S-C-H-O-O-L

Max is officially a preschooler now. After a lovely summer upstairs at his new school, St Mary Villa, (swimming! Puppet shows!) Max has transitioned downstairs, where the serious business occurs. At the end of the first day, I walked into the classroom and saw that Max had written his first new word (besides M-A-X), school. I said, "Oh, Max! I'm so proud of you!" and, more to his teacher, "Oh I almost feel like I'm going to cry!" Max gave me the concerned face. I had to explain to him that sometimes you feel so good that you feel like you will cry happy tears.

L.I.A. recently picked up her first full sentence -- (*Max voice*) I'm Hunnnnnngrrryyyyyyyyy. She is a sparkling conversationalist. Although her speech is still mostly unintelligible, she has been known to hold 10 minute conversations with grownups, and she makes her intentions very well understood. Today, for example, she expressed in no uncertain terms that she needs an adorable pair of Chuck Taylors to match her brother's. She was quite adamant that her purple patent mary janes were NOT THE LOOK she was going for today. She is also quite gifted with the remote control and my phone.

Now that L.I.A. is big enough to really play, the sibling love is spectacular. And I do mean a spectacle of sheer positive energy. The laughter that crosses between them is the stuff of life, truly. They do, like all good siblings, fight. Toys can become an issue. They can also, in L.I.A.'s hands, become marginally dangerous projectiles. Max has developed a fairly efficient trading system to get whatever toy he wants, that L.I.A. has, without her intense (and I do mean intense) protest. Smart boy.

Even Goldie's grown up. He is big as ever, but has turned almost completely pure white, with a fantastic day-glo orange crest on his nose and a few tattoos. We love him.

Mama and Daddy are chest deep in work. Pictures and videos are accumulating, and will be posted in a glorious bloverdose one day soon. Like before Kindergarten.

east coastin'

The Malloys have been traveling! We're at a bit of a bottleneck, blogwise. We must post pictures of our trip to South Carolina before we show you what we did in Florida, and tomorrow we're off to DC! We'll get this traffic jam cleared soonish. Meanwhile, Max is 4! According to our young hero's wishes, we celebrated his birthday by going bowling, to Target, and to Monkey Joes.

Happy Birthday L.I.A!

L.I.A. spent her first birthday with four generations of Malloys in Ruby, SC! Here we are celebrating with Uncle Mike and Aunt Gail. Much more from Ruby to come!

accessorizing

Like any proper lady, LIA knows the value of a well-placed accessory. And if you notice, she's learned some new moves since we left her!

a new era begins

Thank you Chantale for the bicycle!

chillin'

sorry for the cell phone video, but you get the picture. The Malloys have been super busy, but we'll clear the backlog soon.

Meanwhile, Max is starting to read, and LIA has a tooth. Big developments on this end!

big girl

L.I.A. has graduated to the shopping cart!

new frontiers!

L.I.A. is crawling! Slowly, and backwards, but a whole new world is opening up for our young heroine.

Also, she loves kale and spinach (and paper, and Mama's wallet, and Max's toys). Mashed potatoes and squash, not so much.

growing up so fast

L.I.A. sits up. And she says "Dada." And she weighs 15 pounds. Where does the time go?

"check the blog"

People often ask when the kids hit certain milestones, like rolling over or cutting a first tooth. I never remember, but that's why we have a blog! So for future reference, L.I.A. rolled over for the first time yesterday. There you have it, future inquirer.

Max's first mobile post

Ylp:-) km.


Max managed to post from Mama's cell phone before Mama got a chance to. He also knows how to customize Mama's ringtone, which she herself is unable to do. Never mind all that. More mobile hijinks to come!

first day of school

sniffle. Max did great though.

missed milestones

The blog, like the basil in the backyard, is shriveling in the August heat. Sorry! I will do better. Pictures to follow.

Max sits up! For a little while at least, until he loses balance and topples onto his back.

Max holds his bottle! As I don't feed him from one, I missed this completely.

Max weighs almost 17 pounds! This seemed really huge to me until I realized that I still outweigh him by about 9 times. And he still fits on a changing table. And whereas he holds my finger with his whole hand, I hold his whole forearm with mine. So in perspective, he's still a pretty tiny creature. And more adorable everyday.

Sorry for the delay...