pleeeeeeze

Please, sir, may I have some more video?

Horse!

We kind of invited ourselves over to Catherine and Mike's house this weekend. Catherine and Mike have a menagerie of animals, including three dogs, three turtles, a parrot, fish, and recently a horse! They took us to the stable, let Linden give the horse carrots and apples, and, much to her delight, let Linden ride the horse (with her walking comfort zone aka dad).

US Thanksgiving travel

For our dear Canadian readers: US Thanksgiving always falls on the fourth Thursday of November. We went to visit Linden's and Jemma's paternal side of the extended family in Rhode Island for the holiday. It was also our last chance to fly free with both girls (as of 21 December, Linden will no longer qualify as a "lap baby"). The flights were relatively pain-free, although things did get a little sticky when Linden wanted to lie on Jemma who was on Lisa's lap






There was also the never-ending 10 minutes when Linden decided she wanted her paternal lap, not her maternal lap - but wasn't able to do the switch because we were in different rows and the plane was taxi-ing around the runway.
Once in Rhode Island, Linden and Jemma had fun being the center of attention (as always). Linden received some new toys, including a drum that she marched around with:



















Still, Linden found time to share some of her attention with Jemma:



Linden still kept up her habit of standing while eating (and preferably standing on something potentially unstable):

Grammie Jammies

Grammie made these for Linden, and they are her favorites. We have to hide them in the laundry or she pulls them out to wear night after night after night...

Haircut!

Linden had her first haircut at the "Guys and Dolls" salon on the corner of Live Oak and Ann Streets. Needless to say, she wasn't very happy about it, but managed to muddle through it without successfully getting off the chair:


The final hairdo turned out nicely, and Linden looks slightly older now:

Smiles and sleep

Jemma is pretty comfortable with her schedule:
sleep
grunt
eat
sleep
eat
sleep
grunt
play on chair
smile
eat
grunt
wide-eyed and ready to be carried
sleep in arms
grunt
scratch the face
sleep in chair
grunt
sleep
grunt
eat
sleep
grunt
look at ceiling fan
grunt
smile

Auntie 'L'

The Coynes

You've seen them before, Linden's buddies, Isabelle and Tyler. We visited them in Durham a few weeks ago, and it was fun, fun, fun for Linden.

Wheeeeee....

Need we say more?

Music and Dance

Linden loves to dance, and with her paternal grandparents in attendance, she wowed everyone with her interpretative dancing.



She also spent lots of time playing the piano at the Coyne's house a few weeks back. She wandered into the living room by herself and starting tickling the keys all by herself. I guess the "Meet the Orchestra" DVD from Baby Einstein is paying off!

Halloween

Linden didn't make it out trick-or-treating (she doesn't like any clothes, never mind a costume), but she did get to the pumpkin patch.

Sliding and bjorning

We took Linden to a Shevan's park, a great kid's area in Morehead City last weekend. She was fearless about the curvy tube slide and came flying down it a few times. On the third try, she kicked the side going down and flipped over, so she decided that was enough. She then moved on to the swingset and tried to loop herself around the set.



Meanwhile, Jemma is more accomodating with the Baby Bjorn, and when she is in it, she uses the opportunity to lovingly gaze upon her mum.

One potato, two potato

You be the judge: does Jemma look like Linden did when she was just a few weeks old? These are photos of the girls taken in the bath at about the same age.

Boxes

Linden is obsessed with sitting in empty boxes, the smaller the better. While she doesn't look happy in either of these shots, believe us, it is always her idea, even having Jemma sit with her...