We just went on our first trick-or-treating experience as a family tonight, and we had such a good time. Kaelia was an M&M which was quite fitting for her because she often makes the same expression on her face that the M&M guy makes on her onesie. Taelyn was Winnie the Pooh because he is one of her favorite characters these days. When we went to the costume shop to pick out an outfit, she saw the Pooh costume and immediately started saying him name over and over. Then when she tried it on, she didn't want to take off; she walked all around the store staying "Pooh" in her costume. Everyone else in the store certainly seemed to be entertained.
During our trick-or-treating extravaganza, Taelyn did a very good job of saying "trick or treat" before getting her candy (it actually sounded more like "ticky tee") and "thank you" afterward ("tay tee"). And the fact that she got candy every time she said "trick or treat" motivated her even more! When we were done, she wouldn't give up her candy bucket.
Kaelia also did very well as her sister went from house to house. She sat in the stroller, smiling as people admired her while passing by.
It was also fun to see how festive the houses were that participated in the trick-or-treating. They went all-out in decorations and setting the mood of Halloween. While one house had a smoke and bubble maker, others even had haunted rooms or pathways that we had to follow to get to the candy. We all had a wonderful time!
Last week was our October holiday where we spent a week in Hermanus, South Africa. It is a quaint town about 1.5 hours south of Capetown. Directly up against the ocean, we stayed in a beautiful 10-person house with a small group of people from our school where we spent most mornings watching wales out at sea. Hermanus is the #1 spot in the world to go wale watching.
Justin also took a trip to go shark cage diving. He was placed in a cage off the side of a boat as lots of chum was thrown in to the water to bait the great white sharks. Then when a shark came by, Justin ducked in to the water in snorkeling gear to see the shark come inches from his body. It was quite the thrill-seeking experience.
We spent a day in Capetown as well where the main focus was climbing Table Mountain. This is a decent hike that normally takes the average person about 2.5 to get to the top. Justin decided to run the trail while I took the girls up the cable car; to both of our surprise, Justin actually beat us to the top by running the trail in 30 minutes! Once we met up, he took the girls for a walk at the top of the mountain while I went for a run amongst the trails there. We witnessed some amazing views, although the fog came in quickly and ruined the visibility.
Another highlight of our trip was visiting local wineries in Hermanus. The town is very well-known for its vineyards and wine. We spent multiple afternoons going from winery to winery, trying some samples and having some lunch. The landscape was impressively beautiful as well.
Kaelia had her 4 Month doctor's appointment today. She has not gained much weight since last month (13.8 lbs. now), but she has jumped in length (24.8 inches) and head circumference (15.7 inches). Another physical feature that has emerged this month is with her hair. It is getting longer every week with a couple of curly strands.
Kaelia has been quite fascinated with her hands this month. She loves to stare at them, suck them, and manipulate random objects with them. Sometimes this even includes her sister's hair. Kaelia also had her first laugh. While sitting in her bouncer, I started singing "Who Stole the Cookie from the Cookie Jar," and when I shouted out "Kaelia," she opened up a huge grin and let out a few giggles. The more I sang the song, the more she laughed! Several days later, I was able to record her cute little chuckles.
Taelyn has been learning the alphabet and to count this past month. With her counting, she is simply reciting numbers up to five, but it is certainly a start. If we start off by saying "1," then she will respond "2." Sometimes it takes a little prodding on our part, but she will count up to five.
Taelyn understands alphabet recognition even better. She likes to spot letters on various items like her blocks, games that we have in the house, and on her alphabet puzzle. She seems to have mastered B, C, D, E, O, T, X, Y, and Z so far and continues to learn more and more letters every week. And thanks to her puzzle, she has even begun to pair letters with objects. This morning, she just said "D duck" and "O octopus" (octopus is a tough word for her, though, so it didn't exactly sound like it should - but we know what she's trying to say).
I know all parents think that their child is a genius, but we really do feel like Taelyn is taking on her numbers and alphabet earlier than most toddlers. And the fact that she loves learning with her puzzle and will initiate the learning is exciting. Who knows? Perhaps she will know the entire alphabet by the time she is two!
The best way to describe our little Kaelia this past month is with one work: smiles! She smiles all the time: when she wakes up, when she sees Mommy, Daddy, or Taelyn, when she eats, when she plays on her playmat. It is a joy to see her happy side all the time.
Kaelia is now 13.4 lbs., 24 inches long, and has a head circumference of 15 inches. She reached a couple of "firsts" this past month. She grabbed her first object - a little toy bug that hangs from the handle of her carseat. She had her first bathtime with her sister, and the two girls continue to take a bath together every night. Kaelia also seems to gravitate toward a "lovey" - a Winnie the Pooh blankie that her Grandma Walker gave her. And Kaelia started reading books. She seems quite intrigued with the bright colors and faces.
Taelyn’s past three months have been all about talking, talking, talking.She started speaking again at the start of 15 months and continued non-stop from there.Some of her favorite words include apple (with a heavy emphasis on the “a”), uh-oh, ball, and Abby (from Sesame Street).We have counted well over 20 words, not including animal sounds that she makes when we say the name of an animal (she particularly likes to say” baa” for sheep and “reow, reow” for cat, and our favorite is her “roar” for lion that she just started saying after we visited the Lion Park this past weekend).Just recently, Taelyn also used two words together: “wa ba” for water bottle, and she said “Hi Da” when she saw her daddy enter in to the car.
Activities that Taelyn loves to partake in are playing with a ball, going to a playground, playing with older toddlers, dancing, reading her books, and watching Sesame Street and Veggie Tales.Some of her favorite books are Ten Apples Up on Top and Spot Goes to the Park.And when we start up Veggie Tales, she gets very excited and starts to dance, sing, and yell with enthusiasm.After she has finished watching Sesame Street, she also gets a little hyper as she watches the different characters do their own segments of dancing.She has her own way of announcing which character will come on to dance next.For Big Bird, she yells “Ba bir,” and “Eeee” for Burt and Ernie.She makes a very raspy “uh” sound over and over for Cookie Monster because that is how his laugh sounds.She yells out “Abby” with a very high pitch when Abby comes on, and for Elmo, she either says “aye, yi, yi, yi” which is her way of singing the Elmo’s World song or she just screams at the top of her lungs because she is so excited to see him.
Taelyn also started to tickle this past month.She loves to dig her little fingers under someone’s chin and say “ticka ticka ticka ticka.”She is actually quite good at, and it does really tickle.Our favorite is when she does this to Kaelia.It’s pretty cute.
At her 18 month doctor’s appointment, Taelyn weighed 22.7 lbs.She has grown taller since then (about 32 inches), but her weight is actually less than her 15 month check-up as she loses more and more baby fat.And now Taelyn is officially finished with her baby wellness check-ups.
Our internet is pretty shady here, so I am not sure if Taelyn's Smilebox will appear below. If you do not see it, there should at least be a small white rectangular box to click on. Please send me an email if you have any problems viewing it. Enjoy!
We had our first safari experience this past weekend as we ventured over to the Lion Park, only 5 miles away from our house.It was an amazing adventure.First, we drove throughout the fields and found zebras, springbok, blesbok, gemsbok, jackals, and wildebeest.Then we drove past the hyena and cheetah pens on our way to the lion prides.
There were four separate sections of lion pens that we assumed we would just drive by and see the lions from beyond a fence.But when the guards started to open the fence door and motion up through, we soon learned that we were going to have a close encounter with the lions.Quickly, we rolled our windows back up as two very large white lions strolled on by.In the second pen, about five or six lions were congregated at the door of the fence, waiting for our arrival.As we drove in, they completely surrounded our car, brushing along the side as they walked in circles around us.It was amazing.
After driving through the park, we then headed over to the walking section where we saw more jackals along with ostrich and made our way over to the giraffe feeding area.Taelyn was instantly intrigued by the animals.So we bought a bag of food and let her attempt to feed them.She grabbed the food and stuck her hand out, expecting the experience to be similar to feeding a dog.But then the giraffe’s tongue came down, suctioned to her hand, and then slid off, leaving plenty of saliva behind.She thought this was hilarious and yelped out with excitement.After a few tries, she started to anticipate the tongue coming down and sticking to her, so she would through the food toward the giraffe at the last second to try to escape him.She absolutely loved it!
To end the trip, we headed over to the lion cub pen, where we took Taelyn in to pet the lion cubs.At this point, she was a bit tired out from all the excitement over at the giraffe area and wasn’t as interested in the cubs.But Justin and I came in to pet them as well, and we thought they were pretty neat.
Overall, we had a wonderful time on our first safari and are eager to go on larger and longer trips in the near future.
Justin and Sarah have been married since 2004, and have been on an exciting adventure ever since. They love to run and travel and have lived in Colorado, China, South Africa, Qatar, and India before moving back to China where they currently reside. They have worked in education at various international schools and love to travel the world along the way. They have also been blessed with two beautiful girls, Taelyn and Kaelia, who keep life joyful and busy!
