Standing up

Look at this big girl standing up! There's no keeping her down ... and it's become nearly impossible to change her diaper.

The tooth!

At long last, Ela got her first tooth! The date was February 11, and she didn't cry or fuss or anything. Sadly, the Doctors were not so lucky with the second tooth, which made its wrathful appearance about a week later. Ela was feverish and flushed for several days, she was fussy, and clingy, and there were several middle-of-the-night crying jags before second tooth made its pokey appearance. We're having a bit of a respite now — her mouth is happy with two teeth, and she's our happy baby girl again.

Someone recommended to Mom that we try giving Ela chunks of apple or peach in a little net bag device that snaps closed and has a handle on it. And Ela's Grandma Hall recommended teething biscuits. Both were a big hit, and might ease Ela into solid food that more closely resembles its name. We're not rushing it, though, as anything with a bit of texture gives Ela the thousand yard stare followed by yuck face and a spasm of gagging.

Beautiful day

Today was gorgeous, so Carmela had Mom take her for a run around Green Lake. Green Lake was packed with people, dogs, baby strollers, skateboards, the works — everyone wanted to be out to enjoy the warm weather and sunshine. On the way home, we stopped to see a blossoming tree. Mom's not sure which is prettier.

Out of paper

Carmela is a very curious baby. Toys are cool, but she's much more interested in piles of papers, boxes of office supplies, shelves of whatever — Mom and Dad express more interest in these things than they do in Crinkly Elephant, or Fuzzy Lion Fingerpuppet, or Hammerhead Shark. Recently, Ela discovered the old fritzy printer. It's electronic, so in that way it's like the cell phone and the remote — two very appealing toys. It has buttons, which are always fascinating, and the printer makes clicks and whirs and other noises when the buttons are pushed. Very fascinating. Sadly, the printer is on the fritz and also out of paper, so nothing will be printed until it's fixed. That excitement will have to wait.

Standing ovation

Miss Carmela is becoming more and more confident in her crawling, and has discovered that she can crawl from the living room into the dining room, make a pit stop to stare down the kitty or dig around in a box of things she's not supposed to play with, and continue into the kitchen where Mom's fixing dinner.

Carmela is also becoming more confident about standing up, at least so long as she's in her crib and can hold onto the bars. She's less confident outside the crib; she'll pull up on the couch, the TV table, and chairs, but only to her knees. She's master of her crib, though, and will stand all the way up on her chubby little legs to survey her kingdom proudly.

Thanks Aunt Katy!

Carmela recently got a lovely gift from her Aunt Katy: A sunny yellow poncho decorated with happy animals of unidentifiable genus or species! It has a zipper and a hood and lots of fringe, which Ela likes; what she doesn't like is not being able to use her arms. That's confusing and frustrating, especially when she wants to lean forward to hold onto the bars of her crib. I expect she'll love wearing it when she's a little older and clothes that hide your arms are cool. We'll put it away until then, or risk bashing our face on the crib rails.

Big weekend

Now that she's a little more mobile, Carmela loves to get out and really play, especially if it's with other kids. This weekend was great — Mom doesn't have school on Fridays, so we met up with our friends up the street for a walk to the great new baby consignment shop and also the awesome toy store. The consignment shop had a play rug and a few toys that Carmela and her friend got to sit on and play with. Carmela's friend is very sweet and supportive, and gave Carmela lots of hugs and pats on the back.

Today we joined the Mother Attorney Mentors Association of Seattle group for some playing and networking at KidQuest, a big kids museum and learning play center on the Eastside. It was fantastic! Ela had never been there before and was almost overwhelmed with all the stuff to do. She most stuck to the area set aside for babies, which was full of baby-geared interactive toys, plush animals, soft balls, a fish tank, and lots and lots of other kids. Mom got to visit with some other attorney moms while Carmela worked on her crawling and her social skills. After about an hour-and-a-half, little Ela was all sacked out and ready for some milk and a nap with her blanket and her bear.

A little green

Dear World,

I don't like avocado. It makes me squinch up my face and gag. Please don't make me eat anymore, ever. And please give me something to drink to wash that taste out of my mouth.

Love,

Carmela June

Great explorer!

When Ela was just a little baby, she'd help Mom in the kitchen by sitting on the floor and playing with a pot lid and a big spoon. Now that she's a bigger baby, Ela helps by exploring the bottom Tupperware drawer. She can't quite pull herself all the way up, but if Mom stands her up, she can lean on the open drawer and dig around inside. She's absolutely thrilled by the notion of standing up and finding things, and loves to pull something out of the drawer, wave it around, weigh it, smack the drawer with it, and then toss it behind her to go after the next thing. Perhaps we have an archeologist or an auditor on our hands!