Fall Traditions and Pumpkins=Apples

(from Terri)

Along with many other families, we ventured out to the country a few weekends ago to our favorite farm for their annual Fall Harvest and Pumpkin Patch festivities.

This is our second year visiting Fir Point Farms in Aurora, Oregon. It's barely a 20-minute drive from Portland and less crowded than some of the other farms we've visited in the past. We've decided that this is definitely one of our family's new traditions.

It was even more fun this year with Radha being more mobile, talkative and interactive. She is obsessed with kissing pumpkins (even cardboard versions of them at the grocery store, as discovered yesterday). One funny bit from our visit this time was some "fruit confusion" that Radha had between apples and pumpkins. She can certainly identify and say "apple" but when she saw all the pumpkins she kept calling them "apples". Pretty funny:

And remember this picture from October last year?

Radha was mostly still drinking momma's milk and barely eating baby rice cereal at the time. She looked up at her dad so longingly as he ate that delicious fresh apple donut!

Flash forward a year later and Radha finally gets to try the donut this time. Not surprisingly, she enjoyed every cinnamon-sugar-coated bite. (Hey, is that the same grey hoodie from last year that Ro is wearing?)

Pancakes

The latest installment of our ongoing series, Radha In the High Chair. This episode: pancakes!

Heading Up Rocky Butte

(from Terri)

It took a while but we finally put the hiking carrier to use again with a hike up Rocky Butte last weekend. The weather was just too great to pass up getting out in nature.

Our family shadows on the way up:

It was windy at the top, but the park has a nice lawn area:

Mount Hood was visible to the east:

Radha was happy to be out in nature:

Radha and I at the start of the hike. I was not used to carrying this much weight on my back, not to mention uphill, (Ro and I took turns) but it was a good workout!

Counting Song

(from Terri)

Last week Ro and I noticed that Radha was singing a song that we didn't recognize over and over. The song has hand motions with it and a very dramatic "Ahhhhhh!" towards the end. She was singing this in the living room, during meals, and during bath time. It was driving us crazy that we didn't know the song and couldn't sing along with her!

We finally got her singing on video and then asked her daycare teachers about it. Turns out it's a counting song (of course!). Silly parents, we should've guessed that.

A short video of Radha and her Babaji the other week at the park. Although not shown in this video, Radha has really taken to going down slides and stairs head first (with assistance, of course)!

Communication

(from Ro)

Radha's latest development spurt has definitely been all about communication. She's starting to talk, and also her non-verbal communication is coming along nicely. She's always been pretty focused on mental things more than physical, often preferring books over toys. Here's a snapshot of where she's at:

Words: Mama, Dada, cat, cheese, Baba (for her Grandpa), bath, lots of attempts to repeat what we're saying

Signing: "More", "Eat", and gesturing along to songs like Ittsy Bittsy Spider and 5 Little Monkeys

Body Parts she knows: Head, hair, fingers, toes, arms, eyes, ears, mouth, nose

Singing: Twinkle twinkle, 5 Little Monkeys

Animals she recognizes: Duck, dog, cat, cow, pig, sheep, snake, frog, fish, monkey

There's plenty more I'm forgetting!

"Cheese!"

Summer Fun

t's been quite the summer so far. We've been able to get out of the house much more than last year and enjoy all sorts of outdoor activities. Radha has been to The Enchanted Forest, the beach (Long Beach, WA), all sorts of parks, and the kiddie pool in our backyard. Here's a sampling of what we've been up to:

Staying cool in the kiddie pool during the heatwave.

Meeting Chippie the Chipmonk at the Enchanted Forest

Getting sand and salt water in the diaper at Long Beach