Walking!!!

Ellie took her first steps at the end of May. A few weeks after that she was taking more steps. And so on and so forth. But, at none of those times could we confidently say she was walking. It was more like she was cruising.

Well, after this weekend, I can now confidently proclaim she is walking! In fact, some of the moms at the library today even took note of how Ellie had really blossomed as a walker since they last saw her.

-ED

P.S. - Good job, Ellie! Mommy and Daddy love you and we are very proud of you!

Ellie and the sweet potato

So I realize I have no basis for comparison when I say this, but I think our darling, little Ellie has some odd attachment issue(s). For your consideration, I submit Exhibit A: Mr. Boogs, and Exhibit B: a sweet potato:

We visited with Nanny and Grandpa last night. And, as we prepared for dinner, Ellie managed to get a sweet potato out of the pantry. What followed was, as these pictures document, a new friendship.

All I can think to ask at this point: is this normal? Or, should I begin putting money aside for a psychiatrist?

-ED

Education

Up until last week, daddy daycare has been very unstructured; and, I guess it still is. However, over the last few weeks, it has become clear to me that Ellie is taking in more and more information as evidenced by her ever increasing vocabulary. As such, I have decided to get a little more disciplined in teaching Ellie things during our time together.

Thus far, what I've envisioned are days with themes: Mondays are number days, Tuesdays are alphabet days, etc. It's nothing intense or overly involved. I'm just trying to make sure that each day we spend some amount of time, no matter how little, working on some basic concepts.

I've yet to research the matter, so there's nothing about this little endeavor that is based in educational theory and the like. It's just my low brow approach to being more assertive in the development of my baby girl. Anyhow, my question for you parents and/or educators is what should I be doing to help expand her mind?

-ED

A change in policy

Today Ellie is 13 months old. In the past, I have offered a pictorial salute in recognition of her progression. However, I decided some time ago that I wouldn't sustain this and resolved to end the practice at 12 months. What I will do instead, from time to time, is update the blog banner with more current photos. Thanks for your continued interest in our baby girl.

-ED

A day in the life

I thought it would be good to offer a generalized glimpse of what Ellie's average day is like (including a very brief peek at my schedule and EM's). I actually intended to do this around the time of her birthday, but with everything else that was going on at the time I guess it just slipped my mind. Anyhow, here's an average day for Ellie (and us) as she approaches 13 months of age:

• 4:30am - EM's alarm goes off and/or the dogs wake her up
• 4:30-5:30am - EM gets ready for work
• 5:30am - Ellie wakes up (sometime on her own, sometimes with prodding from EM)
• 5:30-6:00am - EM nurses Ellie
• 6:00am - I get home (if it's a workday, otherwise EM wakes me up)
• 6:30am - EM leaves for work; Ellie and I sit down for an episode of Jack's Big Music Show
• 7-7:30am - Ellie plays mostly by herself as I try to catch up on the news
• 7:30-8am - breakfast (usually bananas and cereal)
• 8-8:30am - we pass the time (playing, reading and/or watching tv) in anticipation of her nap (and mine if I worked that night)
• 8:30am - nap time
• 10:00am - Ellie wakes up
• 10-10:30am - playtime and/or a walk
• 10:30-11am - snack time (usually milk and a few goldfish or animal cookies)
• 11am-noon - playtime
• noon-12:30pm - lunch (usually two fruits, a carb and something else)
• 12:30-1:30pm - playtime
• 1:30pm - nap time
• 3-3:30pm - Ellie wakes up, followed by snack time (usually yogurt)
• 3:30pm - EM comes home, at which time I back off/take a break
• 5-5:30pm - dinner (usually a fruit, a veggie, a protein and a carb)
• 5:30-6:30pm - playtime
• 6:30-7pm - bath time
• 7-7:30pm - time to wind down and I go to bed if it's a workday
• 7:30-8pm - EM nurses Ellie
• 8pm - lights out
• 8-9:30pm - EM does her thing in preparation of the day to come, and goes to bed
• 11:00pm - I'm up
• 11:30pm - I'm off to work

I don't care who you are, that's a full day! No wonder we're always tired. Sigh. But she's so worth it!








-ED

Fun at the pool

Last week Ellie and EM tried one of the local pools - the weather wasn't so great, but EM felt if the weather was better Ellie would enjoy it. Today the weather was great, as far as pool weather goes, so off we went.

We met up with Sara and Kinsey (AK's sister and niece), and everyone had fun for the brief time we were there. Ellie spent time between the pool (in EM's arms) and the water spray playground where she was more free to frolic on her own. The playground has these little yellow spheres - we like to call them waterbugs - that shoot out a gentle spray of water and Ellie really enjoyed those. We'll definitely go back!

Ellie loves the "waterbug"

Ellie and Kinsey - AK's two favorite girls

-ED

By the way

I forgot to mention since the last post about socializing Ellie that two of the moms at the library mentioned an online source for stay-at-home parents that I was unaware of: meetup. I looked into it and signed us up shortly thereafter. Since that time, we receive emails almost everyday regarding a picnic here or a gathering there. I'm embarrassed to say I haven't really followed up on any of it (we just keep going to the library), but it's nice to know of all these options for the time when we are ready to change things up a bit.

-ED

Ellie has a tape worm.

I think. I mean she must. How else can we explain the fact that after buying a bunch of bananas, a cantaloupe and a pack of string cheese on Friday we are virtually out of said items, items that normally would have lasted nearly the whole week? Fortunately, Nanny and Grandpa were able to stop by the grocery store, on their way to visit, and help us reload.

-ED

Happy 4th!

Not much going on around here. Haven't felt like posting too much. I think I'm still suffering a bit of a hangover from the flurry of posts surrounding Ellie's birthday. Anyhow, EM and Ellie are going to a local pool tomorrow with AK and her sister, niece and nephew. So perhaps we'll have something to report after that.

-ED

Ellie is learning so fast

Ellie seems to be learning things at a lightening fast pace. It is amazing to us some of the things she comes up with. We are starting to see that she is watching our every move and imitating us. Some things she has done in the past week or so:

-says nanny (na na na) and banana (also na na na- but we can tell the difference), duck, doggy, and water

-responds to what does a duck say or what does a lion say

-when asked what does a rabbit do she sniffs and wrinkles up her nose- this is similar to smelling flowers

-eats with a fork

-walks 4-6 steps at a time alone, walks further if holding onto our hands

-responds to where's your hair and where's your toes

-give her a spoon and a pot and she will stir on command

-EM