Hallowe'en!

dad is passed out and mom prefers to leave it to him the task of describing how much fun Isabella's first Halloween was, because he's the one with the gift of the interesting narrative.


In the meantime, our dear friends and family can check out more pictures here.

EDIT: The narrative:
Surrounded by a dangerous and hulking lizard, a fiercesomely hot pepper, a confused lady bug and other scary or surprising creatures, Lil' "Not afraid of nuttin' Genghis was going to do her darned best. And so she did, passing out just a few minutes before the parade, dribbling a little formula and her head lolling around, seemingly as aimless and lost as the Democratic Party.

But confronted with another challenge -- could she wake before the parade? -- Lil' Genghis made it, barely, to the back of the line, where she had fun riding dad's head and posing for mom's photos.

At night we took her trick-or-treating a bit, stopped by about six hours, met some neighbors who universally said what a cutie she is. Her ego in good repair, Isabella retired for a warm bath and some cuddlin' with mom.

News Flash!

She learned to clap her hands!
Movie to follow at later date, after we find out how to break the curse that mom's Mac threw on dad's camera @_o

Happy Halloween, folks!

Awww cute...

dscn0836, originally uploaded by melissawm.

Uncle Rod 'n' Aunt Melissa on a cruise of the Rhine. We miss you, guys!

At the pumpkin patch

Eventually we got a good shot, originally uploaded by tunana72.

Mommy's Doll

Mamãe pensa q eu sou uma boneca!!!, originally uploaded by tunana72.

Lovely pic of Aunt Piu and Cousin Cecilia. Looks like lil girl will show her beautiful smile soon.

New pictures of Cousin Cecilia!

Acordada e atenta!!!, originally uploaded by tunana72.

Looking very tall and very awake. That's if this picture was taken in the middle of the night.

During the day, well... she sleeps. What else would she do?

A day at the park

Today was a beautiful, beautiful day -- so we hustled to the little state next door and met up with Aunt Cindy, Uncle Eddie and Aunt Amanda, then had lunch and went to one honking big park. It was even around 75 degrees -- some 273 degrees for you metric fans -- making everything even better.

Lil' Genghis got splashed with ocean water for the first time; stood up on sand; took a hike/stroll/something into the woods, saw lots of leaves changing. Here's to our wonderful uncle and aunts tour guides! =)

Here we are entertained by Lil' Genghis being entertained by us:


Created with Admarket's flickrSLiDR.

We also have a video of Isabella's flight lessons:

Fazendo macaquice

Fazendo macaquice, originally uploaded by tunana72.

Falou que e' se jogar, se pendurar, ficar de cabeca pra baixo... Isabella ta dentro!

~~

For you English speakers, just a quick comment on how our little monkey loves throwing herself around, dangle from mom's leg, turn upside down with dad. This pic came out pretty cool, nice angle and great cameo from boydog (she was actually trying to reach him).

Como eu tiro minhas pernas daqui?

Como eu tiro minhas pernas daqui?, originally uploaded by tunana72.

Cousin Aninha wearing some of Lil Genghis's favorite sleepwear!

Grandpa's company in the news!

mom and dad had the TV on in the background when they were shocked to hear some bad 1980s music. Lo and behold, it's a General Electric commerical that also involves Grandpa Rinaldo's company, MRS Logistics of Brazil. Who woulda thunk it?

Well, we've always admired General Electric for its contributions to make global conquest easier for Lil' Genghis. I mean, who wouldn't?





But now we see a huge company's contributions to our family in a more direct way than simply keeping the lights on and the Communists at bay.

So a little poking around and we find out that this commercial's actually been showing, rarely, for at least six months. This thread at Railroad.net includes a link to the 10mb Windows Media video file thingamajiggit.

Small world!

Teething

Did you know that the British now have dentists? Even more unusual -- they even have a professional dentists' association, which publishes research! Who woulda thought that?

Turns out they now have better dental care than Americans do, at least from a statistical standpoint. And they offer some advice to parents of youngsters who are teething:

It is now generally accepted, that the eruption of the deciduous teeth is accompanied by a number of relatively minor symptoms. General irritability, disturbed sleep, gum inflammation, drooling, loss of appetite, diarrhoea, circumoral rash, intra-oral ulcers, an increase in body temperature, increased biting,1gum-rubbing, sucking, wakefulness and ear-rubbing, have all been identified as being temporally related to teething.

Other studies have failed to identify daytime restlessness, diarrhoea, bronchitis, an increase in finger sucking, gum rubbing, drooling and a loss of appetite in teething children, whilst Wake et al. (2000) could not confirm a strong association between a range of teething symptoms and tooth eruption. Although Macknin et al. (2000) identified several symptoms (see above) to be associated with teething, congestion, sleep disturbance, stool looseness, increased stool number, decreased liquid appetite, cough, non-facial rashes, fever and vomiting were not significantly associated with tooth emergence.

It's nice to know we now have an explanation for ear rubbing ... wait, what? But they're telling us the fever and some other symptoms aren't well causally linked to the actual teething. For that matter, the symptoms of teething aren't well linked to the actual teething, either.

That explains why last weekend when Grandpa John showed up Lil' Genghis' inventory of teeth increased 200 percent ... but she didn't seem to be in much discomfort then; a week earlier and it was awful. The little lady since then has had some pretty rough nights, but was so exhausted she slept through the landlord bringing a lawnmower and another Shih Tzu, thus evoking Doggie War III.

Anyway, mom wants to try some baby Advil/ibuprofen. If nothing else, some research seems to show that alternating Tylenol/acetominophen and Advil/ibuprofen works. Of course, more modern research seems to suggest this is bunk.

Either way, with no cavities, crowns, bridges or anything else, Lil' Genghis has teeth far better than the typical person in either England or America. Let's hear it for the teeth! =)

New Genghis?

We've written here about several new Genghii -- Ana Cecelia, J.D., Rafik among them -- but never a true other Genghis.

So dad was surprised to check his Hotmail spam account and see an e-mail from a Youtube guy ... an English speaker from Hungary who at least calls his young son Genghis.

Small world -- mundo pequeno! Hopefully we can learn a little more about the origins of this other Genghis name.

Here we see Genghis' dad giving the guy a haircut. Tough father!

Quick family update

Uncle Bernie has a birthday today. Happy birthday to one of Lil' Genghis' most loyal readers!

Secondly, whether Uncle Pat and Aunt Sharon want to admit it, Cousin Savannah could be on the market. Turns out it's now legal for the little lady to get married now. Well, as long as she has parental consent. So I guess Sharon and Pat don't have to admit she's on the market; here's to hoping the government fixes its little typo soon.

Lil' Genghis still has yet to meet an eligible bachelor, Cousin J.D., but you can catch up with the little lad at his blog. Looks like he just got back from a road trip!

You can also get caught up with Aunt Donna on her blog, Unveiled, which is about her pending wedding plans. Of course, we should probably say that this has something to do with Uncle Ed, but we all know that the guys really have nothing to do with the wedding. As long as they show up. On time. Wearing clothes. Not wearing hookers. Women plan their weddings all their lives, it seems; guys are just there as a fashion accessory to fit into this pre-existing notion. No, this post was not authorized by mom, who never had a big formal wedding but deserves a thousand of them with guys better than dad. Love you, mom.

Bath time!

Saindo do banho...q gostoso!, originally uploaded by tunana72.

Cousin Aninha all wrapped up after a nice bath.

A fuller grill

mom today managed to actually see Chomper #2 (we knew it was coming out already), and much to our surprise we found that the third tooth, this time on the upper rack, is also coming out.

No wonder Lil' Genghis has been so cranky lately.

Learning to crawl

Lil' Genghis is learning to crawl, which makes for moments of joy, frustration, exhaustion, happiness, pride, and anger with her godfather for not helping her. Either way, it's all kinda cute, endearing, entertaining, and given to long lists of adjectives:


(and we had to incinerate the pacifier after that...)
(e nos tivemos que queimar a chupeta dela depois da arrastada no chao)

I believe I can fly!

Lil' Genghis has been getting some pilots' lessons in the nation that gave birth to flight. All indications are that she loves it more than we could describe here. It doesn't hurt if you make little engine-revving-as-she-swoops-down and then strafing-as-she pulls-out kinds of noises.

Because, really -- if you can't turn the absolute, uninhibited joy of the freedom of flight into a lesson on selective use of violence, just what kind of parent are you? Exactly. Next thing you know, your little loved one wouldn't appreciate the good kind of football or even the enjoyable alternative to the bad kind of football.

Right. So, anyway, you guys just come here for the pictures, anyway.

So let's start with a lovely shot of Grandpa John getting a new hat:




Then we see Lil' Genghis on the hunt.


Yeah, she's a little, tiny, squeency bit competitive like her mom:


Ooh, look, there's another one.



I believe I can fly! Lil' Genghis makes another venture into the air with the helping (but hidden) hands of Uncle Eddie:



And speaking of Uncle Eddie, here he helps Lil' Genghis make a run on her big brother, boydog.



Last but not least, we have a photo of Uncle Rodrigo touring Russia. We're not really going to try to say what's happening in this picture or what the context is. Let's just say.. .. well ... hey. .. did you guys know Russia has lots of, er, bathhouses? Just sayin'.

Little Dolls

Minha primeira boneca., originally uploaded by tunana72.

Ana Cecilia in her first night at home, wearing a tee that belonged to Cousin Bellinha.

She's here!

Cousin Ana Cecilia arrived today at 6:45 P.M. Brazilian time weighing in at 7.3 lb and 20 in. long. Mom and baby are doing fine, nursing is going on well and we're all so happy. This post is just a quickie to say We love you, Aninha! and to share some pictures of the newest Genghis in the family. Enjoy!