Zora (middle name "danger")

T-R-O-U-B-L-E... or Zora, either will do.

Lately we can't leave the small one alone for 1 minute....er, make that 30 seconds.
Here is why.
She is climbing & getting into everything!
And now for the description of pix I left out...
Zora standing on... the stool, Langston's CD player, the coffee table, inside the dishwasher, & finally on the back of the sofa (yikes! hardwood floors). She has yet to have a hard fall, so I guess that's why she continues to "test the waters" so to speak.
Also, at L's hair cut last week, I kept her on my hip, but she wiggled & flailed like crazy to get down. Well, at some point I was finding those "long leftover hairs" on L. & asking the stylist to clip them, when Z. started screaming like crazy. I held her out in front of me & checked her over. I couldn't find any marks, so I looked around where she had been (on my hip) & there were 3 hot curling irons! I was pretty sure she had grabbed one, so I rushed her to the bathroom & ran cold water over her hand & arm (the one that would've touched the hot). For two days I didn't notice anything, but then a huge blister formed on her pinky finger. I felt awful, but I was holding her when it happened!
I think this one might be my dare devil. She sure loves trouble so far! :)

Zora & L just before the "Zora on the back of the sofa" incident. Ah, but she learned that from L.
Above is Zora teaching big brother a thing or two. Poor L. popped open his bottom lip helping me clean up. (his "Brad Pitt" lip, as I have dubbed it bc it's enlarged from being popped open several other times & now has scar tissue)
She (somehow) scooted herself under the little blue table, while still in the toy bin & got stuck.


And now we have a series of pix...

"Hi, mom! Watch this!"


down comes the diaper bag...out comes everything inside. She stopped to read the two books that were in there.
...but it didn't slow her down for long.

And now for "bad example Zora" photos. She loves to get out this one certain drawer in our room, empty all my work-out Ts & sit in the drawer. (What is thrilling about that, Z?)
This day, L. joined in. And I had my friend, Tara and her daughter, Emily, over for the morning. Sweet Emily finally gave in to temptation & joined her pal in "the drawer." :)

mama having a fit

this is why.

when mama teaches an evening class...

Dad manages the kids. :)

Latin Langston

The 'stash is all marker. The dark eyes, hair, & olive skin are Native American, but he looks like he just rolled in from South America, no?

hulk

Take it all off!

Here is the before & after of Langston's new hairs as of yesterday lunch-ish. Not really what I asked for, but it'll grow. And it'll be a lot cooler for the summer. And maybe he won't be called "she" for a while. :) We've raved over it & it's over his ears, so he digs it. (He has a thing with hair being shorter than/cut to fall above his ears. He hates it.) So here is Coolness with his new do.

signing time

How could I forget!? Zora also signs...more, eat, & "milk" for nurse. (Although now she says something like "bubbies" & attacks my chest, too. :) We are working on please & thank you as well as all the others L. enjoyed signing, but for now she's got the "important" ones down (those which involve being fed!). I highly recommend the "Signing Time" series for getting kids interested or helping them learn sign. It's a neat way to communicate & yet another language (ASL) for our small people to learn (pretty easily). Here's a shameless plug for the Coleman clan of Signing Time...
1.the videos are short (20 ish min.), so great for kid's attention span & those of us who only allow so much "screen time"
2.they show "all kids" (races, ages, different abilities) signing & having fun
3.your small one will be able to communicate better when he/she is non-verbal
4.your toddler will be able to sign with others who use ASL
The "story" of how the series began is pretty neat. (Go back to the above link to read it.) Happy Signing!
Here are two examples of the signing songs from the DVDs... Diaper Dance. Catepillar Dreams.