elenora is 10 months old

we went to maine this past weekend. it was beautiful weather and we enjoyed playing skip-bo with grampa and sitting on the dock. ella and i even got in the lake and swam a bit.

by the end of the trip ella was doing something new...and not terribly fun. the final night we were there she took to just falling apart with overwhelming sadness. then the next morning while i was nursing her she just fell to pieces and couldn't be put back together again. it ended with her falling asleep in my arms (which is not normal at all). it's continued for the past few days, too. especially if i leave the room or if i come back into a room and she hasn't seen me for a bit. she just starts sobbing. but since that one morning all it takes to calm her is a little redirection with a "ella, where is...?" question, or if i pick her up she calms right down.

i like to say that she's practicing her sad emotion. she's seeing what happens when she is sad. she hasn't had a lot of practice with that emotion. i'm trying to walk a fine line between not encouraging it but not completely ignoring it either. i give her consolation, but i also try to let her work through some of it on her own.

i'm hoping that part of this is just her teeth finally coming in. i mean, they have to come in some time, right? the front of her bottom gums seem whiter and more lumpy than usual, but people have been telling me they bet she's teething for about seven months, now, so i'll believe it when i see it.

j. is still waiting on a job offer. his interview went really well, so we are hopeful. but there are two positions open and one would be too far away (though he would take it). i'm praying so hard that he'll get the closer job.

m. and j. are overdue with their baby, nathan, and she's been having "knee buckling" contractions for days now. when i think about the labor i just get choked up. i told j. last night that i just don't want to do it again. why can't couples take turns with that? why can't the husband birth the second baby? i think i'm going to need some hypno-counseling to get me past my fear of giving birth again.

i've been making a lot of baby food lately. i have to admit that the list in the previous blog are things that ella could eat and not necessarily things that i have made for her. though i think i've done a good job of giving her a variety of foods. i've been trying to add some spices and herbs lately and she's enjoyed: a dash of curry in her cereal, basil on pasta, and garlic and cilantro in red lentils. her favorite foods right now have to be beets, broccoli, cottage cheese, cheddar cheese, and bananas.

elenora has been really interested in her books lately. we look at them during her play time (she initiates it by grabbing one and flipping through it) and we always read a bunch of books before her naps and bedtime. she's really good at pointing out things if i ask her "where is the horse?" "where is the duck?" "where is the clock?" "where is the cheese?" "where is the banana?" etc. she even knows categories of things; the pictures in different books are of different [dogs, cows, horses, ducks, fish, etc.], but she always knows what is what.

if you ask elenora where her hair is she puts her hands on her head. if you ask her where her teeth are she puts her finger in her mouth (and sometimes shakes her head "no"). she knows where her dress is and her belly. if you ask her where any of her stuffed animals' noses, ears, tails, or eyes are, she will point to those.