Language

Since the last post was fairly lengthy, I wanted to write separately about your current language skills. I have been taking an inventory of all the words you can say, so I will list them here. Keep in mind these are the intended words, yours don't always sound exactly this way- for now you typically shorten multi-syllabic words, and you definitely substitute a few phonemes for others. But here is the list in no particular order other than they are somewhat categorically grouped:

mama, daddy, nana, grandad, amelie, hi, bye, no, up, down, go, more, kiss, beep, dog, cat, fish, bunny, elmo, eye, nose, mouth, ear, knee, toes, tummy, baby, ball, balloon, button, airplane, key, moon, spoon, cracker, milk, banana, water, yogurt

I may be forgetting a few, so I will add to the list as I remember more, or as you add more words to your vocabulary. Once it gets to about 50 I will stop, as this is *generally* when children get a word "spurt," so I expect that you'll take off with your vocabulary from there. Also, I only included words you consistently say on this list- there are others you have said on and off but I'm not totally sure you have them yet.

You have plenty more signs that I could add to the list, and I think these are very important, but no time now. Except I will say that you just started signing "frog" and "elephant" (with sound effects) and it is SO cute!

Love,
Mama

Updates

Hi Luthien,
I wanted to give a quick re-cap of some recent happenings, and as always an update on your development.

I mentioned that you started walking on August 14th. You were very excited about it that day, but then took about a week long break from walking altogether, unless we persuaded you to do so. However, about a week later you figured out that this was the best/fastest mode of transport, and since then you have not been able to get enough! You LOVE your independence. You want to walk everywhere, and you also love being outside. One of your favorite activites is to walk all around the neighborhood- this will be more fun for mom/dad once it gets a little cooler, but you don't mind the heat a bit.

I always said I wasn't going to post videos on this blog since it is intended as a journal for you, but I feel I have to post this video of your first steps on the 14th. I'll just have to take it out later, when I print these writings/pictures to a book. Try to ignore the extreme high-pitched voices coming from mom and dad. We were very excited...





Here is a picture taken a couple of weeks ago when we were in Tucson very briefly. Previously you had been afraid of snakes, like your mama. However, this was a very friendly snake and you totally adored him...



Also, we bought you your first potty! You love to sit on it whenever we're in the bathroom, and you've even gone actual potty in it one time! I am determined to potty train you early, but since I'm not home as often as I'd like this is going to be a difficult task. We will see...




A cute bathtime picture with your cousin Amelie. As always the water is your favorite place to be (a very close second to walking outside).


This picture cracks me up- it is so very you. You almost always have to be holding something in one or both of your hands. At breakfast the other day you were holding your bagel/almond butter in one hand and my license/credit card in the other (your favorite). All of the sudden you saw a pill bottle and just had to have it, so you quickly stuffed the bagel in your mouth and attempted to eat it that way, just so you could hold all the objects you wanted. This isn't the first time you've done this...


I felt like I needed to include a family shot because we have so very few of these. We're not as fond of the posed family shots as we are the candid types, and those are somewhat hard to come by. Also, dad would prefer that he looked closer to the way he did when he was 18, even though we try to tell him we love him no matter what. So he typically resists family photos for this reason as well.
The picture was taken by cousin Chelsea on our Portland trip.


She also captured these adorable shots:



In other news, I've been looking at your baby pictures a lot lately, in an effort to become more excited about a new development in all of our lives. When you were born you were the most beautiful baby I had ever seen. I think you were 3 days old in this picture- you were amazingly tan and you were my little duckie. Something about your lips always reminded me of a duckling, while dad called them "kitten lips." Oh how perfect your father and I are for eachother- I never thought anyone would understand or share my idiosyncrasy of seeing animals in people (and we wonder where you get your quirks).
Oh, and in case you didn't catch the "hint" above, I am happy (now) to report that you will be meeting a new brother/sister sometime around May 4th of next year! I have been explaining this concept to you, and one day you actually pointed to my tummy and said/signed "baby" which was so very cute. You will be an excellent big sister, I am sure of it. You are such a little helper these days.


How much you've grown since then...


Happy Fall!


Love,
Mama

Haircut

Dear Luthien,

This past weekend you got your first haircut. Not a big change considering there's not a lot of hair to work with, but those bangs and that mullet needed some serious trimming. Dad fought me on this one- he thinks messy hair on girls = cute/beautiful. While I don't require perfection (as noted by the absence of bows, flowers, headbands, and barrettes in your hair), I felt a little polishing of your look was warranted. Our friend Lisa did the job for both of us that evening. The best part is we go to her house for our cuts, so we left that night not only looking prettier, but with full bellies and having had excellent conversation and many laughs.

Other than not wanting to wear the "cape," you were totally calm throughout the experience. It was almost as if you were mesmerized by it, because you're typically not that calm :) I'm sure the comfortable setting and the fact that you got to sit on my lap and eat your cracker the entire time helped!

Somehow I can't even style the little hair that you have as good as it looked that night (hair is definitely NOT one of my talents), but it still looks much better than before. Lisa cut the back into an angled little bob, and did a cute little side-swept bang in the front. Even Dad loved it...

Thank you for being such a good girl for your haircut, and thank you Angela for the fantastic pictures!

Love,

Mom

Portland

Oh Luthien, this time I actually have an excuse for not writing sooner. I've been wanting to tell you all about our Portland trip for awhile now, but both of our computers have been dysfunctional. After some serious blessings at the Apple store, we finally have one computer back, and are expecting the laptop back very soon, free of charge (thank you Jeffrey!)


Portland was all I had hoped for and more in many ways. There were only a few things we missed out on considering you are only 1 and can only last for so long doing 'touristy' things and eating out all the time, but that was to be expected. We definitely hope to (and will!) move there in the near future. We're pretty sure you loved it as much as we did. We stayed with Rome's cousin Chelsea/husband Mike in their beautiful home.


Here is a picture that doesn't quite capture my sheer delight (and suprise) upon taking a glimpse at little Oliver when we first arrived. He is 4 months old in this picture, and bigger than you! He has the most amazing baby personality I have ever seen: calm and content ALL the time (very different from you)!


One of your favorite pastimes: climing their two sets of stairs! The other favorite activity which I do not have pictured here was pushing around their walker toy- it's a step above ours because it is a dog and barks when you push it. You kept stopping to sign and say 'dog' every time you would hear the toy bark!



One day we took the "Portland Aerial Tram" up 3,300 feet- at the top is OHSU. If the clouds weren't so thick that day we would have had a great view of all the mountains, but nevertheless the city view was spectacular (and don't worry, the weather issue does not deter us from wanting to move there)!


We also toured the Lewis & Clark college campus. It was a beautiful, old, heavily wooded campus. Dad fell in love. Here are a few pictures of you sitting with Henry while Dad looked around. I love this one because Henry looks very studious- totally appropriate for the setting! By the way, you are signing "dad."



Also love this gem of Henry- he's quite the ham!



And I just had to include this one to show just how much fun you had with the boys (your second cousins I suppose?) You adored both Henry and Oliver and got excited each time you got to see them. By the way, the mismatched outfit was not intended- your first outfit got too hot so I put you in a onesie we bought that day. Yeah, the temperature actually changes in Portland throughout the day/night, something we're not accustomed to here in Phoenix!

On Sunday we went hiking at Multnomah Falls (part of the Columbia River Gorge). I don't have any pictures from the bottom but I will say that Dad's sweatiness and your confused look are appropriate- it was only about a mile and a half hike, but it was VERY steep. You loved the whole experience- especially when dogs passed by. I think you thought it was funny that you were so much taller then them!

Enjoying part of the falls:

You and I relaxing by the rushing river- of course you wanted to jump right in...

So we let you!

After the hike we sat down for a bit and talked with a long-time Southeast Portland resident. You LOVED his little pup. This picture cracks me up because the dog looks as though he's attacking you, yet you're laughing- so typical for you!

One day we met up with a friend of mine from graduate school, Elissa. She also lives on the southeast side of town, and was kind enough to give us a tour. This would be the perfect place for us to live- very charming, lots of locally owned businesses and restaurants, tons of antique and book stores, and young families galore. She took us to this little kid friendly cafe. Kids can run around and play with toys/musical instruments, the whole time while being serenaded by an indie-pop type kid music artist. Only in Portland! She played her own songs but also played some classics that you loved.

After our lunch outing and tour, with Elissa:

This next sequence of pictures is the 'goodbye' with Chelsea, Henry, and Oliver. I love how you and Oliver interacted:

The friendly hug...

...followed by a passionate kiss

And then the classic half embarassed/half proud expressions. "Okay, that was kind of weird and

gross..."

Another classic: Henry's 'chokehold' kiss. He did this multiple times a day, it was so cute.

One last shot of the adoreable threesome:

We left Portland on a Tuesday in the late afternoon, so beforehand we ate some yummy local organic food and then made a stop at the Rose Garden- miles of beautiful flowers.

Again, what a fabulous trip, and much needed retreat!

Things we failed to capture on camera:

1) Powell's Bookstore (largest used/new bookstore in the world!)

2) The BEST farmers' market in the posh nearby town of Lake Oswego (puts my favorite downtown Phoenix market to shame)

3) The delicious meal created by Chelsea and Rome following our trip to the market

4) Right next to the farmer's market: the most amazing French bakery ever. What more could I ask for?!

5) More of Chelsea/Mike's fabulous house (not to mention the baby deer that came right up to their back deck!)

There you have it Luthien, more recent updates to come!

Walking

Hi Luthien-
Just wanted to write a quick note to tell you that you've officially started walking as of Friday 8/14/09! You are still not as confident in yourself to use walking all the time, but you really can do it! You walked from one end of our little house to the other, and then kept getting up in the middle of the room to try again. You are not as interested in walking as you were the first day you figured out you could do it, so now we try to coax you to do it. You prefer to do it only when you feel like it- you hate being told to do things (just like someone I know)...

Love you!
Mom

Catching Up

Dear Luthien,

This time I really promise to make it brief. I've been one post behind for some time now and am hoping to resolve that by sharing some developmental updates with you along with a few recent pictures. Then I can tell you all about our trip!

First, I forgot to tell you about these adorable barrettes that one of my very best friends, Emily got for you. There are about 5 different barrettes with a magnet attached, and a bunch of bottle caps that stick onto the barrettes. Emily thoughtfully picked out the least girly/loud styles of bottle caps, much to my delight. Your hair is still a bit too fine to use them in their intended manner, but for now we love using them for play purposes- sorting, sticking/unsticking, putting them in and out of their box, etc. I didn't take the time to account for lighting in this photo, and only a few bottle caps are shown, but the one on the top right is an adorable baby giraffe in neutral colors, which I love :)

Here is a picture I caught of you eating. We are really working on fattening you up. Your most recent measurements at your 1 year checkup were:

Weight: 16 lbs 2 oz (as usual, my mouth dropped as I read the numbers on the scale)

Length: 28 in

Head: 17.75 cm

Here, I have zoomed in on one of your quirky new behaviors. Actually, ever since you were very small you have always been very protective of your hands, and have positioned them in a very specific manner. You can probably notice it in previous pictures I have included. This position use to be curling up all of your fingers, including your thumb, so that they were facing your palm. The newest way in which you hold your hands involves bending your middle finger so that it stretches and curls back your index finger, as pictured below. The only picture I have is the lazy version of this. Normally it is much more exaggerated. Crazy girl!

Here we are at our new favorite monthly ritual: character book readings at Changing Hands Bookstore. I had not heard of this series, Skippyjon Jones, but of course you LOVED it because it involved books and a cat. You listened so intently throughout the reading. I was sad you didn't show off your 'meowing' ability, but loved watching you enjoy the whole thing nonetheless. You did not like getting to close to the giant kitty, but loved watching him from afar.

Even at a very close, but safe distance you loved him:

After the reading you and a couple friends (Mary Elise and Josiah) searched for a few books.

Here is picture of you sitting with Harry Truman in your big girl throne, an activity that is requested often as of late.

And lastly, I couldn't resist sharing this picture. You and Roofus had recently woken up, hence the squinty eyes.

Just a few more notes about the past 2-3 weeks:

1) As I mentioned above, you can 'meow' like a cat. It's the cutest thing anyone has ever heard, I'm sure of it. Other animal sounds you can do are a bird and a monkey (a high pitched squeal for both), although these aren't quite as consistent yet. You also love to pound on your chest whenever you see a monkey/gorilla.

2) You are signing 'mama' and 'daddy,' and saying the words as well all the time. You are saying 'dog' (which you also sign) and 'cat' a lot more now. I have noticed I always model the multi-syllabic version of common words, like 'doggie,' probably because some children have an easier time this way. Although now you are able to say doggie both ways, you seem to have a preference for the shorter versions. That being said, your two newest words are 'bunny' and 'button,' which you say as [badi] (or something similar) for both. It's the cutest thing because you get such a laugh when you say the /b/ sound. You build up a ton of air behind your lips and then blow it out really hard as you say the sound. You can also say 'hi' now, which sounds so cute because you really exaggerate the /h/ sound (although very recently you've been sticking to the wave-only method of greeting again). Of course you love to say 'no' more and more every day.

3) You understand so much of what we say lately, especially if it is a 2-3 word phrase. You also understand more and more of what goes on in your books, even when they are line drawings vs. photographs. I find it so amazing that you can recognize certain line-drawn objects that you've never previously seen illustrated in that particular manner.

4) You are SO close to walking! Ever so often throughout the day you'll stand up in the middle of the room with no support, and sometimes you'll take about 3-4 steps on your own (especially, it seems, if you have a new audience).

Okay, goodnight little one. There is always more I could tell you but I think this gets us up to speed enough for now.

Love,

Mama

Birthday Part II

Luthien,

Why must there be a "part II," you might ask? Well, you see mom went a little crazy for your first birthday party, as evidenced by your invitation (note: I promised dad it would never happen again!):

It all started with the fancy invitations, made by our good friend Angela, a talented graphic designer. Of course, only mom could have come up with what it actually says on the invitation, and she started to regret it once it was already in print.

A "healthful" lunch will be served...? Did she remember how many people she invited, and that she could not take off any days from work to prepare since she's saving her time up to go to Portland 2 1/2 weeks after the party? (yes, you heard me right- we can't wait)!

Okay, I have to switch tenses again which I'm totally against, but the 3rd person is getting tiring...anyway, I had to remind myself why I wrote that, and actually planned to serve 40 people a healthful, made from scratch meal. You see baby girl, I have always been into nutrition and eaten healthfully. However, since your birth, and especially since you started eating, I have been on a quest to further my knowledge on this topic. I can say that I have actually been surprised- no, shocked- about the things that I've learned, and grateful for the changes we are making in our diets as a result. I won't say anymore on this but just know that we have (and are still in the process) of changing our diets radically, and we couldn't feel more right about it. And I have you to thank for pushing me to do this! So, back to the invitations- the lunch was supposed to be a reflection of the things I have learned, and who better to share your knowledge with than 40 of your closest friends and family? Now, on to the rest of the party...

We had to do something with water since you love it so much. For the longest time I did not want to have it at your Nana/Grandad's house only because you spend so much time there, and I wanted to do something different (not to mention they don't have a pool). Then I started thinking about how any water-related place we would go to, there would be no refuge from the 110+ degree heat. So I came up with the idea to do your party "kiddie pool style" as it says in the invitations. We set up 3 different pools, 1 being a splash pad, and I also got a misting system for Nana/Grandad's patio to keep the adults cool. So, here are the pools, pre-kids:

I think the kiddie pools were a hit with the kids- your favorite was the splash pad:

Next, the food. What you are seeing mostly is garnishings for the gazpacho:

The menu consisted of the following. Flax crackers with homemade hummus or dilly cream dip for an appetizer. Second course (although everything was served buffet style): gazpacho, a cold soup (which I should have written on the menu). Optional garnishes included cilantro, pine nuts, avocado, feta, and chopped tomato. Main dish: curried chicken salad with fresh spinach and wrapped in whole wheat lavosh (okay the lavosh bread was not homemade). Side dish was farro with fresh figs. Okay, okay, I had also planned on making this dish but ran out of time, and at the last minute called True Food Kitchen and ordered a batch. The wraps were the crowd pleaser, followed closely by the two dips. The healthiest dishes- farro and the gazpacho- well, lets just say we had leftovers :) For a "drink" we made a watermelon strawberry slush that was also a real hit (thanks Kara)!

Let me just take a moment to tell you how wonderful your dad is. He had a Crohn's attack the week of the party, which thankfully turned out not to be as bad as some of the past episodes. He worked all day Friday prepping and making ALL the food for the party. Yes, the meals/recipes were my idea, and yes I stayed up until midnight two nights before doing all the shopping, but as it turned out I felt embarrassed at the lack of work I actually did. I'm so grateful to have an excellent cook for a husband, who takes my ideas and executes them perfectly every (okay most) times.

Now, on to dessert. I'll try to make this quick since as usual I end up writing too much. Friday night was rough. You were teething and having a difficult time sleeping, and I had planned on making the cupcakes at this time. I had practiced the recipe the week before and they were great. After making 4 dozen cupcakes that night I finally had the sense to actually taste what I was making. They were inedible. These cupcakes were already pretty muffin-like, so the added density in my final product that night was just plain bad. So, with the help of a morning Trader Joe's run, Nana and Aunt Stefanie, we whipped up some cupcakes in the final hour before your party. Not from scratch and not very healthy (although much better than Betty Crocker), but by that time I didn't really care. I think the final product turned out quite nice, but again I felt a bit sad that I did not contribute more to the actual making of the food at the party. At least I made the frosting...

You were still teething the day of the party and were not very well rested by the time the guests arrived. You did well in the pools, but once it was time to come in, eat, and do the rest of the festivities you were a little over the whole thing. We scurried to sing and have you eat your cupcake, which meant I was holding you during the singing and you ate the cupcake on a blanket on the floor. I don't think you would have wanted to sit in your high chair anyway, so it worked out well, just didn't make for the greatest pictures:

Of course we did not get the traditional cupcake eating picture because you were totally uninterested in it. Your cousin Amelie had no problem eating yours. It was good proof for all that it's not the taste of the healthy food I feed you that's the problem.

Present opening was a blast, but definitely overwhelming. You were more interested in the actual presents than the paper, which was fun for a change. You especially loved the button ribbon on your present from Clint and Angela, and mom appreciated the wrapping of course:

Needless to say you passed out shortly after the party was over. Mom forgot to hand out the party favors, so we've been eating a lot of fruit leather since and plan to plant a lot of seeds. It was a fun day Miss Luthien, enjoyed by all (I think). Like dad said, we won't be doing this type of extravaganza again. It was good while it lasted.

LOTS of developmental notes to follow. I can't believe how you're growing! (Cognitively speaking, not quite physically :)

Love,

Mom