Dear Edie,

Today you are 11 months old. Your favorite things this month are other babies and older kids, holes in anything (and sticking your finger in them), the creepy marionette of Frank Lloyd Wright that hangs in your room, dogs, Maurice the cat, books, and balls.

Your least favorite things are being fed food with spoons, wearing hats, having to sit still for more than one minute, and the backyard sprinkler.

You are a confident walker now, in fact the other day you started doing something that I think can safely be referred to as running.
Crawling is a thing of the past as you now easily stand without using anything to pull yourself up. We are trying to teach you how to safely get down from things (mainly the stairs), but for now you seem a fan of the head first style. Whenever I try to show you how to back down the stairs or off the couch, you just take it as an opportunity to climb back up. In good time I suppose...

You love carrying large objects around and have started picking up specific books and taking them to us for reading aloud.

The other day when your Dad was reading you the Richard Scarry book about Mr. Paint Pig you started saying "GA GA!" when we got to the page about the color green. Every now and then we get the inkling that you might try on some words for size soon. You say things that sound remarkably like "This" and "That", as well as "Yeah", "Da" for Dad, and "Du" for dog. You now also say "uh oh" when anyone drops things or, more frequently, repeat it after I say it. It's SO CUTE. You definitely recognize the word blueberry (your favorite food) and come running when you hear it. You also seem to understand and follow directions to "come here" and hand things over when asked "Can I please have that?". The sign language isn't taking yet, but we're still trying the signs for "more" and "all done" in relation to eating. I'm assuming that because of your delayed interest in eating solids, the sign language may take a little longer than for some babies.

Speaking of food, you have dramatically reduced your interest in bottles this month. You still aren't eating large quantities of food, but you DO eat 3 meals + 2 snacks each day and have finally mastered the sippy cup for water. For breakfast most days you have cereal, blueberries and yogurt. Lunch is usually cheese and crackers with some Veggie Booty, dinner is whatever your Dad and I eat (which most of the time gets thrown on the floor (by you, not us)) and snacks are peaches, goldfish crackers or zucchini bread (which I've developed a penchant for baking recently). Your disinterest in veggies is excepted only by playing and sucking on spears of roasted asparagus and devouring Veggie Booty and zucchini bread.

You are obsessed with airplanes and the sky this month.
You can hear an airplane miles away and stare at the sky until it comes into view and then you point proudly at the plane when you spot it. This was also the month you started pointing at things with regularity. You point at the pages in your books, the sky, and your Dad and me the most. You wave all the time, albeit with a slight delay at times, but my favorite is when you just wave at people walking by for no reason. You are very social with no stranger or separation anxiety (yet). You never cling to me, more frequently I find you running in the opposite direction, chasing another kid or cat - or just wandering aimlessly with no regard for safety or my nearness. Hilariously, your fearlessness does have one exception - the sprinkler. It totally freaks you out.
Your Dad has taken to hosting counseling sessions for you in which he tries to familiarize you with the sprinkler in a positive setting. It's funny.

Your personality is becoming more and more pronounced and you are definitively hilarious.
Your hair is your trademark and it fits perfectly with your spunk, humor and adorableness. Just last night you started shaking your head no for the first time, your crazy hair flying around while you lost your balance due to the vigorous head shaking. You are a constant source of funny in our family and we CAN'T WAIT for you to start expressing yourself in words so that we can find out what is going on in the crazy head of yours.

Love,
Mom

Girls Night + babies

Not the best documented girls night ever, but it was such a good time that it needed to be posted. Heidi's new apartment has a pool! So she made empanadas, we ate them, dipped our feet in the pool, ate gigantic pieces of chocolate cake baked from scratch by Amy, watched the babies squawk and coo, talked about boys, and made plans for a pool party later in the week (that was sadly not documented by me at all (or maybe not sad since it involved swim suits (and not just the cute kind that babies wear))).

I know I've said it here before, but I feel very lucky to have these friends of mine. It's a given that we all love each other, but they also love Edie, we love Reid (who is allowed to participate in
Girls Night despite his gender) and I appreciate how rare it is to have such a chosen family.

PS to K and E: We miss you. Move back please.

It's possible that you noticed

That we've been on Orcas for the last week. No, we don't typically have a panoramic view of the ocean from our kitchen window like was featured in the snack video below. Jeff pointed out the last time we were at the island that maybe it wasn't wise to tell the whole world wide web that we were leaving our house empty by broadcasting our trips in advance, so from now on, I will likely be a bit more subtle about our trips out of town. We arrived home tonight and while it's always sad to leave the cabin, it's nice to be home too.

We left last Wednesday and took up residence at the cabin for 7 nights just the three of us. The weather was amazing and Edie loves loves loves the outdoors so we really didn't need to do anything to entertain her. It was fun to live like locals for a bit; driving into town for groceries, lunching with Edie at Rose's Cafe just the two of us while Jeff worked on the laptop, taking evening boat rides in the Whaler before grilling our dinner on the porch. Truly the only downside was that Edie apparently finds her Pack n Play intolerable. Or something. Because WHEW!! That girl slept like she was 4 months old again THE ENTIRE TIME. We've gotten so used to sleeping through the night every night that it was a bit of a shock to our systems to have to get up over and over. Thankfully, she woke every morning happy as a clam and we were able to take naps during the day but I think Jeff and I are both hoping that being home tonight will mean better sleep for all.

I should have photos up soon.

Snacking is hard

Edie has started to occasionally take just one nap during the day. For months now she's been doing an hour and a half nap in the 10 o'clock hour and then another hour or so around 3pm. But every now and then she'll sleep in and not be tired for a morning nap. I'm always in complete denial and try to convince her that she does indeed want a nap at 10:30, but she proves her point by running laps in her room while holding her giant basketball and shouting "DA! DA!" over and over. Clearly not the behavior of a tired baby, right? Typically this results in me calling her bluff around 11:30 or 12. I'll get her all ready and we'll go run errands, or we'll go downstairs to eat lunch. Pretty much every time, this is when Edie decides that maybe she IS tired. Like yesterday, when she started falling asleep during lunch. While still eating.

Restricted Diet

Edie has decided to limit her diet. She now only eats blueberries, peaches and Pirates (veggie) Booty. Oh and she discovered goldfish crackers today. Hummus is SO two weeks ago. Ditto cheese and beans. Vegetable powder on her pirate's booty? Fine. But real vegetables? Gag me.

I'm SO OVER cleaning up food off the floor that she rejects.

Orcas Part II

Shortly before she decided she hated her life jacket.

After she decided she MUST have the life jacket removed. Immediately. But seriously, isn't this so cute of Edie and Grandpa Culver?

Aaaah... touching mother daughter moment.

Grandma and Edie enjoying nature.

Feeding grapes to the island deer.

Edie went for a row.

She's doubtlessly shrieking at the deer, but the photo makes it look so peaceful.

Edie is SUPER into soccer balls right now. We pulled out Javi and Kathleen's
ball and she went to town.

Audition Tape

So the World's Strongest Man competition is opening a new division for babies. We just finished our audition tape for Edie and we're giving you a sneak peak:

Zerber

Don't even try getting into a zerber competition with my kid. She will win. Every time.

Score: Heidi 1, Edie 500

Playgroup

Edie and Mae play in their soccer photo poses:
What a pretty little girl! Oh wait, that's Danny.


One of these things is not like the other... one of these things just doesn't belong.

Changes

I haven't written in a while to talk about some of the developmental changes Edie's been undergoing of late so I thought I'd take a quick moment to document them. Mostly for my sake. This first year is coming to a close so quickly and I want to make sure I put down in writing some of the little things while they're happening.

Yesterday Edie started pointing. It's strange how these things happen. I've been pointing at things for ages and Edie typically just stares at me without acknowledging the fact that my arm is fully extended with my finger pointing strongly at a specific item of interest. While feeding Edie some crackers and cheese for her afternoon snack yesterday, she slowly lifted her right arm and pointed directly at me. It was actually a little creepy, with her staring at me completely deadpan. Since then she's taken to primarily pointing at birds and airplanes. Andby this I mean that she points at EVERY bird and airplane that she sees. Because the other new thing around here is Edie's obsession with the sky. She hears an airplane in the distance and tilts her entire body back and head up to see where the plane is.

It feels like all of a sudden Edie is figuring shit out. She really gets it. She's been clapping for a while, but now claps on cue, when she's clearly excited about something, or when she hears someone else clapping. The other day she heard people in the yard next door clapping and she started clapping in response. Same with laughing. When the adults in the room burst into laughter there's often a second delay and then all of a sudden Edie will come out with this super loud, forced fake laugh. It's hilarious. She also waves when people say "hi" or "bye". Sometimes even if the word Hi isn't accompanied by a wave, she'll still wave just at the word.

Her walking in the last 2 days has also become really strong. In the last week she's gone from walking only 40% of the time and crawling 60%, to about 90% walking. While I cook dinner, she now just walks laps around the kitchen the entire time, stopping occasionally to pick up a toy or wooden spoon on the floor.

Edie has what appears to be a limitless capacity for socializing. Possibly inherited. From me, not from Jeff. As if there was any confusion on that point (if I believed in using emoticons, I'd insert a smiley face one right now).

Anyways, Edie particularly loves older kids. Like maybe more than she loves me. I took her to a consignment shop for kids today and there was an 18 month old girl there. Edie was standing in their little kid area, playing at an activity cube when she spotted this other girl. She immediately barrelled over to her using her zombie run and shouted "YEAH!!!" at her. This is her favorite noise right now, she exclaims "YEah!!" constantly. The other little girl wasn't talking yet either, so the two of them babbled in an animated fashion with each other for like 20 minutes while I shopped. She kept looking over at me like, "This is SO AWESOME." I couldn't really argue with her. It was so cute to see her so excited. We had a similar experience at U Village yesterday where Edie tried to make best friends with what appeared to be a 5 year old playing in a fountain. The girl looked at Edie in a confused manner, but Edie was completely undaunted, shouting excited babble phrases at her with a face that said "Let's go play! It's cool - I know I look little, but I'm super fun. I promise."

Then just today, Edie and I were at Toys R Us when this 8 year old boy asked his Mom, "Would that baby like to see my toys?" I was thinking I'd have to make some polite excuse to this boy as to why Edie wouldn't want to play with his (way too advanced) toys. Except before I could say anything, Edie turned around and gave this kid a 5000 watt smile and proceeded to listen carefully as he explained his toys. He'd point at something on the box and Edie would point at the same thing in response and exclaim, "YEAH!" I died. It was so cute! I didn't know whether to laugh out loud or start crying. It was just so effing precious.

So I've been feeling like I need to get this kid into daycare. We have playdates every week and we still go to playgroup. I'm also going to try taking Edie to The Little Gym a few blocks from home soon. I try to give her lots of interaction with other kids/babies, but I'm starting to feel like I'm actually doing her a disservice to keep her from daycare at this age. I think she'd be PUMPED to hang out with a group of older kids more regularly. Which is good timing because a potential (and still completely unconfirmed) part-time opportunity has possibly landed in my lap. Details will come when/if the job is an actuality, but I'm excited. I think it'll be another month or so before things change (IF they change) so I hope to enjoy the rest of the summer with my Bubs before dipping my toe back into the professional world. But my Mom retires in the Fall and with one day in daycare and one day with my Mom, I feel like we might just find the perfect balance. We shall see.

Oh, and I still have a bajillion cute photos, including some of Edie's friend Danny wearing one of her dresses.

Hummus

Edie loves hummus. It's one of the few foods she'll let me feed her with a spoon, opening her mouth like a baby bird for each bite. The funny part is that after almost every bite, she does this weird sourpuss routine. Then she opens her mouth for the next bite.

Orcas Part I

Cloudy day on the beach.

This is one of my favorite photos of the weekend.

Except for this one, which is maybe the best picture ever.
Edie in her Proud Sailor Pose as she takes her maiden voyage on the 13 foot Boston Whaler.
There are no words.

Family photo!

Enjoying the view. Enjoying her life jacket less.

Walking

A week or so ago:



Just yesterday:





Edie can now walk 10+ feet on her own without collapsing. Jeff says she looks like a tiny zombie. I think she's the littlest drunk. She pauses every once in a while, falling into a crouch and then rising again without using anything to pull herself up. She will walk even farther if tempted by something dangerous. For example, she walked the farthest when trying to get to the pool earlier this week; if I'd let her, I feel like she would have walked right into it.

Hot

It's hot. I don't do well in the heat. I'm a complete wuss about being overheated. Actually, if we're being really honest, I'm pretty much a complete wuss about most things. Tight seat belts, uncomfortable pants, long hikes... you name it. When it's hot like this I typically sleep on top of the covers with a fan approximately 12 inches from me on full blast. Jeff wears pajamas and sleeps under the covers. He's also currently wearing jeans, a belt, an undershirt with long sleeved button down over it, socks and shoes. It's 10pm and at least 80 degrees still.

Last year we bought an AC unit for our bedroom because Jeff took pity on my 8 months pregnant body sweltering in 100+ degree temperatures. But then he removed the unit in the winter because it was "tacky". I don't have the nerve to ask him to reinstall it this year because I haven't quite erased the memory of him sweating buckets and swearing angrily while standing on a ladder trying to pry open our 102 year old window from the outside in order to install it the first time. I think he knows this. The AC unit sits smugly in our chilly but unfinished and spider infested basement.

All of this is to say that I am apparently maturing as a person and becoming Selfless with a capital S because I gave Edie my fan for the night. This is the Jill equivalent to someone giving their last scrap of bread to someone, knowing that their next meal is days away. I was feeling just a tiny bit resentful as I walked up the stairs to our bedroom just now, feeling the temperature rise with each step. This resentment was making me maybe more just selfless with no caps, but then I peeked in and looked at my sleeping Bubs and, really? Is there anything cuter than my meaty baby all curled up on her side wearing nothing but a diaper and a short shirt, clutching her square of blanket, the fan blowing her crazy hair all over the place?

She can have my fan any day.

Summer is Here!

It's hot hot hot today and we're headed to Edie's friend's house to go swimming! Jealous? You should be.

A teaser until I get the rest of the Orcas photos up (click to enlarge):

Not Orcas

These are from Father's Day. I'd meant to post them sooner.

Happy... 5th of July?

Sorry for the absence folks. I'm sure you've all been waiting with baited breath for my next post, cursing me for taking so long. Or more likely, you've been enjoying the holiday weekend festivities and didn't even notice. Or at least that's what we've been doing. We drove to Bellingham on Friday to go with Jeff's parents in their boat to Orcas for the long weekend.

The weather sucked, but what's new? The weather here in the northwest has been nothing short of November. Until approximately 30 minutes before we had to leave the island today at which point the sun came out and it magically turned 70 degrees. Annoying much? But anyways! The weekend was still a giant treat filled with plenty of grandparent time, good food and naps. Many adorable and hilarious photos to come soon, including pictures of Edie sporting her first life jacket, as well as her first trip on a boat (other than a ferry, which is too big to count).

Until then...