 

All and all we are LOVING our summer vacation so far.  Stay tuned for details on our upcoming plans for a train trip to Portland next week!

I've been terrible about keeping this blog updated so thought I'd better type a few words.  It's hard to believe that 4 months have passed and that it's now summer.  Not that I'm complaining.  Winter and spring were really cold and wet this year.  We've been very busy and having lots of fun.  Malia is now 2 years and 8 months old, so closing in on 3.  At her last checkup she was 28 pounds and 34.5 inches tall.  I suspect she's a littler heavier and taller than that now, but not sure.  That was back in May.

 

Here's a synopsis of the last few months:

 

March was a very cold and rainy month this year so we spent A LOT of time indoors at the local indoor playgyms that really are wonderful and saved us over the winter.  Malia loves these places.  Toward the end of the month, Malia caught her first of a series of very bad colds though, so we had a rough patch for a while.  We ended up in the ER for the first cold because Malia started wheezing and coughed almost constantly for 24 hours.  By the time we took her in, she was exhausted from coughing so much and the docs got her on some steroids and albuterol immediately.  Within about an hour of getting her first treatment she was much better.  We had one more treatment, but were relieved to finally be sent home by about 11:30 that night (after 6 hours in the ER).  It was scary and it took Malia quite a while to get better.  Unfortunately, for the next month, she seemed to get sick every 10 days or so.  We had to use albuterol off and on for about a month and also steroids here and there.  Basically, the entire month of April was spent either being sick or getting over the latest cold.  It was NOT fun for any of us.  In early May, I finally decided I'd had enough with traditional medicine's take on all Malia's colds and her wheezing issues and took her to a Naturopath.  This doc noticed immediately that Malia had huge tonsils and suspected there was an allergy component to her wheezing.  We've now had her on lots of supplements, vitamins, air filters and no dairy for 2 months and she is doing better.  Of course, the real test will be when fall and along with it cold and flu season come again.  Hopefully, all these changes will help us avoid the scary ER trips!

 

Malia's doing great now and there have been lots of changes over the last 4 months as well.  She is quite the talker and we are now having conversations which are pretty darn amusing.  She is a really social and outgoing kid and LOVES playing with other kids as well as just sitting in a corner reading or throwing a ball around.  Of course, her favorite toys are her dolls.  She is quite the girly girl in a lot of ways.  She is obsessed with the Disney Princesses and we aren't really sure how that came about.  She knows them all though.  Ariel, Cinderella, Snow White, Sleeping Beauty.  She also loves to play dress up and also ordering me to dress up.  Her current favorite thing is to make me put on fancy shoes and a fancy dress.  She loves it when Mama plays dress up, too. 

 

We've also made big strides on the potty training front.  About two months ago, Malia started refusing to wear her diaper and so we went for it.  We've had some regression here and there, but she's probably 80-85% of the way there.  We still have accidents, but for the most part she's doing great. 

 

One big change coming up is that I'm planning to go back to work.  Malia will be in daycare again 4 days a week and we got her into a good one with a preschool and swimming lessons.  I think it'll be a good change for her and me, but I'm also keeping an open mind to staying home full-time again.  I think we are both ready for a change though.  I don't start until August, so we are just going to try and enjoy our time together as much as possible.  Chris will be taking a couple weeks off in July and we are looking forward to our "staycation" as we will be staying home in Seattle and just hanging out with maybe one short road trip somewhere.  Seattle is a great place to be in the summer and so with gas prices so high, it makes sense to stay here and be a tourist for a couple of weeks.  Should be fun.

 

 

 

 

Developmentally, Malia is doing great.  She's quite a talker, like her parents, and we are really enjoying having conversations with Malia about her day.  Love the 2 1/2 year old take on things.

What can I say?  The last month has been a blur.  We've been so busy going to parks, meetups, playdates, and just having fun that I haven't had time to update much.  We've also had our share of colds and coughs, but the last couple of weeks haven't been too bad on that front.  The weather's been unusually nice for February which allowed us to get out and play on the beach a couple of times and go to the playground a lot.  That's pretty much unheard of for February so it's been a real treat.  Malia still loves going to the beach, but now is focused on looking for mermaids and throwing rocks into the water.  I guess that's partly because it's too cold to actual wade out in the water and pick up seaweed. 

 

One of the highlights of the month for Malia and I was when we went and watched the lunar eclipse.  Malia had a bad cough and had been sick, but I was determined that she get out and see it.  Chris was at his woodshop class that night, so I bundled Malia up tight, took her out for ice cream (where we could see the moon through the window) and then we drove to one of the best viewpoints in Seattle to watch the eclipse.  There were tons of other people there and Malia loved it.  She decided that the moon was hiding and playing peekaboo (both are still favorite games of hers).  She got such a kick out of all the people and we stood there snuggling and watching the moon over downtown Seattle for about 45 minutes.

 

We also went to the museum of flight a week or so ago and that was a lot of fun.  Malia LOVED the planes and wanted to sit in all of them.  There was a lot of "whoa" and "Big Plane, Mommy" and other fun 2 year old commentaries while there.  As everything is right now, it was fun, but exhausting for mom and dad.  She just wants to go, go, go and chasing her around for an hour was about all we could handle before we were both wiped out. 

 

Malia's favorite activity is still reading books, although she also loves watching Sesame Street.  She continues to amaze us with her verbal skills.  She is talking so well and can string together stories and long sentences, although not all of it is comprehensible.  When I ask her about her day, she will list off a bunch of stuff interspersed with "because" or "but, but, but".  It's funny to hear her say phrases that we say to her as well.  Today, at preschool she kept saying "wait just a minute, wait just a minute, wait just a minute" over and over again while she was looking for something.  She also called herself a "silly goose" the other day when she was being a goofball.  She's also learned most of her colors and shapes, although numbers and letters are still a ways off.  She can sing a bunch of songs, too, and has recently started making up her own lyrics.  I need to get the tape recorder out for those moments!!!  We've also had to get out the monster spray as her imagination has really started to kick in.  She'll come running in the room yelling "monsters, Mommy" and I'll have to go and "spray" my special no monster spray that makes them go away (or at least remind her that I already did that).  The tantrums are also happening more these days, but it's pretty manageable so far...we'll see what the coming months bring in that department!

 

 

 

 

 

 

The last several weeks have been a bit challenging for us.  We all had the stomach flu in early December and in the midst of that Chris came down with shingles.  He was quite sick for about 2 weeks, but thankfully is pretty much back to normal now.  Despite that, we had a nice Christmas this year.  We ended up spending Christmas Eve up with my family and then spent Christmas Day with Linda and Roland and Great-Grandma Mary, before heading back to Seattle.  We gave Malia her Santa present on Christmas Eve morning and she LOVED it.  Santa got her a play kitchen and cookware set and she's been cooking lots of yummy food for us for the last week and a half.  Christmas Eve was a lot of fun watching Malia, Ava, and Jack running around and playing and it was wonderful getting some quality snuggling time in with the newest cousins Kieran and Lucas who are now 2 months and counting.  Malia got some wonderful presents from her family and has been having so much fun playing tea with her new tea sets, reading her new books, and drawing with her new easel.  She LOVES to draw, although we are still trying to convince her to keep the pen on the paper rather than on her face.  The day after Christmas, Malia came down with a bad case of pink eye, so we were quarantined at home for a while.  Having all her new toys to play with was great and Malia didn't mind being home for a few days.  Thankfully, she has gotten over it very quickly, so we've been back to our usual playdates and fun times with friends.  There are a lot of indoor activities around this time of year since the weather is so wet and cold most of the time.  We've been having lots of fun going to the local community centers and playing with Malia's friend Ben. 

 

Malia's also had some big transitions in the last few weeks.  She is now sleeping in a toddler bed as we decided to make the switch out of the crib.  So far, it's going all right, although Malia still wakes up quite a bit at night.  In the morning, she will climb out of her bed, stand at the door and yell, "I'm Awake Mommy" or sometimes will lay in front of her door and thump on it until we come and get her.  I guess she still hasn't figured out that she can open the door and come out on her own.  That's not going to last, so we are enjoying that while we can.  We are still strugging with no naps, which has definitely been harder on me than Malia.  She is like the energizer bunny and seems to be able to keep going without too much trouble.  She does get tired by the end of the day though, so I'm still trying to get her to at least rest for an hour or so every day.  She might take one nap a week right now, if we are lucky.   We've also been working on potty training more lately, although Malia's the one who is really leading the charge on that front.  She likes to use the big toilet and asks to sit there a number of times a day.  Her success rate is steadily going up, although she has a long way to go.  I guess we are in what you could call the "Practice" phase of potty training.  It  takes a lot of patience for us to sit there reading books or keeping Malia company for such a long time (She could sit on the toilet for an hour, if we let her).  Sometimes, if Chris and I are both home, we can switch off which helps alleviate the boredom for us.  It will be fun to share this blog entry with Malia when she's a teenager!!!  LOL

 

Malia's current favorite activities are Hide and Seek, dancing like a ballerina or a mermaid, and piggyback rides.  She is constantly hiding or hiding things and looking for them (or asking me to look for them).  It's adorable.  The dancing is also super cute.  She puts her arms out and then spins in a circle, rocking back and forth.  The piggyback rides involve her jumping on my back and then we run down the hall and I dump her on the bed.  She LOVES that and asks to do it again and again.  We definitely have LOTS of fun goofing off and playing.  One of the best things lately are the conversations.  She just cracks me up and also surprises me with the things she understands (or tries to understand).  It's a lot of fun....

 

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!!!

It's been almost a month and a half since I last updated this, which is a sign of either how busy I've been or how little we've been able to actually do since the "Long Dark" has officially set in here in Seattle.  I'll start with an account of our slightly crazy Thanksgiving.  This year we opted to go up on Thanksgiving Day, have dinner with the Wechsler clan, drive back home to Seattle and then drive back up for a post-Thanksgiving Day feast with the Ballantine and Henderson side of the family on Friday.  It was as exhausting as it sounds, but we did have fun.  Malia was a trooper and spent the whole weekend after Thanksgiving talking about everyone she'd seen and asking to go back and see them.  Probably the highlight of the holiday for me was when we went outside in the twilight at Roger's and watched a flock of thousands of birds swooping and flying over Chuckanut Bay.  They were backlit by the setting sun and it was an amazing spectacle.  Malia was wrapped up in a blanket in Auntie Mary's arms and she was so peaceful watching this beautiful scene unfold in front of her.    The following weekend, Grandma Linda kindly babysat Malia for our first overnight together away from Malia.  It was an opportunity we couldn't pass up because Chris's work holiday party was at the Space Needle this year.  We had a great time and Malia survived (or should I say we survived).

 

Over the last month and a half Malia has undergone a huge developmental leap.  She is talking in sentences and we can pretty much have conversations now, although sometimes we both get a little confused.    She speaks very clearly for the most part (L's and R's are still a little tricky) and is learning some really big, impressive words (crocodile, rhinoceros, Christmas Tree, for example).  I have to be even more careful what I say and how I act around her which is an enormous responsibility.  Every parent has their moments of losing their patience with a situation (such as a 2 year old who refuses to put a coat on to leave the house, or change out of her pajamas, or eat anything I put in front of her, or who wants me to read that darn Dr. Seuss book for the millionth time!).  A few months ago, Malia probably noticed it, but it wasn't that big a deal.  Now, when she senses I'm frustrated, she'll actually say to me "Mommy Frustrated" and even more amazing, when she's mad she'll say "I'm frustrated, Mommy!".  Malia's emotional development and empathy have just skyrocketed in the last month and she will try to comfort me, make me laugh, tell me "I Love you Mommy" (and also "Go Away Mommy" - we are working on that one).  One of my favorite aspects of this is watching her play with her little baby dolls. She will talk in a high pitched voice, cuddle with them, put them in her shirt, or wrap them in a blanket and carry them around, kiss them, etc.  It's just so darn cute. 

 

Malia is still an avid bookworm, much like her parents, and we have storytime about 3x a day.  She loves so many books and two of her favorite places to go are the local library branch and a local bookstore where she will sit in a big pile of books "reading" and looking at the pictures.  When we read favorite books together now, she will say the words right along with me (or at least try) and it's so much fun to see her get so into reading at such a young age.  Malia's also a big music fan and her current obsession is "The Wiggles".  Chris and I both have to sigh deeply before turning them on because it definitely gets a little old after a while!  My favorite part of her musical interest though is when we sing songs together.  She knows quite a few songs now and will sing "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star", Hush Little Baby, Tura Lura, Itsy Bitsy Spider, and the ABC song right along with me at bedtime.  It's a hoot.

 

We've been having loads of fun and I'll update again after the holidays. 

On Malia's Birthday we did a photoshoot with Sandi Heinrich from Soulstice Photography.  Sandi did Malia's 1 year pics and we were so happy with those we decided to do it again this year.  The pictures are great and we were especially impressed because Malia was quite sassy (stubborn 2 year old) that day, the lighting was very bright, and the park had fences up all over the place making it challenging to find good backdrops.   We had a lot of fun though and it is nice to have some great pictures to remember from Malia's 2nd birthday.

 

Halloween was last week and we also had a great time, despite a pesky cold that Malia was battling all week.  Malia wore a frog costume and we went trick-or-treating up at the "Admiral Junction" in West Seattle.  Malia had a great time and discovered the joys of candy.  We went trick-or-treating with Malia's friend Ian and it was so much fun seeing all the little kids in costume.

Happy Birthday to Malia!  Today she is officially a 2 year old!!  We had a fun party on Saturday with a lot of family and friends and had a great time.  Malia was so excited she was riding her rocking pony and kicking her heels high in the air.  She had a blast playing with all her new toys and seeing all her favorite people.  I started preparing her for the party a few days in advance and she kept asking about everyone.  "Grandma?  Grandpa? Dori?  Grandpa Jerry? Auntie Sara?  Auntie Rachel? Lala? Roland? Suzanne? Roger?".  Then, when I was decorating her cake she kept circling me yelling "Birthday Cake" and of course, managed to sneak a few licks of frosting while Mom was busy getting things ready.  I asked her how old she was going to be and she held up 4 fingers and yelled "Two!".  Pretty cute. 

 

Malia got lots of awesome new toys including a huge doll house from Grandma and Grandpa, books from Grandpa Jerry, an adorable purse and farm girl boots from Suzanne and Roger (which she carried/wore for most of the rest of the day), a gorgeous red Tutu skirt from Auntie Sara and Uncle Wade (which she also wore for the rest of the day), a new red wagon from Lala and Roland, a fun bouncy toy from Auntie Dori (she loves it), dolls from Rachel and Brett and lots of gorgeous clothes from Erin and Nate, Great-Grandma Edna, Great-Grandma Mary, and Aunt Mary and Uncle Neil.  We had SO much fun and it was wonderful to have everyone there to celebrate with us.  Tonight on Malia's official birthday, we are going to have a little quiet party at home and relax.   It is a gorgeous day here in Seattle and it seems very appropriate for Malia's birthday to be such a bright and sunny day. 

 

We are also very happy to welcome two new nephews to the family with the arrival of Rachel and Brett's twin boys Kieran and Lucas last week.  The boys are completely adorable and doing great.  Malia has been preparing for her first visit with the boys by wrapping her baby dolls in a blanket and then patting them on the back.  She says "Auntie Rachel" when she does that so I think she knows that Auntie Rachel has new babies.  It'll be fun to introduce her to them next week.

 

10/25/07:  We went in for Malia's 2 year well child visit today.  The doctor declared her to be thriving and healthy (other than her current cold).

 

Here are her stats:

weight: 27 lbs 4 oz (59th percentile)

height: 2'9" (33") (28th percentile)

head circumference: 48.5 cm (77th percentile)

The last month has flown by in the Henderson household.  We've been so busy between preschool, gym classes, and home improvement projects that I've hardly had time to think about anything.  Malia's changed so much even in the last month.  The biggest change is probably in her continually growing vocabulary and in her desire to assert herself as an independent being.  She is very adamant about doing what she wants and we are constantly walking a tightrope to allow her some independence and choices, while keeping her safe and avoiding too many big messy disasters.  Sometimes you just have to take a deep breath and let her go for it, even though it's hard.  Tonight, for example, she insisted on drinking out of a big cup instead of her usual sippy cup.  When I'd try to help she'd say "Mom, Go Away!" or "Mine, Mommy Away".  Hey, it's only water, so who really cares if it ends up all over her or the floor? 

 

Malia's favorite toys right now are cars....as in my car.  She loves to sit in the front seat of my car and pretend to drive, pushing all the buttons, rocking the steering wheel back and forth, and crawling around it like a big jungle gym.  In some ways it's great because I can get some gardening done while she plays in there.  In other ways, it's not so good, as when I get back in the car to drive somewhere and forget that she's turned the music volume up to Maximum.  Yikes!  She also loves to point out other cars and loves trains, fire engines, "Big Trucks", buses, any kind of vehicle really. 

 

One of the best things we are doing right now is preschool one day a week.  It's so much fun.  Basically, it's a playgroup once a week, but with lots of cool toys, messy art projects, sensory (water) tables, and imaginative play (kitchen, tea party, cars and trucks).  She is loving it and it's giving us a fun outing one day a week.  One of the things Malia loves most at preschool is washing her hands.  We do this twice there and now she is constantly asking to "Wash Hands, Mommy...Yeah?"  I think she'd sit in the bathroom washing her hands all day if I'd let her! 

 

The other bathroom activity she is really enjoying is sitting on the big toilet.  Grandma Lala showed Malia how to sit on the big toilet at her house a couple of weeks ago and 2 days later, when we left her alone for a minute at home, we discovered her sitting on top of the toilet in our bathroom, proudly saying "Go potty".  Needless to say, we immediately went out and bought toilet locks (we both had visions of her having some kind of near-drowning incident in the potty), and I also bought a toilet insert for her.  So far, she's probably only peed in the toilet once, but we are putting her on it a lot every day (she asks at least 4-5 times a day).  I'm sure she's going to love hearing about this when she's a teenager!

 

We also recently went to the aquarium and had a wonderful time.  When we got home that night, I asked Malia about the aquarium and she immediately said "Fishes....Above" and pointed above her head (there's a part of the exhibit where you are underwater and the fish are overhead in a tank).  She also was able to tell me what friends were there with her and about some of the other things she saw.  It was really neat to actually talk with her about it.

 

Malia has also become quite the singer these days....  She learned "ring around the rosie" at gym class this week and spent the rest of the day singing "Ashes Ashes All Fall Down" and then she'd collapse in a heap.  Last night when I was putting her to bed, I sang her Twinkle Twinkle Little Star and halfway through she started singing the Eensy Weensey Spider and then proceeded to sing the ABC song after that (only ABCD though).  It was so cute. 

 

We've definitely had our ups (mostly) and a few downs lately (pulling mom's hair is one of her new tricks), but mostly she's great.  Her birthday is just a couple week's away and it's hard to believe that it's been two years.  It's gone so slow and so fast all at the same time (I know I've said this many times before). 

After a very long day yesterday (Chris went in early and got home late due to traffic), Malia made my day when she said "I Love You, Mommy" and gave me a huge smile as Chris was taking her off to bed.  I actually started crying because it was so sweet and wonderful.  She must have known I needed to hear that.  I am a very lucky Mommy!!!!!

 

Today we had a wonderful adventure out at a farm with a bunch of Mom's from the West Seattle Tots group.  Malia LOVED the miniature goats and fed them lots of treats.  We also got to go on a hay ride around the farm and Malia loved it, yelling "Hay Ride" and giggling every few minutes.  We will definitely be returning once the pumpkin patch is open because it was lots of fun.   

 

We are trying to pack in outdoor activities every day since this weather is not going to last forever.  We've been enjoying discovering new parks and pools in Seattle in the last couple of weeks and we've had a lot of fun.  It's hard to believe that in a few short weeks Malia will be starting preschool (ok, it's just a coop - one day a week), but still it's crazy that our girl is almost 2.  Time is flying by and we are making every effort to enjoy every minute of it. 

 

 

August has been a busy month.  Malia has been undergoing a rapid metamorphosis into a kid, with her verbal skills growing every day.  She is talking up a storm and learning new words constantly.  The first sign that things were changing happened a few weeks ago when instead of saying "wa wa" for water, Malia actually started saying "water".  Then the dam broke.  Today she learned "spiderweb" at the park when we spotted an enormous one in a tree.  She also says "car", "book", "bus", "cat....meow", "cow....mooo", "bear....raar", "dog....woof", flamingo, elephant, zebra, frog, spoon, fork, smoothie (booshie), cereal (seer seer), noodles (noo noos), banana (mana), buddha, and the list goes on and on and on.  Yesterday, I taught her to raise her arms and yell "Super Malia" which is something her cousin Grace was doing in North Carolina.  She now does it all the time although it sounds more like "Super Manena".  (she pronounces her name Mena most of the time, so this is kind of her nickname right now).  She also likes to climb on top of things and then throw her arms up in the air and yell "Ta Da".   I was amazed the other day when we were looking at a picture book and she pointed to everything in it and could name what she was seeing.  I've done some of that, but not a lot.  We read books constantly though, so I think she just learns from that.  One of the neatest things to happen in the last week is that she now says "Yeah" which is such a breath of fresh air after all the "no's" we've experienced.  She can tell me what she wants in a much more pleasant manner now, thank goodness.  She's also starting to sing songs.  We've been taking a music class and every morning we do a little routine from the class where we swing our arms, jump up and down, and buck, buck like a chicken.  Malia also learned to sing Rock a Bye Baby from Linda and Roland when they came down to visit a few weeks ago.  One of our favorite sunny day activities is to go lay out in the hammock together and sing Rock a Bye together.  She also can sing parts of the abc song.  She'll say "A..B...C and then skip to Now I know my ABC's next time won't you sing with me".  I'm working on getting the gap in the middle filled in, but am pretty impressed with what she has down so far.  Probably my best moment in the last week was when Malia was hanging out in bed with us one morning and she looked at me and said "Mama, I love you".  I just about fell over.  I think it was because we were reading a book where a girl is asking her Mom if she loves her, but still it was awesome.  Especially since we'd had a rough night with sleep the night before.  It made everything much better.

 

We had a wonderful family reunion last weekend with the Young side of the family.  It was great to see all the cousins, especially since none of them had met Malia.  Malia and Ava had a great time playing with dolls in the tent and seem to really enjoy hanging out together.  It's a lot of fun to watch the two of them together.  Jack loves to push Malia around in the wagon and they also had a lot of fun exploring Grandma and Grandpa's garden together.  Hopefully, I'll get some pictures posted soon.

 

It's hard to believe that in 2 months Malia will be a 2 year old.  Such a big girl and she's changing so fast.  It's a lot of fun watching her grow and learn.

We got back from our trip to North Carolina last Thursday.  It was a wonderful trip except for the travel component.  Malia did pretty well on the plane, but flying with a toddler is definitely not something we will do again anytime soon.  Fortunately, once we were in North Carolina we had a great time.  We stayed at Mary Ann's beautiful new house which made us really feel like we were on vacation.  We spent a lot of time just hanging out around the house and Malia had fun running around and playing with everyone.  She loved all of the attention and getting to meet her Great-Grandpa for the first time was a real treat.   We also had a wonderful time hanging out with Jim, Christine, Eddie, Danielle, and little Grace.  We went on several outings into Raleigh including the Museum of Natural History and the Museum of Art and both were great.   It was a wonderful visit and probably the highlight for me was just getting to spend so much time with family.  Everyone really made us feel at home and we are so thankful to have such a wonderful family back east.  Hopefully, we'll be able to visit the rest of the Henderson clan once Malia gets a little bit older.  It'll be quite an adventure to take on New York with a kid in tow, but it's something to look forward to in the future.

 

 

We've had a busy month and not a lot of time for updates here.  It's amazing how much there is to do when you are home full-time with a toddler!  In the last month, Malia's vocabulary has really exploded.  She's saying short sentences ("Mommy this" and "Daddy that" mostly) and we are able to figure out what she wants a lot more easily, making for a lot less frustration.  Of course, Malia's also become very independent and a big fan of the word "Mine" in the last month, which also makes things tricky.  There are times when her refusal to hold mommy's hand is just not negotiable, such as when we cross the street, but she lets me know with a yell of "Mine" that she's not happy about it!  Life can definitely be tough when you are a toddler, that's for sure!  On the other hand, we've had some very wonderful moments in the last month where her communication makes you feel very loved and proud.  For example, we went beachcombing with Malia last weekend and at one point Malia plunked herself down on a driftwood log, patted the log next to her and said "Daddy", patted the log on her other side and said "Mommy" and when Chris and I obliged her and sat down next to her, she smiled so sweetly at us.  Then we just sat there and watched the water and enjoyed the moment.

 

Malia and I have been taking a Waterbabies class at the local YMCA, which has been a lot of fun.  Malia's getting a lot braver about the water now and on our last beach trip, she was toddling out into some pretty impressive tidepools.  We also go to the local wading pools a lot and she's much braver now than she was a few weeks ago.  It's fun to watch her in the pool and she's usually grinning from ear to ear the whole time.  It's also good exercise for me, hauling her around in the water and lifting her up and around.  Goodness knows I need all of the exercise I can get these days!

 

We are also taking a music and dance class at a local community center which is fun.  Malia is learning how to sing, although it's really more like humming.  It's really sweet to listen to her earnestly humming away.  She can also sing "Baa Baa Black Sheep", although sometimes it doesn't sound exactly like that.  She seems to really enjoy the class and we are having a good time.

 

We celebrated cousin Jack's 2nd birthday on the 4th of July whch was kind of a double (or triple) celebration as my sister Rachel had successful surgery to save her identical twins.  The babies had a serious condition called twin-to-twin transfusion syndrome and thankfully there is a doctor in the Seattle area who specializes in a type of surgery which can help this condition.   It's now been 3 weeks since the surgery and the babies and Rachel are doing well.  If all goes well, Malia will have two more little boy cousin's arriving in early October.  It should be a lot of fun to watch all of these cousin's grow up together.  At the party, Malia and Jack had a great time playing together and yelling "Mine" at each other (although not as bad as it could have been).  Ava joined in the fun as well and at one point, all three cousins were going down the slide together.  Malia was calling Uncle Brett's dad "Grandpa" in addition to her actual Grandpa and both "Grandpa's" took turns towing Malia around in the wagon and pushing Jack on his new tricycle.  They had a great time.  Just a few more months and it will be time to celebrate Malia's 2nd birthday.  It's amazing how quickly it's flown by.

 

In other news, Malia also got a much needed haircut yesterday.  We really agonized over it because her hair was just starting to get long enough for pigtails.  Alas, Malia wouldn't tolerate the pigtails for more than a few minutes (or maybe a little longer if we were lucky) and since she was having to crane her neck to see through her bangs, I decided it was time to take her in for a trim.  Thankfully, the results are very cute and I think Malia is a lot happier.  We can finally see her beautiful blue eyes again!

 

Malia is officially 20 months old and really starting to act like a "2 year old".  She's a lot of fun (most of the time) and is keeping me very busy.  She's into absolutely everything and has become a little jungle monkey - climbing on top of everything she can in the house.  I don't know how many times a day I have to pull her down off of some object - the kitchen table, the toilet, the piano, a chair - it gets exhausting, but it's all part of being Mom to an adventurous toddler.   She's also even more of a parrot than she was a few weeks ago and she's constantly repeating things we say to her.  One of my favorite things is when she says "I Love You".  That's the best!  So far, I've avoided teaching her any bad words, but I'm sure it will happen eventually.  You definitely have to be careful about what you say around toddlers, because you'll be hearing it from them in no time at all!  She's also asking me "What's This" about 50 times a day and is so curious about everything.  I'm still working on her to NOT put everything into her mouth that she finds.  Hopefully, she'll grow out of that one eventually!

 

June has been a fun month and we've been very busy.  We've been up north a few times to visit family, including our niece Ava's 4th birthday party a week or so ago.  That was a lot of fun, with a tea party theme and kids running around, having a good time.  Malia loved trying to keep up with the big kids and really enjoyed herself.  She was exhausted by the end of the day.  She seems to worship Ava and wants to see pictures of Ava on the computer whenever we have it on.  Malia and her cousin Jack are much closer in age and are both firmly in the "Mine" phase, so they have fun, but are a little more adversarial.  It's pretty fun watching them play together though.  Jack turns 2 in a week and we will be heading up there for his party next weekend.  It's amazing that both he and Malia are almost 2 now.   I am constantly amazed at how quickly the time has flown by.

 

Yesterday, we went to a BBQ with our PEPS (Mom's) group.  It was a lot of fun, although Malia fell and got a nasty fat lip within the first 10 minutes of our arrival.  The lip was so swollen and she kept pointing to it and saying "Owie".  Poor kid.  We gave her an ice cream bar because we couldn't get her to sit still for us to put ice on it.  She loved that and ended up covered in chocolate and vanilla ice cream.  Yum. 

It's now been about 5 weeks since I stopped working and things are still great (to the surprise of a number of people, I'm not going insane and am happier than I've been in a long time).  Malia and I have been having a wonderful time for the last few weeks, as the weather's been great and we've had a lot of fun outdoor adventures.  One of our favorite activities has been going down to Alki beach and playing in the sand during low tide.  It's so much fun and Malia gets completely covered in salty sand and mud.  There are usually a bunch of other toddlers down there in the mornings so there are lots of opportunities to play with other kids as well.  We also had a big zoo adventure a few weeks ago with Daddy and the highlight of that trip was getting to see a huge grizzly bear swim right up to the viewing window and look us in the eye.  Chris immediately mapped out all of the escape routes from the exhibit, I imagined a headline in the newspaper describing a bear massacre at the zoo, and it was all too much for Malia, who started crying.  She definitely knows what bears are now and whenever she sees a stuffed bear or a picture of one in a book she says "Bear....Rarrrr!". 

 

We had a nice visit with Auntie Dori a couple of weeks ago and Malia is completely in love with her.  She wanted Dori to pick her up and snuggle her, read her books, and play with her.  It was great to see them having so much fun together.  We also made a trip over to visit Great-Grandma Edna and Noah.  Malia had fun running around their apartment and playing peekaboo with Edna.  Hopefully, we can plan more visits with them because it was great to see them.

 

On the skills front, Malia is doing really well with her words.  She's a parrot and learns new words all the time.  Some of my favorite words of hers are "Flowfer (flower)", "Dumpa (Grandpa)", "Boot (milk or bottle)", "Outsysh (Outside)", "Bug (always said with a yell or scream when she spots a bug", "Lilalalala (Lily, our dog)", "Sa (Sam, our other dog)", "Dada (Cracker)", Mommy and Daddy, and "Meena (Malia)".  I really need to start a list.  She's also starting to say two and three word sentences such as "Momma Num Num", "Mommy Outside", "Daddy Night Night".  She's also a little lovebug and managed to give kisses to two of her toddler friends in the last couple of weeks.  It was very cute.  She also loves to give her Mom and Dad kisses.  My favorite are the big, sloppy, cracker crumb ones. 

 

We also recently bought a tricycle with a pushbar and have been taking walks in the neighborhood.  Malia loves her tricycle and it's really great for me since I don't have to lean over to push her on it.  Her feet still don't reach the pedals, but she'll get there.  I also got her a doll stroller and she loves to push it around and swap her babies in and out of it. I love watching her play with the dolls and talk to them and put them down for "Night Night".  It's very sweet and neat to see her imagination already at work.

 

Malia has a little cold this week, but we still managed to get down to Alki for a walk with some friends this morning.  Malia and her friend Ian were chatting and holding hands while sitting side by side in their strollers.  It was pretty sweet watching them.  I'm still waiting for the afternoon nap to take effect today, but the cold/cough definitely makes that a challenge.  I'm hoping for the best though.