Not feeling too well

March 23- Today E wasn't feeling too well again, she only wanted to be held.  Its always surprising when she is in this kind of mood, since usually she is a girl on the go.  Of course shortly before bed, she was ready to get down and play with a shape sorter.  We've also been on the lookout for another of E's favorite elephant blankets, we haven't been able to find one, so we decided to try a lion blanket.  She liked it out of the package, so we will see how it works.

March 22- Sagging!  I hope she doesn't continue to sag her pants as she gets older :)  Once again, here is a little perspective on E's size.  This evening, she literally ran out of her pants.  She has also learned about the buttons on the front of the TV and loves pushing all of them. 

March 21- We were home together again today, E had so much fun hanging out with mama that she only took one 30 minute nap.  We went on an expedition to find another elephant blanket, which was not successful.  We also spent a lot of time cuddling, since E was running a fever.  She was a picky eater, which is why she is holding 2 Ritz crackers above, she actually got up to holding 4 crackers and was so proud of herself, but she slipped, and the crackers broke.

March 20- This is E's first art project.  We got out the crayons to color Grandpa a happy birthday message, and she had such a good time, we got out some plain paper.  She's made three pictures so far, one for our fridge, one for Grandpa's office, and one for Grandpa's card.  Her favorite crayons were red, black, and yellow. 

March 19- E found this blue bowl while playing in the kitchen, and she's been carrying it around ever since.  She puts things in it, and she has used it as a hat.  Above, she is putting her box of cake mix in the bowl, and behind her you can just make out the spatula she has been using a teether.  She has also been using the spatula to "stir" items in the blue bowl!

Big changes

This week brought about big changes for our family.  E now spends Mondays at home with me, and Thursdays with her Grandma M.  We made the change to three days a week daycare in an effort to save a little money after all the changes coming to our family with Wisconsin's budget repair bill.

March 18- Today was E's second day celebrating St. Patrick's day, she tried corned beef for the second time, she didn't mind it, but wouldn't go out of her way to eat more either.  I love her eyes in the picture above, the big eyes are E, as is the fact that she was much further from me when I started taking the picture.  At least she stayed in the frame this time, the first time I tried to take her picture, I ended up with just a picture of the wall, she was gone!

March 17-  Today was E's first Thursday at grandma's house.  She spent the morning with grandpa, and took a nap in her jump-a-roo, then we had a family dinner, E's first corned beef meal.  She tried it, but wasn't too interested.  One things we've noticed about E lately is she focuses on what she wants.  There is no longer a good way to distract her.  Above, she wanted a toy that had rolled to the middle of our chair, she wasn't afraid to fly through the air to get it.

March 16- Grandma and grandpa N sent E a St. Patrick's day card, or a "ba" as she called it.  At this point, "ba" means ball, book, balloon, and box.  She spent a good deal of time carrying her card around, and then chewing on it.  Once the glitter started coming off, we had to take it away.

March 15- E and her dad reading Waddle.  E has been really into this book lately, I would guess that we read this book at least five times an evening.  We've got the book memorized, which is helpful since E likes to turn the pages way to fast to read them.

March 14- This was our first Monday home together.  We didn't do too much other then play, as I get more used to having a weekday off, I'm sure we will find more structured activities to fill our time.  But, its a treat to have time at home together.  As you can see, lots of E's Cheerios end up on the floor.  I sometimes wonder if she is saving them for later.  They must taste better off the floor, we'd happily put new Os in her bowl, but she'd rather have the ones on the floor.

March 13- Here is Miss E at her first visit to the Monona Terrace Convention Center.  We went to check out the CSA fair.  We didn't choose a farm yet, but had a good time none the less.  E particularly enjoyed the kids room with balls and an obstacle course.  She also liked running down the hallways.  My favorite part was watching her interact with the other kids in the kid room.  She can't talk, but she always tries to interact with kids and do the same thing they are doing.  Its amazing to watch her fearlessly approach a 5 year old as though they could start playing together at any moment.  She saw one little boy with a shamrock headband (the St. Patrick's Day parade was today) and followed him for a bit.  She also saw a boy with an iPhone, and tried to climb on the chair with him for a turn.  

March 12- Until recently we've tried to keep E out of the kitchen, there is just too much in there that can get a girl into trouble.  Recently, after baby-proofing, we've started letting her in.  She's discovered the tupperware cabinet.  This morning I was able to get the dishes done and load the dishwasher while she played.  It was nice to be able to get something done around the house while she occupied herself.  That has been a rarity for the past year.  

March 11- E and her toy box.  E is really into putting smaller things into bigger things.  She will put things into anything.  Right now, she has three main storage places, her shoe box, her shape sorter, and underneath the seat of her tricycle.  As you can see, her shoe box is full of shapes, tub toys, and puzzle pieces.  She entertains herself by adding things to it, and trying to shut the lid.  She also has a Cheerio box, but so far that one doesn't seem to be a good hiding place.

 

March 10-  E and I went to playgroup at Happy Bambino, I'm afraid it might be our last one, the store is changing its hours, so playgroup will have to be earlier in the day, while I'm at work.  But, I'm hoping we can start getting together with her friends at the Monday group.  Above, E is eating a turkey stick, one of her favorites.  We recently bought her forks, because we could tell she wanted to use an eating utensil, but the spoon wasn't working so well.  She can't use the fork to pick things up yet, but if we get something on the tines, she can sometimes get it in her mouth.  

March 9-  E and one her "ba"s we got several mylar balloons to decorate for her birthday, they are still in our living room, and E points and says "ba" (her word for ball) this means that she wants us to pull one down for her to play with.  After biting them, she usually spends a little time batting at them, before losing interest and letting them float up to the ceiling. 

March 8- Her first day at the tupperware cabinet, she hadn't really figured out the best strategy yet, she took out pieces and chewed on them, rather then emptying the whole thing.   

March 7- E opening a birthday gift from her great aunt and uncle.  She was funny to watch at her birthday, she clearly remembered presents from Christmas, and knew just what to do with them.  All her work putting things into each other also really paid off, she knew just how to empty boxes and bags!

Birthday Week!

March 6- Although we celebrated E's birthday yesterday this isn't a big gift for her.  But, she enjoyed crawling through this "tunnel" her dad's construction project created for her.  As a curious one year old, She had to help her dad put together the shelving that came in this box, and now pretty much always has to be in on the action.  She's no longer satisfied to be outside of the kitchen while meals are being prepared, and is getting increasingly difficult to distract with toys when she sees something she really wants.  E also got to visit with her grandma and grandpa today.

March 5- We celebrated 's birthday today with all her grandparents, uncle Nate, uncle Bob, aunt Norma, great grandma, and our friends Mark, Michelle, Hank, Andrea, and Aurora.  E was an amazing little girl for her party.  She started off showing off for all her guests, this involved running and then falling on her butt and letting out a little screech.  After about an hour she calmed down.  By far my favorite moment of the day was the cake.  E had absolutely no interest in her cake or ice cream.  I don't know that she even took a bite of either.  But she discovered a love of Ritz crackers.

March 4-  E, grandma, and  Uncle Nate visited the Memorial Union for coffee break today.  Break is a long standing tradition at my work, thirty years ago I celebrated my first birthday at coffee break, so it seemed only fitting that E celebrated her birthday there as well.  She got to meet most of my (and her grandpa's) co-workers, she tried a bagel, and she got to run around the UW Madison Union.  After coffee, she spent the rest of the day with grandma and uncle Nate.

March 3- Can't get enough of the shape sorter.  This was E's last "normal" day for awhile and she made the most of it, playing with her shapes and and her zoo toy.  I was sick this day and had lost my voice, so we had a lot more quiet play then we usually do.  No chasing and no singing.

March 2- Today was E's one year checkup.  Here is her picture on the scale.  I had to take this picture, because E's weight is one of the first questions people ask us about her.  E is quite small for her age, something that she covers with her big personality and quick movements, but when you break the numbers down, you can see.  On her one year check up she weighed 16 pounds and 4 oz which put her in the 0.98%, meaning that 99.2% of babies weigh more then her.  We'd been hoping she'd hit 17 pounds.  But, she was 28.5 inches tall, putting her in the 25%.  All in all, she's perfect for us, and her weight isn't something we think much about on a daily basis. 

Happy First Birthday!

March 1-

I can’t believe my little E is a year old.  It doesn’t seem like that long ago that I heard the first description of my little girl when my doctor said, “it’s a little one.”  Shortly after that she asked A, “what is this” and said, “a baby”, then a second or two later, he told me the baby was a girl.  I then got my first glimpse of E, although she didn’t have a name until about 9 pm on March 1.  In this past year she has grown and changed so much, she’s gone through independent streaks that that show me how determined she’ll be once she’s older.  She learned to walk at 8 months and 1 week, and hasn’t stopped since.   

We celebrated her birthday at the Nitty Gritty with all four of her grandparents.  Celebrating at the Nitty Gritty is a tradition in our family, in fact, there was even a brief discussion about taking E there last year on her birth day.  But, we thought better of that idea!  She got her first birthday mug and balloon, and had her first taste of cake and ice cream.  Neither was a big hit. 

Almost a birthday girl

E's first birthday is tomorrow, we can't belive how fast this first year has gone.  We are amazed every day with the little person whose personality is developing before our eyes.  We've watched her learn to walk, run, and jump; turn the pages in a book; use a spoon; push buttons; and so much more. 

February 28-  In the last few days this has become E's new spot, its a little nook, about a 18 inches by 18 inches between the door and our dvd case.  I think she likes it because she can "hide" behind it and play with her toys, its a little E room of her own, but she can still peek out and see us, always with a grin.  She's taken to leaving a few toys, usually her wooden rattle, in her nook. 

February 27- Like most kids her age E is facinated by stacking and nesting things.  She trys to nest everything she has.  As you can see, her book won't fit into her cup, no matter how she tries it.  Fortunatly, the Cheerios on the floor behind her will fit, and she put them in and then spilled them out again.  Although it has nothing to do with nesting, she also learned to hit her baseball with her bat today.  And, don't worry, the diaper on the floor is unused, E liberated it from the diaper bag.

Solidary, part 2

Our lives continue to be dominated by the attack on public worker rights here in Wisconsin.  As a family with two public employees, we are watching these events unfold with a great deal of fear for our future and E's future.  It is pretty much all we can think about and all we can talk about.  We've been participating in demonstrations and having a great many discussions, but we are trying to keep the disruption's to E's life as little as possible.  She will however feel the effects in two weeks when she goes from five days a week in daycare to three.  She will see Miss Chris, one of her favorite people in the whole world less, which once she realizes it will be pretty upsetting.

 February 26-  E and Grandma and Grandpa all survived the sleep-over, although E didn't sleep the whole night, they said everyone got enough sleep.  Its clear that E's favorite toy this week is an empty puff container, she's even taken to putting her shape-sorter shapes into it.  She practices opening and closing the lid and reaching her arm in as far as it can go (it goes up past her elbow).  She carries it around with her, and even uses it for teething.  Given that her second favorite toy of the week is an empty tissue box we wonder why we need so many toys.

February 25-  Eat your veggies!  Getting E to eat is always a struggle, she has favorite foods, and then suddenly changes her mind.  For a while she loved Gerber turkey sticks, now she could take or leave them.  She used to love finger food peas, now she will only occasionally eat them, same with sweet potatoes.  She refuses to eat small carrot pieces, so to try and trick her, I gave her a whole carrot.  It worked for a few bites, but then she figured it out.  Today also marked a milestone, she had a sleep over at Grandma and Grandpa's.

February 24-  Getting ready for bed, E and dad read "Tall" by Jez Alborough, its one of E's favorite books.  Its also one of her dad's favorites to read to her, there aren't many words, so he gets to improvise quite a bit of the story.  E gets a story or two every night, its almost her favorite part of her night time routine.

February 23-  Sleep is really all I can say about this day.  E woke up so many times during the night we lost count.  She slept everywhere, her bed, our bed, and being held all for about an hour at a time.  My clearest memory of it all was waking up to a little girl giving me a love bite on my nose.

February 22-  Mommy snuggles!  E is always on the go, and from a young age wanted to be independent.  In the past month, she's become more and more willing to slow down for a few minutes for a hug, cuddle, or sitting on a lap.  We love the change, we used to have to wait until she fell asleep in our arms for cuddles, now we get them while she is awake.

February 21-  E's other favorite non-toy of the week, bowls.  She is very interested in stacking and nesting things, and her bowls work perfectly for nesting.  She also likes to bang them like drums.  You can't see it here, but she also used a spoon to play with her bowls, "stirring" the air inside them and using the spoon to teeth while carrying bowls.

February 20-  E and her blocks, the blocks were a Christmas gift and they were one of her favorites.  She likes to knock down towers, stack two on top of each other, and throw them.  Fortunately her blocks are rubber so they bounce funny when she throws them.  That is half the fun though, she goes chasing after them and does it all again.

February 19- A future chef?  We spend time looking and E's favorite activities and pretending that we can guess her future career based on what she does as an 11 month old.  We've guessed pretty much all the careers a person can have.  Here she is modeling the apron my parents brought me from Hawaii.  Her dad got an apron too, and once he put his on, she was very interested in wearing mine.  She walked around in it for quite a while, and even found a way to chew on something while wearing it.