The other day Brooke finally placed a ring on her stacker. We have had the toy for months and thus far she has eaten them, thrown them, and looked through them ... but she hasnt actually attempted to stack them. Over the weekend she put a ring or two on here and there, but by today she is stacking them like an old pro ;) Its a great way for her to build her eye-hand coordination and has already given her the courage to start stacking some other items.

Next on the list: shape sorting!

Just got sent a link regarding a Maclaren recall.

The recall is voluntary and encompasses over a million strollers, models include: Volo, Triumph, Quest Sport, Quest Mod, Techno XT, Techno XLR, Twin Triumph, Twin Techno and Easy Traveller. According to msnbc, "Maclaren, in cooperation with the CPSC, is providing consumers and retailers free repair kits which will cover a joint on the faulty hinge mechanism."

They also say: "Consumers should stop using the strollers immediately and contact Maclaren via its Web site or by calling toll-free at (877) 688-2326, the company said."

Might want to wait until the news is a little bit older! We have a Maclaren umbrella stroller and I thought I would check out the recall - but you cant get on their website. Looks like about a million other people are trying to hit the same site I am - and we crashed it. Luckily its not our primary stroller so I'm in no rush ;)

Mealtime with Brooke is a delight. She either screams and yells "MORE" or throws every item from her tray. In addition, she has a few other fun tricks. The newest trick is the good old place-everything-on-your-head trick. She has been doing this here and there with a lot of things (like toys and books) but prefers food. I think because it will stick?

Here she is storing a piece of melon, on her melon.

She also kindly offer up pieces of food that she no longer wants. Generally she offers these things to the dog, who patiently sits next to Brooke's highchair waiting for the moment Brooke tires of what she is eating. Occasionally, she likes to offer Mommy some of her sloppy seconds.

It must be hard to be so cute, that you cant even resist your own
self. Here she is, kissing her own reflection in the microwave.

Thanks to a run of good weather we decided to do a last-minute tag along with Paige and Evan on a planned trip, and spent a few hours at the zoo visiting some of Brooke's favorite animals.

Thanks for letting us crash your adventure Paige & Evan!



Brooke checking out some monkeys. We spent most of our time watching monkeys today.
They were highly entertaining, definite show stoppers!

Today, these guys were the for sure winners:

While eating lunch on the go today, she got to try out
a new snack cup in which she actually gets to serve herself.

Brooke figured out that if she pushed the tab in (versus inserting her hand)
she could easily pour all of the contents out into the stroller.

She really enjoyed the animals today and is getting much better at linking the sound to the animal. She growled at the lion and said "oohh oohh" at the monkey. Though she is getting it, she does occasionally slip up. I showed her the zebra and she said "Roar!". I gently told her that I didnt think zebras said "roar" and she replied "ROAR!". So for now, a zebra says roar. (So does the tiger and the leopard ... but hey, even an adult cant tell you the difference between the noises a lion, tiger and leopard :)

We took Brooke to a local photo studio, Jookie, on Halloween for a charity-based photo shoot. In exchange for a donation to the Saving Tiny Hearts Society, Brooke and some of her friends got their pics taken in their adorable costumes. Since you can never have too much of kids-in-costumes, I thought I'd post them for everyone to see.

First (of course) is Brooke


Then we have Olivia & Daniel


And Paige & Evan

Brooke shared "her" window with Wrigley for a minute ... Just in time
to catch a squirrel running by.

The bonding moment was over seconds later when Brooke pushed her out
of the window, and out of her way. We have yet to master the art of
sharing.