We've been busy!

Wow it's been a busy few weeks!  We've had lots of visitors - my dad, Uncle Ralph and his cousin, Cliff and his girlfriend Susana.... 

Clara and Uncle Cliff sharing a moment

Uncle Ralph is the first visitor who rivaled Grady in his desire to make himself heard.  At dinner, Grady started quietly saying "Everybody be quiet."  Until finally he just broke down and started crying.  We gave him a turn to talk and he talked nonstop for about 3 minutes about cars, concrete mixers, and I don't even know what else until he was mollified.

We've also been very, very busy turning our basement into a playroom for the kids.  We are done enough to post picture, but still have some work to do.

Grady was pretty excited about the chalkboard wall.  And he was beside himself at the train table ("Is this a train table?  Is this a train table?  Is this a train table?")

Dad was a huge help in laying the flooring down.  Basically his whole visit consisted of laying the floor and reading "The Worst Person in the World" to Grady in an endless loop.  He says he had fun nonetheless!

Grady's big milestone these past few weeks has been the beginning of potty training.  He has peed on the toilet a number of times now, and is always quite proud of himself for the accomplishment.  For the most part he still chooses to wear diapers, but here's the first shot of those big boy underpants.

Clara's is probably continuing to experiment with foods.  She is finally taking a bottle (hooray!) and has been trying to eat just about everything.

Moving in on Grady's cheese

No Clara!

Mmm.... Bus.

She is really, really close to moving forward.  She is just starting to do it now, but doesn't seem to have control yet over where she is going.

She's also started making saying some syllables - "Ma ma ma ma ma" and "Ba ba ba ba ba."  

Here is the capturing of some gratuitous cuteness.

Grady and Clara continue to experiment with the bounds of playing together.  Case in point -

(I really ruined the moment there.)

And some music-making.

We've been enjoying the last few weeks of summer with sprinkler runs, trips to the farmers market, sandbox playing, playground visits, and other outdoor activities. Hard to believe September is already here!