It's Hip to Be Square

Lea had her 18 month checkup at the pediatrician's office on Wednesday.  At nearly 19 months of age, Lea is 23 lbs. 12 ounces and just shy of 32 inches tall.  She's at the 50th percentile for both weight and height.  In other words, she's a complete square.

She also has a (very cute) big head:  her head circumference is around the 90th percentile.

She's also at the 100th percentile for being a redhead.  Between her red locks and her very blue eyes, I am guessing that she's dominant for Scotts-Irish.  And imp, of course, too!

Phillies Phever!

Well, it's that time of the year again--the late August run up to the post season.  And the Phillies really appear to be rising to the occasion.  The pitching is pretty darned good (even Blanton and Kendrick and the ever-heart-attack-inducing bullpen) and the offensive bats are even better.  Utley is back in the line up, Domonic Brown is taking advantage of the few at-bats he's getting, and J-Roll and Chooch are more than legendary. 

Now if Atlanta could only lose a few, we'd be happy here in the house-that-mommy-built (even though Sharon was not at her current firm and has absolutely nothing to do with the stadium construction side of its practice, her firm did built the lovely Citizen's Bank Park, and I like to point this out to Hallie every time we pass by it when we head down 95S. Sharon and I are hoping the Phils pull off a win this Sunday when we get to watch Roy Oswalt (I think) pitch from the splendor of her firm's luxury box.

Hallie, of course, has learned to love the "baseball Phillies" and can pick out their uniform and logo from afar and Lea gets excited every time I have baseball on the TV (for small breaks from Nick Jr).  And of course everyone around here is getting into the team spirit by sporting their colors, even when said colors are accompanied by merely a diaper. 

Pigtails!

Hallie has never been one for allowing us to fuss with her hair.  She will occasionally don a headband (and sometimes reposition it so that it looks like a funky space-age pair of eyeglasses) but my efforts to adorn her coif with cute little barrettes and ribbons have all been thwarted.

We do try (most mornings, when things are not crazy) to comb her hair and bring it to some semblance of order, but lately it's gotten a bit out of control.  It's in her eyes nearly all of the time now--so much so that we think it's responsible for the awful cheek-and-eye-squint-scrunch thing she's been doing lately.  I suppose annoying hair is far better than the alternative--some sort of neurological issue or tick, which, being us, of course we considered to be a possibility.  We're pretty sure though that a haircut, rather than an MRI, is in order.  And as soon as both girls (who are sleeping peacefully on the couch to the dulcet tones of Classical Baby:  The Music Show (which has been Hallie's naptime DVD ever since one of her neonatalogists gave it to her for her first birthday).  As soon as the girls wake up, we're headed to see Whitney to get Hallie a trim.

Meanwhile, however, I was convinced enough that this was a hair issue that I enlisted the support of cousin Hannah on Sunday in my effort to get Hallie to allow us to put some pigtails in her hair.  I figured that Hallie will do anything for Hannah (include teaching herself to pump her own legs on the swing so that she could be 'just like Hannah'). 

The plan seems to have worked.  Sadly, this is the best shot (which isn't saying much) of the 'do' that Hannah gave Hallie:

Hallie insisted on wearing her pigtails to bed on Sunday night and was upset when they looked a bit (more) disheveled on Monday morning.  Sharon re-did the do (to the tune of some fussing and complaining and writhing by Hallie) and we headed off to school.  Even though Hallie put up a fight about her hair at home, she was awfully proud of it when one of the kids stopped her and told her she looked really cute.  She was comparing pony tails with another little girl when I departed the school yard.

After her bath today, I combed out her hair and put it up again.  I'm still trying to get a decent picture, but this is what it looked like in the best shot I could get (please note that Hallie's mouth is crammed full of fish sticks that she was taking forever to chew):

OK--kids are up.  Off to the hair place.  I think there might be bangs in Hallie's future, but we're definitely preserving the pig tail option!

Afternoon at the Zoo

It was gorgeous out on Saturday so we decided to take the kids to the zoo after Hallie and Sharon returned from hippotherapy. We've been meaning to go all summer but the weather has been way too hot. It was quite a bit cooler, though, yesterday and a perfect day to visit the animals.

Hallie LOVES the zoo and was super excited since we haven't been there for a while. She presented us with a whole list of creatures that she wanted to see, and we made it to pretty much all of them, with the exception of the giraffes, who were not around yesterday. Hallie loved the freedom presented to her by our sit-and-stand stroller that allowed her to hop off and visit a creature or two and then hop back on the boogie board and get pushed uphill (by me, mostly).

We weren't pretty sure that Lea would really enjoy the experience this time, too. Last time we were there (in the fall), she was way too little and quite cranky. This time around, she is quite a bit bigger and really into animals of all sorts. Unfortunately, she was not thrilled by the idea of being pushed in the stroller (I think she wanted to hang out in the cages with the creatures instead) so Sharon spent a lot of the time carrying the none-too-light Lea around during our visit.

We ended our visit as we usually do: at the children's petting zoo. The kids had a blast grooming the sheep and goats.

And no visit is complete without a pony ride. Hallie looks great astride her pony:

And Lea got to take her first pony ride ever. I am pretty sure she enjoyed herself immensely!