Halloween 2010

Gage was an owl and Ber was a sock monkey this year. It was Gage's first night out trick-or-treating and she loved it! We gathered first with several friends at our house and then headed out our night together. So fun to live in a neighborhood with great sidewalks and tons of doors open for business. Our group of kids included a ghost, pumpkin, yoda, cat, monkey, and spider man. We were quite a crew. Gage and Ber had a great night. (The first pic is from the field hockey Halloween practice - Gage and Ber joined in)

Gage and her bike

Gage took off this morning on her push bike to go to the dining hall - for the first time so fast that we couldn't keep up, while walking Ber. She will get her feet going and then glide with her legs up off the ground. So fun to watch her coordination grow. Gage and Ber gave Rich a camera for his birthday and we played around with it last night. Here are some of our shots. Still a lot to learn, but it will be a fun gift (for both of us ;) Ber is almost crawling... he gets up on his knees and arms and rocks back and forth but can't quite figure out what to do next.

Gage's first day of nursery school

This morning was Gage's first day at Old Deerfield Nursery School. The parents were asked to come and stay up to an hour to make the transition easier on the children. After five minutes Gage left me to play - when I said good-bye, she took a few seconds to give me a kiss but then went back to playing with her new friend, Greta. A good start! She spent the last two days with Gran while Rich and I were in faculty meetings. When I put her to bed last night and asked her what she was thankful for she told me "Gran playing trains with me." Thank you, Gran! Another year has begun - girls arrived on the floor yesterday and classes start in four days. Ber just had his 6 month appointment and is a healthy, little moose. (I am borrowing the term from a parent who saw him for the first time in three months yesterday when she came to drop her daughter off at school.)

helicopter ride

As I write this, Gage is happily playing at home with Daddy. She's been singing all morning and ate a good plate of pancakes at Polly's. We've had quite a few days though just now and are so relieved and relaxed to be at home, the four of us. On Sunday night Gage fell off a counter at the grocery store and hit her head hard on the floor. After being evaluated and completing a cat scan at Littleton hospital, the doctor sent Gage on a backboard via helicopter to Hanover for further evaluations to be done. Granddaddy Bishop was there at our side and reassuring us the whole way that it was for precautionary sake and she would be fine and we felt so lucky to have him with us. Mom sat with white knuckles the whole way down but managed to get over her fear of flying by listening to Gage giggle at the EMT's pictures of doggies on his iphone in the back. Gage was a real trooper. She held on to her Dora sticker the entire ride to Hanover and through the entire trauma team's evaluation when we were ushered into Hanover. That night she was poked and prodded, and slept with too many wires on her and a neckbrace. I NEVER want to see her looking like that again. However, by 1 am she was singing twinkle twinkle little star and when they removed her neckbrace she was happy to see it on Rufus. She charmed us and the nurses and passed all tests the following morning with flying colors. A brain MRI was done to make sure everything was doing well and she sat through four mintues in the tunnel with mommy without flinching. We were proud of our little toddler. She has a fracture in her skull but the doctors think it will heal quickly and she'll be back to normal very soon. Here are some pictures to document the event. ...and a few more of Gage and Ber taking it easy at home the next day.

two new videos

two new videos - Gage learns her last name in the first one. You have to listen closely in the beginning though. The second one is catches Ber and Gage playing. Rich gave his exam today - summer begins soon!

Ber working on head control...

Matching shirts

This was all Gage... Daddy had left his biking gear out where she could grab it.

More fun in NH...
A video of Gage enjoying time with the Davidson duo (Deke and Cora are Gage's godmother's two sweet toddlers). She had her first sleep over party with them the previous night. The other video is the following night in NH. After watching Ber having his bath in the sink - she wanted hers there too. Our little (still so close to being in the 0 percentile for size) two year old is growing up quickly. Her brother seems to be sprouting too. He's more of our little giant though and we're taking bets on when he'll overtake his sister. Gage and Ber seem to have their own secret language these days. She'll lie next to him and grin and smile and gibber and he grins right back.

We are looking forward to summer days in a couple of weeks and our trip to see family in North Carolina in less than a month!

Big girl pants

Gage had a nearly dry week in Dora the Explorer underpants. She seems to love the new change and seems so much older so suddenly. My favorite potty story came today though when Gage sat for the first time on a real toilet at the YMCA after swim lessons. She sat on it backwards (the hints you can find on the internet!) and put her hands down in front of her to hold on just as she noticed her reflection in the water... she couldn't have been happier. "ME in potty!!" was all she could say. I can only imagine what the people outside the stall were thinking. She is becoming quite the conversationalist lately and the things that come out of her mouth keep both of us giggling. Rich asked her last night what a polar bear eats and she said with certainty, "cheese." Since then he has taught her to say something all of his Bowdoin friends would appreciate...
"Gage what do polar bears eat?"
"cheese"
"yes, but what else?"
"moo cows"
"what color cows"
"pupple" (purple)
Nice Rich. :)
The little man has also made some big changes this week. Big grins greet us now each morning. His dimples are awesome. (I'm biased but they make me melt everytime he smiles). He has been going to bed at Gage's bedtime all week and other than me waking him up at 11 to feed, he only gets me up once during the night. We moved him to his own crib and this positive change in his sleeping habits happened immediately. There is now peace and quite in our house after 7:30! Tonight's peace and quiet followed Gage and Ber's first bath together. Gage couldn't have been happier. Ber seemed a bit more skeptical but had a few grins to share.

Gage at Cannon on the Tuckerbrook chair! A happy and busy spring break in NH. After a few trips to Cannon with Daddy that ended in tears but no skiing, Gage found her love of the slopes when Mommy took charge! It was a fantastic break and we enjoyed sunshine and warm temps along with fantastic snow. Life with Ber has been wonderful thus far and although we're a bit short on sleep, we've been loving visiting with grandparents and friends.

FAMILY :)

Some of the photos from Ber's first week and our trip to New Hampshire. He's feeding and sleeping pretty well and Gage has taken to her little brother (whom she refers to as "roar.") Rich has been a busy Daddy and has spent some quality time with his little girl between library trips, playground trips, and a morning open gym in Littleton. The pace of this spring break is slow but slow - good. :)

he's here!!!

Ber Bishop Calhoun arrived two days ago on March 4th at 4:34 in the morning. We are home and in love. Gage seems to think he's pretty neat but won't call him anything but "roar." We went to the drugstore this morning and I asked her if Ber was in the car. She said "noooooooooo, Roar home." She spent the last two days with Gran and Grandaddy and loved it. If asked where mommy and daddy were she replied, "momma, daeeey dockers" (mommy, daddy, at he doctors). The photo was snapped of Rich this morning. After he sat down with Ber, Gage brought him all of her other babies to be held. :)

Just a funny little story...
Gage has a little wooden shape puzzle that she likes. Under the square puzzle piece is a picture of a present. She really likes presents (perhaps something to do with Christmas, her birthday and my birthday!) But, today she pretended to pick the present up and brought it over to us. She lifted up my shirt and patted her pretend present on to my belly. "For baby" she said. :) I think she's ready!

Gage with her "baby" in her baby doll bjorn that's just like mommy's

Kissing her baby brother


Saying "cheese" for the camera

Time is hard to find these days for blogging and it has been awhile! Gage is keeping us busy, but so far has been a pretty funny and delightful two year old. (Of course she has her "moments" too.) Yesterday after I came home from a meeting with the trustees she came and sat between my legs and said "mama, blue, black, blue, black." I was being called out by my two year old for wearing two different colored socks. I can't really see my feet these days! Hopefully she was more observant than the trustees. I am enjoying teaching but am very tired from not sleeping very much. About one more month to go. Gage is acting very excited about the baby but we don't think she really knows what is about to happen. If you ask her what the baby's name is, she'll usually tell you "roarrr" ???? and then kiss the belly. Hopefully she will be as sweet when the little boy arrives. She has been going to swimming classes with me at the Y each week and is loving the water more and more. When we go by the YMCA during the week, she's quick to say "mama swim?" It is fun to listen to her voacab grow.