She's the reincarnated Estee Lauder.

Plei, I've never seen one of those in the store, but my friend's son had one like that and loved his. At this point, I'd transition him to just about anything (barring a night time cigarette) to get him off the bottle. I'm going to have to go into my ped next month and face him in all our unweaned glory. He already suggested by the next appointment, that we ditch the bottle and I'm sweating over it.

Susan, don't stress over the verbal. Really, O's not saying anything distinguishable yet, either besides the usual babble-speak. But he inflects and babbles at me, pretty much constantly during the day. And he gets frustrated when he's trying to do something until he figures it out and he obeys simple commands (come here, give me that, drop the cat) so I know he's smart. I think he'll take his own sweet time about talking.

He drops the cat? Cool.

Help me out. I'm not going to be able to make a tiara until the children are in high school, at least. We went to the craft store and walked out with a frame for Greg, a sticker book for Kara, a doodle pad for Aidan and me with less hair from all the MUST HAVE THE PRETTIES from both children every time I touched a bead.

So, this one: [link] or this one: [link]

I weaned Franny off the breast at 1 year, when I found out I was pregnant. The timing was perfect, I plan on weaning Isaac around the same age. By then she wanted more to drink than I could give her anyway. And she still uses a pacifier sometimes, and takes a bottle at night (although she doesn't seem to mind when we give her a sippy cup instead).

Susan, the last thing I think you should do is worry about Annabel's speech. Some babies are using entire sentences by 15 months, others are still just begining to use words. Both are normal. The real question is how well does Annabel comprehend language?

Frances still uses a lot of babytalk (wa-wa for water, wah for walk, bah-bee for baby, etc, guy-go for gotta go). She's very insecure about trying out new words, too. But it's so cute when she does.

He drops the cat? Cool.

It's even cooler that that cat stopped fighting him. He can basically lay down on top of the cat and Oz doesn't respond. O's still tries to carry him when I'm not looking, though.

O's still tries to carry him when I'm not looking, though.

That's SO adorable.

Last week when I stayed home from work with Em, we went to Macy's so I could get recolorstamped at Prescriptives. She has never looked so enraptured than by all the make-up. The colors and the process. She was just so intent on seeing everything.

Perfect!

Hee! Lily likes the makeup section, but that's because it has Shiny Bright Lights. Also, the MAC counter outside Nordstroms has a disco beat.

Plei, I've never seen one of those in the store, but my friend's son had one like that and loved his.

It's the kind the hospital sent home with us. She'll MAYBE take the Avent if pressed, and hates the Nuk, as we found out last night when we realized several miles from home that we'd left the diaper bag in the house.

The cats should fear Lily's reign of terror to come, but if how she acted with Annabel is any indication, Shiva will be very good about taking it.

Deena, that first one is stunning!

The real question is how well does Annabel comprehend language?

As far as I can tell, very well, though it's hard to judge when she's not yet responding verbally. She clearly understands basic commands like "stand up," "come here," "let go of the lamp," etc.--she either obeys or darts you a look of mischief as she disobeys. Today I asked her if she was done with lunch and ready for her nap, and she took her hands away from the food tray and looked up at me expectantly. And I think she knows what I mean when I tell her we're going to the library or the ballpark or whatever, but since she's not yet able to say, "Yes, Mama, I like it when we go to the place with books/the place with all the shouting people, garlic fries for me to eat, and random activity I don't quite get the point of down on the grassy bit," I couldn't say for sure.