Assorted Photos and Updates

First off are some more adorable pictures of Chiara feeding herself with all the skill a 14 month-old can muster (happy birthday today, darling). Did I mention she really loves yogurt?







Last week Rachel and the kids did finger paints one day:







Simply a random cute picture:


Both children are recent dare-devils. Chiara climbs into any chair left out and stands on it or just sits to talk as she's doing here. Asher, has decided to stand on the monkey bars and try to walk across. He is genuinely disappointed that he can't stand on the playscape roof and touch the clouds. I'm doing surprisingly well with the entire endeavor.



And here's a shot of Rachel playing Guitar Hero on her birthday. Thanks, Ang.

Cool Shades and Fast Rides

Chiara loves the toy horse (Blaze) and will demand to get on it then either just bounce it up and down or ride it forward and back.


She also loves sunglasses (or other glasses for that matter). Here she is wearing Asher's sunglasses:

Pictures

Chiara has some newfound loves. Near the top of the list is hummus. She will eat it with a spoon, hands, crackers, bread, or about any other mechanism. She also delights in signing more and walks around signing it all the time. Here she is enjoying the hummus although I don't think you can truly appreciate the mess from these pictures.


Asher doing one of his most regular responsibilities: putting away the clean silverware.


Chiara's favorite book is Snuggle Puppy. You can actually start singing it from anywhere in the house if you want to call her and she will walk to wherever you are.

Sunday Bike Ride

Sunday we decided to go for our first family bike ride. We went to Tar get and got Chiara a helmet, then came home to get the bikes ready. Rachel put the trailer hitch on my bike and she changed out my pedals. David et. al had given me clipless pedals for my birthday but I've never felt comfortable with them. I also wanted to be able to go to the park with the family without needing to take a change of shoes so Rachel put my pedals back on. Perhaps in the future I'll go back to the clipless (they really do make a big difference on a ride of significant length).

Then we were ready to go. We seat-belted both Asher and Chiara into the trailer and set out. Chiara alternately fussed and laughed as she got used to the ride and after about 4 blocks, I started to feel like my right pedal was loose. I slowed down and said to Rachel, "This pedal is loose" at which point it fell onto the pavement. So Rachel transferred Chiara into the seat on her bike and they went for a ride while I walked Asher home in the bike trailer (not hard but not that fun either). On the way Ash said that he wanted to ride with Rachel too and I said that he could also ride his bike if he wanted.

So after riding on the back of Rachel's bike, Asher tried riding his bike (thanks, Ezra) for the first time. He did very well at it with the hardest part being not lifting his foot off the pedal so that he would be ready to push it on the next rotation.





I love this one with Chiara chasing him. I had to pick her up because she was so intent on catching him. And here's another cute pic of her in her new helmet (no, we didn't buy one to match her dress - that's coincidence).


And here's a little video of Ash riding his bike. Sorry for the prominent position of my bottom but you can see where Rachel was standing to shoot the video.

Chiara in her bike helmet

Ever the accessory nut, Chiara was happy to wear her bike helmet and didn't want to take it off. Shortly after we went for a bike ride which went... let's say non-traditionally. I'll write more about it and post some pictures later this week.