Books, Books, Books!

Beach-Strollin' Baby

UCLA Baby Lab: Can Infants Learn Statistics?

This afternoon, Kira participated in another UCLA study:

"The rapidity with which infants come to understand language and events in their surroundings has prompted speculation concerning the learning mechanisms that guide language acquisition and object knowledge in infancy.  Research has shown that by 8 months of age infants are able to pick out individual words from fluent speech based solely on the statistical relationships between neighboring speech sounds (Saffran et. al, 1996).  At the UCLA Baby Lab we have shown that infants as young as 2 months of age are able to detect statistically predictable patterns in visual stimuli as well, such as in sequences of basic shapes (Kirkham, Slemmer & Johnson, 2002).  These findings suggest that mechanisms designed to detect structure inherent in the environment may play a role in infants' cognitive development.  We are currently conducting further research to investigate infants' ability to detect and learn from various types of statistical probabilities in their environment and how this ability may develop over time."  -Lauren Krogh

Playdate with Charlotte at the Getty

Waiting for the tram...

Kira & I met up with Charlotte & Marianna at the Getty today.  Kira took her first tram ride, and the four of us took a brief stroll through the museum before settling in the garden to enjoy a light lunch.

Happy Birthday, Alison!

Army Crawl

Kira started "army crawling" in gym class today!  She's been rocking on all fours for about 10 days, sometimes rocking and then lunging forward toward whatever toy she wanted.  Today, however, she started the full-on army-crawl!  Charlotte's mom, Marianna, got very excited and encouraged Kira to crawl to her, and she did!  I squealed with excitement and pride.  Such a big day!  (Charlotte started army-crawling in our last Outside the Box class, which was very exciting for all of us, but a little sad for Kira and me, as this meant Charlotte was "graduating" from our younger baby class to the older baby class.  Now that Kira has started army-crawling, too, she has also graduated to the older baby class.  Hooray!)

Happy Birthday, Emily!

But I'm Not Tired!

Doesn't Her Face Give Her Away?

Let's just say Daddy wasn't thrilled about the "accident" in the shower...



*Twinkle Toes*

Who needs to open the book when there's a tutu on the cover?!?

Napping at Gramma's!

"Water Safety"

Today, Kira started the "water safety" class at the YMCA in Santa Monica, which is supposed to be "an introduction to the water environment" that "educates parents on the importance of water safety by teaching children to float and other lifesaving techniques."  With the younger babies, though, this class seems to be exactly the same as the swim part of Gym & Swim.  Regardless, Kira was excited to get in the pool again and to make even more new friends.

Gym & Swim

Today, Kira started the Gym & Swim program at the YMCA in Santa Monica, which is a half-hour gym class followed by a half-hour swim class that "combines songs, movement, and water exploration to develop gross motor, cognitive, and social skills."  Kira was very happy to have her friend Charlotte from Outside the Box in this class, and she was happy to make new friends as well.  Kira just loves the water, so we stayed in the pool after class was over and hung out with Charlotte and Kira's new friend J.J.

It was a lot of work and we were both exhausted afterward, but it is SO worth it!

Baby Girl and Her Dog

Prescott's First Father's Day

Today was a very special day, as we celebrated the incredible father that Prescott is.  Of course, we wanted to do whatever Prescott wanted to do, so we hiked El Prieto with his dad and brother and all our dogs.

Happy Birthday, Uncle Tom!

We Entered Kira in the Gerber Generation Photo Search!

Preparing for Father's Day

When it Comes to a Drink, Kira Takes Business Into Her Own Hands

Celebrating Jason Koiter's 30th Birthday

Happy Birthday, Rebecca!

Welcome Carson Brown Lefebvre!

 

I am so pleased to announce that Hillary & Gabe Lefebvre were blessed with the birth of Carson Brown Lefebvre on June 6, 2011, at 10:58 a.m..  He weighed 7 pounds, 10 ounces and measured 20 inches long.

Daddy Makes Us Smile

I Can Sit Up!

I've been sitting up for a little longer than a week, but not long enough for Mommy to snap a pic!

Late Afternoon Down Time

Body Painting at Outside the Box

Mmmm...Butternut Squash....Yum!