December 27th, 2004

Well I think you had a very good Christmas!! You were spoiled rotten by your grandparents of course! Santa brought you a fish tank with five fish in it. He thought you would like that since you love the fish at Meijer's He also left an Elmo and Big Bird in your stocking. Mommy and Daddy got you a sled and some other smaller things. Grandpa and Grandma Denise got you a Sand and Water table, which should be especially cool in the summer when we can go back outside.

If you had to pick your favorite present, I think you would say your baby doll. At night you give your baby a bottle (botayo), kiss it, and cover it with a blanket when it goes "ny-night". Dada was amazed that you instinctively knew what to do with it. You also like your Little People bus and a little ride on car that has a "Seaside" theme that Nana and Papa gave you. I'm not sure how a car and songs about sea creatures go together, but Nana claims you picked it out yourself. You've taken may spins around the living room in your new sled, but we've yet to christen it out of doors yet.

My favorite gift from you? You starting taking more that two steps!! Finally at over 17 months of age, it looks like you might walk after all.

December 14, 2004

I love listening to you talk. You are acquiring new words everyday. It's so nice that you can tell me what you'd like now, rather than just pointing and say "Uh! Uh!" Although many of your words are kind of in your own Elise language that Mommy has to translate for other people. Some of my favorite Elise words.

Obe-its - Open it
Tapsticks - Chapstick
Christy - Christmas tree
Obie - Rolie Polie Olie (current favorite book)
Merr, Merr - Row, Row, Row Your Boat

October 27, 2004

Today we went to Grandpa's house. It is such a special thing for me to see you with my Dad. He is such an important person to me. I know he is going to be such a cool Grandpa for you growing up. Your favorite part of Grandpa's house was the piano. I'm not going to get my hopes up or anything, but it would be great if you could play piano like him. You played that piano like it was going out of style, perched on your Grandpa's lap. Sometimes he would play and you would clap. We also took you outside and walked by all the pheasant's next door. You seemed confused by them more than anything. We had lunch and you chowed on your mac cheese and sweet potato fries. Denise was impressed by how you could pack it away. You pooped out in the back seat on the ride home.

October 11, 2004

The other day at Gymboree I was having you go up these foam stairs they have. By the end of class, you were able to get up them without difficulty. Then today, I was working on the computer and I thought it was too quiet. So I turned the corner to see you ascending the last of our flight of 12 stairs!! I about had a heart attack! You just turned around and looked at me with this very proud smile. I clapped and oohed. Then Dada came in and you did it again. Now that's all you want to do. We went out yesterday and bought a gate for the top. Then last night we were trying to eat dinner, and you kept going over to the stairs, so we threw a couch cushion over the bottom two steps so you couldn't climb them. It's very cool to see you trying out your new skills, but its wearing me out. See! There you go again, I can hear you're half way up them.

I added a couple pics, one of you climbing the stairs looking very proud of your self, and the other I would like to entitle "Caged Bear" in which you are demonstrating the proper use of the stair gate.

September 16, 2004

Watch out! Crawling monster baby!! I love that you are actually able to get about on your own, but C'mon now! You are 14 months old! You are supposed to be walking! In an effort to encourage you to join the rest of us homo sapiens in the upright two legged posture, I signed you up for Gymboree class. It's geared toward babies your age. It has gross motor activities on a minuture indoor playground type of set-up and ten we sing songs, etc. I was hoping that if you saw other kids walking, you might be inspired to do it yourself. So far, nothing. The teacher thinks your crawl is hilarious though. Whenever they open the gate to let us in, you madly scoot your little butt in there. That's how you crawl most of the time. You just crabwalk or scoot your butt around. It is pretty hilarious. There is another girl in class who is your same age and doesn't walk either, but she was also almost 3 months premature!! I guess I just have to be patient. You're getting to be a little chunkamonk though. I'm not sure how much longer I can carry you around.

August 9, 2004

On Friday, you developed a weird rash. It started out looking like little pimples all over your legs and arms. So I took you to the Doctor's office, but Dr. VanZee wasn't there so we had to see this older Doctor. He proclaimed they were mite bites. So of course, I freak out thinking there are mites in your crib!! I washed and vacuumed everything in your room. Fast forward to Saturday. Now the "bites" are large circular red raised areas over your arms and legs. I'm thinking these are NOT! mite bites. The weird thing though, you don't seem to be bothered by it at all. Not a bit. You don't itch or anything. You don't seem sick in anyway. So today I took you back to the Doctor's office, and we got in to see Dr. VanZee. He took one look at that and said, "Oh, that's Erythema Multiforme." Dang, I wish
we would have seen him Friday, so I didn't have to panic about mites. He said Erythema Multiforme is a rash that some people develop after being exposed to a virus. He said you will probably have a reoccurrence other times in your life, but that it rarely extends past childhood. At least now I know what I'm looking for and what it is, and that it's not mites. Here's the pics I took of you, for future reference. From start to finish, the rash only lasted 3-4 days, but I felt pretty strange taking you out in public. I got some stares from people in Meijer, like you were going to infect them or something. It's not contagiouse by the way.

Happy Birthday! Your first birthday is here already. The theme for your first birthday party was Doggies, after your current favorite book by Sandra Boyton. We had Clifford balloons and a cake with three big frosting dogs on it. Aunt Allison and her friend sent this amazing dress and hat that makes you look like Audrey Hepburn in baby form. I was calling you Gucci baby. It is red with white stripes and bows horizontal across the front. Unfortunately, you wouldn't keep the hat on.

Grandpa, Aunt Allison, Nana, Papa,Gigi, and Great Grandma Worman were there. You had a huge pile of presents that you weren't quite sure what to do with. Mama and Dada got you a Cozy Coupe and everyone took turns taking you for rides around the driveway. I think that was your favorite part.
When the time for cake came, I was hoping for some really good cake smashing pictures, but you seemed wary of the whole thing. You sat in your high chair and pinched the cake until Mom took your hands and smashed them into the cake for you. Then you screamed bloody murder until we washed your hands off.

After most of the people cleared out, we stripped you down to your diaper and let you go crazy with the presents. Well, I should say boxes and wrapping paper. Aunt Allison is staying with us, and you had a ball playing with her. Great Grandma Worman is also here, and I'm so glad she got to see you and vice versa. She is almost 90 years old and she was on the ground trying to show you how to crawl! I wanted to say, "Look Elise! If she can do, so can you." Still you are content to be immobile and let everyone else cart you around.

I can't wait to watch you grow up Shuggie Bear. There are so many things yet to come. I hope you know how much Mama and Daddy love you. As excited as I am for you to grow, I am going to missing the sweet baby things, like rocking you and coming and getting you out of your crib as you stand there with your arms outstretched. The sweet baby roundness of your face. I love you.

May 2, 2004

Let's start with what you're up to. Just the other day you pulled up to standing on one of your toys. You seemed to be quite proud of yourself. Your schedule looks something like this.

• 7:30 - Wake-up, nurse
• 8:45 - Breakfast
• 10:00-12:00 - Naptime, nurse
• 12:15 - Lunch
• 2:00 - Bottle
• 3:00-4:30 - Naptime, nurse
• 5:00 - Dinner
• 7:00 - Bottle
• 7:30 - Bedtime routine
• 8:00 - Bedtime (most nights you get up once)

You eat baby cereal, veggies, fruit, meat dinners (like Vegetable Turkey dinner), and yogurt. You eat some big people food like cheerios, and mac & cheese too.

April 18, 2004

Today we visited Nana for a little family get together. She wanted to have Gary take a family picture. It's funny because I always seem to like the candid shots of family so much better than the posed. This first picture you see is the one she ended up liking the best. This will be the one you see framed on the wall. At the bottom is my favorite, however, you're difficult to see. I don't think that matters much because you're really not into having your picture taken anyway. To be honest, I think you look a bit like a baby troll with your one elfin ear pointing out and your wispy hair going everywhere, not to mention your grumpy expression. In the one at the bottom, Shai has decided that this seems to be the perfect time to play frisbee, since we're all just standing around in the yard anyway.
She came over and dropped her frisbee right in front of me, and you can see how everyone's expression changed. They went from their "smile and get it over with" expressions to genuine smiles. That I love! It is especially hard to coax those smiles out of Nana and Papa who seem to prefer not to show their teeth most of the time. This is your real family! Not those stiff people in the other picture!

April 10, 2004

Well my fuzzy headed friend. You got your first haircut today. I just couldn't stand it being in your eyes all the time. We went to Contempo Salon in Caledonia because they have a little kids room, including a little chair that looks like a car. You were too little for the car, so you sat on my lap. You behaved very well, and the only problem the hair stylist had in cutting your hair was that you kept hearing things going on behind you and whipping your head around to see what was going on. After you were all done, you got a sucker and got to sit in the car chair. You looked so funny, like you really thought you were driving. The salon put a lock of hair in a little plastic bag and gave you a first haircut certificate. I tucked it in your baby book. We took pictures before and after the haircut for comparison purposes.

Reading has become part of our bedtime routine and you genuinely seem to enjoy it. Some of our favorites are Goodnight Moon, Doggies, Goodnight Baby Blue, and The Going to Bed Book. Some of the time you try to eat the book, so I'm glad we have mostly board books. This is such a sweet time, snuggling with you on my lap. You smell all clean from the bath and have on some warm terry cloth PJ's. I hope when you get older, that you will enjoy reading as much as I do.