There's a First Time for Everything

This was a big week in Buenos Aires. A week of firsts. Let's start with Caroline. She is 13 1/2 months old and is only recently interested in learning how to walk. She knows that crawling is faster and climbs and stands, but this week she finally took a step... then she took another. While she is far from walking, she has stepped. She is a stepper. She has climbed Mount Stepperest and returned. Now she's interested. Time to re-organize and move things a little bit higher.


Now to Sam. Sam had so much potential for a first this week. Unfortunately, he still goes number 2 in a diaper, and therefore doesn't get to wear his Spiderman underwear or get the marbles on top of the refrigerator. He is always first to finish his meal though.


Claire finished Kinder 4.


As for Candace and Dave, it was a joint issue: A regular spousal dispute. It was not the first spousal dispute and probably won't be the last, but Dave admitted he was wrong. How big of me! There is a first time for everything.


Lastly, let's talk about volcanoes (and I'm not returning to Sam's diaper issues). The Puyehue Volcano near Osorno, Chile erupted last week. While I wish I could claim credit for the below pictures, they came from a newspaper showing the eruption:

That's pretty awesome, right? Well, here we are over 1000 miles away suffering the effects. Both airports in Buenos Aires were closed for a few days as the ash cloud descended on Buenos Aires. While it normally wouldn't matter, school got out and a ton of families had plans to travel. Hundreds of flights have been cancelled. We're still fine as far as we know. But the city got a light dusting... and there were plenty of sore throats to go around. The below is a picture of our car this morning. And it's not just neglect of washing it... cause every car looks the same.

Thanks a lot, Chile.


Candace's contribution:


Sam

I love the way Sam talks. We spend all day everyday together, and he is a constant stream of chatter. He’s at the stage where he can articulate well what he wants to say, but there are many letter sounds he can’t make. I have tried to take a lot of videos of him talking. I know I’m used to his manner of speaking now, but it will melt my heart in the future when I watch it on video. The kids grow up so quickly. Sometimes they pass through the most adorable stages without me hardly noticing. I’m trying harder to enjoy each stage and to get it on video!

Claire’s Boutique

Claire loves to do art. She is into making art project out of random household items. She loves to display her art. I know if I let her she would cover every wall in the house with her art. I have limited her art displays to her bedroom and one wall in the playroom. Her closet doors and bedroom door are completely covered with art. She calls the playroom wall her mural and loves to add to it all the time. She is very creative. She often tells me that she wants to be an artist when she grows up. I love her enthusiasm.