This girl is GOOD

Chloe continues to amaze me with her ever developing skills and comprehension. Tonight Matt read her a story before bedtime and then Chloe slid off his lap, almost successfully attempted to put the book in place on her bookshelf, turned her doorknob and opened the door, walked into the room where Matt's folks are staying and finding no one she then peered into all the other upstairs rooms. Then she went to the gate, which Matt only recently built, and fiddled with the lock!

As Matt's dad would say, "Clever girl!" What have your kids done that surprised you?

Another injury to report

Poor little Chloe! Today she tripped going into the kitchen and fell smack dab on our iron-shelving-unit (our makeshift pantry). So, now she has a big bruise on her forehead and a matching bruise on the bottom of her right cheek.

Sigh. I have a feeling this is the beginning of many more tumbles, bumps, and bruises. Since she's still learning to walk, she totters and loses her balance often. And she's so heavy and tall (past the 97th percentile) that she fall easily. Usually she lands on her bum and there's no harm done.

Do I need to do more baby-proofing? Or just watch her more closely? Help me, you experienced mums!

Our first semi-serious injury

It's hard to see in this photo, but Chloe garnered a cartoon-sized lump on her forehead this morning. She was sitting in the hallway playing and then next thing I know, she's screaming her head off. Turns out she leaned forward to get her balance to stand up, misjudged the distance to the doorjamb, and konked her head right into the hard old wood door frame.

A knot on her head swelled up so quickly we both cried and cried and I tried to convince my mother-in-law to let me take Chloe to the hospital. After 15 minutes, and many cold compresses later, Chloe was almost back to normal. She was playing like nothing had ever happened! The bump has since gone down and now there's only a purplish bruise on her lovely forehead. Thank goodness she's got bangs to cover up the bruise. I was afraid the nursery workers would give me evil looks for child neglect or something like that.

Boy, babies sure are resilient! I can't believe how much it upset me to see her hurt. Can you imagine watching a child fight cancer and lose? How heartbreaking! Thank the Lord for my healthy, happy and TOUGH baby girl!

Recipe ideas for September

Ok, I've been a slacker with the recipe blog lately. I admit it. August has come and is almost gone and we haven't done any August recipes.

So, to get a jump on September, I need your help. What type of recipes would you like for September? Here are the themes in my brain:

* Fall Apple recipes
* Soups
* Comfort foods
* Simple Suppers (5 ingredients or less)

What are your thoughts? Any other ideas for next month's recipe theme?

Poor Pluto!

It's a sad day for solar system teachers. The ninth planet, Pluto, has just been demoted to the title "dwarf planet" and is no longer considered a true-bonafide planet by scientists. Today the International Astronomical Union made history by voting to create new guidelines for the definition of a planet and hence stripped Pluto of it's planetary status. Read all about it in today's article on the BBC website. So, now instead of 9 planets in our solar system we have 8. I can no longer use the mnemonic device to help students remember 9 planets (My Very Educated Mother Just Showed Us Nine Planets) since the 9th planet is not a planet now. :(

Poor Pluto! What a major rejection. Any thoughts of remorse over losing our very small icy distant planet?

Eurorails Mania

Matt's folks are here visiting and one of our new traditions is to play a long game of EuroRails. It takes several evenings of play to finish it but it's well worth the time and effort. The basic premise of the game is to build railroad track throughout Europe and then to make money delivering goods to various European cities. We're learning geography as we play since the cities are all listed in their native language (Vienna = Wien, Munich = Munchen) and the country borders aren't marked. We're still in the midst of play, so I'll let you know who wins! The winner will be the first to connect 7 major cities and earn 150 million euros.

Have any of you heard of EuroRails? What unusual games do you play with your family?

Weekend Visit

We had a splendid but quick weekend visit with Matt's bro and family. We were in time to see our nephew and niece, Zach and Paige, perform in a choral concert Friday night. Plus we did some shopping, ate ice cream, played games, and attended church together.

Chloe's cousin, Grace, is just 6 months older than her. Grace is walking well and talking up a storm! She's a cute little peanut and is getting very good at saying "Chloe". They still don't interact much together (though Chloe was quick to grab toys away from Grace and Grace looked sad and hurt).

We had such a great time visiting, that I hardly took any photos! Check out our scant pictures from the visit here or by clicking the picture below.

Happy 4th Anniversary to us!

Matthew Clive Horn and I celebrate our 4th wedding anniversary today. As I don't have a scanner, you'll have to settle for pictures of pictures (I took photos today of our wedding pictures just for you bloggers so forgive the poor resolution).

I can hardly believe it's been four years all ready! I am married to the most gracious, humble, and kind husband in the entire world. Matt is my best friend and the man I admire most in the world.

Thank you esposon, for four wonderful years. It feels more like four weeks than four years. Here's to fifty more!

The Big Birthday Weekend

Well, it's Wednesday and the birthday festivities have concluded. My mom and grandmother traveled from Wisconsin to help celebrate and it was fantastic to have them around!

After a day or so, Chloe warmed up to both her grandmas and started giving them hugs and smiling for them. She also is walking ALL OVER THE PLACE! It's so funny to watch her get her balance and change directions in the midst of her tottering steps. We shared many a hearty laugh observing her walking and climbing antics.

Besides the birthday party, we went shopping, played Scattergories, got wet with Chloe in our town's interactive fountain, and just hung around enjoying Chloe. As you can imagine, we took loads of pictures. Check them out here in my photo album blog or click the photo below.

Happy 1st Birthday Chloe!

My family is still in town visiting but I wanted to quickly post a few photos for you of Chloe's first birthday party. We just had family and friends for a cookout and cake. No party theme or anything, just streamers, balloons, and a picture chronology of Chloe's growth through the months.

Chloe didn't react to her cake as I predicted. She didn't want anything to do with it! We think it's because the frosting was a strange consistency or because everyone was looking at her and pressuring her. After the kids went outside, Matt placed just a piece of cake on Chloe's tray and then she ate it like it was nothing special. :) No attacking or devouring - just her regular eating style.

Enjoy the photos, we'll post more later this week.

NO MORE BOTTLES!

Yesterday I bravely put away all of Chloe's bottles and gave her nothing but sippy cups all day. Surprisingly, she didn't put up a fuss even for her evening bottle. We bought some bright new sippy cups for her yesterday, maybe she was too busy exploring them to worry about her bottles?

Anyways, I am doing a 1/2 formula 1/2 whole milk recipe with her to get her tummy used to the cow's milk.

Freedom!

Transitions

Transitioooooons, transitions! (to be sung Fiddler of the Roof style)

With less than a week left before Chloe's momentous birthday, she's all ready transitioning to "big girl" status. Today she skipped her morning nap, which was largely due to a john deere backhoe digging across the street which she couldn't stop watching and talking to, and I'm forcing her to abandon bottles.

I've been giving Chloe a sippy cup since about 9 months so she's very familiar with the cup routine. But she doesn't seem to want to drink it when it contains formula. Today she's hardly drunk (or drank, my grammar expert isn't around to assist me) any liquids even though I've been following her around like a hound-dog with her cup. Tomorrow I can go to the grocery store and get some milk - maybe that will do the trick. Don't tell my doctor that I'm giving her cow's milk 6 days before her birthday! :) A gal pal of mine suggests putting a bit of Ovaltine in with the milk to help her transition. Any suggestions oh wise and experienced bloggers?

Please, pretty please

Chloe signed please today! Even though she continues to shock me with her awareness, this one really took me by surprise. In my noviceness as a mom, I started showing her the sign for please several months ago but got tired of it when she just stared at me blankly.

Tonight while Matt and I were eating supper and Chloe was cruising around us begging for crumbs (I do feed her, she had just eaten earlier than us tonight since Matt got home late) Matt pleaded, "Please?" to Chloe and did the sign. Chloe signed please like a pro!

Now it's our task to be consistent so we can keep this signing jazz up. The only other sign I know is thank you, so that will be next. Have you tried sign language with your children? If so, do you have any tips?

Blogging hiatus

Hello folks! Just wanted to let you all know that I have been and still am very busy doing online work for Concordia University. Because of this part-time work, I won't be posting much on Chloe Chronicles for the coming weeks.

Curious as to my work? Click the link to Concordia's Instructional Design Center and then click WebCT4 Interactive tutorials. Since Concordia just upgraded to WebCT6, I'm recording several new tutorials for them.

I'm very grateful for the work but there's a pressure crunch right now to get these done before the fall term begins. Pray that I get them all done on time!

Yard sale steals

Since Matt was off today, we ran some errands and then scavenged at a few yard sales. It was quite a treat for me to drive around to sales. Usually Chloe and I walk and walk and walk and walk and we don't get to choose whether or not the sale is worthwhile.

Well, today we found an AMAZING yard sale! An old teacher lady was moving out of her home and getting rid of some prime merchandise. We bought this retro blackboard for Chloe's room as well as some cool old stationery (the kind that folds up into an envelope), great children's books, antique tins, hand weights (which I've been wanting since I started my exercise resurgence) and other neat miscellaneous items.

One thing I've puzzled about Ohio is that folks out here don't say rummage sale. They say yard or garage sale. Weird, eh? Have you found any good rummaging deals lately?

New walking photos

We finally captured Chloe's steps on camera! There's only one good shot of her actual walking; the other is an after-walk shot. This girl is so fast Matt literally took almost 10 pictures before we got a keeper. Should I be worried that she's fast already? What am I in for!?!

Sleeping poses

Chloe is such a wiggle worm when she's sleeping and awake! Matt and I constantly chuckle as we sneak in to her room and discover her new sleeping position.

My favorite pose is when she sticks her bum up in the air . . . that's exactly how I used to sleep as a baby girl. Enjoy these photos; hope they don't make you too sleepy!

Another milestone bites the dust

Big news here in the Horn household . . .

CHLOE WALKED THIS MORNING!!!!!

Here's the shakedown. Chloe was standing near the windowsill looking outside as she regularly does. I was sitting on the floor nearby and I held out my arms to her (as I regularly try to coax her to walk to me) when she took 3-4 stumbling steps to me and then fell into my arms. I put her back near the window and tried to get her to walk a second time and she did!

I was so surprised that I didn't even have the camera ready so I missed the photographic moment. I'll try to recreate the first steps and capture it for you all. She looked so cute and excited as she walked to me!

So, her official walking date is July 24, 2006. That means she's hit her milestone at 11 1/4 months old. When did your child/children take their first steps?

Late recipe call for July!

I'm way behind on the recipe blog for July! I've been busy doing some part-time computer work lately and the recipe blog totally slipped my mind. Be sure to check out the fruity recipes from June:

Fruit Ices
Stars and Stripes Torte
Quick and Easy Strawberry Jam
Fruit Sauce for Pancakes/Waffles
Fabulous Four Fruit Crumble
Red, White and Blue Berry Cake
Rhubarb Pudding Cake
Rhubarb Crisp
Rhubarb Streusel Cake
Blueberry French Toast
Blueberry Coffee Cake
Basic Fruit Shake
Strawberry Banana Smoothie
Apple Berry Salsa with Cinammon Chips

July's theme will be Fresh Summer Herbs. Send your recipe submissions to me via email at aliciahorn@hotmail.com.

Our new stray cat

If any of you know my husband outside the classroom then you know he's an animal lover. Cats are his favorite. His last cat, Rocky, had been with him since his NBBC days and it was heartbreaking when he parted with his orange tabby shortly before our marriage.

Last week when a stray black cat lingered on our porch for some attention, Matt was thrilled! And although I've always said (like Ben Stiller's character in Meet the Parents) I was more of a dog person than a cat person, this stray cat has wiggled into my heart. I love it that she rubs her body around my ankles to solicit some pets. She's a very affectionate animal. It's also fun to watch Chloe get excited about the cat and try, in her violent way, to pet her.

Tonight we bought food and plastic bowls, and named her so she is now officially ours. We've made the commitment to take care of her. We've dubbed her "Cleo" so she can match our C-named offspring theme.

Do you have any pets? If so, how did they steal your heart?