My sentiments exactly!

Man, it's been a loooooong week.

Talk the talk

Rachel has been talking up a storm for several months now, and while most of you have heard the wonderful singing part, you haven't heard much of her actually talking. It goes on incessantly. ALL. DAY. LONG.

So I thought I'd share.

I was showing her the pictures in her monthly letter the other day and she just started telling me what she was doing in each of the pictures. I went back to the beginning, started recording, and got her descriptions of all of the pictures.

Next stop: Mickey Mouse Club

Watch out, American Idol

Rachel started singing this in the car with me the other day, and every time it comes on she asks to hear it again.

Rachel Cougar Hendrix-Halen

She stood there for 20 minutes playing while I was folding clothes. A little rock star in the making.

Twenty Three Months

Dear Rachel,

Today, you turn twenty three months old. I can't believe that you're going to be two in a month.

Of course, as I mentioned before, you've decided to start your terrible twos early, and it's really started in earnest the last couple of weeks. There are times when you're the sweetest, happiest child in the world, then half a second later there is fire shooting from your eyes. We're trying to cope, and we really hope this temper of yours tempers itself soon, or we might have to sell you to the gypsies.

You are learning more and more words every day, and you do a really good job of repeating new words that we tell you. I can't even begin to tell you how many words you know now, but it's a lot, and you talk all the time. In fact, there are times that you talk so much, you forgot to do other things, like eat.

Your brain is also starting to make indirect connections to things. The other night we were reading "Are You My Mother" and when the baby bird sees a boat, you pointed to the area the boat was in and said "wa-wa," even though the water wasn't colored blue and didn't really look like water in the picture. You just knew that boats go in the water. Amazing.

You now understand that things are yours and ours. You'll point to something and say "It's mine" or "It's Dada's/Mama's." If we sit in the wrong chair at the table, you'll be sure to tell us who is supposed to sit there, and the other day in my car, you pointed to the passenger seat and said "It's Mama's."

You have started helping us around the house, and will regularly tell us that you want to help: "I hap!" You help Mama with the laundry, you help me water the grass (but you didn't like getting wet so much), you help with the dishes, and you help with sweeping the floor. The master plan is taking shape...bwah ha ha ha!

Finally, your coordination is getting really good. We bought you a little soccer ball this past month, and you love playing with it. You've gotten really good at dribbling the ball, and last night we ran all over the driveway with you keeping the ball under control. It was so cool to watch, and we can't wait to teach you more about the game!



Despite all the temper tantrums, we love every minute of watching you grow up. You are learning so many new things every day, it's amazing that we can keep up with you. We love you very much.

Love,
Dada

Dinner and Dancing

Rachel and I were jamming out the other night while we were eating dinner.

Pack Leader

The title comes from what Dad had to say about this video - "She really is the pack leader."

The quality isn't great because it was shot with my cell phone. But, hey, it was shot with my cell phone.

Ahhh, spring in Illinois...

Ummm, yeah. This is why we live in Texas...

A new toy...

I found a new online video tool last week through an ed tech blog that I read. Animoto is so easy to use...just upload your pictures, pick the music you want, and it does the rest! It will cut and add effects to your photos to match the music. You can do as many 30 second videos as you want for free, or you can pay $3 for a "full length" video, or pay $30 for an annual pass and create as many full length videos as you want!

Here's my first creation:

More video

Because she's just growing by leaps and bounds...

Another "too funny to pass up..."

This video was taken over the past couple of weeks. It's just too cute to leave on my hard drive. I had to share it with the world.

Oh yeah, and in the second part of the video, that's stray pieces of dog food she's playing with, just in case you couldn't tell.

Like a drunken sailor...

Yep, it's happened. Check out the video below. WHAT?! VIDEO?! Yes, yes, I know, I've been slacking on posting videos.

NEWS FLASH!

You know it's big news in the Laleman household if there's two posts in one day...



Click here for the Quicktime version of the video.

New Video!

It's been a while, I know, but I finally put together some clips from the last few months so ya'll can see what Rachel is up to now.


Click here to see the movie

If you have trouble seeing the video, you may need to upgrade to the newest version of Quicktime.

Snow birds

My parents arrive today, and it's not supposed to be 100 at any point during the weekend. In fact, it was downright chilly this morning, as is evident by this really cute hat that one of Monica's co-workers made for Rachel.

I don't know if Mom and Dad will know what to do with themselves.

I'm also going to post another video here today. Hopefully, those of you who haven't been able to view the previous ones will be able to see this one. It's an AVI file, so it should open up with your video player of choice. As for the other videos, you'll probably have to go to the Quicktime website to download the latest version.

This one was shot with my little Canon Powershot yesterday. Rachel has started reaching out to grab things on her own now instead of waiting for them to be brought to her hands.


Click here to see the video

Rollin', rollin', rollin'

This child is doing it all backwards. If we could just get her to roll the other way, we'll be set.


Click here to see the movie

The giggles

We found out over the weekend that Rachel loves it when the dog does his half-bark "huff."


Click here to see the video

More video fun...

This one's for Mom and Dad...Monica is in the video. I'm not, because I've been behind the camera. Here's Rachel at 3 months...

Click here to see the video

Fun on the weekend

Rachel and I played around on the floor this weekend...this video isn't anything flashy, it's just some stuff I threw together so everyone could see how much she's growing.


Click here to see the video