16 month update.

Lorelei is quite the toddler now -- she's walking everywhere and she doesn't even use zombie arms anymore! Her very favorite activities: reading books, climbing on furniture, carrying onions ("ahh-eee") around the house, reading more books, turning the stereo on and off and dancing, putting together her car puzzle (all by herself -- well, with some supervision and encouragement), eating string cheese, reading some more books, going outside to use the elephant slide, attempting to go up and down stairs, taking baths, and maybe also reading some books.

We are very busy these days with Monday playdates, Tuesday library story time, Thursday swimming lessons, Friday open gym (hooray for climbing + trampoline jumping with safe mats to fall on!), and Saturday music classes. Good thing we have Wednesdays free! She loves trying out the slides at the park whenever we go -- which is several days a week.

Lorelei has invented and learned several new signs (more, drink, eat, Packers touchdown, tennis, yes, no, dirty, hot, chilly, giving high fives, blowing kisses) and besides "onion" attempts to say "pumpkin." She can also sing the chorus to "Boogie Shoes" ("my my my my my").

She is our very sweet, very curious, very affectionate little sweet pea! If you need a head rub or a great big hug, look no further.

new and improved moves.

Forgot to post this video of Lorelei's greatly improved dancing abilities. I like how she seems to have her own choreography: one type of movement for the chorus, another for the verses.

Kuipers Family Farm trip.

[If you're interested: DSLR still out of commission. I went to Target to buy a memory card for my other camera and discovered they don't sell the kind it requires anymore. We are now the proud owners of a brand new Nikon CoolPix.]

Apologies for the massive photo bomb you're about to experience, but Lorelei was too cute in her little Zutano dress, tights, monkey shoes, and hat made by Adria so I couldn't stop taking photos at our afternoon at the "pumpkin patch" (in fact, a farm with so much stuff to do that we didn't even come close to seeing all of it, much less doing all of the available activities).

Sandbox, but with corn:

Exploring the Gourd Arbor with Daddy:

All kinds of pumpkin fun:

Excited about the duck pond and the turkeys:

But the best part of all was THE GOATS.

Lorelei was CRAZY for the goats. She could not get enough of them. She kept turning around and exclaiming with surprise and joy that there were MORE goats.

The next series is one I like to call "Get Back Here!"

And there was one big mother goat who was very patient and sweet with Lorelei -- and got hugged as a result.

All of that, plus a talking crow and some hot mulled cider made for a perfect autumn afternoon -- and we didn't even go on the giant slide, walk in the corn maze or haunted woods, or take a hayride! I guess there's always next time.

an (almost) pictureless update.

So, sad story: my camera is broken. I'm not sure what's wrong with it, but I can't focus the lens (it just makes a weird clicking sound and then says it's in focus, but it's definitely not). This means that there have been no cute pictures of Lorelei lately, even though she's been very cute as usual. Here's what we've been doing:

*Lorelei's first time attending a birthday party where she could actually have fun with the other kids -- it took place at a tumbling gym and Lorelei discovered the wonders of "jumping" on a trampoline! Also, it was superhero themed, and she looks amazing in her Wolverine mask.

*We loved the gym so much that we decided to start going to parent/toddler open gym on Friday mornings -- what fun!

*We went back to Kite Fest! It's amazing to think about how much Lorelei has grown since last time we were there. And we made some new friends: Leo and Maia, the son and daughter of Jason's new colleague Lenny and his wife, Laura.

*We started swimming lessons again on Thursday mornings, and Lorelei is also now attending a music class on Saturdays. She's the youngest but perhaps the most earnest member of her class -- she doesn't always understand what's going on but she loves the songs they play and getting to play with all of the instruments. She's also very good at putting her mallets or shakers back in the box when the teacher sings the clean up song!

*We went to an apple orchard for a morning of fun with Leo, Maia, Jack, and Natalie. Best parts: the giant slide that was miraculously slow enough for little toddlers to enjoy, a silo filled with dried corn kernels to roll around in, and apple cider donuts. Lorelei did a great job with all kinds of crazy preschoolers running around and knocking her over (we apparently decided to go on a really busy field trip day -- plus it was cold and windy!). Jack and Natalie's mom took some pictures -- they are not the most flattering of Lorelei, I'm sorry to say, but you can tell she was having fun.

Here's hoping my camera gets fixed soon -- somebody is going to be 16 months old next week!