"dada"

finally ella has found her "d"! she's been saying "baa-baa" for "da-da" until now, but today she said "dada" very distinctly quite a few times.

she's 11 months yesterday. where did the time go? we will have her birthday party in a month. wow.

the days are getting cooler and so beautiful. the weather is truly gorgeous.

i survived my weekend of single motherhood. not so awful. elenora usually tackles j. in the mornings by leaning her head backwards until it is tucked under his chin and then she just grins and coos happily. but when j. was gone she did that to me, so it was precious time. both mornings i took elenora to dunkin donuts and she is the most friendly baby in the world. every time we see a person she stretches her arms out to them with a huge smile on her face. they can't resist wanting to know her, and so i answer "how old is she?" and "what is her name?" and "wow, she's friendly!" over and over again. she just makes me so proud.

saturday we went to the beach with momby and h. we sat by the shore and had sandwiches and chips (yes, i let ella munch on one or two i have to admit, but they were called 'earth' something chips and were made with veggies) and then we went in the water and ella cuddled in her gramby's arms and let the water splash over her feet.





momby said "i have something to tell you girls." which made me nervous. her colonoscopy results were not good. a "mass." tests. catscan. biopsy. we'll find out on thursday what the findings are. it's so scary. when it comes to health matters i always just think "oh, it will be fine." but momby's dad died of colon cancer. if this is cancer, she will have surgery and chemotherapy. these are not words you want to think about. especially not when you're thinking about momby, who is so healthy and youthful and someone who we depend on so much from day to day. a few weeks ago she was in PA for a week and j. and i just missed her brutally. we rely on her for emotional support, friendship, babysitting, laundry, dishes, errands. she's a god-send and a blessing and best of all she loves us and loves elenora more than anyone. all we can do right now is pray that the results are good. and also pray that we can be as supportive of her as she is of us.


saturday evening k. came over and we made eggplant parmesan and drank red wine and played cards and watched "iron chef." this is a very typical evening for k. and me. it was tons of fun to have girls' night.

sunday i did take elenora to church by myself. it felt good. she was wonderful in the nursery and afterward she and i hung out in the sanctuary with p. and j.a. and d. and his wife, who, it turns out, is almost done with her first trimester. elenora was so active. she wanted to crawl through the pews of the mostly empty sanctuary and wave and smile at everyone. i'm amazed at how easily she'll let other people hold her or take her hands to walk her around. p. and j.a. invited us to join their small group, which meets once or twice a month for dinner and a study. i'm looking forward to that sort of thing.

the only thing that worries me about the presbyterian church is just how presbyterian it is. both sundays i've been there they've mentioned their "covenant children" or "baptizing our babies." i'm just not into that. and i don't want to feel like we're out of the loop or club because i don't want ella baptized. i would like to be a member of a church around here some day and have elenora dedicated. but i don't know that they will do a dedication in lieu of a baptism.

oh well.

sunday afternoon i took ella for a long walk around town in the sling. she finally fits in there without my worrying that she's uncomfortable.

after she was in bed i cleaned like crazy around here so that j. could come home to a clutter- and mess-free home. our bedroom actually has a clear floor now, and i swept everything. we're so bad about keeping our room neat. the rest of the house seems like enough, so our room always comes last. my present to j. was a clean room.

it was great to see j. he came home super late and super sunburned, but it was so nice to catch up with each other.