Crawl and Standing too

Yes folks, she's mobile! Break out the childproofing gadgets!!

Sylvia and her toys!

Sylvia certainly loves to play on the floor with her toys. She is crawl-scooting, and walking along the edge of the couch (well really everything she can pull up on - she prefers walking to crawling!) Since it is that "toy" time of year and some folks have been asking us what Sylvia wants for Christmas. Oh gosh, the present question...we all love to give, we all love to receive, and we try not to be huge ugly american consumers. How to do this well? I don't really have an answer, but here are some thoughts:

We are really trying to keep the pure number of toys to a minimum (small house syndrome) - but maximize a toy's longevity by having creative toys that span many developmental stages. WE LOVE HAND-ME-DOWNS AND RECYCLED TOYS!! As for new toys, books are always grand (she is into board books right now) and toys made from wood or cloth are our favorites (we are trying to steer clear of BPA and Phalate chemicals in Plastic Toys). We are also trying to avoid any toys with batteries/noises - unless that's a musical instrument! Oh, and Sylvia loves Raffi's music (yikes, but it's true! We have 3 CD's so far! Sometimes it's the only way to get her to calm down in the car). So, that being said, what to do? You choose what makes you feel groovy!

We love these catelogues/websites:

http://www.magiccabin.com/welcome.asp
http://www.novanatural.com/
http://www.threesisterstoys.com/

And a favorite local Bellingham toystore:

http://www.fairhaventoygarden.com/

Beautiful Mountains....

We had a mini vacation the second weekend in October (sorry posts are out of chronological order here :)) Where we drove over the Cascades on Hwy 20 (freaking gorgeous!) to attend a Greg Brown concert in Winthrop, then drove down to Ellensburg to visit with our friend Shappy and his kids, and then drove to Yakima to visit with our friends Claire & Gary and their kids. Quite a visit, since we drove over 2 mountain passes, pressed a pickup truck load of apples into cider, and helped butcher some of Claire's co-op goats into family dinner sized portions - yep, I actually helped! Homesteading at its best! Definitely tops all of our harvest canning we did this fall!!

Goldilocks and the Three Little Bears

Halloween! Kim made quick costumes, and Mamma Bear, Pappa Bear, and Baby Bear went walking downtown Fairhaven with Goldilocks (friend Khore) - Wheeeee! No candy for us, just lots of people watching - and then later that night Kim and Sylvia went unaccompanied to a Zombie Fest celebrating Michael Jackson's Thriller...what a crowd! Thousands showed up in their Halloween best! Fun!

Visiting Portland

Sylvia, Scott and Kim all went to Portland so Kim could go to a continuing education conference on women's health. While we were there we stayed with our dear friends Sarah and Johnny. We had a grand time eating yummy food, petting kitties, walking to their awsome community garden...wish they lived closer! We missed our other Portland friends Michele & Eric and family because the flu had a foothold in their family - better let them heal and keep our little one away from the BIG germs. We are not exactly germ-phobes, but we are careful in this H1N1 season.... So, next visit to Portland we hope to see everyone! Big Hugs to all!