Month Twenty Seven

Month Twenty Seven
There are two albums this month. One featuring the highlight of the month for Roan--a trip down to ride Thomas the Train (click here to see the Day Out with Thomas album) and one with photos from the rest of the month.





Video Clips
Here's a video clip from the day before we went to ride Thomas...he's very excited!

Here's Roan talking about riding Thomas after the big event...

Day out with Thomas

Thomas Album

Roan got to meet the love of his life--Thomas. We spent a day with "Tomis" and rode on the special Thomas train.

Amali Month Two

Month Two
This month saw lots of smiles and even some giggles. The highlight of the month was a visit from Nana. Mali also kept busy trying to use her hands.

Month Twenty Six

Month Twenty Six
This month was a month of adjustment for Roan to having a new sister. Nana also came for a visit and Dada went to Sri Lanka for 13 days. So Roan got very familiar with airports! Roan worked on sentences this month. We rode the train at the zoo one day and he's been talking about it nearly every day since "Baba ride choo-choo with Nana at zoo".

Rest of Amali's Month One

Month One
Here are some photos from the rest of Mali's first month with us.

Amali's First Two Weeks

First Two Weeks
Here are some photos from my first two weeks. I slept through much of the first week, but became much more alert by the second week. Grandma and Granddad came for a visit, too.

Do they look alike??

Amali on left, Roan on the right.

Amali's Birth

Birth Photos

My name is Amali Jacklyn Arendtsz, and I was born on Saturday, June 09th, at 12:10pm PST.

I was a day overdue, and weighed 8 lbs 10 ounces, and measured 20 inches in length. I came out screaming at the world (unlike my big brother).

They put too much milk in the cappuccino again, so as you can see, I'm somewhat on the fairer side.

Month Twenty Five

Month Twenty Five
Of course the highlight of this month was the arrival of Roan's new baby sister. He wasn't too sure about this new little person at the beginning, but after everyone was home from the hospital he took to her immediately. He's very protective of her and very gentle. Roan had lots of new words this month, but some of his favorites were "Mama cars", "Dada cars", "Dada uumm uumm" (for Dad's motorcycle), "grass", "rocks", garbage truck, and clock.

Month Twenty Four

Month Twenty Four
Of course the highlight of the month was Roan's second birthday! He also took a trip to the beach with Dad. Some of his favorite words this month were "cars" (always plural), "bus", and "wheel". He also worked on putting together sentences such as "I stuck", "I house", "my milk".

Month Twenty Three

Month Twenty Three
Some of Roan's favorite new words this month were "house", "may-mee" (mail truck...we're working on that one), "yes", "no", "muck" (milk), "shocks" (socks), cars, truck, and his all-time favorite word of the month..."stuck" (e.g., when he's stuck in his high chair).

He worked on recognizing colors and shapes this month and tries to say yellow ("wew-wo"), red, and blue. He's become quite the backseat driver and loves to tell us to "go" when we stop. He attempted his first sentence, which of course was "....go....shacks" meaning he wanted to go to the train tracks.

He also stayed with one of his favorite sitters, Sherilyn ("Sher"), while we went away for a night.

Month Twenty Two

Month Twenty Two
Pretty exciting month for Roan. We took a day trip up to San Francisco (on the train!) and visited the aquarium. Uncle Ryan came into town for a weekend and we had a lot of fun. We went down to Santa Cruz for the day and enjoyed the beach a bit. Roan started using more phrases this month such as "all done", "oh no!", "ready, set, go!", "what's this?", "up and down". Roan is still quite opinionated about everything and has decided his favorite show is now "Make Way for Noddy" (he refuses to watch Thomas, his old favorite) and he only wants to ride in Dada's car. He still loves to play with trains and his favorite activity is going downtown to watch the "real" trains.

Also, we took a weekend trip to Bear Valley to go skiing with our friends Monica, Pete, Ella, and Alana Johnson. Roan had a blast though he was a little weary of the snow at times. Here's an album from that trip: Bear Valley Ski Trip

Month Twenty One

Month Twenty One
Baby Zara came to visit this month and was a huge hit - Roan is obsessed with babies now. We're hoping it sticks until June! He also discovered how much fun it is to "read" books all by himself. Our fearless wonder developed some intersting fears this month, like cracks in the sidewalk and the play structure at the park, but he overcame most of them. Language was the big focus of the month again. Some of his new words included sock, up, down, kakak (cracker), apple, and "meow".

Month Twenty

Rest of Month 20
Roan's been focused on vocabulary this month and is now very proud to say "mom-ma", "frog" (which sounds more like "shuck" half the time), "turt" (i.e., turtle), and "duck", and has added "neigh" and "quack-quack" to his animal noise repertoire. He's also learned how to sign "more". Though very sweet, he's also more independent and "naughty" and loves to run away from you when it's time to get changed or dressed. He's become very useful and loves to help unload the dishwasher and throw away garbage. We're convinced he's stored an electronic map of downtown San Mateo in his mind as he can find his way to the train tracks from anywhere in San Mateo (which has become quite the obstacle to dining out or running errands).

Christmas
Grandma and Granddad came to visit for Christmas. We went down to see the famous San Carlos Christmas lights on Christmas Eve and of course I had a blast on Christmas Day opening my gifts.

Month Nineteen

Month Nineteen
This month Roan and Mandy went to visit Grandma and Granddad in Houston. They also got to see Mandy's good friend Kinsey and Roan loved playing with her son Drew who is his age. He took his first carousel ride and was addicted - we had to go several days in a row. He also got to help pick out and decorate his first Christmas tree. Roan continued to build his vocabulary this month, mimicking much of what we say, and added a repertoire of animal noises (moo and baa).

Month Eighteen

Month Eighteen
Month Eighteen was pretty exciting. He's really been working on his vocabulary and is saying "shut", "slide", "duck", and "choo-choo" as well as "dada" and "mama" on occassion. Roan took his first trip to the zoo, took his first REAL train ride (just down to Menlo Park), and celebrated his second Halloween (but his first one trick-or-treating) as a monkey. He also got his first train set as trains are his new obsession.

Month Seventeen

Month Seventeen
Roan finally got his own stroller this month. He also took a ride (okay, about 7 rides) on his first choo-choo and enjoyed petting the farm animals at the pumpkin farm.

Month Sixteen

Month Sixteen
Roan finally got a night away from Mom and Dad this month as they slipped away to Sonoma - party time! He's really discovered how to boogie and just loves music playing at all times, especially while he's enjoying his other passion - reading. He loves to practice putting lids on things and closing doors and has figured out how useful Mom and Dad can be if he pulls them around the house by their fingers and shows them what he wants. He's still in love with wheels and is the first to point out trucks and planes. Roan survived his first surgery with flying colors, resuming his mock speed circles around the house by the next day.

Month Fifteen

Month Fifteen
This month started with a nice trip to the beach. Roan had a blast playing in the tidepools and putting on a show for everyone. He took up furniture-climbing as his latest sport and thinks the neatest thing in the world is playing with his trucks while sitting on the couch (or the coffee table...). He understands so much of what we say now, even stamping his feet on command when we say "What do you do if you see an elephant?", a line from one of his favorite books. He's still obsessed with wheels (we're starting to think this may end by his 21st birthday) and if fascinated by big trucks and airplanes. His preferred language is still Roan-speak, but English seems to be around the corner!

Month Fourteen

Month Fourteen
We took a short trip to the Russian River Valley with friends at the beginning of this month and Roan took his first dip in a river. He continued to work on his walking this month and perfected throwing and kicking a ball as well. He's still obsessed with wheels and would live in his bike trailer 24/7 if we let him. He got two more molars as well.

Month Thirteen

Month Thirteen
Another big month for Roan. He started walking and after one week of practice decided he could practically run. He discovered how to throw a ball and was able to continue his love affair with wheels by getting a bike trailer, which he prefers to push around rather than ride in. He got his first molar and put it to good use munching on strawberries on the beach.

Here are some Recent Videos:
RoanWalking with Sticks Part A
RoanWalking with Sticks Part B

Month Twelve

Month Twelve
Roan took a trip to Utah this month to visit Arches National Park and his buddy Drew (who's mom, Kinsey, is a good friend of Mandy's). Only one month apart in age, they had a great time together. Roan got his top two teeth this month and has become Speedy Gonzalez with his push walker. He started taking one step unassisted right before his birthday and, of course, with all this new-found freedom has come the inevitable head-banging temper tantrum. Roan said good-bye to his first year in style with a little birthday bash with friends.

Recent Video:
Streaker

Month Eleven

Month Eleven
First it was tags, then it was cords, and now wheels - Roan is obsessed. He insists on riding in his stroller with his head hanging over the side so he can see the wheels turn. He's learned to use his push walker quite well but is not quite ready to go-it-alone. Food has become even more exciting as he's eating more table foods and he's a star at feeding himself. Strangers frequently comment as to how "chatty" he is and everything is "da-da" which, of course, makes Dad very happy. The highlight this month was a visit from Grandma and Granddad and he also got his second tooth.

Month Ten

Month Ten
Roan has become quite the little character. Between his impromptu giggles and lizard-like-tongue, he's able to capture attention nearly everywhere he goes. Dad even taught him how to give "high-5's" on command. He's a runaway train these days - crawling, pulling up on anything he can get his paws on, and cruising around the coffee table. Roan also got his first tooth this month and saw his first snow.

Month Nine

Month Nine
This month was exciting as Roan met Nana and Papa (Jan's parents) for the first time. Roan added clapping to his repertoire of tricks to gain attention from the masses. He took his first dip in the pool and thorougly loved his swimming "classes". He figured out how to get to a sitting position on his own, and on his nine-month birthday, Roan did his first "real" crawl (naked, of course...his favorite way to be)!