milo is the best!

dottie loves milo more than anything. when she gets up from her nap, she looks to the door for him after i come into her room and smiles and laughs as soon as he appears. ever since dottie started eating solids, milo has loved dottie more than anything. he waits patiently by her while she eats waiting for scraps to fall. pretty great relationship all in all. now dottie has figured out where milo's treats are... she can't open the cupboard on her own but as soon as it's open, she races over to grab the treats and then laughs hysterically as milo chases her around the house for a treat. i have got to get it on film so i can share it (of course, every time i take the video recorder out, the excitement stops because she gets interested in what i am doing...).

speed demon

dottie LOVES slides and she is just really starting to get the hang of things without too much help. she has taken a couple of tumbles but all in all is fearless when it comes to taking the plunge at the top...

poof!

it seems like overnight, dottie has truly become a toddler. she is walking, talking, really playing, social, .... tonight her buddy sam came over for the evening while her parents anne and michael had a date night. when sam arrived, dottie proceeded to bring him toys and almost show him around the place like a true host. then we put him in the chair for his dinner and dottie went below him and started tickling his feet and giggling. the whole thing was very cute! here are some pictures of the two of them...

and the envelope please...

we had some friends over tonight, in honor of the oscar's and a visit from our friends janey and simon buck. dottie had a ton of fun and allie even let dottie wear her red beads for the occasion. she was in heaven!

oh boy....

cathy, andy, and carter came back to sf this morning on their way to the airport and had time for breakfast before there quick trip back home. it was a quick visit but the babies know how to tear it up together as you can see from the photo...

wyatt turns 3!

wyatt turned 3 yesterday and had a super fun birthday bash to bring in his next year! dottie wore a sweet little party dress that our friend hannah made her when she was born that had little cupcakes all over it. perfect for a party, not perfect for crawling...we had to tuck her dress into her little ruffle tights in order to prevent her from getting her knees stuck in the dress. she had a ton of fun playing with all of the ride on toys at the rec center where the party was held and loved checking out all of the bigger kids. she also loved the silly straw they had for the kids...a new favorite! to see more pics from the party, click here

together again

dottie was lucky enough to see her friend carter again today and this time it was on her turf in san francisco. cathy, andy, and carter are heading up to the russian river and flew into sfo which is a hop, skip, and a jump from us luckily for dottie. they had a ton of fun together even though the time was short. carter was laughing hysterically at milo for most of the visit and both children had fun tormenting him a bit (secretly i think he liked it!). here are a couple of pics of carter and dottie from their visit. notice carter's pink pacifier he stole from dottie. LOVE the stripes as per usual!

getting bigger...

sunday we stopped by penny and jason's for a spur of the moment playdate with wyatt and malcolm. the 3 1/2 months age gap between dottie and malcolm is quickly get narrower. they crawled around after each other (and of course older and much cooler and wiser wyatt) giggling and just having a good old time. many more fun playdates to come!

fun with mom's beads

dottie has had her eyes on these beads for months now and she finally got her little paws on them this morning while we were getting ready for the day. she insisted on putting them on and really thought she looked lovely in them! she has the hugest smile on her face when she finally succeeded!

happy valentine's day

dottie decided to surprise us with this tonight...and perhaps make us feel a little guilty for leaving her with a sitter.

happy valentine's day everyone!

a day out with the girls

dottie attended her music class as per usual yesterday and afterwards we went to eat with our friends basak and lula at a little restaurant called toast in noe valley. the restaurant was a little tight so the girls ended up sitting next to each other instead of across from each other. it was pretty cute watching them steal food from each other i must say. then after lunch we went for a stroll down 24th and the food sharing continued. lula was passing dottie goldfish from her stroller and dottie was graciously accepting them.

belly laughs

our friend matt got dottie chuckling pretty hard the other day at their house when he was poking her in the belly. nothing better than some good belly laughs...

a new cousin...

today dottie's auntie stephanie and uncle paul had little baby boy, eli joseph rogers. he came 13 weeks early and weighs 1 lb 11 ounces so he will be at the hospital in the NICU for many weeks to come. both mom and baby are doing well and we can't wait to meet the newest edition to the family. dottie is super excited to have a new cousin!

crafting...

today i took a class where i learned to make the little dresses that we love to put on dottie. i was so happy with how it turned out that i had to put dottie in it right away when i got home from the class! the fabric is very dutch door press i think! our friend hannah taught the class at her company craft haven collective here in san francisco. it was fantastic and i highly recommend it to anyone who lives in san francisco. dottie is even a model on their website modeling a dress than hannah made for her.

blue

now those are some blue eyes...

any resemblance?

we were looking through old photos tonight and came across some of chuck and me as babies. what do you think, any resemblance? (the first two are of chuck and the second two of me)

tai's first b-day parteee

today we headed up to holly park for dottie's buddy tai's first birthday party. she had a terrific time playing with her friends and an even more terrific time sampling the cupcakes. i am thinking she has a sweet tooth like her mother!

minestrone

thursday we went to anna's for a lunchdate/playdate with aida and zayneb and marie and siena. dottie had good fun with all of the girls! i must say it was a little hectic to have all of that kid energy in one room. i don't know how people do it with 4 kids! anna made a lovely minestrone and grilled cheese sandwiches for all of us and we had a little picnic in the living room. zayneb was so sweet she kept on giving dottie lots of hugs and kisses.

target.

no explanation necessary...

mudflap...GONE!

dottie's hair had been getting a little out of control in the back and still kind of short on top so i decided to take the plunge today and give her a first trim. mindy and allie were over to assist. it turned out very cute (though might need a touch up here and there after her next bath) and i am hoping that very soon the hair on top will catch up with the very fast hair growth around the back. soon she will be sporting cute little braids and pigtails i hope!

daddy, we miss you...

cars are fun and all but dottie is really missing her daddy! chuck is coming home tomorrow after being gone since last wednesday. dottie is very excited (and so am i)!

pebbles & bambam

as i said in the last post, we had a fabulous time visiting our friends in LA this past week. while we were down there, we decided that carter and dottie were kind of like pebbles and bambam. carter is really physical and dottie is a little more on the philosophical side! we were also glad we waited until now to get together because the kids actually played together and had fun together. at one point they played tug of war with dottie's monkey and they were both laughing hysterically at each other. if one was into something, the other had to check it out. dottie was also very excited by this massive gorilla (we called it a monkey because of her love of monkeys) they had that was a gift from a friend when carter was born. check out these pictures to see it....

it was also great fun seeing our friend michelle while we were down there! she came over to cathy's for an evening and brought us the most delicious cupcakes from a bakery called Lark. if you are ever in silver lake in LA, you simply must try the plain vanilla cupcake with the buttercream frosting. it is really to die for!