KEENAN IS 9 MONTHS OLD

Okay, so wee Keenan is walking. Today he took 16 steps in a row. And when Zoey and Vanessa and I walk to the park holding hands and Keenan is riding along on my belly in the Baby Bjorn, he claps his hands as we sing songs. No, we didn't teach him to clap his hands.

My goodness, he is something, isn't he?

AND ZOEY MAKES THREE


Last Friday Vanessa, Keenan and I drove down to L.A. to see Nicole and Zoey with the plan to bring them back up to our house. Plans changed a little. Nicole couldn't make it this trip and she and I chatted for awhile about things, both of us concluding that it would be in Zoey's best interest to come stay with us for a long time - weeks, maybe all summer.


So, we had a lovely time with Nicole, then packed up the kids and Zoey's bike with training wheels, and headed north. As I was driving, with three crying then eventually sleeping kids in the back, all I could think was,

I AM THE LUCKIEST PERSON ON THE PLANET.

Basically, Zoey blends seamlessly from our extended family to our nuclear family. Vanessa couldn't be happier! Keenan is positively gleeful thanks to all the big sister antics. The pets have never had so much attention. Daddio and I have plenty to talk about. It is good.

In other news, I got to meet Keenan's birth father Keaton. It was really, really exciting for me. He was friendly, humble, handsome, and quite clearly the source of Keenan's man-build. Keaton is 5' 9" and has a lot of, um, shoulders. He's manly.

Keaton said he could dunk the basketball in 9th grade, but he stopped all sports about that time because he broke his femur. (He also made sure to tell me he and his other children have bad allergies, which might explain why Keenan has had a "cold" since August 15th.) Nicole said Keaton rarely smiles, but I felt like he was smiling the whole time. (Baby Keenan cried here because we gave him a bottle, then took it out of his mouth for this shot.)

Also speaking of Keenan, he's officially walking - just baby steps - but he will be 9 months old at the end of April, so this is sort of early. Jack saw him take his first step just at the end of 7 months, but now it's official. He still bear crawls, but after I let him hold my finger so he could walk along where ever he wanted to go, he's newly determined to be like one of his big sisters.

On Saturday, Daddio took Vanessa and Zoey to track practice. He packed up Nanners' trike and Zo's bike, the sand pails and shovels, a pack of sandwiches, a change of clothes, the camera and some band-aids. The girls had a blast biking the track, digging in the long jump pit, walking the steeples like balance beams and practicing pole vault (i.e., being thrown high into the air and landing in the pole vault pit).

AJ came over and the three girls played for hours in the back yard, with costumes, notes, hiding places, livestock, swimming, watermelons, Barbies, and the play house. AJ was the mom, Vanessa was the baby and Zoey was the big sister. We adults rested. For an only child, AJ does darn well managing the group dynamics.

Monday Zoey and I made cupcakes - her first time - and she was euphoric about getting to lick the bowl. We made white cupcakes for strawberry shortcake while Vanessa was at school.

I took the three kids to Costco. That was a blast. Zoey wore one of Vanessa's black velvet dresses and her red cowboy boots. Vanessa wore Zoey's black velvet leotard and her black flats.

They rode in the cart and I wore Keenan in the Baby Bjorn. He wore bunny ears. We were a chattering mass of a family, moving very slowly through Costco, thanks to me pushing a cart laden with two kids and a load of loot, not to mention me being somewhat tired with a mini stud on my chest. My best trip to Costco *ever*.

Too bad I didn't get a video of us in Costco, but I took these videos of Daddio jamming with Keenan in the living room. Enjoy.

We've been playing around a lot. Gosh it's fun having a house full of children! And, if you're wondering, Vanessa and Zoey are thoughtful and polite with each other a lot of the time. Zoey is well behaved and Vanessa gets into trouble. She can't resist following that monster will of hers, I guess.

Today, between feeding the goats at the farm, petting the kitties at the Humane Society and going to gymnastics, Vanessa had a triple time out - 9 whole minutes. You see, she walked across a puddle as I was saying, "Don't walk in that puddle please," then, while I was holding her hand, she bolted across the parking lot in front of an on-coming car, and when I retrieved her and clutched her hand she flopped in the mud next to the car as I was opening the car door, Keenan in hand. All this in the span of 3 minutes. When I finally buckled her into the car seat I said, "That scared me. No more shenanigans!" and Zoey looked on with amazement. I have no problem disciplining Zoey, but there has been no need.

Zo-Zo loves us ("You all are my best friends!"), but at night she misses her mom. We call Nicole on the phone and Zoey bursts into tears, then, a minute later, someone says, "Wanna hold Chica on your head?" and Zoey is off, laughing and having a grand time. Tonight I told her about summer camp. where kids go away for the whole summer, and about boarding school, where they go away for the school year.

Daddio pushed the two twin beds together so Zoey and Vanessa can sleep in the same room. We tell them to lie very still and be completely silent and we'll bring Milo and Max to them, which we do. Milo sleeps on Zoey's bed and Max sleeps on Vanessa's. They say, "Shut the door!" so the pets won't leave. We dutifully oblige. Everyone is happy.

FEBRUARY, MARCH, APRIL - THE CLIFF NOTES

I haven't felt much like blogging lately. Cancer has been touching our lives a bit. At the end of January we lost Uncle Allan, Aunt Kathy's husband, to brain cancer. He was diagnosed just before Thanksgiving, preventing them from coming to San Francisco to meet Keenan and be part of the family reunion. We miss you, Uncle Allan.

Granny Ernestine had some skin cancer on her face, but the Mohs surgery went quite well and she looks great!

I had some elevated blood work numbers and weird symptoms, but a CT scan didn't show any tumors, so I'm doing fine. Thank you, God! Maybe it was one or more of the viruses that seem to be plaguing the family, but it was a sobering reminder that life is precious.

This week I read an obituary for a friend in Seattle. She was diagnosed with Stage IV colon cancer after we moved to California. She had four small children.

I celebrated my 43rd birthday this year with my husband of 19 years and our two children, in our new family friendly house. It was awesome! I am reminded that this was the last birthday my brother Michael celebrated, with two small sons, and I am ever thankful to be cancer free. My nightly prayer is of thanks to God that I am a mama.

Medical stuff aside, the children are a daily delight and a great deal of entertainment. Keenan is 8 months old and walking a little bit and talking a little, too. Everything about this little person is impressive.

His physique has gone from the 5th percentile in months 1, 2, and 3 to the 75th percentile in month 6. It's the barrel chest and powerpacked quads and glutes. He is a Brick House! Not fat, just stout and coiled to spring.

He's been able to stand since birth, holding onto our fingers, but at 7 months he started pulling himself up to standing the middle of the floor, then doing squats - one! two! three! - up, down, up down, up down. Coach Hoyt tried to follow Keenan's workout, and couldn't keep up. This baby is a stud!

He has taken a step or two, but now he drops down on his hands and bear crawls to where ever he needs to go. No knees for this crawler - he uses his hands and toes. So now, if I leave the room, I hear him huffing and puffing and beatboxing down the hall after me, with an unmistakeable look of satisfaction.

Our little he-man can also say a few words: Mama, Dada, bottle (not ba-ba), bath, and hi. I swear he said diaper today on the changing table. Maybe he has some other words - he sure does talk a lot with the most adorable, upbeat inflection in his voice - but I tend to only give credit for true English words, not baby versions of words. Whatever the case, he's a very happy, chatty guy.

Vanessa is developing her vocabulary, too. This week she was using the word "approaching" in verious ways with me and Daddio. We both found that... curious. Not sure where that one came from. "Milo is approaching me to smell my food," she'd complain. Okay. She is trying to write her letters and loves to use a knife to cut things. She can do addition and subtraction up to around five or six, not on paper, in her head. We think she knows the alphabet and her numbers, but we aren't quizzing her on anything and we're not pushing her. She seems to dabble with concepts for awhile, then WHOOSH! master them all at once. Interesting kid.

Since we moved into this new house February 1st, we've been busy unpacking and getting settled. We lost our water for two days (eek!), discovered termites, hung curtains, moved furniture, seeded the lawn and repaired the sprinkler system. (See friends Jennifer and AJ in this photo, taken the weekend we moved in.)

We have also blown a lot of noses and hosted many guests, including "Auntie" Sarah, Cousin Sarah and Katsu, Granny Ernestine, Uncle Jimmy and Auntie Susan, And our French student Fleur and her family, who came through on their spring vacation in the American West. We hope to host Keenan's mother Nicole and sister Zoey this month.

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It takes me hours to write the blog, so instead I've been posting pictures on Facebook, which I can do one-handed in just minutes. See more pics there!