Just a quick note

To say that I've added a few photos to the last two posts. Katherine sent her pictures and I stole a few to add.

California Part 2

Day 2 started with Katherine baking the best blueberry muffins ever. Perhaps if we are lucky she will send me the recipe for a guest post. Which reminds me that I forgot to mention the banana bread with chocolate chips that she baked on our first day. And the cake pops that we made while Edie napped. Visit Katherine and you will come home with souvenirs on each hip.
Then we picked up our friend Mary Anne and headed to Travel Town in Griffith Park where we explored the old train cars and rode the tiny train.





We had the kind of lunch I'd been dreaming about in Seattle before our trip: relaxed outdoor dining with the sunshine warming my back. Here's my favorite photo of Edie enjoying one of Katherine's waffle fries dipped in ranch dressing. She then rubbed the ranch into her pony tails. It was awesome.
Stay tuned for pictures from our afternoon in Long Beach.

California Part 1

I just returned from one of those GNOs that reminds me how lucky I am to have the friends I have. It was just the thing I needed to pick me up from the buzz kill of flying in to Seattle last night to gale force winds, rain and temperatures more than 30 degrees lower than the ones I'd woken to. Having now fully adjusted to being back home, I'm ready to share some photos of our trip. There are many, so I think I'll post in a few installments.

On Sunday, Jeff took us to the airport and we checked Edie's car seat and my giant bag with all our clothes. When Jeff said goodbye at the security line, I was seized by a moment of sheer panic, but it was all for nothing. We managed to get the only empty seat in the plane next to us, the flight ran perfectly on time and Edie slept for the last hour, maybe more (I didn't have a watch) of the flight. We did have a minute of unpleasantness while boarding when Edie decided she wanted out of her stroller. Since I was planning to abandon the stroller in about 10 feet anyways, I let her out. But when she ran back up the boarding ramp and I picked her up, she protested by half moaning, half crying while everyone stood around me thinking, "GREAT. We haven't even sat down and the kid's miserable." Thankfully though, a woman standing in front of us (who will now have great karma) distracted Edie by asking about her backpack (I bought her a tiny monkey back pack for the trip so she could carry her snacks). She promptly snapped out of it, and there was nary a tear or tantrum from that point on. She happily watched videos on the iPod that Jeff had downloaded, snacked on pretzels and read books until crapping out for the last 1-1.5 hours - proceeding to even sleep through the landing and unloading of the plane. After all my anxiety, the worst thing that happened was a malfunctioning sippy cup - it pressurized with take-off and the milk started coming UP the straw and dripping EVERYWHERE. The cup was hermetically sealed from the pressure and I couldn't get the lid off for the life of me. Thankfully I had thrown about 5 one gallon zip locks into my carry on at the last minute and just sealed the whole thing up and chucked in back in my bag while it oozed milk for 2 hours. Gross.

Here we are waiting for our flight, watching the planes go by:
Excited about Aunt Katherine picking us up (with a balloon):
Waiting for our bags:
We didn't take pictures that afternoon/evening, but spent the time getting situated and dining out with some of Katherine's friends who were also visiting from out of town. My favorite (aside from my brief celebrity sighting) was when 6 year old Helena saw Edie fall down a few times and get back up and said, "She's like a tiny warrior!" Helena and Edie were fast friends for the one night.

The next day was a fairly mellow one: hanging out on Katherine's roof deck,
feeding her "pet" squirrel (big highlight for E - we spent much time in the following days talking about the squirrel), shopping for Edie Necessities at Target, getting tasty burritos and eating them in the park
playing at a nearby toddler playground
eating dinner out with another friend at The Grove and just generally enjoying the weather.

This just in (from LA)

The flight went as smoothly as could be expected. Full debrief upon return to chilly Seattle. Minor sippy cup malfunction aside, we arrived safely in sunny LA yesterday.

First celebrity sighting logged: Mitchell from Modern Family walked right by me in the parking garage last night!

Hollywood

I've trained Edie to say Hollywood. It comes out more like "hywoo" but whatevs. We leave for LA tomorrow! Preparations are in full swing - we are on our 3rd load of laundry, lists are being checked, travel activities assembled and ... this is a little embarrassing... but I *just* learned how to install Edie's car seat. Since I'm flying solo, we are checking the car seat and I will be installing it in Katherine's car upon arrival. We decided to take this time to flip Edie to forward facing. With all the traffic in LA, I just know she'll have more patience for car trips if not facing the blank wall of the backseat (or being blinded by the sun, something we (oddly) experienced in Seattle today - Edie whined and said "sunny!" in a most cranky tone). Edie's outfit for the plane is strategically being planned to maximize cuteness so that any terrible behavior will perhaps be overlooked in favor of her adorable piggies and sparkly silver kicks.

Wish me luck on our first airborne adventure tomorrow!

18 Months

Hi Edie,

Oh Edie. You are SO OLD! Today (kind of) you are 18 months old. As with your "half" birthday last year, this one doesn't really exist. There will never be a February 30th, so I'm writing this letter a day or two early.

Turning a year and a half old seems like a big deal; today is the day that tips the scales towards your second birthday. From now on you will be closer to 2 than 1. This last month has been so much more enjoyable than January. Health has returned to our household (knocking on wood as I type), only to be replaced by teething. Teeth! It seemed like teething in the early days didn't bother you all that much, but this last burst of growth seems to be stirring up some sleep issues and I'm SO grateful this is your last tooth for a while. Your 16th tooth (a canine) is coming through this very second and then we will have a break until your second year molars come in. Then I'm told we will be done with teething until you are 4 or 5! At which point you will be eligible for a legitimate combination pain killer and sleep aid.
Highlights and markers at this 18 month milestone-

Weight: We won't know this until later this week
Height: TBD
Speech/Communication: You are a BIG talker, with well in excess of 200 words. There is never a need for any sign language because you can, and do communicate all your needs effectively. You tell us when you're hungry and exactly what you want to eat, when you need more (please), when you want to get down (and back up), and what you want to do next. You frequently put two or three words together, but not usually in a cohesive phrase. It's more like, "Horsey! Daddy? Please!!!" when you want a horsey ride, or "Help. Shoe. On." when you're trying to put my shoes on your feet. My favorite was yesterday when you were in the kitchen trying to put your sippy cup in the fridge (a popular hobby these days is to ask for your milk, take a sip and then say "fridge" because you like putting it away yourself). I was in the next room and could hear you saying "fridge. Mimi." over and over. Then you added, "Mom. Coming." In other words, you wanted me to come in and help you open the door to the fridge.

You will also say things like "Ring. Edie. Get." When you can't reach a ring that's slid under your crib. You have the words for all your activities and friends, and if I get down on your level when you start to get frustrated and ask quietly "What do you want?" you pretty much always stop the tantrum ramp-up to tell me what it is that you wanted (and weren't getting) that got you upset in the first place. The only times we have to weather tantrums are when the thing you want is something we can't give - like a cookie at 9am. Or the 1000th horsey ride. As everyone is quick to remind me, this tantrum-void in our lives will surely not last.

Your "no you di'nt" pose

You are grasping lots of concepts these days- big vs small, saying "funny" when you think something is funny, initiating teasing (you like to pretend to fall asleep during the day and say "nap" and then open your eyes in a flash to see if we thought you were really asleep), asking for help when you need it, saying "bless you" unprompted when people sneeze, 'please' is said all the time without me asking, 'thank you' usually only with prompting. We have regular discussions about things that are loud vs quiet - every time a truck goes by you look at me very seriously and say "loud" in your cute voice that sounds more like "lowd". I must use the word 'creepy' on a daily basis without even realizing it, because the other day when I was looking at a blog and scrolled down to see a weird picture of a lama's face close up, you looked over my shoulder at the computer and said "Ceeepy" then looked at me as if to ask 'Did I use that word right?' And damned if that photo of the lama wasn't creepy! You were spot on.
Aside from your irregular sleep patterns at night, my least favorite habit of yours these days is when you intentionally spill your sippy cup all over the floor (shaking it upside down over and over and then playing with it like finger paint). I've talked to you about it numerous times with no success, so last week I tried implementing our first time-out. I told you that spilling your milk just to be funny was "naughty" and that you were going to sit on the naughty stair for 1 minute each time you did it in the future. Well, turns out the naughty stair is hilarious, not punishing. I couldn't help but laugh under my breath while you giggled and ran around the stair area every time I tried to sit you on it and walk away. I told myself it was just too early for that concept to be grasped. But the next day I heard you in the kitchen saying "naunny, naunny" and when I came to see what you were talking about, you had a puddle of milk at your feet, cup in hand and you were pointing helpfully at the milk saying 'naughty'. Before I could say anything, you ran over to the bottom stair and sat down, proudly saying "naunny". Granted you only sat there for about 20 seconds, but it was sweet, funny and kind of confusing all at the same time.
Potty training: You've been telling me about your dirty/wet diapers for some time so we ordered a tiny potty chair this month. Mostly we're just introducing the concept, talking about how it works and all that biz. No actual 'pottying' or attempts by me to implement. It seems more a source of fascination than something you want to tackle right now. I don't plan to push the issue for a while.

Sleep: You are still going to bed easily and happily, with very few exceptions. Teething (or something else??) are making the whole "sleeping through the night thing" a crap shoot with a week of good sleep and then a flurry of night wakings and early rising/cranky mornings. On a normal night you go down at 8pm and wake at 7:30 or so. Napping is more consistent and you always take a nap after lunch that lasts one and a half to two and a half hours.

Food: Shockingly, you've become a pretty good eater these days. You rarely, if ever, require your own meal at dinner, just eating what we serve ourselves. Your favorite foods are anything to do with noodles, broccoli, peas, toast with peanut butter, freeze dried strawberries, grapes, homemade pizza of any variety (which we make about once a week), anything that includes a dip, gnocchi, and anything in the dessert category. You dislike or are luke warm on many popular toddler foods such as chicken nuggets, most potato products (including tots!), quesadillas and grilled cheese. You worship milk and we spend a fortune on your organic whole milk right now.

Interests: You love helicopters (copters), music, dancing, Grandma and Grandpa's dog Toby, and hanging out in the truck with Dad. Most nights after dinner, he takes you out and the two of you hang in the cab of the truck for up to an hour - pressing buttons, changing the radio station, spying buses on the street below, waving to the garden gnome across the street, etc.
Last week you all of a sudden started grasping colors and now talk about the colors of everything around you. Some colors (orange and purple) come very easily, but others are still a bit iffy. You are also obsessed with cleaning these days. I swear I can give you a wash cloth ("wafoff") and just watch you "clean" the house for a full hour. In fact, I've probably done this. I especially like when you "clean" your nose with the same rag and then proceed to wipe down the front door or your chair with it.

While I would still very much describe you as a real character with lots of energy and enthusiasm, your overall temperament has mellowed out a bit. You almost never get angry, you like sharing and playing with others, when tackled by other kids (hi Danny!) you just look confused and try to keep going about what you were doing, and you are very good at playing creatively by yourself. You really are a contented little kid.
You still have yet to have any separation anxiety (with the exception of one trip to the gym daycare a few months ago) and love your time with babysitters and extended family.

At Grandma and Grandpa's for the weekend.

You talk about your friends all the time, your favorites being Mae, AJ, Danny, Chloe (which you pronounce Choly), and Reid and you look forward to seeing them on a weekly basis. This is SUCH a fun age for us a family and I think until the infamous terrible twos start, things are going to keep getting better.

Love you,
Mom

Colors

I especially love how she pronounces "feather boa" on the last page - "fulalaba"