I See Stars

Tonight, for the first time, you looked up and said "stars", then you looked again and said "more stars". I've showed them to you twice, and you have some on the ceiling in your room, and you can recognize them in books, but I've never seen you recognize them in the sky before. You are so smart!

We went shopping tonight to look for the next step up in child proofing for the cupboards, since you now know how to get into the ones that you need to put your finger into a small opening in the cupboard and push down. We go several new ones that you need to press a button while opening the oval that fit over the knobs on the cupboard doors. I give them 6 months, but it's enough time for me to move out all the really nasty stuff we have under the sinks.

Pictures from a rainy hike

Baby Proof?

The baby proofing of the cupboards and drawers worked for a year, but their time is up. You can now open one of the "baby proof" cupboards, and since they're all baby proofed the same way, the others are only a matter of time. The one you are getting into has the dog treats, and since you love to feed the dog treats I see you over there all the time now. Since Isbre has gotten into that cupboard when it wasn't closed fully and eaten enough treats to make herself sick, this is a problem.

You and Isbre have started playing together for a few minutes at a time, and I love it because you are both so high energy. And you love playing with Isbre. You shepherd her into your room when it's nap time (you've started shepherding your Dad and I as well, by getting behind us and giving little pushes) and look for her first thing in the morning. When she goes to Shroeder's for doggy day care, you ask about her during the day and love to go with one of us to get her.

You and I are in the last stages (knock on wood) of a cold that Robert hasn't caught (It's good to have someone well in the house to take care of the rest of us). We're coughing and sounding horrible, but feeling better. Just in time for thanksgiving :-)

Super Stuffy Nose

Poor baby, you have a really stuffed up nose today. Yesterday it was drippy, but today it was so stuffed up that you were lisping like a person with a bad cold.

I feel like your Dad and I are creating the narrative for your life right now. Or, more correctly, we're helping you create it. You will say a word and then a sign of some sort, and it's really a full sentence that he and I will say for you.

Another Day

Yesterday you scared the **** out of me. I was driving back from Mud Puddles, a toy store, where we'd just missed the music hour because we got lost, and you were in the back seat eating a cheese sandwich and drinking milk. When I look back in the mirror, you were completely motionless with your wide eyes staring straight ahead. You are never still, so I had no idea what was going on. I was afraid you had had some sort of attack. Then, you slowly slumped to one side and your eyes closed. You were asleep. You fell asleep with your eyes open!

Yesterday we almost died laughing. You had hidden the zuchini I had on the counter...

Words words words

You try to copy most of the words we say, and you're getting closer and closer.

I never realized how many "hard" sounds English has until I heard you learning to speak it. Many of the sounds are gutteral and in the back of the throat.

You will go to sleep on your own when we have other people watch you, but not when we're here. Last night Lauren baby-sat, and you fell asleep with her on the couch before dinner (before 6:30) watching Baby Einstein. You NEVER do that with us, even if it's late. You fell asleep at Pat and Bill's for naps, once on Bill's lap, and you fell asleep on the floor at noon when Greg was watching you. Are you like me when I have a cold and you just want to sleep through things you don't want or understand. By now you should find Dad and I pretty boring and just being around us should put you to sleep. But, no, we need to give you a bottle and rock you and read you a story and then hold your hand. You never just GO to sleep.

We took you to a "Day of the Dead" celebration at Urban Grind coffee house. It was very well done and we made macaroni skeletons and ate skull cookies and listened to a great entertainer sing songs and tell stories. Maybe next year we'll make cookies for Day of the Dead and hand them out at church or around the neighborhood.

You love the Baby Einstein DVD and want to have them on all the time. They hold your interest for a long time, although sometimes you like to get up and do things while they're on. Since they're basically classical music with pictures I don't mind having them on. I don't want you to watch them all day, though, because I don't want a couch potato.