Thursday, January 27, 2011

January 27-E's toys got cleaned up today while she was gone.  Here, she tries to play with them in her toy basket, rather then take them out.  During her playtime tonight, she didn't remove anything from her basket, rather she ran in a circuit around the living room.  Tonight's favorite toy?  Her green spoon, which she happily tried to put down her basketball hoop. 

January 26-Lately E has been all about accessorizing, she has two scarves that she has been playing with, this one, and a silky dress scarf.  She uses them for peek-a-boo, she chews on them, she puts them around her neck, and she uses them to cover her eyes.  The only problem?  When a short girl walks while wearing a scarf, sometimes she trips on the ends.  E doesn't fall, but she looks very surprised.

January 25- Although this picture looks silly, it actually captures one of E's sweetest habits.  When E is so happy with you, and that love and happiness can't be expressed in any other way, she gives a tiny bite on the nose.  It doesn't hurt, and isn't even really bit, she mostly puts her teeth on the top and bottom of your nose, and looks you in the eye.  You can see this move coming, and there is no way to divert her. 

Monday, January 24, 2011

We love the weekends

January 24-  Today E was all about clapping.  She's known how to clap for a month or two now, but for some reason, today she was really into it.  She didn't want to play pat-a-cake, or any kind of clapping game, she was perfectly happy to clap on her own.

Also, I jinxed us, in my last post I wrote about E putting herself to sleep, no more.  Sadly she's back tracked on that, and we've had two nights now of tears before bed.  Hopefully she can get her groove back soon.

January 23- The best part of the weekends is the family time.  Of course part of this day involved watching the Packers play.  We had a nice family moment when E woke up from her nap and was ready to snuggle.

January 22- E had a busy day, she had lunch with A and Grandma and Grandpa N.  Then she got her portrait taken.  I love this outfit she's wearing, its very sweet.  The first time she wore it a few months ago, at the end of the day, day care pointed out that her pants were too big.  As you can see some things don't change.  What I love about this picture is it captures E's size.  Quite a few of her clothes fit like this, and at one point in the day, she actually walked these pants right off.

Friday, January 21, 2011

January 21- We brought a tired little girl home from daycare today.  E skipped her afternoon nap, and fell asleep in the car on the way home.  She stayed asleep when I took her out of her car seat.  A and I were talking this evening once E was sleeping. She's managed to put herself to sleep (with no tears) every day this week.  We are so glad she has learned to do this, and so happy that bedtime is no longer the struggle it once was.  But, we both miss the little girl who would curl up on our chests and go to sleep, and the rocking and cuddling.  We know we still have plenty of this in the future, but we are amazed at how fast she grows and changes.  We've called her a big girl for months, and now parts of her daily routine are starting to be a little more like a big girl's. 

We don't get a lot of snuggles around here, E is usually too busy moving around, so we treasure the ones we get.

January 20-This toy is probably about 8 inches away from the wall, and, there is nothing on the other side of it.  Nothing at all.  E however, has to get around it, and does she choose to go to the right, where there is plenty of space?  No, she goes between the toy and the wall.  Good thing she's skinny!  She shuffles her way around this toy three or four times a night.  She is good at shuffling, since she still hasn't figured out how to lift her legs up to go over things, she simply finds a space, turns sideways and shuffles around them. 

Wednesday, January 19, 2011

January 19- E is standing her with a Rubbermaid container.  Its her new favorite.  I carried it up from the basement the other day and somehow she got to it, she's been playing with it ever since.  Her absolute favorite is to look through it while trying to position it as close to my face as she can.  She also likes putting things in the container and carrying them.  However, she doesn't quite understand that when you tip the container things fall out, it makes for some pretty funny expressions. 

January 18- This cabinet has been a consistent favorite of E's.  She likes to look at the items in it.  Some days she bangs on the glass (which I try to stop), some days she pounds on the glass with plastic toys (which I always stop), and some days she tries to chew on the door knob.  That's what she is doing here.  The first time I saw her do this I laughed and laughed, but now that I've seen it many, many times, I'm trying to put an end to it.  But, I love that this pictures captures the moment.

  January 17- E and her elephant blankie, we tried a whole series of different lovies for E, we had a very soft monkey that a co-worker swore by, we had a very soft duck, we had a very soft frog that Aunt Polly recommended, but none of them did the trick.  What did?  A big cotton swaddling blanket.  But, she sleeps with it, naps with it, and plays peak-a-boo with it.   

Sunday, January 16, 2011

Holiday weekend


January 16-  Today was quite a day, I got a lesson in making sure I bring the camera with us all the time.  E and I went mall walking with Grandma and Grandpa M, and had several cute chances for photos.  But, no camera.  We had a scare too, E was walking on the tile floor and fell and bumped her head.  So she and I went to the doctor just to make sure things were ok, fortunately they were.  When we got home, it was dinner time, and E perfected holding her cup without hands.  She can't drink while doing this, but she enjoys it none the less.
January 15- E stayed up for the first part of the Packer game, but most of it was past her bedtime.  In this picture she is holding the wrapper from a Baby Mum Mum, by far her favorite treat.  Today the wrapper was far better then the cracker, she actually dropped half of the second one, in favor of the packaging.  She used the package for chewing, but her mouth is open in the picture because she is squealing while playing.
January 14-  Daycare was closed today, so E and I spent the morning together.  She was lucky enough to spend part of the afternoon with Grandpa, and then with dad.  She and spent the morning around the house.  In the picture above, she's pointing at the laptop, the desktop is a picture of E, mom, dad, and Grandma, and Grandpa, whenever our laptop is open, she points at it to get a look at the picture.  After taking a look, she smiles.  E is holding a fleece ear band, it fell out of my coat pocket last night, and she spent all Friday carrying it around.  As usual, her favorite toys aren't toys at all.

Thursday, January 13, 2011

Two days where we are busy

January 14- Today was another busy day, I learned around 2:30 that day care is going to be closed tomorrow, so I had to make arrangements to be home from work in the morning, fortunately Grandpa M. offered to take some time off, so he will be watching E for a few hours.  Because I worked late, we didn't get much play time around the house today.  But, in the time we did have, E played basketball, with her pink plastic cup, and then she figured out how to unsnap her pants.  Although she stopped after one leg.

January 12- E pretty much sums up my feelings about this day.  We when house hunting, so E was at Grandma and Grandpa N's house.  By the time we were able to pick her up, all we had time to do was put her to bed.  Neither A nor I got enough E play time.  By the time we got home from Grandma and Grandpa's she was already beside her self, as you can see, and just nursed and put her self to sleep (yes!)

Tuesday, January 11, 2011

January 11-  Sporty Girl!  E and her basketball hoop, it combines several of his favorite things, standing up, and being able to hold on to two of the same object at the same thing.  Her basketball  hoop is becoming one of her favorite things, which is nice to see.  When she got it for Christmas, she was scared of it, we couldn't even set her on the floor near it.  Now, she's used to it, and spends some time most nights playing with it.


January 10- I let E play in the entry way, not something she is usually able to do.  I was worried she'd either try to play with the paper on the bottom of our mail table, or try and climb the stairs.  She did neither.  Instead she decided to play with the carbon monoxide detector.  She spent her time trying to get it to balance on top of the jug.  She never quite got it.  

January 9- E is back in her Packer's outfit, and once again they won!  We will have to make sure she wears it next Sunday!  E was at Grandma and Grandpa's while we went to a few open houses in the area.  This picture showed me something I'd never noticed before, E and Grandpa have the exact same color eyes.

January 8-  Sharing is something that E is still working on.  She usually shows an item, holds it out to you and then smiles and pulls it back.  The one thing she consistently shares  is her nuk.  E doesn't use her nuk for traditional comfort, she uses it as a teether.  E spends most of her time with her nuk off to the side of her mouth, trying to work on her side teeth.  


Friday, January 7, 2011

Days 5-7

January 5- This picture is notable for several reasons.  Fist, E is again wearing her Christmas PJs, which we couldn't find on Christmas Day.  If you look closely you'll see a reindeer face on her tush, which is one of the thinks I love about the PJs.  Second, this picture sums up the problems with taking E's picture.  When I went to get the camera, she was laying on her tummy with her tush in the air, as I took the picture she rolled, so this is an action shot.  We have more pictures of E's ears then I can say.  Third, she is sleeping.  That isn't too common around here.  For a while E slept very well, but for the past few months, she's been waking at least twice per night.

January 6-E is at Happy Bambino for mama baby group.  She and I go Thursdays after work to meet up with moms and babies we met while attending Meriter's Mother Baby Hour.  She is one of the most mobile ones in the group, so I chased her around the store.  She examined everything on the bottom shelves.  Her favorite were the containers of puffs, they were just the right height to pull off the shelf.  You have to notice that her feet are a blur here, she never stops!

January 7-We had dinner at Grandma and Grandpa's today, we were looking forward to E showing off how well she feeds herself finger food, but she wasn't interested in dinner.  Instead she explored the house.  She discovered the door to the kitchen, which was the first time she's ever been allowed to play with a door, she enjoyed opening and shutting it. 

Tuesday, January 4, 2011

Starting a 365 day project

I was inspired by a post over at drmomma.org to start a 365 project for my little girl E.  When she was born, I intended to keep a daily journal of our days together, but it never seemed to get going.  So we will have to see what happens this time.  I'm trying to give E a glimpse of what life was like for her family in 2011, so our days may not be out of the ordinary, but we always have fun.

My goal is to take at least one picture of E every day from 1-1-11 to 1-1-12, I want to be able to watch her grow and learn throughout the year.

I'm already starting late, here are the first four days of 2011.


January 1, 2011 E finished opening her Christmas presents.  Nap time got in the way on Christmas day.  Tearing the paper was by far her favorite part of the holiday, second favorite was climbing on boxes.  She is wearing her Christmas PJs which we couldn't find for her to wear on Christmas day.


January 2-We were a day late in taking this one, E's 10 month birthday was Jan 1.  However, this picture pretty much sums up E at 10 months.  We originally put the sticker on her tummy, but after 1 picture she peeled it off.  So we stuck it on her back.  She then made a break for her toy bin.  E doesn't hold still, ever.

 
January 3, playing with her phone.  Our house phone became E's favorite item to try and play with, so we gave her an old phone.  She's not fooled, and still tries for the real phone, but this one works for teething.  E also watched the Packer game with grandma and grandpa, they won, we think because she was in her cheerleader outfit.


January 4- E and A are playing with her new book, a present from Titi Willy.  E loves opening and closing books, and whenever you open this one it talks, and when you close it the book says good-by.  We hear that a lot.  She also loves to push the little butterfly across the cover.