October and November

Phoebe seems to think she belongs to the ministry of silly walks.

She’s just delighted with her own brush and dustpan! And, as you can see, she’s very helpful around the house.

Our friends Beth and Chris are having a baby at the end of December, so the Brinkmans hosted a shower for them. Most of our YABS friends were there. The kids had a great time with balloons and snacks, and Phoebe really enjoyed hanging out with John in the playroom. She thinks about John a lot…he has an easy name to say, and he’s a very dynamic playmate!

Sometimes when you’re at a party, you’ve just gotta dance!

Phoebe worked very hard at hanging the utensils on a variety of pegs.

Happily, John didn’t seem to notice that Phoebe was completely unable to keep her feet and bottom off the train track.

One morning in early November, Phoebe decided to go get the stepstool she uses for everything from getting in the way in the kitchen to reaching for the phone. She brought it over to our new coffee table (handed down from Ben and Christina when they moved) and made herself a little spot. As you can see, she was pretty proud of herself!

I promised a video of Phoebe saying “thank you,” which she learned in October. I thought it would be hard to get her to say it, but she found a medicine measuring cup in the cupboard and wanted to drink water from it. Every time I topped it off, she thanked me.

Phoebe is taking four weeks of swimming lessons on Saturday mornings. She took the same class a year ago, but it’s so much more fun now! She asks about “swimming” almost every day and tells us all about the ducks the kids get to reach for as they swim along.

The kids spend a lot of time floating and kicking on their tummies and backs. Their teacher loves songs, so most of the activities are set to music.