Walk this way

Estelle started walking last week, and already she'll walk across the room, turn around, and walk back. Her balance is improving rapidly, but she's still quite wobbly. Her dad says she looks like a drunken sailor. I'll attempt to get some video and post it.

Another first: she waved bye-bye last night to much cheering and clapping from us. In fact, when she saw the response it garnered, she planted her feet in a wide stance and kept waving bye-bye like a crazy person. However, when I was actually leaving the daycare this morning, she refused to wave bye-bye to me. I guess context is a concept that will come later.

Summer vacation in exotic Brainerd

So this is what it's come to...well, at least for the next few years. But we had a great time relaxing and playing at the lake and the pool. Regina, Darien and Estelle were as happy as 3 peas in a pod. In fact, I think Estelle enjoys their company more than mine or her dad's.

Smart, strong and funny

Many of you know that I have an aversion (even before I was pregnant) to the pink-pink-pink obsession for little girls. Mind you, I'm not categorically opposed to putting pink on Estelle (or wearing pink myself, for that matter). I just believe that little girls should be able to wear ALL colors, and with the exception of a few retailers, all colors are not easy to find. And this is not girl-specific -- the gender stereotyping for boys is just as bad. I'd like to lay out my principle objections to clothing options for kids, girls, specifically:

1. Must everything be pink? For crying out loud!

2. If it's not pink, it's pastel. Perhaps studies have been done that if you dress girls in bright colors, they spontaneously combust. Ergo, all girls should be dressed in soft, soothing, nonflammable colors?

3. "Hi, my name is ________________ (fill in your favorite little girl's name). I signed a contract in utero to provide free advertising space for Disney, Baby Einstein, Dora the Explorer, Winnie the Pooh, Barbie and Strawberry Shortcake. Unfortunately, the only way to get out of a contract signed prenatally is to be a walking billboard for American Eagle and J. Crew as a teenager."

4. Note to clothing designers: can you wait until my kid is, say, at least 15 before you try to put her in a halter top with cups? Oh, wait, you've already got that covered.

5. (And this is, perhaps, my biggest complaint.) Daddy's little princess. Sweet. Cutie. Cupcake. Pretty Pretty Pretty. How can we be surprised when little girls grow up to be obsessed with their looks, obsessed with their weight, and more concerned about makeup than math? Again, I'm not against putting Estelle in something that says "Cutie pie" on it. If only I could find JUST ONE t-shirt or onesie that says Daddy's smart girl, or Strong, or Funny.

Look, I know it's just clothing and, in the end, it's way more important what behavior and attitudes you model for your child. But it bugs me... a lot. Thank God for Hanna Andersson. Otherwise, Estelle would be naked most of the time, and we live in a cold state so that wouldn't be a good thing.

So one of my favorite pastimes these days is to fantasize about designing a children's clothing line... a bit more empowering, a bit less nauseating, than practically everything you find in stores. Comments and suggestions about this idea are welcome.

My first BBQ

It was a special moment last weekend -- Estelle had her first taste of her dad's BBQ ribs. As you can see, she enjoyed herself immensely. It wouldn't have been my first choice to feed her ribs, but her grandmas (sitting across from each other at the table) were in cahoots. After she finished with this rib, she dove into her grandma's plate of food, shoving potato salad into her mouth with her hands. When she had a rib bone and half a piece of bread hanging out of her mouth at the same time, I had to put a stop to the feasting.

Salt n' Pepa reprise

Estelle is totally digging the push toys lately. The toys move a little faster than she expects so her little legs work like crazy to catch up with the wheels. As soon as she runs into something, she screams at me to turn her around, and off she goes again. She giggles the whole time.

The Climber strikes again

Say, Say, Oh Playmate

Estelle had a great time on Saturday playing with her friend, Annika. Annika's mommy and daddy were nice enough to watch Estelle for us for a few hours. The girls had a grand time playing in the tupperware drawer, eating dinner in high chairs side-by-side, and swinging at the park. Annika also showed Estelle that her puppy, Abby, was nothing to be afraid of. It's nice to have friends!

Next stop: Everest

On Saturday I was hurriedly trying to pull things together so we could head out to a destination and placed Estelle in care of her father, who was in front of the television. Rushing madly about upstairs, I heard Estelle babbling to herself as if she was getting closer to me. Strangely, I did not hear Bryan coming up the stairs with her. I peeked over the railing, only to see her making her way up the stairs to the landing at the front door. Bryan was contentedly watching his movie, unaware The Climber had escaped the TV room and was confidently making her way up to find me.

After scooping her up, I thanked my lucky stars that she didn't fall backwards on her quest to the top. Bryan was surprised with her first successful attempt at the stairs, but noted that, after all, he WAS the youngest kid on his block to make it all the way across the monkey bars...sigh...

Me and D

Darien and Estelle are such good buds. She's lucky to have a big cousin who loves seeing her and giving her hugs. When I drop her at daycare and Darien is there, he has to say hello to Estelle and give her love.

Hungry baby

This is the face that Estelle makes when she thinks she hasn't had enough dinner yet...often, it's after she's already eaten meat, vegetables, bread and fruit. She leans forward and screams, "EEeeeee!"

Have I mentioned that she has a mind of her own?

Before and after

A few of you who can't make the open house have asked for a final picture of the joint. Finally, we have grass, so I'm posting one. Please let us know when you'll be in town so we can have you over for dinner, or even better, Bryan's infamous "smoke-smoke" ribs.

I love dinner!

I cannot believe the quantity of food this child can put away...and further, the pitch of her scream telling us she wants more. No question that she's our kid. The daycare can't believe her consumption either considering what a little peanut she is, but they're convinced it's because she's so active. Friday is the nine-month checkup and we'll see what she weighs in at.

Bouncy Bouncy

Click here to see a quick video of Estelle...

The Climber

Estelle's newest thing is climbing. If there's something on the floor, she wants to be on top of it. She wants to climb into the high chair, or the tub, or up mommy or daddy. I came back into the room after stepping out for a second to find her on top of this wagon of blocks. Of course, with climbing comes crashing, so she's getting pretty tough.

Also, I just noticed this morning that she's finally getting her first tooth...coming in on the bottom. Which nicely explains the drool on her chin in this photo...

Splish Splash

Estelle LOVES the bath. Afterwards, Mommy is usually as wet as Estelle with all the splashing. As you can see, she doesn't even want to wait until all her clothes are off to get into the tub. Though she has very cute rubber duckies to play with, her preferred bath toy is an empty bottle. She crawls around the tub chasing after that thing.

The wind in my hair

I've lost track of how many colds Estelle has had this winter, but finally spring has sprung! Hopefully we're past the worst of the virus season now. In any case, the humidifier has taken up permanent residence in her room, and she is obsessed with it. Every time she's on the floor she makes a bee line for it. She giggles as the air blows into her face...it seems like it takes her breath away.

Now that she's crawling and pulling up she's discovering everything. Time to babyproof!

Cruising

Estelle started crawling on Saturday and pulled up to standing in her crib today. Let's hope she doesn't take her first steps tomorrow since mommy and daddy need some time to adjust. Here are some shots of her motoring around the family room.

Estelle's new theme song

Mommy and daddy are so excited about some of Estelle's most recent developments, we must share them with all (3?) of her blog readers.

Sleeping
The most exciting news (for us anyway) to share is that Estelle is sleeping in her own crib all night. After reading "The Sleep Lady," we learned how many things we were doing wrong with respect to putting Estelle to sleep -- rocking, walking, nursing, reactive co-sleeping (putting her down in her crib and taking her to our bed once she woke up) in order to soothe her to sleep. In short, she needed us (and all the sleep crutches we had given her) to fall asleep. We decided we weren't doing her any favors -- a growing baby needs uninterrupted sleep during her daytime naps and at night, not to mention establishing good sleep habits now into adulthood. We love the Sleep Lady's advice (highly recommend her book: "The Sleep Lady's Gentle Guide to Helping Your Child Go to Sleep, Stay Asleep, and Wake Up Happy") which acknowledges that Ferber's Cry It Out method feels awful for parents and awful for babies, but that pure Sear's attachment parenting might have her in our bed until she's 5 (which, if any of you know Bryan, was not an option). It also respects how smart babies are. After a few weeks of applying her gentle sleep training methods (and, I'll admit, a couple of hellish nights of no sleep for me) we now lay Estelle down in her crib at 7 pm, walk out of the room and she's asleep with nary a whimper. She greets us (as usual) with a huge smile in the morning. I'm still nursing her once in the early morning -- around 4 a.m.-- which she probably doesn't need, but we both enjoy.

Laughing
While Estelle has been giggling at us for quite some time, she's figured out that she can make us laugh by laughing first. Her newest application of this knowledge has been in the car -- she laughs in the carseat at absolutely nothing, which makes me laugh and gets her laughing ever harder. She is a joy.

New bud
I should have known not to be anxious about Estelle and Darwin (our sweet kitty) interacting. He is her new favorite friend. He seems to more than tolerate Estelle and, in fact, seeks her out. She's more interested in him when he wanders into the room than in any other activity we could supply, including toys, food, books, etc. He patiently sits while her hands awkwardly reach for him. I'm teaching her to stroke, rather than grab, and it seems to be working...she's only pulled out one whisker so far...

Music time
Now that the nursery is fully set up, we listen to music in the morning. To our delight, Estelle loves dancing around in our arms. Daddy has always been particularly skilled at making up his own lyrics (a latent desire for rap stardom, perhaps?), but the other morning we listened to "Video" by India.Arie and it's Estelle's new theme song, courtesy of mommy:

I'm not your average girl from the videos
and I ain't built like a Supermodel
But I've learned to love myself unconditionally
because I am a queen

I'm not your average girl from the videos
My worth is not determined by the price of my clothes
No matter what I'm wearing I will always be
little Estelle Marie

Raspberries

Estelle is already 6 months old! She is so ready to crawl, pushing up onto all fours and rocking back and forth. It's just a matter of time, and daddy and mommy will never get a moment's rest. She also loves blowing raspberries, spraying us with whatever is in her mouth. She has slowly started solid foods. So far, she loves her rice cereal, apples and pears (also, coincidentally, the color of the fun green wall in the nursery--"Apples and Pears"), but is not liking carrots or sweet potatoes too much. Maybe a few more attempts will do the trick.

This one's for grandma

This is especially for Grandma Vonnie, who gave Estelle this cute outfit just for the trip.