All Hallows' Eve

Claire is speaking in sentences when pressed, but her favorite phrase is currently "What doin'?" Rides in the car often feature conversations like "What doin', Daddy?" "What doin', Claire?" "What doin', Charlotte?"... She also likes "Good LUCK!", but she often says it with a key in hand, so she might be saying "Good Lock".

All three kids enjoyed trick-or-treating and handing out candy to other children. Claire was a bit frightened of some of the decorations, but Louise, with next door neighbour Alex, raced from house to house. After a few houses, Charlotte got into the spirit of begging too.

All better

Louise seems to be fully recovered now. She is making up for lost protein with a vengeance - this morning she snacked on deli meat in the car on the way to day care.

Charlotte is making progress on potty training. She is going diaperless at daycare these days.

Princess Claire may show an interest in potty training eventually, or she may continue to think her sisters are suckers for doing themselves what others might do for them. Some pictures of the princess from today:

Middle earth

When we were two blocks away from Mummy's drop-off point this morning, Charlotte declared: "Mummy go hobbital. Bye-bye." A block later, she pointed out helpfully "green light, Daddy. Go!"

So far this week, Charlotte & Claire have been in separate classrooms. The change seems to suit both of them, and Charlotte is apparently quite happy to leave Mummy and go to day care...

Too cool

Louise continues to be on an extremely restricted diet, after pancakes proved too fat-and-protein-heavy for her stomach on Saturday. She acts like a child who is chronically tired and hungry, because she is, in fact, chronically tired and hungry. However, she still knows her own worth. On Saturday, she acknowledged that Claire wanted to spend naptime with big sister. "I'm trying to be less cool," she told us, explaining her solution to the problem.

Some pics of Charlotte from today:

On the mend

Louise went back to daycare today. Taking protein and fat out of her diet = night without vomit. We will make every effort to hold off on real food until this weekend. We sympathize with parents whose kids are on a permanently restricted diet...























Meanwhile, Charlotte is being particularly helpful to Claire:

Environmentalism

Louise's appetite has returned, but she remains ill. She woke with the pathetic cry, "I'm stuck to the bed!", but she did allow us to bathe her and change the sheets. Today she has rested and brainstormed about possibilities for her sisters' Halloween costumes. We haven't yet received results from the samples we took to the paediatrician's office.

Whether C&C are environmentalists, or Claire believes she's a princess whose feet ought not touch the ground. Either way, looks like hard work for Charlotte:

Sam and Ella

Today, Mummy turned in the paperwork for Claire to be evaluated by a speech therapist on Friday. This afternoon, Claire looked at the keyhole to the ignition switch on the car and said, with perfectly clear diction, "I need money!" Her daily report from day care and a quick, unscientific test also showed that she can recognize some letters. So although she has trouble telling the difference between a car and a shopping mall ride, perhaps Mummy was more worried than she needed to be.


















Louise went back to the doctor's office today. The good news: he didn't brush her off with "it's a virus" again. The bad news: "It might be salmonella." We don't know yet - we came home with three primary-colored test tubes that look like something out of a Hollywood movie about science. We'll send them back with stool samples and find out in a few days...

Meanwhile, she is still full of energy - perhaps she represents a new evolutionary stage, and although she enjoys food, she runs on energy that she sucks out of the ether and those around her.

Thomas is REAL!

Unfortunately, Nana and Grandad couldn't be with us this weekend as we traveled to the NC Transportation Museum to see Thomas, and to ride on one of the coaches he was pulling. All three girls sported Thomas t-shirts, thanks to Nana's generosity and thoughtfulness. (Regrettably, she wasn't able to get t-shirts for Daddy or Mummy).

We also enjoyed a neighbourhood party, despite unseasonably cold weather. Claire's good friend Asha makes a cameo appearance in a photo below.

In other news: Louise is still sick, and Mummy and Daddy are worried about her. Charlotte surprised Mummy with a sentence we didn't know she had mastered yet: "I check my email."