Sebastien at NINE months

First here's Alex at nine months with her circle of friends - December 2005.

Next here's Sebastien with his circle of friends - June 2008.And the two of them together.

Vital statistics: Length 27 inches (13th %), Weight 19 pounds 1.5 ounces (26th %), and Head Circumference 45.5 inches (56th %)

Compared with Alex: Who was known as "little buddha" because her weight was up in the 80-90%.

He has been comfortably walking holding onto two hands (fingers actually) but knows that he can crawl to get there faster - so often drops to his bottom and crawls. He knows that the front door leads to the outside world so as soon as it's open he makes a break for it. He has been sleeping through the night (7.30pm - 5.30am) alleluliah! But has to cry himself to sleep for daytime naps (unless we're in the car). He has three bottom teeth. He says Mamama indiscriminately and babbles away - especially to his sister. He is up before she is, and if her door is left open, will power-crawl in looking for her, no matter what time of morning.

4th July

Our first 4th July celebrations were back in 2005 - with a four-month old Alex.

The next two years we happened to be travelling (Canada each time) so our next July 4th celebrations were in 2008 - with a three-year old Alex and a nine-month old Sebastien.


But as we now had a preschooler to enjoy the parade more, Brett decided to join in with a
bike group he knew of.

On the morning of the parade (that started at around 1pm), f irst comes the (de)construction->

Then the re-construction->

And onto the parade!

We saw some cool ways to transport your kids and assorted coolers/chairs etc - using wagons (with and without canopies).The start of the parade with the fire-engines hanging the flag over the road.People started to line the streets early - but we still managed to squeeze into a shady spot on the corner of Lincoln and Florida - the same place we'd been three years before.One of the groups has all kinds of ways to get around the parade - here are just a few: There were quite a few fire companies - and the main thing seemed to be the water pistol attacks waged by kids from the side of the road - with retaliation by the firies (albeit with much
smaller arsenal than they'd usually use).Plenty of marching bands - at least 3 - kept the kids amused. No candy was allowed to be thrown this year.Then came the bike group - quite a bit later (almost at the end of the 2+ hour parade):
Alex had a great time - she even saw a couple of people she knew on the parade route - and Sebastien and I had a good time too - here he is after his quick nap:

Hiking Turkeyrun - the second time around.

Brett and Alex enjoyed the Turkey Run trip I organised whilst pregnant with Sebastien (and that I didn't go on) so much that we went again as a family.
It was a lot of fun - and the ladders were fun, though a bit scary with a three-year-old.At the end of our walk, but the start of the trail.

Check out all those steps - and there were many more.

Walking over the "swing-bridge" was fun - as was watching the many school-aged kids drifting down the river on tubes. Maybe next time kiddo...

Stopping for lunch - if you're three, you see a lot more things that are on the ground such as this frog that was very well camouflaged.

No rain this time.

Last time posing with Daddy - August 2007.

Last time she had some help - with her walking stick.

This time, no help needed.

Taking a break in a shallow cave. Sebastien is taking it all in.

Ah yes, the obligatory Mummy photo. Just stand a little more in front of me - that's it...dang, why aren't you taller?!

Looking forward to many more hikes - in various countries.

Leading up to our departure from the States

In between packing up the apartment (and selling furniture whilst our children slept - see another post) and getting our visas organised for China, we were trying to keep Alex and Sebastien's schedules somewhat normal. While saying goodbye to lots of people.
Alex didn't have preschool over the summer - and Mummy now knows to schedule a full day's activities instead of several half days. Instead Alex attended Swingsetters Monday and Wednesday mornings and Art Smart Kids (with Miss Pam - above) Tuesday and Thursday mornings. I've never seen so much art and craft produced! I'll devote a post to that later. Sebastien loved taking Alex to ASK because we actually went into the building (Swingsetters was a drop off and pick up where the staff buckled Alex into the car) - and he really developed a love of the playarea!
We also went to our weekly Econ BBQ at various places around town - a much needed break from all the sorting, selling, packing and dumping.
Mummy even got nature in on the action as we used a handy Orchard Downs tree as an easel for some full-on handpainting. One chinese grandmother from the next building appeared horrified that Alex was using her Petstravaganza t-shirt as a smock (read smearing her paint-loaded hands all over it).
Alex borrowed an abandoned bike and, although the rear tyre inner-tube was completely flat - such that the wheel would spin in the tyre with no traction, she managed quite well thank you - so here she is with the training wheels. Maybe we'll look at getting her something in China.
It was time to introduce Sebastien to the indoor playarea at the Mall - big sister wanted to show how everything is done. Thankfully we picked a time when the larger kids, that aren't meant to be in the playarea, weren't there.
I introduced Alex to the joys of couponing - something that isn't at all widespread in Australia. Check out the size of that smile - and why not, with free nailpolish (except tax) and a free cookie (that she got to choose the design of) from Cookies by Design, she was pretty happy with her day.
She no longer had "excursions" to Victory Park - just across the road from her preschool.

But we did manage to sneak in a few more visits to the Urbana Free Library.
Best of all were the daily (Mon - Thurs) afternoon swimming lessons at the Urbana Indoor Aquatic Center. Alex started in Goldfish, and after four weeks advanced to Sunfish. By the time we left, she was very comfortable floating on her front and back (with help), making icecream scoop hands, and kicking (though the straight legs will come later). I was quite happy with the teacher/child ratio as for two of the seasons she was in a 2:3 group.
We had a lot of support from friends in the lead up to our departure - many offers of playdates and sleepovers plus some much enjoyed meals. Although Alex said "China is a long way away." and "We're going to China - my friends will miss me - they might cry." I don't think she really knew what moving to China entailed. One friend, Emaline, moved to the other side of the States earlier in the year and Alex still asked whether she could come over for a playdate.

Success with our two "garage" sales - Brett worked like a dog to clean the apartment before we left (thanks doesn't cover it) - and we had everything worked out...except how to get from C-U to Chicago...with 7 pieces of luggage, two car seats, a double stroller and eight pieces of hand luggage...