Jaded Optimist

Finally have my computer back and working again…wow, a tough few days limited to just the laptop in the kitchen and the laptop in the living room. I guess I could have used G’s desktop or (two?) laptop…but mine has all my photos! Is hooked up to the printer! Plays music in the craft room! It was a rough few days.

Anyway…

She walks! And here is the proof. Kind of depressing reviewing the (very few) videos on my flip…almost every single one ends with my voice saying “OK, that’s enough” or “stop that”. Such is life with kids I guess. C especially likes to perform for the camera, as you will see in this one ;)

C graduated from Pre-K with much pomp and circumstance (although thankfully no speeches):

She is so extremely proud to be a Kindergartener. That first picture is right before she walked into the room—she had been talking about graduation for days: “I will be wearing a cap and g [catches self] I will not be wearing what I wore that morning but something else that will be a surprise!” 

Graduation was Friday (although she still has 2.5 days of school left this week) and the night before was the end of school picnic. M continues to practice walking—much time spent in a midway crouch. Love those little baby legs!

Friday night we had week two of our new (summer) friday night tradition—picnic and playing at Juanita Beach during the Juanita farmer’s market. It is incredibly awesome to live near the lake…the girls both ate a picnic dinner on a quilt on the beach (with super fresh strawberries picked up at the market), then played in the sand and then went into the water. C “swam” along the edge and got all wet. M played in the water, and kept trying to crawl deeper and deeper. I think we may avoid the multiple year severe fear of water that we went through with C…although keeping a constant eye on M, chasing her into the water over and over, and dragging her closer to beach repeatedly was somewhat tiresome. Sadly, I did not take my camera with me, and instead just have memories of that night. But I envision many more beach picnics for us this summer (well, until they close Juanita Beach for construction for 3 months. Sigh) Anyone reading this who is local—come on out on Friday nights and join us!

Leading off with…first steps today!!!!! Not caught on film though, as she would not repeat later. Sigh. In the past week or so M has started standing on her own a lot more, and pushing up off the floor to standing instead of only being able to pull up on something. Saturday we had friends over for dinner and they claimed that M took 2 steps, but G (who saw it) said it was more that she caught herself while falling forward, so we aren’t counting that. But today, she fully took about 3 steps in a row, and was very very pleased with herself. Hopefully more tomorrow!

At 14 months, M…

…needs a haircut again. Her hair is just naturally scruffy looking though.

…has 6 teeth (3 top, 3 bottom).

….says “peek”, “boo”, “mommy”, “daddy”, and sometimes things that sound like “shoe”, “socks”, “hat”, and “cat”. Has learned about pointing and points a lot. Waves with some consistency. Has finally figured out kissing—for a long time, just did the same as hugging. Then started putting an open mouth on your mouth (yeeeeccch). Now, puts a closed mouth on your mouth. Won’t give a kiss on the cheek though.

…is enjoying her snail rocker picked up on the cheap at a garage sale.

…loves yogurt, bread, grapes, pears, crackers, milk, water, pasta, and trying whatever is on my plate. Goes through phases (will eat tofu cubes one day and not the next). Pretty good eater overall though. Except for the skills part…and she INSISTS on feeding herself, even at restaurants. I am beginning to worry that there is a picture up of our family behind the podium at some restaurants with a note that says “do not let these people eat here if they have the baby!”. Witness: 

The yogurt picture is obviously worse. She also drops a lot of food on the floor—despite many, many requests not to. I bought her all new sippy cups that were BPA free…at they mostly seem to have these silicone type mouth pieces which she has systematically ruined. Down to the one pink cup right now.

…sleeping and napping OK. Still adjusting to being back in Seattle I think. Varies a lot in her naps—will take a great 2 hour nap one afternoon, and then terrible naps the next day. Has also developed a habit of waking a bit and then when you try to comfort her, screaming at the top of her lungs as if acid were being poured on her. Flailing and kicking are also involved. Sometimes will (eventually) settle back down to sleep but not always. She has done this once at night and a few times at naps. It is awful. I read up a bit on night terrors (her eyes are mostly closed during these episodes, but hard to tell if they are squeezed shut from the crying or closed because she is actually still asleep). Will have to see if it is a post-travel thing or continues.

…loves her daddy and her big sister. In fact, I think they would be tied for number one, then me, then the cat (I might be flattering myself here). C insists on starting every day with big hugs from M…until the hugs turn to hair pulling and then C starts screaming. C let me know that she loves M “forever and ever, more than infinity plus 2”. We like to introduce the big concepts early around here ;)

…likes to listen to books (or sometimes, just page through them quickly). Desires all phones and remotes with a deep and abiding need. Plays on her musical table several times a day. Explores any cupboard left unlocked. Crawls up the stairs in seconds. Eats dirt and pulls all the petals off flowers if left to her own devices outside. Loves a good swing. Colors a bit. Deeply hates diaper changes, and works hard to scramble off the table and kick anyone so cruel as to change her diaper. Loves playing in the bath with C. Wants to brush her own teeth and hair.

I think that is about it. Happy 14 months M!

This unexpected (and unasked for) heat wave in Seattle has been great for the garden.

Beets, carrots, some greens, lettuce, strawberries. Admittedly, the lettuce in the 2nd picture is from starts, not seed (our lettuce from seed is growing, but nowhere near that big yet). In the first picture though you can see that the broccoli got somewhat burned while we were gone. Some swiss chard suffered a similar fate. 

Tomatoes and currants.

Our onions are growing above ground like crazy—and have a flower. Is that supposed to happen? Seriously, some of the stems are as big around as a thumb. But below ground…still scallion sized it seems. Not sure if that means we messed something up?  

Before it was too hot to even venture outside, the girls had the first popsicles of the season. M wasn’t so sure at first, but by the end of hers she was into it.  Would set it down on the ground in between bites.

Someone else has been allowed to enjoy the outdoors a bit as well.

M still isn’t walking, but has started to bear crawl instead of regular crawl. It can’t help but bring a smile to my lips.

M got a new tooth on vacation—a lopsided top tooth to match the lopsided bottom one. That bottom one is fully in…where is it’s partner??

Not sure if this is a new trend…but C willingly wore shorts without a skirt or dress.

I did finish the dress I made for C in time to pack it for the trip. Some wonkiness around the armholes, but otherwise turned out pretty well, and was worn several times by C.

A few final favorite shots.

Some days we took it easy, and the girls and I just hung out. Amazing what we didn’t see—Charles street, Newbury street, Harvard Square. Only saw Boston Commons and the Public Garden while running (running through downtown with a double jogging stroller…good times). We did manage dinner in the North End, a stroll past our old house, several train trips and lots of walking. And…

The children’s museum. 

The aquarium (where there was some major M breakdown, so few pictures taken).

Green Animals (RI)

G’s old high school (RI)

Second beach (RI)