Crawling, "walking" and some new teeth

Lauren is definitely getting better at getting mobile. She's not crawling yet, but can get around pretty well, mostly backwards.

Here's how I found her the other morning. She's pretty good at backing herself around the house. 

And here's a video of her doing all of the right moves... except for the forward one: http://youtu.be/trdEosCS3eA

And who knows, she may decide to walk before she crawls. She loves to stand and "walk" around with someone holding her hands. Here she is with Dave today: http://youtu.be/D9KPPbwjxXo

And it's official, she's got four teeth! The two front teeth came in about two weeks ago, and the second bottom one came in last week. It also looks like she might have the Rainer space between the top two. The most important thing we're going to do is try to hang on to them...

You can see the top two teeth here, thanks to a little girl who's always willing to give us a smile.

First Day of Primary School!

Today Sophie started at the primary school! After two years at the Toddler House she is now with the "big kids." Greene Towne opened up a new classroom this year for the ADM kids (Add Day Montessori), and it's beautiful. Huge, with a separate eating area, practical life area, and movement room. She's also with some friends that were with her the first year of the Toddler House.

Here's her first day outfit, picked out without any help from mom....

The End of Summer

Sadly, summer has come to an end... But we got in as much as we could the last few weeks.

We met up with Sophie's friend Liam from school to fly a kit in Washington Square. They were both pretty good at keeping it up. And Dave got pretty good at detangling the string.

We went to the Philadelphia Folk Festival. This was the first time that we've been and it was a lot of fun. Very family-friendly. We hit the kid's stage (which is where this picture was taken). It took her a few minutes to warm up, but once she was Sophie was a dancing maniac. 

We went to the zoo with Nana and Pap Pap when they were here last weekend. We checked out the new kids zoo, where Sophie pet some goats. She also chased around some chickens (but luckily didn't catch any). 

And on the last day before school started, we hit the Camden aquarium

Bath Time

I mentioned in the previous post that Lauren loves the water. Bath time is a highlight of her day, especially now that she doesn't have to sit in the bath seat for it. She loves to reach for the water coming out of the faucet (and is fascinated when her hand goes through it), and splash her hands around like crazy, getting water everywhere. Here's a video: http://youtu.be/yVEKKRzJvDs

Post-bath butterfly

Lauren and Julia

Lauren has been spending her days with Michelle, her nanny, and Julia, our neighbor that she does the nanny share with (and her future best friend). They're getting bigger and interacting much more. Michelle is great and does a lot of activities with them every day. 

Water play is a favorite of Lauren's. She loves to splash around (I'll post pics of her in the bath soon)

Here are the future scholars at the library. Julia needs to give Lauren a little instruction on the correct way to hold a book...

Virginia

A few weeks ago we took a weekend trip down to Virginia. We were dropping Sophie off to stay with my parents for the week between summer camp and the start of the school year. It was quick but we got in a good visit with some friends.

Sophie and Jack got to spend some good time together...

As did Lauren and Vahid. He was fascinated with her and wouldn't leave her alone. I guess he was happy to have someone at his level for once. 

 We also did a hike up Hump Back Rock. Sophie did most of it on her own (although Dave might tell it differently), and I carried Lauren in the carrier. It was, as always, a beautiful view from the top.

We also hosted a BBQ at my parents house with all of my Va. friends, and their kids. Here's a pic of the growing brood! 

And of course Lexi and Sophie got to catch up.

And of course, Sophie got the royal treatment while she was with my mom and dad. What a lucky little princess.