Wednesday, January 30, 2013

"/ɪs tæ/ ?"

LHR now picks up things, holds them up for me to name, and says "/ɪs  tæ/", her version of "What is that?". I guess that means we ask that a lot (e.g., "What is that? Itʼs a ______!"). I don't know if I can officially count that as putting two + words together though.... she'll get to that milestone soon enough. I have a feeling her expressive language is about to explode.

She does some new fun things now. She sings a lot more, cutting off her babbling and vocalization at breaks in the music, dancing with the music, clapping lots and lots. Books books books are still her absolute love.

Probably another fave in her top three is running/being chased/crashing. Here are a few snapshots of this regular activity:


Monday, January 28, 2013

bathtime with friends

Some friends came over to play, and ended up staying for some bathtime fun!

Sunday, January 27, 2013

Snapshots

Snapshots of LHR today.
We bundled up several times to go outdoors to feed the geese, swing, and even have a chilly picnic.

And some additional "snapshots" - On this day, LHR:
Listened to this record - Johnny Cash, Folsom Prison Blues
Ate lots of - peanut butter
Read her favorite books - Brown Bear, Brown Bear and Polar Bear, Polar Bear
Danced with mom to this song (three times) - Ingrid Michaelson, Everybody

"Everybody, everybody wants to love
Everybody, everybody wants to be loved
Oh oh oh, Oh oh oh
Everybody, everybody wants to love
Everybody, everybody wants to be loved
Oh oh oh, Oh oh oh
...
Just let the love love love begin"

Tuesday, January 22, 2013

First words

Lenorah has an interesting vocabulary. Her receptive vocabulary is outstanding - she can identify a toy we name from a field of at least 20, and she certainly understands what we say to her. She loves to hold things up or point to things for us to name now, her name game that she likes to direct. And of course, the books, oh goodness, she cannot get enough of them.

Her expressive vocabulary is very interesting, and very much reflects her interests. No "mommy" or "daddy" appearing regularly in her vocabulary, though she throws us a bone every now and again and says it. No, her most regular words are "ta-ta" (for "pat-pat", which is what we do with Cash instead of pull his hair, so this is essentially his name, though she does say "ash" or "Cash" occasionally), "onkey" for "monkey", "e-cock" or "cock" for "peacock", and "teacha", "teata" or "teasha" for "teacher". We occasionally hear a "book" or "look" or "ocks"/"cocks" for "blocks". And she meows for "cat" and quacks ("ack ack") for duck. She signs "more".

Her favorite books have become "Brown Bear Brown Bear" and "Polar Bear Polar Bear". This love affair began when I introduced her to the books with their accompanying animals/figurines. The stories really came to life for her then, I think. We keep the animals with the books in a plastic storage bin up on her shelves in her playroom, and the first thing she wants to do in the morning is go into her room, point to her box(es), every now and again say "book", come sit in your lap while you read the book with the animals, and then she plays with her animals for a long time. Last Saturday, I think I read those books at least 10 times each. A close third is "Panda Bear Panda Bear" - I don't have the animals for this book, too hard to collect them all, but she recognizes it/relates it to her favorites, and really enjoys it. She also has a set of "Abigail" books - books that came with a doll who talks when you say key phrases from the book. I have the key phrases memorized, so sometimes she just brings me the doll, I say the phrases, and Abigail talks. Well, Saturday, Abigail wasn't working (needs new batteries, aka "surgery"). Lenorah set her down, went to her room, grabbed an Abigail book (out of about 20 or so options), and brought it to me. I'm guessing she thought having the book would fix Abigail. It was so adorable.

Other favorites - Pajama Time, Going to Bed Book, Moo Baa LaLaLa, Hungry Caterpillar, 10 little ladybugs, 5 silly monkeys, ... and many many more actually, I should stop.

Wednesday, January 16, 2013

Jonathan's birthday

Celebrating Jonathan's 21st in Greenville w/ Mom, Schawna, and Vince.
Recreating a moment from my 21st birthday.
Sweet friends :-)

Tuesday, January 15, 2013

inspired

I feel so rich. My life is full of people who inspire me daily. Schawna and Vince are two of those people. I met them way back in '95, after my life had taken an unexpected turn and planted me in Rome, GA. My, oh my, how much has changed since then. Still, a few things remain the same. Schawna, as she did long ago, still inspires me to keep going, even when the obstacles are seemingly insurmountable and even when it hurts. And Vince has recently made me believe that one can make radical changes in their habits for a healthier lifestyle, despite a lifetime of ingrained unhealthiness.

Saturday, January 12, 2013

Meet Ms. Holly

It has been quite an eventful week. Brent rejoined the outside-of-the-home work force and Lenorah began spending time during the day with a nanny. This was not our original plan, we are still on 4 waiting lists for daycare, but we are really enjoying it so far, and even thinking this could potentially be a long term solution. The first full day, I must admit, I could hardly concentrate on anything. I could only think of my sweet girl and every worse case scenario (I MUST cut back on my crime tv viewing). I know it was hard for Brent as well, this has been an incredibly tough transition for him. He misses his baby girl like crazy. But things have gone really smoothly. We are working out the schedule kinks, getting to know Holly, and Lenorah has made it clear that she really enjoys her. When I get home, though, she still won't let me put her down or get out of her sight for a good hour or so - she prefers that I hold her or just stay in one place where she can see me and where I don't move around from room to room, or God forbid, approach the threshold of an exit. But overall I think she, and all of us, are adjusting pretty well. We are fortunate to have such an arrangement, that is for sure. Here are a few shots of Holly and Lenorah:
Reading Brown Bear, Brown Bear, Lenorah's absolute favorite book right now.
Waking up from a good long nap, with her trusty blanket in hand.

Thursday, January 10, 2013

Hanging with her friends

We were able to have a relaxing evening with friends, and Lenorah was very happy to see Anna and Sofie again. Though not captured in the photos, I think the highlight for Lenorah was watching Anna jump on the pogo stick. Opening gifts with her crazy friend Astrid :-)
Reading with Anna
Aren't they cute?

Wednesday, January 09, 2013

Santa Claus came to Jefferson

Larry is a rough and tough guy.... and also a softie :-) Here are some fun pictures of Larry/Poppy as Santa Claus. I think this is Reese saying "That's not Santa, that is Poppy!"
Here we see Ansley being a troublemaker and trying to pull Santa's beard off.
Lenorah getting a gift from Santa. She followed him around everywhere :-)
Santa had to wear his glasses to see the names on the gifts.

Tuesday, January 08, 2013

Ladies, ladies, ladies

There are lots of ladies in the room when we gather at the Woodman residence. I don't know how the guys do it.... I guess it is payback for when Susan was living with Larry and their 4 boys. I was actually able to capture some pretty good shots of the twins and the cousins playing with Lenorah. Aren't they all so smart and sweet and beautiful?
The twins were great with Lenorah... they really "got" her, reading her body language when she was showing that too many people were in her space. If only they lived a little closer for babysitting... ;-)
Snuggling with Great Grandma June. She'll snuggle.... you have to work at it a bit, woo her, be patient, and be prepared for it to only last for a couple of minutes, but she'll snuggle (I'm talking about Lenorah, not Grandma June :-)
I love Grandma June's smile in this one
Lenorah crashed during the present opening portion of the evening. This was her deciding that she just had to lay down and rest.

Friday, January 04, 2013

Lenorah's shadow

Reese (or girl Reese, as we sometimes call her, since we have a boy Reese in the family too :-) loves loves loves little babies, and she loves loves loves her cousin Lenorah. She came in to wake Lenorah from her nap while we were at the Woodman residence, and Lenorah began a very serious conversation with her. It went something like "na na dada zha da? tika na na ut..... tika tika tika". I have some of the conversation on video, it is super cute. I don't know exactly what happened to make Reese say this, but at some point in their conversation, Reese said, "She's just like a little puppy." I busted out laughing. Reese and Lenorah looking at the mini Santa
Reese and Lenorah playing well together
Reese and Lenorah... not playing so well together ;-)

Thursday, January 03, 2013

One of my favorite moments

Throughout all of the exhausting house-hopping over the holidays, I think Lenorah handled things pretty well. Her mommy-itis was heightened some, and her sleep schedule is still way off, but she had fun most of the time and was able to enjoy her friends and family. The mommy-itis is pretty intense lately, and I was quite surprised by it. I guess I just assumed that because our (mine and Brent's) roles were somewhat "reversed", with him as a stay-at-home daddy, Lenorah might suffer more from daddy-itis. But, no, that is not the case, at least not right now. It might all change when Brent starts work next week.... it will be a time of adjustment for us all.... we will see. One of my favorite moments between me and sweet girl was actually captured in this photo, taken by Jonathan. As Lenorah was enjoying herself and having a great time, she still had to check in with me every now and again, just to touch me or hug me, to make sure I was still there. This is her just touching my hand, making sure I was still there, or maybe reassuring me that she was still thinking about me. It made me feel about 10 feet tall or so.
On a related note, she just gave Brent and I our first kisses yesterday :-) My heart is full.

Wednesday, January 02, 2013

Christmas part 8

Schawna and Vince sure love baby girl.... and they weren't afraid to bribe her with her favorite blankie to get some snuggles ;-). Hey, whatever works!
Jonathan had a lot of fun playing and snuggling with his little niece. She was so funny, while they were reading, she was trying to figure out how to lay on her side like Jonathan.
Her Nana makes her laugh, with her funny duck noises and her fun spiky hair.
Poppy had a good time with his sweetheart even though he didn't feel too well. He says she is good medicine.

Tuesday, January 01, 2013

Christmas part 7

We always treasure our visits from Uncle C and Aunt KoKo. "I ain't got time for that", mitties, Law and Order, and the search for Skechers.... good times. Now for the family portraits - yes there are lots of them, but I really had fun with the Christmas lights :-):