A CUT ABOVE THE REST

Cora received quite a few toys for her birthday, and though she seems equally entertained by them all, THIS toy has been James' favorite. 'Cause it's really about which of her toys HE likes, you know?...

Anyway, we were pretty impressed that after one demonstration by Daddy, James figured out how to put the pieces back together, hold one end of the bread in one hand, and cut (with back-and-forth slicing motions, even) with the other. Oh yeah, and he even does the whole chop and push like you see the chefs on TV do, moving the cut slice aside with the knife before moving on to the next cut. Maybe we're just easily impressed, but that sure seems cool for a 27-month-old.

The only downside? When he wants things put back together faster (because cutting is WAY more fun than assembling the pieces into whole foods again), he will demand, repetitively "Pieces back together?" At least we don't have to worry about him cutting Sissy. The "knife" is so toddler-friendly that I think the worst he could do is knock her over the head with it. But really, what toy ISN'T good for that? Thanks Auntie Robyn & Uncle Stephen! When we finally get out to paradise for a visit, we'll put James to work in your kitchen!

DAYCARE QUEEN

We played hooky from swim lessons tonight so that we could take our birthday girl out to dinner (to her favorite restaurant of course - The Hat)! When we picked her up from daycare, she was wearing a crown. So fitting on our little Queen, eh?

Waiting patiently for her beans and rice. And quesadilla. And tortilla chips with guacamole.

And this is how we found her when we got home. Passed out with her crown over her eyes.It's not easy being Queen.

LITTLE BITTY KITCHEN

It may have taken Jay 4+ hours to put it together last night, but it was definitely worth it! Cora was very impressed with her kitchen and shopping cart this morning!

Have fun Sissy!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY BABY DOLL!

In the short span of 12 months, you've gone from this little bitty baby doll... ...to this sweet and funny and adorable little girl!

It's been a wonderful first year sweetheart, and your doll baby face brightened each and every day of it! Wishing you a very Happy Birthday, Love Mama, Daddy, and James!

ALL ABOUT CORA: 12-MONTHS-OLD

Baby Doll, there aren't enough words in the English language to accurately describe you at this age. You keep us guessing. You keep us on our toes. You keep us laughing, and sighing, and sometimes counting to 10. We love you to pieces, and it has been an amazing first year with you! Watching you learn and grow and go through all your milestones has been an absolute pleasure, and you've surprised us on many occasions. Your personality really is something else. You are hilarious, and you know it. You know how to get a smile out of us. You know how to get away with things you shouldn't be allowed to do. When you raise your eyebrows at us, or cock that head of yours to the side like a puppy, it's all we can do not to crack up completely. You are easily excited and entertained. You still prefer company as opposed to playing on your own. You love your big brother like no other. You're still your Mama's girl, but in the past month you've started showing preference for Daddy on more and more occasions. You eat with the best of them. You are consistently the first AND last person sitting at the table. You are starting to pick up more words and gestures each week. You're learning to walk, and are becoming more daring every day. Whenever you hear music, even if it's just Daddy humming, you start dancing. Sometimes you even dance to the music in your head. You are the sweetest little thing. Thank you for being the daughter we'd always dreamed of having. Love, Mama and Daddy

12 month stats: 20 lbs even and 29 inches long, 6 teeth, nursing 6 times per day (no more MOTN feeds), and STTN about twice/week (it's a start). That's a gain of 14 lbs and 10 inches this year!

MISS MARION

We had the pleasure of meeting Sara and Philip's baby girl yesterday (she was born on June 1st)!

She is a little blonde beauty, and seems full of personality already! We wish you all the best Hendrix family! Remember, we're just "down the road" if you need anything!

SHE WORKS HARD FOR HER MONEY

Hey James, I'm pretty sure this isn't what Grambot and Grandpa had in mind when they sent Cora this doll buggy for her birthday...

THIS IS WHAT HAPPENS...

...when one of your best buddies teaches you a new trick (In Coltin's defense, he has a puppy at home. I have no doubt that if James had a dog, or even if he could watch the cats eat - their food is kept in the tool room with restricted access - he'd have learned this trick long ago.)

SMASHED?

Cora's "cake smash" was more of a "tip over and nibble", but it was cute nonetheless. She enjoyed the cake more than the frosting. While she looked a little concerned as we sang to her and brought the candle near, she was pretty pleased with the smoke when I blew it out. And when she was all finished nibbling on her birthday cake, she addressed her public like the little politician she is, pointing both her index fingers at us. "The Queen is done, thank you very much! Please pick me up and wash my hands now!"

And just for fun, here's a rare family photo (taken before the party started):

OVER THE RAINBOW

We threw a rainbow-and-sunshine-themed party for Cora this morning, and she really seemed to enjoy herself. We dressed her up in her rainbow tutu to get things started!

(Photoshoots with Cora in the armchair these days should really have a stunt double. In between silly poses and grins flashed in my direction, she just throws herself from arm to arm, scaring me to pieces, making me think she's going to flip over at any moment...)

We decided to keep this party outside, even in the Mississippi heat, so that the older kids could play on the ride-on toys (and we could keep rainbow cupcake crumbs from finding their way all over the house - I haven't tested my theory, but I bet that stuff stains!) Of course, we spread the goodies out in the sunroom to keep them somewhat cooler.Catch that rainbow theme? Yeah, we tried to make all the goodies rainbow colored. The cupcakes and the fruit skewers were the biggest hit among the adults. The munchkins seemed partial to the "choc-lit" and gummy bears...Cora was the only 1ish-year-old in attendance, but she had a slew of older boys (James, Coltin, and Manu) and a couple pretty girlies (Azure and Emma) to play with. While they all rode the Big Wheels and Trike and whatnot (well, not Emma of course, since she's only 4-months-old), Cora was content to push around the wagon. The giant, ATW RadioFlyer. The girl has no fear.We pulled her highchair outside to serve her the cake. Here's a sneak peak, though the "cake smash" photos (taken by Jay with his halfway-to-graduation present: a new lens) will be in a separate post. Rainbow crumbs galore!When she was done with her cake, she wanted to swing.(Yes, we stripped her before cake. Can you imagine having to wash cake crumbs out of a tutu? No thanks.)

Then we were on to presents! James was a big help...

Cora was completely spoiled by our friends! She got a new movie and a new book, some much-needed clothes for cool beach nights, some toys that we hope will entertain her on our long flight to Cali next month, a variety of fruits and veggies and condiments (to go with the kitchen we bought her, which we aren't giving her until her birthday), and the CUTEST little apron and chef hat (handmade by Amy). Cora has been toting around fruit and veggies all afternoon. Plastic ones, wooden ones, and even ones made of felt (again, handmade by Amy). We kept telling her to go make dinner, but she'd just gnaw on a carrot or strawberry and say "Nom!"

As the party ended, she settled in for a Happy Meal and promptly fell asleep. In her apron.Of course, it didn't last long. Not an hour later, JUST as I was climbing into bed for my own nap (while Jay and James were snoozing in his room downstairs), she was up and ready to play.

No Cora, there is no baby on the monitor. Because the baby is sitting right here. Awake.

"MORE SWIMMING?! AW-WIGHT!

Both kids were ready for more swimming this afternoon!

(I think I need to hem Cora's sleeves...)

James LOVED riding around on Daddy's back!

It's been a good first week. Four days in the pool and both kids seem to be doing well. If only it were easier to get 2-year-olds to listen to instructions. And to convince 1-year-olds that deep water is not scary.

Toward the end of lessons, Cora got sleepy...

BUT I DON'T WANNA!

Cora was SO not impressed with swim lessons yesterday. She wanted OUT. She didn't want to be held. She didn't want to go in the deep end. She could care less about kicking and floating and blowing bubbles. She wasn't even happy wandering the beach end of the kiddie pool. And she refused to wear her hat (for the first time ever). Poor Baby Doll just was not interested in any of it. We blame teething... Hopefully she WILL enjoy her splash party tomorrow to celebrate her birthday though!(Many thanks to Sophie for capturing this moment!)

HANGIN' IN K1

When we arrived at daycare this afternoon, I went into K1 to get James, and Jay headed into the nursery for Cora. I was standing there talking to James' teacher, watching the kids read at their table out of the corner of my eye, and was JUST about to ask her who the new munchkin in her class was, when I heard Jay bellow (in a somewhat teasing voice) "Where's my baby?!" So I do a double-take and realize that the new munchkin is MY munchkin (the blue shirt and lack of headband threw me off), hanging with her bro and the other big kids. Turns out that Michelle had "babynapped" Cora for some play time a few minutes earlier, since she was being fussy in the nursery. That happens pretty often, actually. Cora is always out walking the halls with whatever teacher isn't busy at the end of the day, or helping the director monitor classes, so Jay wasn't really concerned. But Cora's teacher sure did freak out! Poor Miss Rae...

The cutest thing though, was that as soon as I scooped Cora up (she started fussing for me as soon as she realized I was there), Gabriel reached out his arms for her and said "Cora! Cora! Hold baby?" So, of course, I had to sit her in his lap for a minute so he could get his snuggles. I swear she's almost as big as he is! Such a sweet "little" guy!

"SWIMMING!"

POOPIN' IN DA POTTY

After James pees in the potty, he akways yells "I did it!" Then we get him down, dry him off, pull his undies up and let him flush, wash his hands, and give him an M&M. To get to this point, we've been regularly putting him up there (when he asks to go potty, if he uses either the word pee-pee or poop, or every 30-40 minutes, depending on when he last went). The 3-day bootcamp method was great for getting him to understand the physical signs of his body telling him when he needed to go, but because he's 2-years-old, he gets distracted SO easily, that we're finding it to be much safer to just take him regularly than to always wait for him to tell us. Because sometimes he forgets.

(I snuck this photo when he wasn't looking - I haven't wanted to disturb him during this whole training process!)

After swim lessons tonight, as I was doing a deck-change for him, he told me "pee pee potty", so we rushed off to the bathroom instead, where he proceeded to pee a TON while sitting on his new foldable travel potty seat. I was extremely impressed. Not that he could hold that much pee, but that he'd held it all through swim class and saved it for the potty. GOOD boy James! And when we got home (we made a stop at Wendy's for a Frosty for Jay, since the poor guy is on a liquid diet until he has his CT scan tomorrow), I took him again, and stayed in the room with him while he read his book. All of a sudden I started smelling that familiar odor... and when I asked James if he was "All done?" he of course yelled "I did it!" and tried to leap off the potty. As I got him down, I was extremely surprised (and EXCITED) to see that he'd pooped in the potty. Oh yes folks, this is potty training at it's FINEST! Way to go buddy, we sure are proud of you!

As a reward for "poopin' in da potty", we gave James a present. A "Tow-mater" flashlight. I told him he could use it to come find Mama and Daddy in the night if he needed to pee-pee or poop. We'll see if it works. He's sleeping with it tonight...

TWO LITTLE FISHIES

(This little ruffled swimsuit was an early birthday present from her Grandma - thank you!)

Cora and James started swim lessons today, following the same 2-week program that James did last year. It was Cora's first time in a pool, and she seemed to really enjoy herself. She didn't even mind when Jay dunked her underwater during "Ring Around the Rosie". James took to the pool again like it was no big thing, wading around and playing with the toys. It's amazing how much bigger he is this year - he can stand in the "deep" end of the kiddie pool with plenty of his body above water. Wild. He seemed to feel so natural and confident that I found myself just letting him walk around, hovering further and further behind him. He even jumped off the side of the big pool into our arms (while carefully holding onto our hands). He and Coltin and Manu were quite the sight, all lined up and jumping in full-steam ahead. I think it's going to be a really fun 2 weeks for the kids. And us too, of course (as long as Jay's injury/infection doesn't get any worse).