First Days

Today was a day full of firsts.   This morning we went to a music class at the Ravenna-Eckstein Community center just two blocks from our house.  You're familiar with the place already as we go to the park and/or playroom there almost daily.  The class today was small, only four kids all together, and was held in a room with a stage and wall of mirrors.  Those two items kept the kids as entertained as the music itself did!  You were the youngest one there but you did a great job of playing little instrument that went from one kid to the next while the group sang to each one.  You waited (almost patiently) for your turn and then played like a pro.  I was so proud of you!  You enjoyed the end of the class most I think when the big box of musical instruments came out.  You seemed to rock out with the large bells you could play and the cymbals.  You're doing such a great job of listening to mom when we need to share with other kids or at the very least not grab things out of their hands!  At one point the teacher was standing and singing a song.  You hopped out of my lap and walked right up to her and put your arms up.  Ha!  Friendly little thing you are!  She obliged and picked you up.  Then when she sat with the group for another song you went over and sat in her lap.  My goodness!  You've never really done that before.  I think you also enjoyed being at the front of the group!

After class we came home, had some lunch, and I eventually got you down for a nap.  You slept for a while before you woke up screaming.  What?!  I actually thought maybe you'd been bitten by something or scared by something you saw in your room but no... I do believe it is simply the molar that is taking FOREVER to come through.  You have a big, painful looking bump on your lower left gum.  I managed to get you back to sleep and you slept all the way until we needed to go for our first day of preschool!  

Before we moved away from Capitol Hill, we registered you for a Tots class at the Capitol Hill Co-Op Preschool.  Today was your very first day!  Normally we will go two days a week from 4:00 - 5:30 p.m.  Since it's a big change we start the first week with just one day.  What fun you had!  It was mostly a lot of open play and exploring the space.  Some of your favorites were the huge bear in the reading area, the grocery carts in the play kitchen area, and painting!  At one point you simply took off and walked circles around on the carpet with your arm in the air.  I think you were expressing some joy!

When there is a toy that you enjoy, you are very determined to have and keep it.  As a mom, part of me struggles to encourage good behavior when playing with other children but a bigger part of me is truly pleased that you are not shy or inhibited to go after what you want even when you are the youngest or the smallest in a group!  Hopefully we will later channel this determination into a motivation to achieve and not simply acquire!

Your first molar coming in has made for some rough times the last weeks (maybe months!) but you are also becoming more and more sweet, loving, affectionate.  You regularly show this affection for mom, dad, friends, random children on the playground, dogs, and a variety of stuffed bears by leaning your head against them.  Sometimes there's a hug or a gentle pat but usually first comes you leaning in and touching them somewhere with the top of your head or forehead.  I love having this glimpse into your person, seeing what you are attracted to and have feelings for.  You continue to love music and dancing.  Someday I hope to hear you singing!  Your walking skills have improved quickly and people often comment on how well you're doing.  You regularly now will simply come up to me or Matt carrying your shoes in your hands.  The message is a very clear, "put these on me!"

I got a little sad the other day thinking about this year that has passed.  It has been just simply, wonderfully incredible.  You have become this shining, smiling person with an immense personality!  So much has happened and I wish I could keep each moment in the front of my mind to revisit over and over for the rest of my life.  But then I realized that it has ONLY been ONE YEAR!  One year of your long life ahead!  I started to think about your fist days in school and all the summer vacations and holidays to come.  Thank you for bringing so much anticipation and excitement to our lives, Violet.  Living life with your perspective to think about makes it rich and beautiful beyond imagine.

Walking, Talking, and Stacking, Oh My!

What a huge day it has been...  You've been standing and walking with our hands holding yours for a few weeks.  Today something shifted in you and you took off.  Over and over again you pulled off of whatever you were holding onto and took steps towards me.  So thrilling!  I could see in your eyes that you knew you were onto something big.  You were so excited and I was so crazy thrilled for you.  I know it is nothing compared to what is to come but there is this strange, uncomfortable and yet excited feeling when I see you at the park staring down the big kids doing all sorts of things you want to do but can't just yet manage.  I know the struggle is how you'll grow but it's hard to watch you... wanting to do something you can't yet do.  Well, today, that distance between desire and ability started to dissolve.  Well, at least when it comes to walking!

Other developments:  We got you a set of blocks many months ago and your primary interest in them was to bang them together to see what sort of sound they'll make.  You would occasionally knock down a tower that I build but you move on pretty quickly.  I've been wondering when you would stack blocks, having read that ability comes at a certain developmental point.  Today you did it!  You carefully placed one block on top of another.  Mommy is so excited!  This was not the end of your block-related skill-building either.  Your blocks of different shapes that fit through the top of the box they're kept in held your interest for a while today.  And for the first time you tried to put them through the top.  And you did it!  Here's a video:

You are also communicating much more effectively these days.  We're seeing a lot of pointing and you're imitating words all day!  You're getting really good at trying to say "doggie" and now you're making the "bok bok" sound we say when we're looking at a picture of chickens or even the real thing. A house a block over has chickens in their front yard and it's become part of our routing to walk by and say hello.  You are a master of sound effects actually...  you click and dong and breath through your nose loudly imitating mommy smelling something.  You smelled my mint plant today and I think you really get that you're smelling!

But today, as wonderful as it was, also illustrated what Matt and I have been learning about being parents:  the highs are so crazy high but the lows are soooo low.  Not low as in horrible but low because we're exhausted and emotional and you're also at times tired and emotional and frustrated.  And there's just no break and sometimes we could really use one!

Upcoming:  Preschool starts next month!  Capitol Hill Cooperative Preschool.  You have no idea what's coming but mommy is so darn excited!  We'll go Tuesday and Thursday afternoons for an hour and a half.  You are so eager to explore and learn and interact with other kids that I'm hoping it will be a fun experience.  That will be back in our old neighborhood and our friends Cecile and Isaac will be there too.  But today I signed us up for a couple classes at the community center just a couple blocks from our house, Ravenna-Eckstein.  We'll have a World Music class starting in September for a few weeks and then in November we'll start a mom and toddler dance class.  Ha!  I though November would give you a chance to start walking but clearly I didn't need to worry!

Sweet Moments

When I'm laying with you nursing you to sleep... sometimes you hold my hand.  Which in itself makes mom tear up just a bit with how sweet it feels to have my baby hold my hand.  But then sometimes you bring my finger you've got a grip on up to your cheek and actually move my hand to stroke your cheek.  It was something I did when you were much younger and I was trying to calm you during our bedtime routine.

"Dough!"

People say all the time that they wish they knew what was going on inside a baby's head.  I haven't really wished that so much... until now.  You've been pointing a lot lately and now you point at a great variety of things and say, "Dough!"  "Dough!" "Dough!" You are trying to express something (you are often quite excited about!) and direct my attention to these things.  I do truly wish I knew why!  We went on a stroll around the neighborhood yesterday just before bedtime and I think you pointed at a tree, "Dough!"  I said, "Yes Violet... that's a tree!"  For the rest of our walk you pointed at trees.  We stopped to touch the bark of a few trees!

Taking Steps!

Highlight today:  Steps!  You've been pulling up to standing for a few weeks not but, until today, hadn't shown any interest in taking steps.  Today, you did it!  You were standing against the fridge but I needed you to move away from it.  I turned you around and held your hands... you took three or four steps toward me!  We spent some time with our friends Marie and Oskar this afternoon and he is quite an accomplished walker.  Well, he can take a few steps without any support at all.  You watched him very closely like you were really getting some ideas!

Doggie

We have a wonderful neighbor, Abe, who has a dog named Jack.  Abe got Jack as a puppy not that long after you were born and this was one darn cute puppy.  For several months you have been mesmerized by dogs we come across on the street... not to mention Jack!  This afternoon Abe was having friends over in the yard and they brought friends for Jack as well.  We sat out back so you could watch the kids and dogs frolicking.  I have been identifying "doggie" for awhile now and said the word over and over for you to hear while pointing and Jack and friends.  You tried!  You clearly said, several times, a two syllable word beginning with /d/.  This might very well be your first actual word!!

While we were sitting watching the other neighbor, three-year-old Juniper running around with Jack I was overwhelmed by a mom feeling.  You were so eager to get out there and play, run, and chase... but you can't even yet stand by yourself!  I wanted so badly for you to be able to join in the fun you were so excited by.  But at the same time, I am perfectly fine with the wait.  My little girl can remain little a little while longer.    

9 Months and Favorite Food

You're nine months old!  This seemed like such a big milestone all along but also so far away.  And here we are.  And it certainly is a big one!  Crawling (First time on April 16th) and trying to pull yourself up on furniture, our legs, the dishwasher, etc.  And teething!  You're getting your fifth tooth, an upper.  I won't lie:  this was one rough week.  For all of us!  You have lots of snot with this tooth coming and maybe some allergies with the beautiful weather we've been having.  You don't seem sick otherwise.  We also had our first bloody boo boo. Oh it was traumatic, again, for all.  You were pulling yourself up on an ottoman and fell backwards, and giving yourself a fat lip.  Blood all over your lips and teeth.  Yikes.  I suppose there's more of that to come but I hope they're all minor bumps.

 You also seemed to lose interest in solids the last week or so.  I'm told that sometimes happens while teething and that makes sense.  But tonight you ate a great dinner.  Steamed broccoli, sweet potato and some cherry tomatoes.  Those were your very first tomatoes and it is fair to say that I think we've found your favorite food!  You sucked the seeds out and then scraped the pulp out with your teeth all very enthusiastically.  It was wonderful to watch!  Other foods you have enjoyed the last few months:  strawberries, raspberries, pasta, toast with avocado or peanut butter, frozen waffles, Indian spiced gardenburgers, mom's spicy turkey meatballs, oatmeal, yogurt, scrambled eggs, avocado, dried pineapple, dried mango, etc!

Ah, other recent developments: we bought a house! More on that later... 

Sleeping Hard

Your timing is rough little one.  Your usual 40 minute nap (to the second!) is now at almost an hour and a half and of course we're supposed to be somewhere, well, now.  I'm not waking you yet but will need to soon!  It's just so awesome to see your naps extending.  I stretched the time between waking to nap by a bit this morning and maybe that's a good thing.  It was three hours rather than the customary two.  We'll try this again I believe!  

Six Months Old!

You are six months old!  Such a big girl.  You're sitting up!  You roll and roll and roll!  You try to crawl and you're close but quite yet.  The other morning your dad called me to come down to the living room where he stood staring at you.  You were laying on your tummy on the hardwood floor.  "I set her down over THERE," he said, pointing to a spot on the carpet about six feet away.  Roller!

Here are some other highlights from the last few weeks:

Yesterday while I was rocking you to sleep I thought I'd try the pacifier again.  You tolerated it for awhile before you just started playing with it.  This time though you popped it out of your mouth, turned it around, and aimed it directly at mine.  Ha!  "Here mom.  YOU try this thing.  It sucks!"

A few days ago we were sitting in a neighborhood park with a small community garden.  I thought you were just staring off into space again but I realized you were seriously observing about six small finches flying around a bird feeder before you caught sight of a crow fly across the sky above.  It is so fun to watch you, well, watching.  You're noticing so many more things about your environment these days.

We have a board book called In My Nest that we've been reading off and on since you were born.  Sometimes you just get soooo frustrating because all you want to do is chew on the books.  But you're becoming more interested lately.  This book has a little finger puppet of a bird in a nest.  A hole in each page shows the puppet.  After we finished reading it (and you chewed on the bird for a few seconds) you held the book and turned it over to look at the back where my finger was in the puppet.  Then you looked at the front where the bird is.  Then back again  Front, back, front, back.  You are trying to figure it out!  The wheels are turning!

We love taking you to Volunteer Park!  This time you rode down the slide with dad.  So exciting!  And you were closely watching what all the other kids on the playground were up to.  I think you want to run with the pack!  I'm hoping even if we don't live in this neighborhood when you turn 1, we'll return for a birthday party.  There is an awesome wading pool I think you might just love!

Dry Run

The sun poked its head through our window the other day so I thought we'd give Violet's sun hat a try.  Of course, at this rate of growth, she'll outgrow it by summer!

A Moment

You are waking up very early these days...  6 a.m. is the new normal it seems.  That's the time mom and dad were waking up to have an hour or so together before you woke up but I think you're onto us!  Well, that means your first nap comes about 7:30 a.m.  This morning, while you laid curled up against me nursing to sleep, I took a moment... lifted my head to get some perspective.  I'm beginning to worry about these moments and how I'll ever be able to remember how beautiful and amazing they are in a year, five years, ten years from now.  I have a notoriously bad memory but I'm trying now to commit the details to my memory so that I can savor them when you're too old to cuddle.  :)  Your little hand was resting on my chest and your knees bent and your little feet pulled up against my thighs.  That was one realization right there.  I remember very clearly when your little feet were just at my hip level when we laid together in this position (that's a delicate way of saying I remember when you got to a length where your kicks were particularly bothersome!).  Now your feet are closer to my knees than my hips.  Such a very big girl!  You are only 5 months old and I cannot believe how much you have changed and grown.  I wish I could jump back to your newborn days and just feel your little body once more, those tiny little hands and skinny legs, with the perspective I have now.  You are very solidly a little person now!  I feel so lucky that I don't have to rush off to work right now and stay home with you, even when we have a difficult day or two.  I would not miss this for the world.  

First Snow! and First Cold...

It's snowing in Seattle!  It's started on Sunday and by Monday we had a good accumulation on the ground.  It was so beautiful!  I bundled you into a bear suit and we took a look out in the backyard.  You were curious but maybe not so impressed?

You got to check it out from inside with your dad too for a bit.  

Unfortunately, we've all come down with a little cold and dad had to go to San Francisco for a couple days.  So... Mom and Violet have been cooped up in the house for a couple days with snow on the ground outside.  You have had a little cough and some congestion but seem to be doing better although you have spent the last two days fussing and crying and screaming.  Yikes!  Mom gets a little stir crazy anyways so this has been a rough couple of days.  And with dad being gone... I'm so very much looking forward to him coming home tonight.  And to you feeling better!

Teething

Whoa nelly!  Here we go.  While we were under the impression that we saw some "pre-teething" symptoms a while back, clearly that was nothing compared to the real thing.  I think it's actually begun!  You have a cry that tells us that you're uncomfortable... and we've heard it more often than we'd like to the last two days.  You absolutely must be chewing on something at all times and that only seems to satisfy for a short time.  Today was the worst...  after a night of little sleep, you did not nap all day.  You just wouldn't go!  Not while nursing, not in the carrier, not with a good long bounce on the exercise ball or some time in the rocking chair.  That's all we got kid!  Not more tricks up the sleeve!

On advise from friends, we got some teething tablets to give to you.  They're homeopathic.  It's a mystery to me what they're actually doing and so far the seem to have done little.  I tried one as your'e supposed to dissolve them in baby's mouth and I was skeptical they wouldn't choke you.  No, they dissolve into a quick paste right away and don't have the horrible taste of the infant pain reliever, Pedia Care.  They may have done something.  They may not.

At your fussiest we remind ourselves that having a tooth push up, slowly, through one's gums must be a very painful and miserable experience.  Sorry kid!