Parentheticals

On Monday we had a family night. we went to see Beauty and the Beast at the library. It was a play put on by some teenage theatrical group who did a pretty good job. It was free, so for the price it was amazingly good, despite a few technical difficulties. The actors got extra time to talk to the kids before it started, and afterward Sara got to meet her favorite characters, the three silly village girls who follow Gaston around. Everyone really enjoyed it for a special family night treat. Most of this week, other than that, we spent getting ready for our trip. We made lists and packed containers and filled our car with everything we  could need. The kids were so very excited and wanted to help, although there wasn't much they could do. On Friday Alison and Mike went to the play Les Miserables at Hillcrest Highschool. They did an amazing job. It is such a good play, and they performed it with no small amount of skill. We were really happy that we went. We have purchased a year

This weekend, Gideon finally took his next steps (apparently he took his first step several weeks ago but hadn't repeated it until now). On Saturday he was standing up and saw something he wanted and took three solid steps before sort of collapse-shuffling the rest of the way. That evening he took another two steps, and Sunday afternoon he took one solid step and then collapsed on the next one. We're all very excited; he may be walking a bit by Thanksgiving! The bulk of Saturday we were participating in Extra Life, which is a charity event that Mike's work put on an instance of. It is to help the primary children's hospital. We raised over $1000 for the hospital. It was pretty fun. Mike liked best playing games with the kids. You can see some of the games we streamed here . Alison has been re-adapting to polyphasic sleep after giving it up when everyone was sick a couple weeks ago. If you've been polyphasic for more than a few months, you're supposed to be a

Gideon is a year old today! This week he has really started talking. He says very simple things, but he is actually communicating what he wants to now. Some of his favorite words are: "See!", which he says while showing us something that he is holding. The correct response is "Yes, I see it." After that happens, 50% of the time he will try to put the item in his mouth, but the other 50% of the time he will say "Throw!", and then throw it across the room. He is by far the best thrower that we have had in our family at this age. He still signs some of the time, but he mostly likes talking. He regularly summons his siblings by saying "Rea!", and he likes to say "Hi" and "Bye" to people. He also is still right on the cusp of walking. Any day he might decide that it is worth it and do it. He is not the type of baby to be bossed around, so we basically have to wait for him to be ready. Timmy has been singing "All Go