Ebb and Flow

Children are strange and wonderful creatures. Sometimes it seems like Estelle is changing all the time. But in reality, I think her progress is much more sporadic, reminding me of Stephen Jay Gould's theory that evolution occurs by sudden lucky leaps forward, separated by long periods of essentially no change (how about that for retention from my evolutionary bio class at Olaf, huh?). Except, in our case, the evolution occurs by sudden lucky leaps forward, separated by long periods of no change or regression.

Case in point: the last week has been a veritable multiple personality disorder of parenting for me. Estelle came down with some viral thing last weekend and steadily progressed to pneumonia. All of a sudden, she has completely forgotten how to play by herself -- it's all mommy, all the time...enter "Kid Koala" who screams bloody murder and maintains a permanent leg-clutch position when I try to set her on the floor (I HATE parenting!); On the other hand, she's cuddly and wants to be rocked, an activity she's shunned since she started walking (I LOVE parenting!); I miss an entire week of work (I HATE parenting!)

Then the antibiotics kick in and in the last two days, she starts to feel better. Suddently, she makes a developmental leap -- she starts repeating words we say, including "cold" "go" "eye" and "mouth" -- I LOVE parenting again!

I've decided it's my challenge to appreciate the mundane days as well as the days full of developmental progress. Though, that's been made demonstrably more difficult in the short-term, since I'm now suffering with her cold (I HATE parenting!). Actually, it's made me want to regress developmentally as well. How the mighty are brought low...

Wait for me!

I know -- it's overkill on the bathtub photos, but I swear it's her favorite thing right now. She can't quite climb her way into the big tub, but she makes a valiant attempt. You can see she's standing on her tippy toes.

New Year's Day SNOW! and other updates

So many things to report from the last 2 weeks...where do I begin? First, Christmas was wonderful. My brother, Eddie, and his family were here. His son is just a 1-1/2 months younger than Estelle, so the cousins had a chance to check each other out. They were mostly annoyed with having to share toys. I think in 2 or 3 years they'll really enjoy each other. Estelle's favorite part of the holiday was, not opening, but climbing on top of the presents. I think her favorite gift is a big stuffed dog from her dad and I. She likes to lay on it, give it kisses and have us chase her around the house holding it and barking. (And to your next likely question -- no, we are not getting a real dog anytime soon.)

We had a lovely break over the holidays. I took the week off and of course Bryan was home from school so we had lots of great family time. A favorite luxury of Bryan's is soaking in the bathtub. Estelle has discovered that she can easily persuade her dad to let her join him and she adores the bubbles. This picture is too cute (and Bryan will probably make me take it down), but enjoy the bubble merriment. She likes to take handfuls and eat them.


Finally, we had a beautiful snow that started New Year's Eve and made for a winter wonderland on New Year's Day. It was gorgeous -- sunny and warm (30 degrees) -- so everyone was out sledding and playing. We took Estelle to a hill in our neighborhood and she was tickled by going down the hill with one of us -- even more pleased with Bryan's antics when he came the hill by himself.


She's feeding herself almost all her own food now, and trying hard to says words that still don't sound quite right. I keep waiting for her to repeat things I say spontaneously without me prodding her. She's getting very good at her puzzles and likes to wrestle and climb. She also loves looking out her window -- here she is checking out the snow, but most of the time she's just watching for dogs to walk by so she can bark at them...she does do that without prompting.

Portraits

So the pictures aren't absolutely current (from October), but we just got the portraits back from our photo session. I'm really pleased with the way they turned out, even though Estelle wasn't feeling so hot that day.

You can also go to the photographer's Web site and click on the "contact" page -- one of Estelle's photos is featured.

Feeding myself

All of a sudden, Estelle is acting like such a big girl. They're training her into the toddler room at daycare, and almost instantly, she's acting older. She's "pretend" playing ("washing" the front of the dishwasher with a napkin, putting items in a little shopping bag and carrying it around the house, etc.), and she does not want to eat unless she gets to feed herself. So we snapped a few photos last night to show you all. Notice in this second one, the piece of food acting as a hair adornment (she went directly into the tub, by the way).

I love grandpa!

Estelle met her grandpa this weekend for the very first time. They were great friends by the end of the weekend. We're all sorry to see him go home!

Down through the chimney

They're not losing any time...

Through the window

I adore these photos -- Estelle loves to look out the front window of the house onto the street and sidewalk. Tons of people walk their dogs past our house and she completely freaks out and starts barking when she sees them. She uses my stepstool and clambers up to peek out the window.


So, imagine her delight when she saw her daddy working outside. Side note -- our mailbox was vandalized this weekend along with four others on our street (the down side of living near the high school) so Bryan spent an hour on Saturday putting up a new one. Estelle could not be budged from the window. She clambered up on the stepstool, started pounding on the window and gesturing wildly saying, "Da-da! Da-da!" It didn't stop until Bryan came in the house.

Second side note: does anyone else love the little pigtail? I couldn't stand her hair in her eyes anymore and all the other clips just fall out of her fine hair. I haven't quite gotten the hang of making it look presentable yet. Patrick says it looks like she has a palm tree on top of her head. I kind of like it that way.

Ride N' Roll

Boy, Darien and Estelle sure have fun together. I watched Darien on Saturday and they played together so nicely...until Darien wanted to color and Estelle wanted to put the paper in her mouth. In any case, Estelle had a grand time getting pushed around by Darien (and only in a good way.)

ROAR! Happy Halloween!

It will be downright cold in these parts on Halloween, so I don't know if I'll be taking Estelle out...especially since she doesn't eat candy and we had the chance to dress her up for the daycare's Halloween party on Friday. She wasn't in her costume long -- I'm sure she kept thinking, "Why am I so hot?" -- but it was long enough to snap this photo.

She actually does a really good growl when you ask, "what does the lion say?"

1 year pics

A couple weeks ago we had a photo session for Estelle and for our family holiday card (yes, for the first time in 9 years of marriage, we'll be sending out a card this year). The photographer posted a sampling of the photos on her blog. I'm not especially excited about Estelle's expression in any of these pictures, but the photography is beautiful.

Les Miserables

My fierce, tough, bounce-back girl has been down for the count this week. Poor thing started out with both ears infected last weekend. The first antibiotic didn't work, so the ears got lots worse. Then she picked up some virus that had her running a fever for the last 4 days. I know babies can run higher temps than adults, but sheesh! 104 for 3 days is enough to make even the calmest parent anxious. Even with ibuprofen it only came down to 101. Finally, she seems to be feeling better today, but not well enough to go on the plane. Consequently, we're cancelling our trip to New York to attend a dear friend's wedding. I'm so disappointed! I know it will be a fabulous party...congrats, Tami and Paul! We'll make a visit to NY happen soon.

Fore!

Estelle has certainly taken a liking to the mini-golf club set. She especially likes to carry the putter around, which has us all ducking for cover. She understands that the ball and the club go together, so she usually walks around with one in each hand. She hasn't quite gotten the hang of hitting the ball with the club yet, but her dad is sure she will.

Dancing queen/Drama queen

All of a sudden, Estelle has an opinion...and personality...and a mind of her own. It's fascinating and frightening at the same time.

On the "I like to make mommy smile and laugh" side: This week, when music plays in the car (Beyonce seems to be a favorite) she bounces her head and dances in the car seat. It's very entertaining...and distracting to my driving, I must say.

On the "I'm asserting my own will and giving mommy a headache" side: Lately, almost every time I put her down, her body goes limp, she arches her back, throws her head back and screams in the most dramatic fashion possible. Of course, if I walk away and ignore her, it stops almost immediately. Ah, temper tantrums...not liking this part of parenting so much.

It's interesting how she fluctuates between wanting to be a baby and wanting to be independent. She wants to be held, yet squirms to get down. As soon as I put her down, she does the tantrum bit. I just try to maintain a sense of humor and distract her as much as possible. I know that this is just another phase. But that knowledge doesn't keep me from marveling: she's only been on the earth for a year...how does she know to do this already (the fascinating part)? What more is in store (the frightening part)? I still love it though.

Bath bubbles

Estelle's love for bathtime grows and grows. She's discovered she can get in all by herself if she bends at the waist and lets the weight of her head take her over the side. Unfortunately, this has landed her in the tub fully clothed at times.

Her dad is teaching her not to be afraid of putting her face in the water. Click here to see how far she's come!

Three generations

I love this photo with the weird angles of Estelle, my mom and me.

This one of Estelle and her "Auntie Wanti" is pretty cute too:

It's a happy, happy birthday!

Estelle is 1 today! In honor of her first birthday, she got her first real taste of dessert -- cake and ice cream. I'll interpret the photos:

"I guess I may as well try some of this stuff..."



"Holy cow, this stuff is good!"



"Man, I shoulda known you punks have been holding out on me."



"From now on, it's cake and ice cream at every meal!"

...and drop it like it's hot

Click here to see a 15 second video of Estelle wobbling...I mean, walking...

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.