That girl is a dancin’ fool!
January 2, 2009 9:14 amHalloween with the Brimber-bees
November 2, 2008 4:32 pmThere was just no way that Arden’s costume this year could live up to her sushi costume from last year, so instead we went with a family costume this year. In honor of the noble honey bees, many of which are mysteriously dying off, Penn was the beekeeper, Gilly wore a beehive, and Arden was our little bee!
She enjoyed two Halloweens, one in downtown Walnut Creek with friends and another with family at Gilly’s Uncle Tom’s and Aunt Wendy’s annual Halloween Party.
Gilly and Arden’s homemade costumes got lots of attantion while Penn got overheated in his white tyvek suit. He thoroughly enjoyed his pith helmet, however (an amazingly hard to find item!).
October full of fun already!
October 5, 2008 5:52 pmThere are already a ton of new pics up for October documenting our adventures at Oktoberfest in Clayton and at Joan’s Family Farm Pumpkin Patch in Livermore.
Just for fun, check out October last year compared to this year below:
Enjoy!
Walking… finally
10:50 amAfter a good month of taking only 7 or 8 steps at a time, Arden is finally walking regularly on her own. It was actually a fairly sudden development, sparked by some special shoes that Arden received on Friday.
Our friend Carissa suggested that Arden might feel more comfortable walking in some shoes with a hard sole, so while she and Gilly were out shopping, Carissa had Arden try on a pair of See Kai Run Melody shoes, just to see what would happen. Arden immediately proceeded to walk around the entire store unaided and refused to take the shoes off. Needless to say, Gilly happily purchased the shoes and Arden walked out of the store with them on.
I’m not sure what was so magical about those particular shoes, but Arden is now walking all over the place with or without her shoes on, so she seems to have finally embraced the idea of walking. Here’s a video clip of her in action (I took it with my phone, so you’ll have to forgive the quality). After losing her balance she reverts to her unique scooting method, but she’s perfectly capable of standing back up when she wants to.
Potty Update
September 22, 2008 9:18 pmAs many of you know, Arden has been using the potty with variable consistency from the age of 6 weeks. Recently, however, she’s had some pretty major breakthroughs. She has started to give us the potty sign (a shaken fist in the form of the ASL letter ‘T’) and is therefore using fewer and fewer diapers every day (we continue to use the biodegradable and flushable gDiapers). She’s very good about telling us when she needs to poop, and is even starting to tell us when she only needs to pee. She has even used the potty sign successfully at daycare, much to the amazement of Susan, who runs the daycare.
Some people have asked us if elimination communication (EC) is worth the extra time and trouble. Strangely enough, we don’t see it as being any more trouble than conventional diapering. In fact, we much prefer taking her to the potty than having to deal with the mess of a poopy diaper. You should see the firedrill that ensues when I (Penn) have to actually deal with a poopy diaper. Does it take extra time? Yes, I suppose so, but potty time usually involves a lot of talking, signing, and reading with Arden, so it ends up being time well spent.
We really didn’t start trying EC with a goal of early potty training (although we certainly hoped for that as a nice side effect). Our real goal was nuturing early communication with Arden and helping her learn how to control her body, both of which can be very empowering for an infant or toddler.
Anyway, the bottom line is that EC is not the hassle you might expect it to be and I can guarantee that a trip to the potty beats a diaper blowout any day. 
Arden meets Emmy
8:45 pmLast weekend, Arden got to meet a golden-globe-carrying goddess in the form of a real Emmy!
Arden’s grandfather, John Bayless, won the coveted award for Outstanding Prosthetic Makeup for a Series, Miniseries, Movie, or Special for his work on the HBO miniseries, John Adams (which if you haven’t seen yet, you should).
Arden seemed a little nervous in Emmy’s sparkling presence, but interested nonetheless.
Congratulations Grandpa John!
