We were at Kansas City's Union Station today, walking through it on the way back from a performance by a local Irish group a few friends are in on the way back to the car. As often happens when we wander through the halls of the train station, Melanie pointed out to Claire that this was where I proposed to her and where she got her ring.

As we walked, Claire's shoe came off a little, so she and I stopped while Melanie and Ella gained a little distance. As I was kneeling down to help adjust her shoe, Claire asked me a very simple question.

"Daddy, was Mommy sad here before you came to get her? Was she so sad waiting for a daddy to come?"

We just returned from Ella's 19 (supposed to be 18mth) month checkup. She is doing well. Her weight is 22-8 pounds and her height is 32 inches and head 18 1/2. For weight she is in the 25% and her height in the 50%. She is a little bigger then Claire was at this age but not by much.

I feel like such a slacker since I have not posted much about Ella. They say that happens with the second one but I don't feel great about it. So I finally have stopped to do it now.

Ella is a awesome. OK done. See you later. Kidding :)

Ella has grown up so fast. It feels like yesterday when I was on bedrest and she was kicking around in my belly. She just turned 19 mths yesterday. She is such a funny girl. Always laughing and talking. Oh does she talk so much. At about 16-16.5 mths she was using over 50 words. At this point I have stopped counting. She is now speaking in 3-4 word sentences and can say words with 3 syllables. She has also worked out how to properly add "ing" to the endings on words. At the airport a few weeks ago she says "Mommy airplane is flying". Or she might say I want to "run" and then say "Claire is running". Very excited to have a second child who can communicate so well. I never expected that after Claire. I guess she has Claire to teach her. She repeats everything.

She also loves to sing. I am amazed at how much she picks up. She sings Twinkle Twinkle, Ba Ba Black Sheep, Tender Shepard (from Peter Pan), Happy Birthday, Rain Rain go away and Rock-a-bye Baby. She sings almost the entire song.

She is also very active. She likes to climb, walk down the steps (holding on of course). Starting to do some good jumping. Actually getting both feet off ground.

She also loves to read. That is pretty much the only time you can get her to sit still and focus. We have a bunch a books near her crib that she can reach. When she wakes up from a nap or in the morning the first thing she does is grab a book and start reading.

That is it for now. Have her 19th mth (late for 18th) next week so we will see how much she ways. I know she is tiny for her age.

Last Monday we hopped on a train and headed into Manhattan with Claire, Ella, Melanie's sisters Sheryl and Meredith and their mother Lynn. We met my parents in midtown, right outside of our destination, the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Which was closed.

After looking at the huge lines at the Guggenheim just a few blocks north, we decided to head over to the American Museum of Natural History on the other side of Central Park.

After purchasing our tickets, we headed straight for the top floor where the dinosaurs are on exhibit. Both girls loved it. Ella ran around saying "Dinosaur! Raawar! Raawar!" while swinging her hands around above hear head. Claire marches about saying "Stegosaurus" and "T-Rex". Ella learned that there is a creature at home that chases her called a "Daddysaur" ("D-Rex" to Claire).

Ella is working hard at her speech right now. She repeats many of the words she hears, and the babble to English ratio is dropping.

Each week Ella tags along to Claire's group violin lesson. At this age, a lot of what is taught are rhythms with words which the students will use in various tunes as they progress. Ella picks up on most of these.

One rhythm is "ta-ka-ta-ka-stop--stop--" (each - represents a quarter note duration).

Ella runs around the house yelling "Taki! Taki! Taki!" and clapping, which is pretty cute.

Another is "Run--po-ny-run--po-ny-" and that one has Ella in stitches as she shouts it out. Every now and again she changes the words and says "Run the pony run the pony" which I think is pretty cute.

On Monday night Claire had her second concert with the studio where she takes violin lessons. June marks one year of lessons for Claire, and it is neat to see her little fingers really starting to move.

Just in the last few weeks she has begun to place her fingers on the fingerboard herself to play an E scale (technically just the first four notes of the scale) and an A scale. This is a pretty big step. Having played myself for so many years I forget just how many little skills go into something as 'basic' as coordinating finger placement on the left hand with bowing on the right.

She did well at the concert - my primary goals are that she be proud of whatever she did and that she enjoy herself. Both were true. She was glowing when we were done.

Three years ago, when Claire was too small to come see the show, I played pit for Beauty and the Beast at the Theatre in the Park in Shawnee Mission Park. It was one of the best shows I had played, well scored, great music and such a strong production.

Given how much Claire enjoyed Peter Pan the following year and The Music Man in 2007, I was always a little sad that she was just eight months old and not ready to see Beauty.

Because the show was so popular Theatre in the Park brought it back pretty quickly. While I will be on vacation during the run and am not playing in the show, Melanie and I took Claire to see the final dress rehearsal, combining a visit with friends in the pit with a show.

This past weekend I took Claire camping for the first time. She loved it. We went to a local event called the String Band Rendezvous, which is a weekend of camping with about a hundred musicians where groups are playing informally all around the camp sites and there is a stage with scheduled performances for much of the day Saturday and both nights Friday and Saturday.

Claire was a great camping companion and is looking forward to the next trip. She was full of fun little observations too. Such as "My ears are buzzing!" as she runs away from the gnat that had discovered her.

She was very excited by the tent and her little pink sleeping bag. When we arrived Friday night she spent the first 45 minutes after the tent was set up running around inside of it and jumping on, in and under her sleeping bag.

I was driving yesterday and came to a quick stop at a light. I then hear from Claire "Woh that was close - GIRL!!" Pretty funny. Not sure where the GIRL part came from :)

Claire is ready for bed, I've just kissed her good night. Total silence is is broken by one final conversation.

Daddy, sometimes snowmans have sticks for noses.

When?

When they don't have carrots on sticks. Why are carrots sometimes on sticks?

I suppose to make them better noses.

Why are carrots a vegetable?

Why are you a little girl?

Because I like being a little girl. Why do carrots like being a vegetable?

For the same reason Mesquaki is a cat. He has always been a cat and always will be a cat. Just like a carrot is a vegetable.

I'm on bed rest.

Last night Claire wanted to play Monopoly again, or as she calls it, "That game up there [points] with the little man on it". She is three, so obviously we don't play by the full bore rules. Melanie and I have each simplified the game in our own way when we play with her, and it has never been all three of us together so we didn't really know the rules each other has used until we spoke about it yesterday, after Claire and I played.

Melanie plays it by handing Claire a stack of small bills and having her pay small random sums for properties she lands on. The face value of the bill is not relevant, it is "that one costs three". Claire rolls the dice, gets cards, gets to acquire houses and loves it.

"Because I was distracting the wind."

*sigh*

I'm playing with Claire in the basement building a castle out of lego bricks. The bricks are a mix of 1960s, 1970s early 1980s and then late 1990s parts and I'm impressed how well they all work together, but Claire could care less. She has a castle.

I need to get up to go for a little bit, so I ask her if I can tickle her belly before I go.

"No daddy, not my belly"

"How about your toes?"

"No daddy, not my toes"

This goes on. Cheeks, forehead, arms, fingers, back, legs, nose, hair. Finally she spells it out for me.

"No daddy, I'm busy, I can't do that now!"

Well I'll just have to get on her calendar then.

Scene 1, the present. Dinner Thursday night. Ella, Scott and Claire are around the table eating. Dinner is winding down, Claire has her typical plate of food getting consumed slower than molasses in front of her. There have been a few moments of silence.

Claire, looking up from her food: "I hate grandpa"

Scott pauses, surprised. "Which one?"

Claire: "Grandma and Grandpa Grandpa. I hate him"

Scott: "You hate Grandpa Bob?"

Claire: "Yes, the grandpa who was here just now with Grandma"

About a month has passed since Melanie's parents were visiting, and this is the first Claire has expressed this particular feeling.

This evening I was out in our backyard with the two little ladies while Melanie was out for the evening. I was sitting and watching them play on the swing (Claire), slide (Ella), pick through grass (Claire), bang on the wheelbarrow (Ella) and other little kid playtime activities.

Claire had found a stick that she was perfectly happy to carry around. It became quite useful when she discovered a spider on the concrete slab under the deck, right near where I was sitting.

She could prod the spider, and it would run along and then stop. Prod again, run more. A simple game. She was tremendously gentle with the spider and had no desire to hurt it. She just liked to prod it to run along.