Birthday videos

At my baby shower, a friend recommended taking a video of E. talking on her birthday every year. I forgot last year but here's this year. And yes, that is her dog's name that she says at the end.

And here's her opening a gift. I really enjoy her excitement. Sorry about the background noise; we had the windows open and you can hear neighbors' music as well as some traffic. Aah, Bushwick on a summer day.

Time for some adorable sleep pictures

Someone still loves her big girl bed, though she has a lot more books on her "nightstand" than I do.

Yes, in the middle of the summer it's very important to keep your head warm.

I'm growing

Last summer, I was just getting into pigtails and was as big as the yellow dog.

This year, I'm almost as big as the pink bunny and I decide which type of pigtails or braids I want. But I still love dresses and I still have a great sandal tan!

A little mid-afternoon silliness

Her only comment was, "This is not your hat. It's Daddy's hat."

Big Girl Bed

This is the closest to napping E. has come recently. This bed is too fun for resting except at night time!


"I'm about to jump, Mommy! Take my picture quick!"
Doesn't Ariel look like she was caught in the act? I had just called her name, so here is proof that she does know her name, though she may deny it later.

A Room of Her Own

While she's had this room since we moved in in June, it's only recently that it's become fully hers. E. now loves to run in there, close the door and do her own thing. And I've finally organized things a bit more so she can do just that. So, here we go! When you enter, on your right is the kitchen, now with storage for all the food and accessories:

Above the kitchen are some cute framed posters from my mom's house that E. loves. Other artwork is visible in the big girl bed post.

In the center, is the glider/rocking chair, with the small closet and roof/fire escape/tomato growing space in view out the window. Oh, and yes, that is a mini-grocery cart in the corner near the growth chart. (Thanks Nonna & Pawpaw!)
In the left corner, is a skinny bookshelf with books for when she's older, art supplies, and our internet router!
Below that, and next to the chair, you can see the packed (both sides of the top are filled) bookshelf, my keyboard, the table and chairs from when I was little, the new animal bin (pink-spotted), and the foot of her new big girl bed. More of that in the next post! Please note that the bookshelf is usually half-empty with Curious George books especially spread all over the floor. My dad & step-mom get the credit for that obsession.

I just realized that I didn't take a picture of her dresser which is on the same wall as the door. Oh well, it's not that interesting. Hopefully, this gives those who haven't seen it in person an idea of what E's room looks like. While small, it is a great space for her and we're so grateful to have it!

Ridiculousness

The other day after naptime, E. announced that her name was Giraffe. When I asked her, "Is your name GIraffe?", she answered, "Yah." She also answered, "Giraffe" to the question of what her name was.

Then yesterday at church she addressed a young woman she knows as Bunny Rabbit. Chelsea thought maybe E. had forgotten her name but then E. said, "Chelsea is Bunny Rabbit."

Today's ridiculous moment came when she was dumping out buttons from the button box. She announced that they were catnip and started rolling in them. When I asked what she was doing, she said, "Rolling up the catnip." So silly.

Everything's Coming Up Ducks

Here E. is singing and jumping/dancing to a new favorite song from the library. The words are "5 little ducks went out to play, over the hills and far away. Mama Duck said, 'Quack quack quack quack,' but only 4 little ducks came back." And so on.

A few days later, she made her first watercolor painting. Her comments, if you can't decipher them were:

"Don't fall off." She's telling herself to be careful on the chair.

"Wookit that big duck!" All the ducks had to be green, which is her new favorite.

Last Year's Blizzard

Check out the snowman--he was gone by the next day--destroyed, not melted.
Seems as if someone wasn't nearly as traumatized as I was by our recent blizzard experience of getting stuck overnight in our car. The very next day, she was happily exploring, testing out her new boots and sampling the freshly fallen flavor!

Thanksgiving

This year I'm thankful for a new apartment (with all of its challenges) and silly songs. The silly singer is thankful for trains. Almost every night after I pray for her, she says, "Thank you God trains. Thank you God big train. Thank you God L train," and so forth.

Learning from the Munchkin

Well, the first thing I've been learning is that my shoes look best on her. And this is probably my favorite of her silly faces.

The second thing is that anything can become a song. She adds verses to The Wheels on the Bus like "the tiger on the bus goes rah, rah, rah." Then there's the drop it song, based, I think, on me saying "I'm gonna get you, I'm gonna get you." She sings, "I wanna drop it, I'm gonna drop it" usually about some object that she insisted on bringing in the stroller and I really don't want to lose like that library book last week.

She also taught me just today to look up at the sky more often. We were at a playground near R's Long Island studio and she was going on the slides. I climbed up the plastic "rock" wall to this giant slide and enjoyed that even though I exceeded the 5-12 age recommendation. When she saw me, she insisted that I slide next to her on the smaller double slide so I obeyed. At the bottom, I stood up to go somewhere else when I noticed that she had lain back down on the slide and was staring up at the sky. I copied her and was amazed at how calm and quiet everything felt. I wish I had taken a picture of the blue sky, the clouds, and the colorful leaves. Too often I think of the playground visits as boring or a chance for her to exercise and have fun while I have a semi-adult conversation with a parent I might know a little bit. But it can be a moment of worship. These moments seem like they are harder to find in Bushwick but that might not be the case.

Finally, E. has taught me that singing at the doctor's office is not only acceptable but soothing for both of us. A few weeks ago we spent way too long waiting to see the pediatrician and by the time we were finally out of the waiting room (though still waiting), I was really frustrated and feeling like a negligent mom for not bringing snacks or extra milk. E. was whining off and on but then she requested the "Bible song" aka "Jesus Loves Me" At first I said no, not being a real public singer but she asked again and I sang it a few times to her quietly. Somehow, she knew what we both needed to hear at that moment. We both were completely calm and collected by the time the doctor came in and the whole visit went well.

100th Post--took long enough!

For my 100th post, I thought I'd do a little summer in review, starting with some fun dining moments. And, yes, contrary to evidence here, E. does wear full sets of clothing most of the time.

"Big box." This was soon to become a common refrain as we packed up 12 years worth of stuff!
Her own box was crucial to the packing process.
Our second big summer project! She's holding the portable potty, on the edge of our new kitchen. All photos from here on are in the new apartment.
This height chart was made by my Grandma Dot for me when I was E's age.
"Off to conquer in my pretty dress."


Note: these photos of "Daddy Cereal" make it look like she snuck some while he wasn't looking. This is a regular routine.
Post-bath baby is always my favorite photo genre.

Funny Words

Recently E. has been singing along to some of her favorite songs--Twinkle Twinkle Little Star; Holy, Holy, Holy; Baa Baa Black Sheep. She changes pitch and rhythm at the right points but her version of the words can be pretty funny. For example--people people little star or hoey hoey hoey (said very fast), yesshur.

Also, she likes to play "peekapoo" and she enjoyed sampling my chocolate chip keycoes.

She keeps me smiling, to say the least. Especially when she gets excited for yunch and says a big yes when I ask if I can eat her up for lunch.

She Plays What She Knows or Imitation is the Finest Form of Flattery

So for a while now, E. has been imitating me in her play. First it was using the sponge to make the cabinets clean or rinsing her hands while I washed dishes. Then she moved on to "sorting" and "folding" socks and washcloths. Now, she loves to play sleep by lying down and saying "shhh." She also loves to push a doll stroller around the playground and spends several seconds moving the safety harness around before she says "oush" or "out." Oh and I almost forgot--her first imaginative play was pretend eating. But that's hardly a surprise, as it's one of her favorite activities. Most recently, she's started offering her sippy cup to her toys and to the cat. No one's taken her up on it yet, but I'm waiting for the day when she offers it to a real baby.

A Glimpse of Summer

E. and I just returned from a lovely trip to visit R's family in New Orleans. The sun was bright every single day and I spent every naptime soaking in the sun and reading books. And here are just a few of the things E. enjoyed:

Toddler Lexicon

Can you match E's animal sounds to the correct animal? Answers will be at the bottom of the lexicon entries.

1. baa 2. riis riis 3. mehh 4. ruff ruff 5. rarrrr 6. cheep cheep

7. nee 8. ssss 9. boo

animals: snake, frog, sheep, goat, cow, chick, lion, dog, horse

Commonly used words, with her pronunciation if different in parantheses.

ball (baa)

bowl (bow)

box (bah)

bye

call (caw)-refers to phone

car (caw)

clean (key)

cold (cole)

comb (coe)

da daa

dog (not sure but she says something close)

dressed (dess--as in let's get dressed)

eat (ee + baby sign--fingers to her mouth)

eye

ear (EEuh)

go (emphatic g sound)

hi

juice (deuce with lots of excitement & sometimes a dance)

kitty (key)

maa maa

Max (mask with deliberateness in the sounds) *from Max & Ruby but it was also supposed to be her name if she was a boy

mouth (meh)

neck (neh)

night night (nigh nigh)

nose (d'oh or doo)

shoe (doo)

teeth (tee)

that (dah with pointing)

tickle tickle tickle (ticka ticka ticka)

train (tai)

tree (tee)

yum (eyuh)

Other:

ashes ashes (more or less- means she wants Ring a Round a Rosy)

ee ha

ei ei (Old McDonald request)

gock ee

gud-eh-gud-eh-gud

Animal answers: 1. sheep 2. frog 3. goat 4. dog 5. lion 6. chick 7. horse 8. snake 9. cow

I'm sure there are more words that I'm missing or that she's just now working on. So fun!

Walking Outside

E. did a little more walking in the last big snow. This time she was more interested at looking at things in the snow, including her mitten!
She's actually standing in a snowdrift in the street.
This was E's first trip to the playground after she started walking, in January. She spent most of the time walking in big circles.

The Young Artist at Work

Strange Interests

Recently E. has developed two very strange interests, combined with a new word, "doo." No, it has nothing to do with dogs or any other animals. She loves to touch my elbow or my feet and say "doo" very happily. Sometimes she'll even rub her nose back and forth against my elbow. And the feet fascination gets even weirder--she'll grab onto them in the shower and squeal or if she sees them on the floor, she'll get down to their level and squish her face on them. My sister would not understand, but it looks like I've finally found someone who appreciates my (large) feet.

Baby in a box

Here's a little video of E. having fun in the box my new winter coat came in. At one point she had a ball, a small car, a toy dog, and a toy tiger in there with her. She'd pick one up, look at it, and then put it back in the same spot.