snuggling

elenora is quite the snuggler in the mornings. especially with j. when ella finishes nursing she crawls over me to pounce on him. then she inevitably leans her head back against his cheek and coos and smiles. it's so cute to watch.

ella is also signing a bit lately. she will initiate the sign language for "more" and she'll copy me if i sign the word "eat." we're working on the word "good" the last few days. she does it her own way, but i know what she means. she sort of raises her hand up and then brings it purposefully down, slowly, and with the palm down. i'm trying to teach her the sign for "drink," but she gets it mixed up with "good" sometimes. it's really cute, because sometimes she'll start whining for something and i'll just say "ella!" and she will stop whining immediately, look at me, and seriously shake her head "no." hah! then she does make a concerted effort to sign for what she wants.

it's nice for her (and us) to have that alternative to whining. and nice that she realizes that it's not okay to whine.

we gave elenora her first cup of milk tonight. she didn't even blink her eye at it. she's loving having a real cup at dinner time. i've been giving her almond butter on crackers (sometimes with banana, as a sandwich) and she's loving that too. it's so fun for her to be able to eat all of these foods now that she is one.

we're still sticking to two naps a day. for the most part, she really does still need them both. some days she'll play for most or all of one of the naps. but as long as she is pleasant and playing it seems to me she doesn't need a nap those days. and the days when she does take two naps she is better off for it.

j.'s brother is getting married in a few days. i'm looking forward to seeing j.'s extended family. the wedding is local. that makes it easy to coordinate with babysitters. ella will attend the rehearsal on friday night (but not the rehearsal dinner) and then the wedding (but not the reception) on saturday. hopefully she'll sit through the ceremony fine. she's such a good girl.

one comment

mccain made the comment: "...and a lot of people might be interested in Senator Obama's definition of 'rich.'"

maybe $250,000 is nothing to a man with seven houses. but to the average american (basically all of the friends i have and the people who i work with included), that is just insulting to belittle a yearly income of $250,000. so many people in this country work so hard to bring in a fraction of that amount of money each year. they aren't lazy. they aren't dumb. they are hard-working people who happen to have jobs that don't pay as much. i wouldn't want a job on wall street. i wouldn't want to be an investment banker or a doctor or a financial planner. i'm happy in my work in editorial at ebscoland. does that mean my time is worth so much less than people who choose to be bankers, doctors, and financial planners? why is someone else's time worth so much more than mine? why should my time be worth more than the woman at dunkin donuts who made my breakfast? we all perform valuable roles in this society. we all deserve to be able to pay bills and buy houses and put our children through good schools and college.

mmcain and people like him, who make so much money that to them $250,000 is small change, should pay more taxes. if you can't understand how much money that is, you won't miss a little more.

besides, what in the world is so wrong with reallocating the wealth a little bit? it's CHRISTIAN, for god's sake. jesus said that if your neighbor needs a shirt, give him the shirt off your back. jesus also said to give taxes to the state ("render unto caesar" and all that) and to not store up treasures on earth. the rich young ruler was told by jesus to give it all away. why do evangelical christians in america think it's inherently christian to vote republican? i can't see that republicans stand for what jesus stands for at all, and just based on the militarism and greed of the republican ticket alone i would never ever vote for mccain.

sorry for my rant. i just had to say it.

1 year check-up

elenora had a big day.

first off, i was home this morning and made her a real cooked breakfast. usually i'm getting ready for work and we give her cheerios and fruit and either cottage cheese or yogurt. but this morning i made her pancakes with a whole egg and cows milk (and bananas and trader joe's whole grain pancake mix). yum.

the reason i was home this morning was that our new babysitter can't come until 11:30 on fridays. ella and i met s. last week, but this was her first time watching elenora. s. has four kids of her own, so i think she'll be great. j. said that when he arrived home elenora was having a great time with s. and even was clinging to her a bit. s. even did our dishes and swept my kitchen floor. what a nice woman!

when i got home from work j. and i rushed out the door (and through the downpour) to ella's 1 year appointment. i just love taking elenora out because she's so cheerful and friendly. as soon as we walked in the door she started working the room--a smile here, a wave there.

she weighed in at 20 lbs 11 oz (though she'd had 3 oz of a bottle on the way). that's the 50th percentile. she is now 30 and 1/2 inches tall, which is still in the 90th percentile. ella was a darling through the entire appointment with dr. t. she started throwing her binky on the floor and laughing at her own joke.

she got one shot, and they tested her for lead. poor baby. she cried after each needle poke, but she recovered well to the point that she waved and said "bye-bye" to the nurses on her way out.

she fell asleep in the car on the way home. so precious.

tonight j. and i are watching the debates.

as i become the mother of a 1-year-old

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this evening i was taking extra time rocking elenora before bed. i started singing some of the most common songs i've sung to her over the past year, and suddenly i was just so choked up thinking about how she's just going to keep getting older and bigger. she will never be this little baby in my arms again. she's already grown so much. ella is my precious darling. so smart. so wonderful.
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this afternoon we went to the farm to pick up our produce and they had pumpkins just piled in a row for us to choose from. elenora kept climbing up on them and patting them. when we went across the lawn to fill our produce bag she kept pointing towards them. we got to take three home.
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tomorrow morning momby is coming to watch elenora in the morning while i am at work. i think i'll go in late and we'll all take ella to breakfast. in the afternoon i'll probably take her to russell orchard or to the beach. i have one-year pictures set up for thursday afternoon and then friday we have her one-year appointment. i can't wait to see how tall she is and how much she weighs. she's so big now.
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a first birthday party

ella's first birthday party was so much fun. here are some photos:

on the menu: carrot cake cupcakes, pumpkin pie, rhubarb wine, fruit salad, crackers and cheese, pasta salad.



elenora was so excited about the balloons. (we're still having fun with them.)



ella got a little tikes push and ride that was a big hit with the babies. she and aurora got on the back of it and took the wheels for a ride. elenora also enjoyed pushing it from behind.

it was tough to keep ella with me while opening gifts because there was so much going on. but here's a moment when she sat with me to open a gift from her mimi.



the wind blew out the candle the first time, and i helped the second time. ella enjoyed the sweets. "mmmm..."



notice aurora in the background. she's such a cutie.

a family photo:



with the grandmas.

with uncle j. and aunt h.

i'd do it all over again the same way. it was so much fun. our guest list included three other babies (aurora, penelope, and nathan), two grandmas, aunt h. and uncle j., auntie k., and a bunch of other friends. i felt so blessed to have everyone there, as i know how much they all mean to elenora. it was great for her to be able to look in every direction and see people who love her.

hold my hand

elenora walked today holding onto only one of my hands! i've thought for a couple weeks now that she had the balance and ability, but was lacking the confidence. this afternoon i was walking her around our apartment and she was going towards j. and i just thought maybe she'd do it. once she did it, she didn't want to stop walking around just holding onto one of my hands. and she's really good at it. if she started to keel she'd plant a foot down and bend her knees and suddenly she was solid again. i'm so proud of her.

just a matter of weeks now till she's walking on her own.

concepts

elenora understands the concept of "other." if she's looking at a page in a book that has two of something on it and she points to one, you can ask her where the other one is, and she will look at and point to the second. just now, as we were playing, she picked up her blue duck and i asked her "where is your other duck?" she immediately started looking around and found the yellow duck. if we're outside and she points to the tree, i can ask her where the other tree is and she will immediately turn around and point to the other tree in the yard.

i took elenora to the park two days in a row last week. the first day we watched girls skip rope, we walked around and chased geese by the pond, and we went on the swings and the slide. the second day when we arrived i asked her "where are the geese?" (which are located off to the side of the park by about 200 feet) and she immediately turned to where they had been the previous day and pointed and said "Ga!" i couldn't believe she remembered that. awhile later i asked her "where is the fountain?" (which is not something i'd stressed the day before--just something i'd pointed to about once or twice) and she immediately pointed to the fountain in the pond. i don't know how she remembered that, since that's the only fountain she's ever seen and i didn't really try to make her memorize that.

i went shopping tonight with momby. i needed to get a few things for a bachelorette party i'm going to this weekend, and momby wanted me to help her find ella some birthday clothing. i found a few sweaters and shirts for ella.

baby clothing is so expensive. i spent about a half hour in baby gap lusting after every item i picked up and agonizing about which single item i could convince myself was worth the price tag... and then finally walked out empty handed and so discouraged by the expense. who can pay forty dollars for one item of baby clothing that will be grown out of in six months? good lord. the cheapest thing i found there was about 24 dollars (for a little t-shirt!). so not worth it.

i've been doing denise austin's holy crap, no joke pilates dvd. i can feel muscles in my legs i didn't know could be reached.

made some soup last night. i love making soup because the options are endless. this one was a carrot, onion, kale, collard green, navy bean, garlic, and acorn squash soup.

j. says there's nothing "fun" in it. but i think it's tasty. he can have his bowl with a hot dog on the side.

he did make dinner for us tonight. he's thirty years old and this was the first time in his life he's ever cut up an onion.

i really don't know what to say about that.

jeez.

grampa

we traveled to maine on friday for one last visit with my grampa before he heads to his home in nc. my cousin e. met us up there for dinner. ella was perfect in the car, just entertained herself with her toys the whole way. she was so smiley with my grampa and e. a few weeks ago i showed her a photo of her with grampa, and i asked her where grampa is, and she pointed right to him with a smile, so i know she knows him.

saturday was a semi-gloomy day. the rain held off just enough for us to be able to sit on the dock by the water for awhile. some ducks swam up to entertain us, and ella and i followed them around the beach and even into the water a little bit. elenora is not shy about walking right into the water. i gave her blueberries to munch on, and she really loved them. i'll have to purchase some at the store.

grampa has such nice things to say about ella. he's always commenting on what a great temperament she has and how happy she is. she likes to follow him around his kitchen or climb up on his chair while he's sitting in the living room. i like to watch grampa's face as he watches her, since she brings such joy to him.

the trip home was nerve-wracking since we were being hit hard with tropical storm hanna. i kept slowing down to about 35 mph on the highway because i couldn't see the lines on the road. elenora slept soundly the whole trip, though, and we made it home safely.

today is gorgeous. so sunny with a beautiful breeze and 70s. i put elenora into her new red corduroys that i got her for her birthday, and nobody ever looked cuter in a pair of pants ever.

football season starts today, basically. pats are on.

seems to me like the worst possiblle way to spend a gorgeous, sunny, warm sunday.

play dates at the park

yesterday elenora and i went to the park after our (and i do mean our) afternoon naps. we met up with s. and aurora there. before they arrived, ella and i walked around the playground, watching the other children. elenora loves walking now (while holding onto our hands). she's better at it than she thinks. she also liked watching some girls jump rope, and was so excited about it that she wanted me to help her jump up and down. i could tell that if she could, she would run over and join them. so funny. she must get that extroversion from j.

when s. and aurora arrived we pushed the girls on the swings and helped them slide down the slide. the girls also chased some geese around the park and sat on some toy horses. they're really cute together.

i need to do more of this play date stuff, since mostly ella just hangs out with adults.

she continues to amaze me with the things she knows. i'll take out a book she's never seen before and we'll flip through it and i'll ask her to find things in the pictures that i haven't pointed out to her. she's amazing at that game. i so often ask her "how do you know that?"

labor day photos

when ella woke from her nap we tried to occupy her attention with the saucer while we finished a game of yahtzee.



this is where she ended up, though:



labor day was also when we celebrated my birthday at the b's house. r. gave me my first "mommy mug."

an introvert with maracas

saturday we had a play date with a. and s. and their toddler aurora. we met at russell orchards to enjoy the animals. the girls were really sweet. they wave to each other and toddle towards each other and aurora gave elenora a kiss, which in turn ella gave aurora a kiss. precious. ella was laughing at the goats and the geese. we let her try some peach ice cream (maybe about a teaspoon's worth) and blueberries.

sunday we took her to church again, and again she was wonderful in the nursery. the caregivers said she is so "alert and active" and that she was saying "bye-bye" to all the children as their parents came and got them.

have i mentioned that ella says "bye-bye"? not just waves... she says it.

sunday afternoon momby and i took elenora for a walk at appleton. it was the perfect day for a walk. so sunny and kind of cool. the cows were out in the fields.

my friends gathered for dinner at a mexican restaurant sunday night. not the restaurant i had wanted (they were closed for the night, unfortunately). it was more tex-mex than actual mexican. i got a margarita and then a mariachi band came to our table and j. pointed out to them that it was my birthday so they very loudly played happy birthday and handed me the maracas half-way through. i promptly ordered a second margarita.

the dinner was fun, and my friends were so great. k. hosted dessert at her place afterwards with wine and huge chocolate cakes in the shape of roses.

monday i woke up with the worst headache and i felt really nauseous. i'm just not used to drinking anymore.

now i'm looking forward to ella's birthday party.

something tells me she won't mind shaking the maracas.