Dear Elle,
You are intensely focused. Yesterday we took you to NYC with Nana and Papa and on the way home on the train you were so good, so very involved in your iphone, you didn't move a muscle, you just played with your phone like all the businessmen around you. The man sitting next to you said you were much better behaved than most adults he usually sits next to.
The other day we were Christmas shopping and you were getting bored so I gave you a Dora doll to hold. This Dora was in a box with her neck and legs strapped in with little plastic rings. Just a few seconds after I gave you the box you looked at her and said, "Mommy, get scissors." How did you know that scissors were what you needed? You have never even seen scissors! I just stood there looking at you just in awe of what you know. And you just sat there in the cart looking back at me probably wondering why I wasn't getting you the scissors.
Love,
Mama
Thursday, December 27, 2012
Sunday, December 16, 2012
20 Months
Dear Elle,
Yesterday you turned 20 months old. Today is Saturday and it's also Grandpa's birthday and we are going to meet everyone out for dinner tonight. This morning after a long walk in the stroller (where we met a beautiful Great Dane named Savannah who licked your face and made you laugh) we made him a big green card with stickers and you colored all over it. We just had peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and apples and then I rocked you for a bit and you went right down for your nap. You were very tired.
This month your language has grown so much! Everyday you say something that I didn't know you knew about. The other day you were sitting on the couch watching Bubble Guppies and Dora rolled off and you said, "Oh God, no!" and then jumped down to get her. You like to add a little element of drama to keep things interesting. You know all of your animal sounds and yesterday you started saying, "Ribbit!" when you see frogs and it's adorable. You can also count to 10 and know all your colors and letters and shapes. We went to Grandma's on Friday to make Christmas cookies and you had your first gingerbread and you were very happy about that. Since then you have said gingerbread at least a hundred times, and even when Grandma was spelling it to me, you knew what she was saying. "Gingerbread?" you asked with your eyebrows raised and your little hands out.
You now think Grandma's name is "Gamma House". So that's what you call her no matter where we are. She did finger-painting with you last week and when she squeezed the paint on the paper she started saying, "ooooooh oooh" and now that is how you think finger-painting is done, by swirling your fingers all in the paint saying "oooooh ooooh" the entire time. And when you want to talk about Grandma you call her "Ooooh Gamma House". Like that's her name.
Last night we went to an Elf Party at Auntie Julie's sisters house and you wore your red and white striped feety pajamas and you ate more gingerbread and Julie gave you cotton candy which you didn't know what to do with so you threw it on the ground. I think maybe you thought it was a cotton ball. (When you are older you will know how silly that was because cotton candy is like fluffy delicious gold.) When we got home it was past your bedtime and I went to get you out of the car and I was trying to carry you and a lot of bags and I told you to "Hang onto Mommy" and you said, "I gotcha!" which you clearly don't know what that means because you weren't holding on at all. I couldn't believe you said that, because I had never heard you say that before and it was such a grown up thing to say.
You can also make sentences and ask questions and have conversations. You like to get right to the point. The other day you were pointed to your toes saying, "this little piggy" and then I asked you what the little piggy did and you said, "wee home."
Next week is Christmas and it's going to be so much fun. Mommy and Daddy bought you a little wooden cradle for your babies that Mommy is going to paint white and make bedding for. We got you an easel to paint on and a little Elmo and some books and clothes. We went to see Santa at Stew Leonard's last week and you were fine to watch him from the line but once we got up close you were so screaming mad that you would not sit on his lap, you kicked and screamed. Good thing Santa does not hold grudges.
Love,
Mommy
Yesterday you turned 20 months old. Today is Saturday and it's also Grandpa's birthday and we are going to meet everyone out for dinner tonight. This morning after a long walk in the stroller (where we met a beautiful Great Dane named Savannah who licked your face and made you laugh) we made him a big green card with stickers and you colored all over it. We just had peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and apples and then I rocked you for a bit and you went right down for your nap. You were very tired.
This month your language has grown so much! Everyday you say something that I didn't know you knew about. The other day you were sitting on the couch watching Bubble Guppies and Dora rolled off and you said, "Oh God, no!" and then jumped down to get her. You like to add a little element of drama to keep things interesting. You know all of your animal sounds and yesterday you started saying, "Ribbit!" when you see frogs and it's adorable. You can also count to 10 and know all your colors and letters and shapes. We went to Grandma's on Friday to make Christmas cookies and you had your first gingerbread and you were very happy about that. Since then you have said gingerbread at least a hundred times, and even when Grandma was spelling it to me, you knew what she was saying. "Gingerbread?" you asked with your eyebrows raised and your little hands out.
You now think Grandma's name is "Gamma House". So that's what you call her no matter where we are. She did finger-painting with you last week and when she squeezed the paint on the paper she started saying, "ooooooh oooh" and now that is how you think finger-painting is done, by swirling your fingers all in the paint saying "oooooh ooooh" the entire time. And when you want to talk about Grandma you call her "Ooooh Gamma House". Like that's her name.
Last night we went to an Elf Party at Auntie Julie's sisters house and you wore your red and white striped feety pajamas and you ate more gingerbread and Julie gave you cotton candy which you didn't know what to do with so you threw it on the ground. I think maybe you thought it was a cotton ball. (When you are older you will know how silly that was because cotton candy is like fluffy delicious gold.) When we got home it was past your bedtime and I went to get you out of the car and I was trying to carry you and a lot of bags and I told you to "Hang onto Mommy" and you said, "I gotcha!" which you clearly don't know what that means because you weren't holding on at all. I couldn't believe you said that, because I had never heard you say that before and it was such a grown up thing to say.
You can also make sentences and ask questions and have conversations. You like to get right to the point. The other day you were pointed to your toes saying, "this little piggy" and then I asked you what the little piggy did and you said, "wee home."
Next week is Christmas and it's going to be so much fun. Mommy and Daddy bought you a little wooden cradle for your babies that Mommy is going to paint white and make bedding for. We got you an easel to paint on and a little Elmo and some books and clothes. We went to see Santa at Stew Leonard's last week and you were fine to watch him from the line but once we got up close you were so screaming mad that you would not sit on his lap, you kicked and screamed. Good thing Santa does not hold grudges.
Love,
Mommy
Monday, November 12, 2012
18 and 19 Months
Dear Elle,
You have a favorite letter and it's "w". (You say it like, "double-vuf") You say it all the time and you laugh and laugh, and howl and shriek and stomp your feet and run around like that letter is doing stand up comedy and you already downed the two drink minimum. You have a video you like to watch over and over called "The Letter Factory" and the letter "W" is dressed up like a rapper with gold chains and some turntables and he has a little song that he sings about the letter "W" (..."when I play it over here the room it starts to shake, it's the sound that you make...wha wha wha wha wha whaaa W") When he's about to come on you scream for him and laugh and laugh. "Double-vuf! Double-vuf!" You find so much joy in the tiniest things and I am learning so much from you.
You are obsessed with Dora. We might have to have an intervention. The theme song is the first thing you ask me to sing for you in the morning and you can't go anywhere with out BOTH Doras. Mommy got you a Dora and then Grandma got you a Baby Dora to keep at her house, but nooooooo, you weren't having it. That Baby Dora was coming home with you, so help you God. Both Doras go everywhere with us, in the shopping cart at Shop Rite, buckled in the carseat under each of your arms, to the Doctors to get their ears checked and heart listened to, in the bathroom to brush all of our teeth. You also brush the teeth of the backpack on Dora's back, which is silly because backpacks don't have teeth. But you don't care, you will brush his little gummy smile anyway. It's so amazing to me that you are already preparing to be a Mommy yourself, you tuck in 'the Doras' on the couch to watch some Dora and you kiss them on their foreheads. You are taking all the cues from me, so I better not mess this up. Sometimes you ask to take 'the Doras' into the bathtub but we have to draw the line somewhere because we all know 'the Doras' can't swim.
You might have noticed that these two months are combined into one letter and you might want to know why that is. Well. We have been very very busy and time has been going by so very fast that I haven't had much time to write. We are working hard on our new house, picking out all the stuff to go inside and they have been building the frame of the house and grading the landscape and working on a beautiful stone wall that is right out in front. We have gone there quite a bit lately and you just want to dig in the dirt and pick up rocks and I wonder if you will even remember what it was like when the house wasn't there. I think you will always know this house to be your house even though you actually have lived in two different houses already and you are only a year and a half.
You are talking up a storm and you say the funniest things. Lately you have been saying, "Aww Honey.." after you heard one of us say it and it's so cute. You sound just like a 95 year old Italian Grandmother. You also repeat pretty much anything you hear and you can say mommy's car, grandma's house, daddy's working, no no more noodles, huggin', thanks, juice and you have been saying "please" a lot more which is always sweet to hear. Right now you are playing with the iPad and switching between reading "The Cat in the Hat", doing some puzzles and working on your farm animal sounds. You just walked up to me and shoveled a handful of organic cheddar bunnies into my mouth with such force I think you touched the little punching bag in the back of my throat. I was trying to say, "no, thank you, sweetie", but when I opened my mouth you just stuffed them in my face. I have a feeling you are going to be President.
Love,
Mama
You have a favorite letter and it's "w". (You say it like, "double-vuf") You say it all the time and you laugh and laugh, and howl and shriek and stomp your feet and run around like that letter is doing stand up comedy and you already downed the two drink minimum. You have a video you like to watch over and over called "The Letter Factory" and the letter "W" is dressed up like a rapper with gold chains and some turntables and he has a little song that he sings about the letter "W" (..."when I play it over here the room it starts to shake, it's the sound that you make...wha wha wha wha wha whaaa W") When he's about to come on you scream for him and laugh and laugh. "Double-vuf! Double-vuf!" You find so much joy in the tiniest things and I am learning so much from you.
You are obsessed with Dora. We might have to have an intervention. The theme song is the first thing you ask me to sing for you in the morning and you can't go anywhere with out BOTH Doras. Mommy got you a Dora and then Grandma got you a Baby Dora to keep at her house, but nooooooo, you weren't having it. That Baby Dora was coming home with you, so help you God. Both Doras go everywhere with us, in the shopping cart at Shop Rite, buckled in the carseat under each of your arms, to the Doctors to get their ears checked and heart listened to, in the bathroom to brush all of our teeth. You also brush the teeth of the backpack on Dora's back, which is silly because backpacks don't have teeth. But you don't care, you will brush his little gummy smile anyway. It's so amazing to me that you are already preparing to be a Mommy yourself, you tuck in 'the Doras' on the couch to watch some Dora and you kiss them on their foreheads. You are taking all the cues from me, so I better not mess this up. Sometimes you ask to take 'the Doras' into the bathtub but we have to draw the line somewhere because we all know 'the Doras' can't swim.
You might have noticed that these two months are combined into one letter and you might want to know why that is. Well. We have been very very busy and time has been going by so very fast that I haven't had much time to write. We are working hard on our new house, picking out all the stuff to go inside and they have been building the frame of the house and grading the landscape and working on a beautiful stone wall that is right out in front. We have gone there quite a bit lately and you just want to dig in the dirt and pick up rocks and I wonder if you will even remember what it was like when the house wasn't there. I think you will always know this house to be your house even though you actually have lived in two different houses already and you are only a year and a half.
You are talking up a storm and you say the funniest things. Lately you have been saying, "Aww Honey.." after you heard one of us say it and it's so cute. You sound just like a 95 year old Italian Grandmother. You also repeat pretty much anything you hear and you can say mommy's car, grandma's house, daddy's working, no no more noodles, huggin', thanks, juice and you have been saying "please" a lot more which is always sweet to hear. Right now you are playing with the iPad and switching between reading "The Cat in the Hat", doing some puzzles and working on your farm animal sounds. You just walked up to me and shoveled a handful of organic cheddar bunnies into my mouth with such force I think you touched the little punching bag in the back of my throat. I was trying to say, "no, thank you, sweetie", but when I opened my mouth you just stuffed them in my face. I have a feeling you are going to be President.
Love,
Mama
Thursday, September 27, 2012
17 Months
Dear Elle,
This week you turned 17 months old. You have really grown tall and lean and have gone up a shoe size in the last few weeks. You can reach all the doorknobs now and try to close and open doors all over the house. You can also reach the kitchen drawer handles and pull yourself up to see what's on the counter. You are so fast with those little hands. The other day I put some crumbcake on a plate to share with you and we walked over to the table holding the plate and when i put it down I realized there was no crumbcake on it, but it was in your hand and I was holding an empty plate. Mom is so crazy walking around with an empty plate.
You and your dad have an awesome time together. He plays with you and you shriek and squeal and laugh so hard. He gets down on the floor and you put your blanket on his head and he flails around looking for you and you run circles around him and then jump on his back and try to ride him. Then you say "hug!" and give him a bear hug and he feels so lucky and happy that you think he's so cool. It's like the rest of the world fades out and it's just you and him in this little bubble of special dad and Elle time. Then you go right back to screaming and kicking and running and laughing. You guys play with the Dora legos all the time and you have a little Dora that sits on top of the legos and you make Dad kiss it. You push his face towards her and you watch very carefully to make sure he does it. He is seriously putty in your hands.
You are starting to recognize things out in the world and it makes me realize that you are so very smart. Yesterday we were walking into Shop-Rite very early in the morning, going to pick up some milk and some organic pears and bananas (which you say like ba-la-ba-la-la) and you looked up at the big letters on the front of the store and said, "SSSS" and I couldn't believe it. You are so smart.
You can say so many words now, new ones everyday. You say "help" when you need it and "please" when you want something and we aren't moving fast enough to get it for you. You know most of your body parts and you can point to them all when we sing if you're happy and you know it... You have some new friends from the Mom's group we joined and you like Parker the best. You say his name like you are from Boston.. "Par-car"
You are getting very good with your utensils.. as I write this you are eating mac and cheese and blueberries with your pink fork and watching Elmo's Alphabet Jungle. You tell me all the time you want to watch TV and sometimes you say "show" which means to put on Dora or Elmo for you. I give you a little rag and you clean your tray on your highchair and wipe your face.
We stared swimming class at the YMCA and you are learning to kick your legs and scoop with your hands and float on your back and climb out of the pool and jump in and blow bubbles in the water. You are a little fish, you love the water and you like to swim after the little rubber ducks they have to help you to learn.
If you're happy and you know it.. shout hooray!
We are. And we do.
Love,
Mama
This week you turned 17 months old. You have really grown tall and lean and have gone up a shoe size in the last few weeks. You can reach all the doorknobs now and try to close and open doors all over the house. You can also reach the kitchen drawer handles and pull yourself up to see what's on the counter. You are so fast with those little hands. The other day I put some crumbcake on a plate to share with you and we walked over to the table holding the plate and when i put it down I realized there was no crumbcake on it, but it was in your hand and I was holding an empty plate. Mom is so crazy walking around with an empty plate.
You and your dad have an awesome time together. He plays with you and you shriek and squeal and laugh so hard. He gets down on the floor and you put your blanket on his head and he flails around looking for you and you run circles around him and then jump on his back and try to ride him. Then you say "hug!" and give him a bear hug and he feels so lucky and happy that you think he's so cool. It's like the rest of the world fades out and it's just you and him in this little bubble of special dad and Elle time. Then you go right back to screaming and kicking and running and laughing. You guys play with the Dora legos all the time and you have a little Dora that sits on top of the legos and you make Dad kiss it. You push his face towards her and you watch very carefully to make sure he does it. He is seriously putty in your hands.
You are starting to recognize things out in the world and it makes me realize that you are so very smart. Yesterday we were walking into Shop-Rite very early in the morning, going to pick up some milk and some organic pears and bananas (which you say like ba-la-ba-la-la) and you looked up at the big letters on the front of the store and said, "SSSS" and I couldn't believe it. You are so smart.
You can say so many words now, new ones everyday. You say "help" when you need it and "please" when you want something and we aren't moving fast enough to get it for you. You know most of your body parts and you can point to them all when we sing if you're happy and you know it... You have some new friends from the Mom's group we joined and you like Parker the best. You say his name like you are from Boston.. "Par-car"
You are getting very good with your utensils.. as I write this you are eating mac and cheese and blueberries with your pink fork and watching Elmo's Alphabet Jungle. You tell me all the time you want to watch TV and sometimes you say "show" which means to put on Dora or Elmo for you. I give you a little rag and you clean your tray on your highchair and wipe your face.
We stared swimming class at the YMCA and you are learning to kick your legs and scoop with your hands and float on your back and climb out of the pool and jump in and blow bubbles in the water. You are a little fish, you love the water and you like to swim after the little rubber ducks they have to help you to learn.
If you're happy and you know it.. shout hooray!
We are. And we do.
Love,
Mama
Tuesday, August 28, 2012
16 Months
Dear Elle,
This is your new word. More. And this is how it sounds coming out of your beautiful little rose bud lips: Mower. Moooow-er. MOOOOWWWER. You say it loud and you say it proud, and it applies to everything. If you would like to eat some more raisin bread, "mower" you say. If you would like Daddy to keep throwing you up in the air so high that you have time to grab onto your toes and do a straddle split, "mower" you say. You also say, "again" but you use it for times when someone is doing something to entertain you and you want them to keep going, like reading books or singing songs. Amoung other things, new to the list of words are Uncle and Auntie, towel, bebe, ball, blue, milk (nilt), elephant and iPad. You can also identify lots of body parts when asked; head, hair, teeth, belly button, toes, ears, nose.
You are seriously obsessed with the iPad. You have more apps than mommy and daddy combined and you know exactly what each one does. You slide the pages over until you get to your page and then with your little finger on your chin and your brow furrowed you carefully consider which one you would like. You look just like Daddy when you do that. You can say "elmo" (Elm) and "Grover" (Groder) and "Dora" (Dorda) and sometimes you play with their apps but lately you are falling in love with animals. You feed the frogs by dragging bugs into their mouths, you help the monkeys get their bananas (which you can also say and it comes out like this "ba-labl-abla") you sing along with old MacDonald and you know all of the animals on the farm and most of their sounds. You have this app of a zoo scene and when you touch the animals something silly happens and when you touch the camel, he pulls his head back and spits directly into the face of a man who is just walking by, who turns red and makes a silly surprised noise. You think this is the funniest thing that ever happened. You made that camel spit in that poor man's face at least 40 times before breakfast. You laugh and laugh. You have your daddy's sense of humor.
A few weeks ago we went to visit Nana and Papa and all your cousins and your aunties in Massena. You were running the show up there, that's for sure. You showed all your cousins your Grover app and they were all gathered around smiling which was very sweet of them because they are older and therefore know that Grover is actually the monster at the end of the book. You took lots of naps on the boat on Mary's shoulder and you played in the sand and we went on morning walks and saw a little fox. You got some time with Nana and Papa and you liked to splash in the dog's water bowls and put on Papa's sneakers and walk around.
This month you got your first pet! It's a goldfish named, "Dorothy" just like Elmo's goldfish and she lives at Grandma's house. She lives in a little glass bowl with hot pink stones and a little sign that says, "no fishin'". Grandma says they can live for 17 years and that they keep growing and growing so when you leave for college Dorothy can move into the swimming pool.
You are taking a nap right now, all cuddled up in your crib. When you wake up, you can have a pear or a rice cake (your favorite) and then we are going to go to the beach nearby to gather some items from outdoors like rocks and leaves and sand for a sensory box that we are going to play with in the little pink tent we got at the craft store this morning. I am having so much fun with you, getting down to your level, looking at things like you look at them, exploring the world through your eyes. Thanks for letting me.
Love,
Mama
This is your new word. More. And this is how it sounds coming out of your beautiful little rose bud lips: Mower. Moooow-er. MOOOOWWWER. You say it loud and you say it proud, and it applies to everything. If you would like to eat some more raisin bread, "mower" you say. If you would like Daddy to keep throwing you up in the air so high that you have time to grab onto your toes and do a straddle split, "mower" you say. You also say, "again" but you use it for times when someone is doing something to entertain you and you want them to keep going, like reading books or singing songs. Amoung other things, new to the list of words are Uncle and Auntie, towel, bebe, ball, blue, milk (nilt), elephant and iPad. You can also identify lots of body parts when asked; head, hair, teeth, belly button, toes, ears, nose.
You are seriously obsessed with the iPad. You have more apps than mommy and daddy combined and you know exactly what each one does. You slide the pages over until you get to your page and then with your little finger on your chin and your brow furrowed you carefully consider which one you would like. You look just like Daddy when you do that. You can say "elmo" (Elm) and "Grover" (Groder) and "Dora" (Dorda) and sometimes you play with their apps but lately you are falling in love with animals. You feed the frogs by dragging bugs into their mouths, you help the monkeys get their bananas (which you can also say and it comes out like this "ba-labl-abla") you sing along with old MacDonald and you know all of the animals on the farm and most of their sounds. You have this app of a zoo scene and when you touch the animals something silly happens and when you touch the camel, he pulls his head back and spits directly into the face of a man who is just walking by, who turns red and makes a silly surprised noise. You think this is the funniest thing that ever happened. You made that camel spit in that poor man's face at least 40 times before breakfast. You laugh and laugh. You have your daddy's sense of humor.
A few weeks ago we went to visit Nana and Papa and all your cousins and your aunties in Massena. You were running the show up there, that's for sure. You showed all your cousins your Grover app and they were all gathered around smiling which was very sweet of them because they are older and therefore know that Grover is actually the monster at the end of the book. You took lots of naps on the boat on Mary's shoulder and you played in the sand and we went on morning walks and saw a little fox. You got some time with Nana and Papa and you liked to splash in the dog's water bowls and put on Papa's sneakers and walk around.
This month you got your first pet! It's a goldfish named, "Dorothy" just like Elmo's goldfish and she lives at Grandma's house. She lives in a little glass bowl with hot pink stones and a little sign that says, "no fishin'". Grandma says they can live for 17 years and that they keep growing and growing so when you leave for college Dorothy can move into the swimming pool.
You are taking a nap right now, all cuddled up in your crib. When you wake up, you can have a pear or a rice cake (your favorite) and then we are going to go to the beach nearby to gather some items from outdoors like rocks and leaves and sand for a sensory box that we are going to play with in the little pink tent we got at the craft store this morning. I am having so much fun with you, getting down to your level, looking at things like you look at them, exploring the world through your eyes. Thanks for letting me.
Love,
Mama
Wednesday, August 1, 2012
15 Months
Dear Elle,
Last week you turned 15 months old. We were on vacation in Newport, Rhode Island with Grandma and Grandpa and Auntie Traci and Uncle Paul and you got to go to the beach and build sand castles with Daddy and go to the zoo and eat ice cream almost every day. You also went to bed late and got up very very early, when it was almost still dark out, so we are all still recovering from all the lost sleep, but we did have fun, so, i guess someday in about 20 years we will get to sleep late on a vacation with you.
Tonight in the bathtub after dinner you discovered something very magical and captivating. Your discovered your very own teeny belly button. You had some gas in the tub and you were blowing the most dainty of bubbles out of your butt and then you looked down and spotted your belly button and I think you thought it was responsible. You poked your finger in it and checked for any air leaks and everything checked out okay so you went back to splashing around and making up songs.
You also found out that your finger fits perfectly into your nose. If anyone even mentions the word nose, your finger shoots up there like a baby moth to a flame. I joke with you and tell you that ladies don't pick their noses but you just laugh hysterically and switch nostrils. Oh mommy, you so crazy.
You have lots more words and new ones come out everyday. Newly added are: ouch, ice, down, close, clock and you can sign bowl, computer, puzzle and all done. I think you named your little grey hippo, "Tim". You say long drawn out sentences that maybe one day I will figure out. It sounds like this, "cotcha cotcha cotcha tome tika tika GOYA GOYA GOYA GOYA?" and you point at something while screaming the "GOYA GOYA GOYA" part. You are very cute, but what are you trying to tell me? We work on words all the time by reading many books, mostly Dr. Suess since he's the official learn to read guy and we tell stories and sing songs all day and sometimes we watch Sesame Street when mama is super tired and needs to lie down for 15 minutes or drink a glass of wine before dinner.
You are the answer to a million prayers.
Love,
Mama
Last week you turned 15 months old. We were on vacation in Newport, Rhode Island with Grandma and Grandpa and Auntie Traci and Uncle Paul and you got to go to the beach and build sand castles with Daddy and go to the zoo and eat ice cream almost every day. You also went to bed late and got up very very early, when it was almost still dark out, so we are all still recovering from all the lost sleep, but we did have fun, so, i guess someday in about 20 years we will get to sleep late on a vacation with you.
Tonight in the bathtub after dinner you discovered something very magical and captivating. Your discovered your very own teeny belly button. You had some gas in the tub and you were blowing the most dainty of bubbles out of your butt and then you looked down and spotted your belly button and I think you thought it was responsible. You poked your finger in it and checked for any air leaks and everything checked out okay so you went back to splashing around and making up songs.
You also found out that your finger fits perfectly into your nose. If anyone even mentions the word nose, your finger shoots up there like a baby moth to a flame. I joke with you and tell you that ladies don't pick their noses but you just laugh hysterically and switch nostrils. Oh mommy, you so crazy.
You have lots more words and new ones come out everyday. Newly added are: ouch, ice, down, close, clock and you can sign bowl, computer, puzzle and all done. I think you named your little grey hippo, "Tim". You say long drawn out sentences that maybe one day I will figure out. It sounds like this, "cotcha cotcha cotcha tome tika tika GOYA GOYA GOYA GOYA?" and you point at something while screaming the "GOYA GOYA GOYA" part. You are very cute, but what are you trying to tell me? We work on words all the time by reading many books, mostly Dr. Suess since he's the official learn to read guy and we tell stories and sing songs all day and sometimes we watch Sesame Street when mama is super tired and needs to lie down for 15 minutes or drink a glass of wine before dinner.
You are the answer to a million prayers.
Love,
Mama
Thursday, July 5, 2012
Upa.
Dear Elle,
This week you turned 14 months old. You have a new word and it's "up". When you say it, you say it a few times in a row and it kind of runs together into "upa-upa-upa" and it is seriously adorable. Grandma taught you that. You also learned some more animals sounds and you say "baa" "moo" and "whoooo". Your Dad and I took you to the Beardsley Zoo a few weeks ago and I know that you really didn't know difference between a white wolf and a goldfish but you smiled and pointed politely at different things from your little seat in your stroller. That's another new thing you do, point at everything. You extend that chubby arm and your little finger and sometimes you say, "dat" and sometimes you say, "dis". I think you want me to tell you about different things so I tell you lots of stuff about everything you want to know about. And we do a lot of talking because you want to know about everything.
Your mind has opened up into "how does it work" mode, you are a little mechanic and engineer of everything you see. You open and close things, turn switches on and off, turn dials, take things apart, put covers on things and take them off. You have a curiosity about everything. Yesterday you figured out to open my little can of breath mints by hitching your bottom teeth on the edge under the little tab and popping the top open. How did you learn this? You didn't see me do it! You are so logical and resourceful. When I put on my makeup in the morning you play around in the bathroom with me, talking your funny little baby language the whole time, opening the drawers taking all the band-aids out of the box or taking out all the Q-tips, licking them and putting them back in the box. You climb on everything, the world is your jungle gym. You try to climb over me if I'm in your way. You also learned if you push your little xylophone over to the coffee table and swing a leg up, you can get right up on the table. MIT, lookout.
You help me into and out of my flip flops several times in a row during our days at the lake house. Did I say several times? Let me rephrase. 40,000 times. If I kick off my shoes at the door when we get home, you bring them to me one at a time and put them on and take them off. And on and off and on and off and that is how this game goes. You know which ones are mine and which are daddy's and which are yours. Thank God you were born into our family because I've just been wandering around the streets like a fool, shoeless, with clean, dry Q-tips and a full tin of breath mints in my purse.
Peek-a-boo. You have been playing that for a long time and it never gets old. You laugh hysterically with your entire body. Sometimes you pull a blanket over your head and then run around the house which makes me very nervous because you ran into the bookcase once and bounced back and fell on the floor. But you were laughing the whole time. Hopefully you can still get into college.
Last week I made you an egg frittata. What is that you ask? It's a way that Mommies get to pretend they are toddler culinary geniuses by packing veggies into eggs and baking it, which has got to be only slightly harder than sticking your hand directly into a box of Fruit Loops and calling it dinner. Anyway, you were not a fan of this frittata and while you were in your high chair trying to stall until I offered you something else to eat, Uncle Paul and Auntie Traci came by for a visit. They were standing around you and talking and telling stories and while I was loading the dishwasher and my back was turned, you picked up a little bit of this "meal" and held it out for Uncle Paul to eat. DUDE! HURRY UP, BEFORE SHE SEEEEEES YOU! He ate it. Right out of your little grubby hand. Your eyes widened. You scoured your tray for other bits of this egg dish and kept shoveling in into his face, and then patting it in, shoving your whole palm across his mouth to make sure none got out. What you couldn't get in his mouth, you slid down the side of your body and tucked right up under your butt.
You had your first ever ice cream cone and i could tell by they way it was dripping down your arm and all over your chin, it was so awesome it blew your little mind.
With you, everyday is an adventure.
Love,
Mama
This week you turned 14 months old. You have a new word and it's "up". When you say it, you say it a few times in a row and it kind of runs together into "upa-upa-upa" and it is seriously adorable. Grandma taught you that. You also learned some more animals sounds and you say "baa" "moo" and "whoooo". Your Dad and I took you to the Beardsley Zoo a few weeks ago and I know that you really didn't know difference between a white wolf and a goldfish but you smiled and pointed politely at different things from your little seat in your stroller. That's another new thing you do, point at everything. You extend that chubby arm and your little finger and sometimes you say, "dat" and sometimes you say, "dis". I think you want me to tell you about different things so I tell you lots of stuff about everything you want to know about. And we do a lot of talking because you want to know about everything.
Your mind has opened up into "how does it work" mode, you are a little mechanic and engineer of everything you see. You open and close things, turn switches on and off, turn dials, take things apart, put covers on things and take them off. You have a curiosity about everything. Yesterday you figured out to open my little can of breath mints by hitching your bottom teeth on the edge under the little tab and popping the top open. How did you learn this? You didn't see me do it! You are so logical and resourceful. When I put on my makeup in the morning you play around in the bathroom with me, talking your funny little baby language the whole time, opening the drawers taking all the band-aids out of the box or taking out all the Q-tips, licking them and putting them back in the box. You climb on everything, the world is your jungle gym. You try to climb over me if I'm in your way. You also learned if you push your little xylophone over to the coffee table and swing a leg up, you can get right up on the table. MIT, lookout.
You help me into and out of my flip flops several times in a row during our days at the lake house. Did I say several times? Let me rephrase. 40,000 times. If I kick off my shoes at the door when we get home, you bring them to me one at a time and put them on and take them off. And on and off and on and off and that is how this game goes. You know which ones are mine and which are daddy's and which are yours. Thank God you were born into our family because I've just been wandering around the streets like a fool, shoeless, with clean, dry Q-tips and a full tin of breath mints in my purse.
Peek-a-boo. You have been playing that for a long time and it never gets old. You laugh hysterically with your entire body. Sometimes you pull a blanket over your head and then run around the house which makes me very nervous because you ran into the bookcase once and bounced back and fell on the floor. But you were laughing the whole time. Hopefully you can still get into college.
Last week I made you an egg frittata. What is that you ask? It's a way that Mommies get to pretend they are toddler culinary geniuses by packing veggies into eggs and baking it, which has got to be only slightly harder than sticking your hand directly into a box of Fruit Loops and calling it dinner. Anyway, you were not a fan of this frittata and while you were in your high chair trying to stall until I offered you something else to eat, Uncle Paul and Auntie Traci came by for a visit. They were standing around you and talking and telling stories and while I was loading the dishwasher and my back was turned, you picked up a little bit of this "meal" and held it out for Uncle Paul to eat. DUDE! HURRY UP, BEFORE SHE SEEEEEES YOU! He ate it. Right out of your little grubby hand. Your eyes widened. You scoured your tray for other bits of this egg dish and kept shoveling in into his face, and then patting it in, shoving your whole palm across his mouth to make sure none got out. What you couldn't get in his mouth, you slid down the side of your body and tucked right up under your butt.
You had your first ever ice cream cone and i could tell by they way it was dripping down your arm and all over your chin, it was so awesome it blew your little mind.
With you, everyday is an adventure.
Love,
Mama
Wednesday, May 30, 2012
mama
Dear Elle,
Yesterday you said "mama". It was so awesome! I asked you, "can you say mama?" and you just looked at me with those big beautiful eyes and said, "Mama" in this tiny little bubbly voice. Grandma and Grandpa heard it and they were so excited! We cheered and you said it again! Your little voice is so cute and you reminded me of a baby bird.
You are so beautiful.
Love,
Mommy
Yesterday you said "mama". It was so awesome! I asked you, "can you say mama?" and you just looked at me with those big beautiful eyes and said, "Mama" in this tiny little bubbly voice. Grandma and Grandpa heard it and they were so excited! We cheered and you said it again! Your little voice is so cute and you reminded me of a baby bird.
You are so beautiful.
Love,
Mommy
Friday, May 25, 2012
13 Months
Dear Elle,
This week you turned 13 months old. You are in your crib right now, with the hot pink flowered sheets, taking a nap and I had a few minutes to write to you to tell you what you have been up to. Right before you went down for your nap we were reading some books as we always do and you kept putting your little toes onto the edge of the book and then creeping them up the pages right into the book crease and i would close the book on your foot pretending I didn't know it was in there, and you would fall into a fit of giggles. These little games you play. You also don't like to have your feet wrapped up in a blanket when you are going to sleep. You like the blanket wrapped around you, but you like your feet poking out at the bottom, just like your mom.
Yesterday I was making dinner and you were running around pretending to talk on your cell phone and then all of a sudden you were gone from the kitchen for a few minutes and you were very quiet which was my sign to come and see what you were doing, and i found you standing up in the middle of our bed! You had climbed up all there all by yourself! When you saw me you smiled and then fell straight back into the pillows laughing the whole time. And jumped up and did it again. And again! You have your dad's sense of adventure, that's for sure. Yesterday you dove head first off the little chair at the library on the carpet and got rug burn on the tip of your nose!
We are working on more signs for you to do, like milk, all finished, cereal, and I need help. Now you just laugh when I do them but you will get them and it will help us to communicate. You do "more" all the time now, like when the music stops playing, when you are going to be and we have already read 5 books, you sign to me, "more", because apparently you weren't done listening to stories just yet, you really want to know what happens at the end of Hand, Hand, Finger, Thumb for the 700th time.
You know how to give kisses now but they are rare and hard to come by. But you kiss me sometimes. It's so sweet. Mostly you just want us to kiss your stuffed animals, you walk over with your puppy or Hello Kitty and you make a "mmmmmmmm" sound, which mean, "kiss it!" Last week at Stew Lenoard's you went up to the big bins of stuffed animals and pulled out each one at a time to give a good long hug and then put them back and went onto the next one. You got a little yellow shopping cart from Tia and you put all your stuffed animals in it and take them for walks around the living room, it's so cute. You have a hippo, and owl, a bunny, a puppy, a duck, a lamb and a baby dolly. Sometimes you stop and take out one to hug and then put them back and keep going.
It's starting to get warm now and we have been out on the boat a few times and you can barely keep your eyes open out there with the rocking and the lull of the engine. But you hang in as long as you can, driving the boat with Dad, playing with your toys, holding your dolly and showing her around the lake. You played hard all morning and then stretched out for a long afternoon nap.
Love,
Mommy
This week you turned 13 months old. You are in your crib right now, with the hot pink flowered sheets, taking a nap and I had a few minutes to write to you to tell you what you have been up to. Right before you went down for your nap we were reading some books as we always do and you kept putting your little toes onto the edge of the book and then creeping them up the pages right into the book crease and i would close the book on your foot pretending I didn't know it was in there, and you would fall into a fit of giggles. These little games you play. You also don't like to have your feet wrapped up in a blanket when you are going to sleep. You like the blanket wrapped around you, but you like your feet poking out at the bottom, just like your mom.
Yesterday I was making dinner and you were running around pretending to talk on your cell phone and then all of a sudden you were gone from the kitchen for a few minutes and you were very quiet which was my sign to come and see what you were doing, and i found you standing up in the middle of our bed! You had climbed up all there all by yourself! When you saw me you smiled and then fell straight back into the pillows laughing the whole time. And jumped up and did it again. And again! You have your dad's sense of adventure, that's for sure. Yesterday you dove head first off the little chair at the library on the carpet and got rug burn on the tip of your nose!
We are working on more signs for you to do, like milk, all finished, cereal, and I need help. Now you just laugh when I do them but you will get them and it will help us to communicate. You do "more" all the time now, like when the music stops playing, when you are going to be and we have already read 5 books, you sign to me, "more", because apparently you weren't done listening to stories just yet, you really want to know what happens at the end of Hand, Hand, Finger, Thumb for the 700th time.
You know how to give kisses now but they are rare and hard to come by. But you kiss me sometimes. It's so sweet. Mostly you just want us to kiss your stuffed animals, you walk over with your puppy or Hello Kitty and you make a "mmmmmmmm" sound, which mean, "kiss it!" Last week at Stew Lenoard's you went up to the big bins of stuffed animals and pulled out each one at a time to give a good long hug and then put them back and went onto the next one. You got a little yellow shopping cart from Tia and you put all your stuffed animals in it and take them for walks around the living room, it's so cute. You have a hippo, and owl, a bunny, a puppy, a duck, a lamb and a baby dolly. Sometimes you stop and take out one to hug and then put them back and keep going.
It's starting to get warm now and we have been out on the boat a few times and you can barely keep your eyes open out there with the rocking and the lull of the engine. But you hang in as long as you can, driving the boat with Dad, playing with your toys, holding your dolly and showing her around the lake. You played hard all morning and then stretched out for a long afternoon nap.
Love,
Mommy
Monday, April 16, 2012
12 Months
Dear Elle,
Yesterday you turned one year old. You are certainly growing up fast but when I think back to all the things you have accomplished in one year, it's been an amazing and very full year. Last weekend we moved over to the house on the lake and what a day that was. You learned to walk in almost the exact moment that Daddy threw out his back and couldn't get off the floor. For two days he laid on his back while we moved around him and while you walked and walked and stepped over him and kept walking because you weren't about to let him get in your way. A few days before that you started taking a few steps at a time and then you would fall or grab onto the couch or coffee table or our bench seat at our old house. And within 2 days you were fully walking, taking 15 or more steps at a time, and shortly after that you adding clapping and talking while you walk and then just yesterday you were looking at pictures on my Iphone while you were walking around. World, lookout.
On your birthday we had a huge birthday pizza party for you at a restaurant and all your little friends and family were there. Nana and Papa made the trip down from NY just for your special day and it was a pretty big deal. Grandma played some songs for you and your friends on her guitar and Uncle Paul and Auntie Traci put on a little show with puppets and helped to make a band by handing out some tambourines and drums to all the little kids. You thought it was pretty fun to see your very own Grandma up there singing songs just for you guys. I heard you telling Amanda and Jilly in your own baby talk, 'Yeah, I totally know her.' Amanda was into shaking her sillies out at the time but she smiled and nodded letting you have your moment of glory, I mean, it was your birthday and everything.
We got you some big balloons (which you love, by the way, and the other day we were out shopping and i let you hold a giant bunch of them which you promptly let go up to the ceiling of the store while yelling woooooooo and then we just nonchalantly pushed our cart away, fleeing from the scene while we giggled but then you realized that you lost your purple balloons so you were kinda mad so i got you some for your birthday.) Yesterday at your birthday party you had your very first cupcake and you really didn't love it like I thought you would. Apparently I don't know everything. I had imagined you would go face first into the hot pink frosting, eating up all the sugary goodness and squealing about this fantastic baked masterpiece but you just rolled the cupcake from hand to hand examining all the different surfaces of this strange little ball of cake with the very sticky top and then I thought I would help you by cutting it into a few pieces so you could taste it, but Noooooo, that was the very wrong thing to do and you let me and everyone know by screaming and screaming at the fact that I broke your very special cupcake. World, lookout.
You are saying a few words pretty clearly now, like Dada and Night Night and socks. I think you say ball and sometimes you say something that sounds like ut-oh. You don't say mama yet but that's okay. I'm waiting for it.
The other day you were saying goodbye to Grandpa and I told you to blow him a kiss and you did for the first time and he almost fell down and let his heart pour out like maple syrup onto the sidewalk. He was so happy, i could see in his face that he loves you so much and his heart had just melted and was all gooey inside his chest.
You have brought so much love into our lives and into our hearts in a way that I could never imagined before I met you. Every time you reach out to me for a hug or take my finger to take me on a walk or giggle because I said something silly that you think is funny I know you were meant just for us and I was meant to be your mommy. We didn't realized how much we were missing, until we had you.
Happy First Birthday, Elle!
Love,
Mommy
Yesterday you turned one year old. You are certainly growing up fast but when I think back to all the things you have accomplished in one year, it's been an amazing and very full year. Last weekend we moved over to the house on the lake and what a day that was. You learned to walk in almost the exact moment that Daddy threw out his back and couldn't get off the floor. For two days he laid on his back while we moved around him and while you walked and walked and stepped over him and kept walking because you weren't about to let him get in your way. A few days before that you started taking a few steps at a time and then you would fall or grab onto the couch or coffee table or our bench seat at our old house. And within 2 days you were fully walking, taking 15 or more steps at a time, and shortly after that you adding clapping and talking while you walk and then just yesterday you were looking at pictures on my Iphone while you were walking around. World, lookout.
On your birthday we had a huge birthday pizza party for you at a restaurant and all your little friends and family were there. Nana and Papa made the trip down from NY just for your special day and it was a pretty big deal. Grandma played some songs for you and your friends on her guitar and Uncle Paul and Auntie Traci put on a little show with puppets and helped to make a band by handing out some tambourines and drums to all the little kids. You thought it was pretty fun to see your very own Grandma up there singing songs just for you guys. I heard you telling Amanda and Jilly in your own baby talk, 'Yeah, I totally know her.' Amanda was into shaking her sillies out at the time but she smiled and nodded letting you have your moment of glory, I mean, it was your birthday and everything.
We got you some big balloons (which you love, by the way, and the other day we were out shopping and i let you hold a giant bunch of them which you promptly let go up to the ceiling of the store while yelling woooooooo and then we just nonchalantly pushed our cart away, fleeing from the scene while we giggled but then you realized that you lost your purple balloons so you were kinda mad so i got you some for your birthday.) Yesterday at your birthday party you had your very first cupcake and you really didn't love it like I thought you would. Apparently I don't know everything. I had imagined you would go face first into the hot pink frosting, eating up all the sugary goodness and squealing about this fantastic baked masterpiece but you just rolled the cupcake from hand to hand examining all the different surfaces of this strange little ball of cake with the very sticky top and then I thought I would help you by cutting it into a few pieces so you could taste it, but Noooooo, that was the very wrong thing to do and you let me and everyone know by screaming and screaming at the fact that I broke your very special cupcake. World, lookout.
You are saying a few words pretty clearly now, like Dada and Night Night and socks. I think you say ball and sometimes you say something that sounds like ut-oh. You don't say mama yet but that's okay. I'm waiting for it.
The other day you were saying goodbye to Grandpa and I told you to blow him a kiss and you did for the first time and he almost fell down and let his heart pour out like maple syrup onto the sidewalk. He was so happy, i could see in his face that he loves you so much and his heart had just melted and was all gooey inside his chest.
You have brought so much love into our lives and into our hearts in a way that I could never imagined before I met you. Every time you reach out to me for a hug or take my finger to take me on a walk or giggle because I said something silly that you think is funny I know you were meant just for us and I was meant to be your mommy. We didn't realized how much we were missing, until we had you.
Happy First Birthday, Elle!
Love,
Mommy
Tuesday, March 20, 2012
11 months
A few days ago you turned 11 months. In the last month you have started to communicate with us, using your signs and pointing at things. You can wave hello and goodbye and sometimes you do it with both hands. You bend your left hand at the wrist and bob it up and down and you bend the fingers on the right hand, curling them in and out. You have got waving covered. Today you did the sign for "more" which i have been showing you every day for the last few weeks. When you eat all the food on your highchair tray you kind of bang your little fist together and sometimes you get your fingertips to touch. It's so cute. You can walk around holding onto one of our hands and you have taken several steps in a row, gaining more and more confidence as the days go by. Today was an unseasonably warm day, 78 degrees in march, so we put on our shorts and we went down to the center of glastonbury and walked around, you just love checking out the sites and walking and walking. we stopped for some frozen yogurt and you had a little taste of banana froyo and you shook your head no no no no, but then came back for another bite. I'm not sure what that means. Maybe you got a little brain freeze?
You have started drinking out of sippy cup straws and juice boxes which is exciting because we are going to help you give up your bottle in the next month. You are eating almost everything now, mac and cheese, waffles, eggs, bananas, yogurt, sweet potato and you love broccoli and cauliflower. You love to smear it all over your hair and your face and last night when I was giving you a bath, there were green tops of broccoli floating around.
In a week and a half we will be waving goodbye with both hands to our house on Needletree Lane and moving all the way to the other side of the state on the lake while we build our new home. We have been busy packing and you have been "helping" by climbing into all the boxes and popping your little head out the top like a groundhog and then throwing all the clothes all over the place.
Everyday while we are out doing things together, many people stop me to tell me how adorable you are. Like I didn't already know. And it's lots of people, you are so incredibly cute, you draw people into your orbit like the sun. Look at those cheeks, they say. What a pretty little lady you are. Those eyes are just amazing. You usually smile and wave like a little princess. And then you are off, walking, waving goodbye and learning about the world, you don't mean to be rude, you just you don't have time to stand around talking about how cute you are. There is a whole big world out there and you are curious about everything.
The other day we were talking to Nana and Papa on the Ipad and you kept trying to flip it down so you could look behind it, trying to find them, thinking that they would be there. You are so smart. You are only 11 months old and you already are questioning how everything works. You know how to shake the maracas at music class and last week you were hammering away on a metal xylophone. You are learning about everything and everyday i get to watch your face as you discover something surprising or silly or unexpected.
Today you started to cry because you somehow banged yourself in the face with your little barbie jeep. I picked you up and started yelling at the jeep, saying, that jeep is a bad bad jeep, and why did it have to do that to you and it was such a bad jeep and i was very angry with it and you were laughing so hard. every time I said it you laughed hysterically even though you knew i was going to say it. I think you just liked that someone was in trouble and it wasn't you. And that your mommy had your back, and i do, no matter what.
Love,
Mommy
You have started drinking out of sippy cup straws and juice boxes which is exciting because we are going to help you give up your bottle in the next month. You are eating almost everything now, mac and cheese, waffles, eggs, bananas, yogurt, sweet potato and you love broccoli and cauliflower. You love to smear it all over your hair and your face and last night when I was giving you a bath, there were green tops of broccoli floating around.
In a week and a half we will be waving goodbye with both hands to our house on Needletree Lane and moving all the way to the other side of the state on the lake while we build our new home. We have been busy packing and you have been "helping" by climbing into all the boxes and popping your little head out the top like a groundhog and then throwing all the clothes all over the place.
Everyday while we are out doing things together, many people stop me to tell me how adorable you are. Like I didn't already know. And it's lots of people, you are so incredibly cute, you draw people into your orbit like the sun. Look at those cheeks, they say. What a pretty little lady you are. Those eyes are just amazing. You usually smile and wave like a little princess. And then you are off, walking, waving goodbye and learning about the world, you don't mean to be rude, you just you don't have time to stand around talking about how cute you are. There is a whole big world out there and you are curious about everything.
The other day we were talking to Nana and Papa on the Ipad and you kept trying to flip it down so you could look behind it, trying to find them, thinking that they would be there. You are so smart. You are only 11 months old and you already are questioning how everything works. You know how to shake the maracas at music class and last week you were hammering away on a metal xylophone. You are learning about everything and everyday i get to watch your face as you discover something surprising or silly or unexpected.
Today you started to cry because you somehow banged yourself in the face with your little barbie jeep. I picked you up and started yelling at the jeep, saying, that jeep is a bad bad jeep, and why did it have to do that to you and it was such a bad jeep and i was very angry with it and you were laughing so hard. every time I said it you laughed hysterically even though you knew i was going to say it. I think you just liked that someone was in trouble and it wasn't you. And that your mommy had your back, and i do, no matter what.
Love,
Mommy
Monday, February 20, 2012
10 Months
Dear Elle,
Last week you turned 10 months old. I happen to be a bit behind on writing this letter to you. Why, you ask? Because you have been a very busy girl which means I have been a very busy Mommy. The other day you learned how to climb up the entire staircase and you are always racing over to it to practice your new trick. I have to be fast to keep up with you. You cruise on everything and you can actually walk behind your little dinosaur walker. You roll all over the house with that guy. You can free stand for a long time, all by yourself, just standing there, not holding on to anything, just looking around like you are waiting for a bus or something.
Today Daddy left for a business trip to Vegas and you and I were getting ready for bed and hanging out in our room and I was putting away some laundry and you were playing with the basket. You slid it over to the side of my bed and used it as a step stool to get up on the bed and then laughed and laughed. I keep hitting you in the face with a little green pillow from our bed and i would say "poof" when it would hit you and you would laugh so hard. You are such a joyful child.
You are getting 4 new teeth on top, the two fronts and the sides. The side teeth are coming in fast and they look like little fangs. We sometimes call you Fang, I hope you don't mind. We have been introducing you to some new foods to try and I think you have a distinguished palette. Yesterday I gave you mac and cheese and you stuck out your little tongue and rubbed the pasta across it, so you didn't have to actually commit to going in your mouth before you decided if you liked it or not. Then you popped it in your mouth and sucked all the cheese off it and then spit it out. You love your cheese.
Last month in my letter to you I told you we were getting ready to sell our house and the update on that is that the house is sold. It was only on the market for 2 weeks, so I guess we did a good job with the renovations. We are moving in 5 weeks over to Matt and Bunny's house that they are going to let us rent on Candlewood Lake. We are going to have such a fun summer, we can go on the boat all the time and play and swim and you can watch us foil board and sky ski. We will be close to Grandma and Auntie Traci and Uncle Paul and Tia and Uncle Pete and all your cousins and we will get to see everybody all the time. We are so lucky.
You can mimic sounds you hear and I am trying to teach you some basic words and signs. I show you "more" and you laugh. I say, "mama" and you laugh. You think everything is so funny. We play some hardcore peek-a-boo in this house where we hide on you and then pop out and you almost faint from all the excitement. Or I give you the old trick peek-a-boo where I pop out of one place and then hide again and creep to a different spot and pop up somewhere else. We spend lots of time playing together and I am so thankful I get to see you laugh and play. You are such a beautiful child.
We just got up, me and you and you are sitting in your high chair eating blueberry waffles and bananas. and cheese. I am sitting right next to you and we are watching HGTV and getting ideas for the new house we will build. You have learned how to hold your bottle now, so you like to lounge on my lap and drink your milk and i like to sit right there with you, drinking my tea. Our mornings together are the best.
Last week you turned 10 months old. I happen to be a bit behind on writing this letter to you. Why, you ask? Because you have been a very busy girl which means I have been a very busy Mommy. The other day you learned how to climb up the entire staircase and you are always racing over to it to practice your new trick. I have to be fast to keep up with you. You cruise on everything and you can actually walk behind your little dinosaur walker. You roll all over the house with that guy. You can free stand for a long time, all by yourself, just standing there, not holding on to anything, just looking around like you are waiting for a bus or something.
Today Daddy left for a business trip to Vegas and you and I were getting ready for bed and hanging out in our room and I was putting away some laundry and you were playing with the basket. You slid it over to the side of my bed and used it as a step stool to get up on the bed and then laughed and laughed. I keep hitting you in the face with a little green pillow from our bed and i would say "poof" when it would hit you and you would laugh so hard. You are such a joyful child.
You are getting 4 new teeth on top, the two fronts and the sides. The side teeth are coming in fast and they look like little fangs. We sometimes call you Fang, I hope you don't mind. We have been introducing you to some new foods to try and I think you have a distinguished palette. Yesterday I gave you mac and cheese and you stuck out your little tongue and rubbed the pasta across it, so you didn't have to actually commit to going in your mouth before you decided if you liked it or not. Then you popped it in your mouth and sucked all the cheese off it and then spit it out. You love your cheese.
Last month in my letter to you I told you we were getting ready to sell our house and the update on that is that the house is sold. It was only on the market for 2 weeks, so I guess we did a good job with the renovations. We are moving in 5 weeks over to Matt and Bunny's house that they are going to let us rent on Candlewood Lake. We are going to have such a fun summer, we can go on the boat all the time and play and swim and you can watch us foil board and sky ski. We will be close to Grandma and Auntie Traci and Uncle Paul and Tia and Uncle Pete and all your cousins and we will get to see everybody all the time. We are so lucky.
You can mimic sounds you hear and I am trying to teach you some basic words and signs. I show you "more" and you laugh. I say, "mama" and you laugh. You think everything is so funny. We play some hardcore peek-a-boo in this house where we hide on you and then pop out and you almost faint from all the excitement. Or I give you the old trick peek-a-boo where I pop out of one place and then hide again and creep to a different spot and pop up somewhere else. We spend lots of time playing together and I am so thankful I get to see you laugh and play. You are such a beautiful child.
We just got up, me and you and you are sitting in your high chair eating blueberry waffles and bananas. and cheese. I am sitting right next to you and we are watching HGTV and getting ideas for the new house we will build. You have learned how to hold your bottle now, so you like to lounge on my lap and drink your milk and i like to sit right there with you, drinking my tea. Our mornings together are the best.
Tuesday, January 17, 2012
9 Months
Today we woke up to a few inches of snow covering the ground. You didn't seem to notice and as we drove over to our music class this morning you managed to pull off your socks and I think you ate them. You were singing and shaking your tambourine in your bare feet, shaking it like you had been rehearsing for this moment for a long time and you couldn't be bothered by having to actually put on socks. You always manage to get those socks off so I just let you have your way. Grandma tries to sneak them on you when you aren't paying attention and then you pull them off when she's not paying attention. You give Grandma a run for her money and yet she simply can't get enough of you. She has socks that she keeps at her house just in case you get yours all wet while you are visiting her and she gives you clean dry ones to wear home.
Over the weekend you turned 9 months old. You have officially been on the outside living in our house as long as you spent living on the inside, in mommy's belly. You had your very first Christmas and it was very special and you got some very lovely gifts from the family, like this little pink ballet slipper tree ornament with your birth info on it that you got from Aunt Joan and Uncle Bob. You got your first nativity set from Tia and Uncle Pete and you got a Baby's First Christmas Pooh ornament from Auntie Traci and Uncle Paul. You got so many things from Grandma and Grandpa, like a bunch of fun outdoor activity things to keep at Grandma's house, a sandbox and water table, a slide (oh boy!) and a mini picnic table because after all that playing you are going to need to sit down and rest have a fruit roll up and some animal crackers. Nana and Papa came down and stayed with us and gave you all sorts puzzles and games and a giant singing Moose. You were mostly interested in eating all the wrapping paper and playing with the dogs. You thought there were so hysterical. These huge balls of fur that move and roll around and sniff me?! It's brilliant!
Today we put our house on the market and it is a very adventurous time in our lives. We don't know where we are going yet. We have lived in this house for 5 years, your dad and I and we are going to move closer to nyc so your dad can be closer to his work. I doubt you will even remember this house but it's pretty great. We have had a lot of great memories in this house, mostly with you. We have spent a ton of time out on the Connecticut river which is very close to us, and lots of great summer nights we have spent on the back deck after a day of sky skiing and foilboarding. We will miss it. We remodeled most of this house ourselves, the kitchen and the bathrooms, finished the basement, planted lots and lots of bushes and plants. I had a pretty awesome garden every summer we have been here, with tons of organic vegetables and herbs. Auntie Jules and Uncle Adam have helped me plant it every Memorial Day weekend, it's tradition. I hope there is a sunny spot for a garden at the new house!
You can cruise around on the furniture now and you can climb up one step onto the fireplace hearth. I call your name and you turn back and I say, "no, no" and you just smile and go right on doing what you are doing. You are very independent. I asked for a kiss yesterday and I can't be sure but I think you shook your head "no" at me. You may have even rolled your eyes. On Thursday we went to a playdate at the Library with your friend Charley and there was a little playhouse set up in the Children's Room. Everything was kid sized, the little door, the little windows, the tiny fireplace. It was kind of dark inside because the fireplace was just painted on the wall and apparently there were no kid electricians around that day. There were a few toddlers gathered around on the outside of it, peeking in and hiding behind their mother's legs but not you, you just crawled right up to the door and without a second thought you pushed right through without even looking back to see if anyone was following you. You are the bravest little girl I know and I hope you never lose that.
Love,
Mommy
Over the weekend you turned 9 months old. You have officially been on the outside living in our house as long as you spent living on the inside, in mommy's belly. You had your very first Christmas and it was very special and you got some very lovely gifts from the family, like this little pink ballet slipper tree ornament with your birth info on it that you got from Aunt Joan and Uncle Bob. You got your first nativity set from Tia and Uncle Pete and you got a Baby's First Christmas Pooh ornament from Auntie Traci and Uncle Paul. You got so many things from Grandma and Grandpa, like a bunch of fun outdoor activity things to keep at Grandma's house, a sandbox and water table, a slide (oh boy!) and a mini picnic table because after all that playing you are going to need to sit down and rest have a fruit roll up and some animal crackers. Nana and Papa came down and stayed with us and gave you all sorts puzzles and games and a giant singing Moose. You were mostly interested in eating all the wrapping paper and playing with the dogs. You thought there were so hysterical. These huge balls of fur that move and roll around and sniff me?! It's brilliant!
Today we put our house on the market and it is a very adventurous time in our lives. We don't know where we are going yet. We have lived in this house for 5 years, your dad and I and we are going to move closer to nyc so your dad can be closer to his work. I doubt you will even remember this house but it's pretty great. We have had a lot of great memories in this house, mostly with you. We have spent a ton of time out on the Connecticut river which is very close to us, and lots of great summer nights we have spent on the back deck after a day of sky skiing and foilboarding. We will miss it. We remodeled most of this house ourselves, the kitchen and the bathrooms, finished the basement, planted lots and lots of bushes and plants. I had a pretty awesome garden every summer we have been here, with tons of organic vegetables and herbs. Auntie Jules and Uncle Adam have helped me plant it every Memorial Day weekend, it's tradition. I hope there is a sunny spot for a garden at the new house!
You can cruise around on the furniture now and you can climb up one step onto the fireplace hearth. I call your name and you turn back and I say, "no, no" and you just smile and go right on doing what you are doing. You are very independent. I asked for a kiss yesterday and I can't be sure but I think you shook your head "no" at me. You may have even rolled your eyes. On Thursday we went to a playdate at the Library with your friend Charley and there was a little playhouse set up in the Children's Room. Everything was kid sized, the little door, the little windows, the tiny fireplace. It was kind of dark inside because the fireplace was just painted on the wall and apparently there were no kid electricians around that day. There were a few toddlers gathered around on the outside of it, peeking in and hiding behind their mother's legs but not you, you just crawled right up to the door and without a second thought you pushed right through without even looking back to see if anyone was following you. You are the bravest little girl I know and I hope you never lose that.
Love,
Mommy
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