Old Video, New Pics

Self Portraits by Chloe Mantle

Uncle Mike here... just got back from a b-day visit with little Chloe.  Made the rookie mistake of letting her "hold" my camera. 90 images later I have plenty of pics of her eyeballs, thumbs, and nostrils.  Turns out, she thought the lens was the viewfinder. Here is the best of the best. More photos, taken by adults coming soon. 

drummer girl

back to school already!

h









whew! so much has happened in the last month! chloe has grown about an inch and is TALKING! it amazes me how many words she knows and constantly practices. my friend carrie told me once about how her son henry wakes up talking and i didn't believe her until now. chloe does the same thing! we leave books in her bed and hear her "reading" them and laughing in the morning. have spent a lot of time swimming at pap and gramma k's pool with the latest heatwave. and subsequently has become obsessed with the "pool page" in one of her picture books. she prefers to stare at it endlessly at naptime or bedtime and sometimes must snuggle with it once in the bed. she has also become attached to a baby doll that has been lying around. i think because she's seen baby cousin kyle and is now interested in all things baby. up to and including accosting random strangers and their babies at the park. she wants to hold them on her lap and hug them. most recently everything is "cute" including the grasshopper that lives in the yard, and noodles, and even the dirt. it's her way of saying she likes something. happily, she wasn't really phased at all by my going back to work and being with dad all day. she loves watching Dora and Elmo in the morning and is just a love with lots of hugs and kisses to spread around to all. she also loves the old phone that we gave her and likes to "talk" on it. mostly "hi" and "chloe" if you ask her who she's calling, she might say mama, daddy, or amy (the receptionist at my chiropractor). am looking forward to the potty training to officially begin and be over as she was dabbling with getting naked the moment she walks outside and then pooping in the dirt by the dining room window. NOT awesome. she totally loves helping whether it be emptying the dishwasher, watering the lawn, vacuuming, cleaning in general, and making cookies. she's such a big girl and i can't believe she's almost two. she just keeps getting better and better. here are some funny things that she's been saying lately:

bus and digger - current car obsession is seeing the city or school bus. we also saw a construction digger and now she associates them together.
pink! - in reference to her toenails that i paint as a bribe to trim her fingernails.
meek - means music
MAMA! - when i come home from work. priceless
um - when we ask her a question that she is thinking about. UM??? she's two!
pool - for obvious reasons
pie-papple = pineapple
bawberry = strawberry
booberry = blueberry
hah-hom = awesome
kiss it = whenever and wherever it hurts

love bugs

summer is almost over! i go back to work on the 20th. we've certainly had a jam packed summer with gym class, swim lessons, and lots of trips to the park with friends, family, and newly appointed babysitters! chloe has really been working on her vocabulary over the last few weeks and she's been much more successful at communicating with us. she gets really excited being able to point to things on tv or in a book and name them correctly. it's been a great help for us too just to know what she's talking about! there's still A LOT of conversational babbling going on so we know she's gonna be a talker!

chloe has become obsessed with band-aids and instead of putting them on her owies, she likes to stick them wherever. hence the band aid mustache above.

we found a grasshopper in the yard and had a fun time hanging out and playing with it. see the video below...too funny. very reminiscient of the snail obsession.

we also have these huge black bumblebees that live in the fence and for some reason, we find a lot of dead carcasses around the yard. she found this one and had to play with it for a bit and lord only knows...but she had to kiss it before we said goodbye so that i could throw it over the fence! otherwise she won't leave it alone!

still haven't been able to get her to smile when i say smile! i have to say "show me your teeth"
baby cousin kyle james durand arrived wednesday! august 5th 2009 at 1059am. mom and baby are doing well and are expected home on sunday. so funny because tiffany and sydney came over on monday for a long walk and a visit to the park and then i got a text wed AM around 720 saying "water broke...going to the hospital!" he wasn't expected until aug 24th, but we're all glad that he's here nonetheless. sweet little babes. he's a super snuggler! welcome to the world kyle!

Belated Father's Day Pictures

Another guest blog post. Uncle Krabs here finally coming through with father's day pictures that are more than a month old.  Kudos to Jenn who actually updates the blog with regularity.