Doe Bay getaway

After a grueling semester and an overwhelmingly awesome weekend celebration, Ela needed a getaway to a lovely, quiet resort in the San Juans.

Our tiny, tiny cabin — it measured probably only 100 square feet on the inside, but it had a kitchenette, a bathroom, and running water. Ours was the middle one.

Despite the amenities, it was way too small for us. This picture shows the cabin, wall to wall. Mom was standing on the back wall to shoot the picture, so, as you can see, the space was tiny. Note how the playpen is right up against the bed. What you can't see is that it was also right up against the built-in booth on the other side. It was a super cute space, but too small for three.

While we were on Orcas Island, we drove up to the top of Mt. Constitution in Moran State Park. We climbed all the way to the top of the watchtower at the top of the mountain and got really great views of all of the islands. Mom made Dad and Ela stand too far back from the edge to see anything, but it was a nice climb anyway.

Dad and Carmela play outside in front of the restaurant where we ate dinner the first night and breakfast the next morning. It was outrageously expensive, but the food was pretty good, and most of it is caught or grown right on site or nearby on the island. Even though it was chilly, Mom and Dad decided to eat dinner outside the first night so Carmela could crawl around, pick at gravel and try to sneak it into her mouth (not on Mom's watch ...), and explore a tree trunk.

Carmela checks out the scenery during her first ferry boat ride.

The view from the top of the mountain, or the top of the watchtower — Mom can't remember now.

The Doctors.

Ela's birthday party at the park

Some more pictures of Graduation Day/Carmela's Birthday Party at the Park

Graduation!

You might have heard that Carmela graduated from law school a couple of weeks ago, but maybe you need visual proof before believing that a 1-year-old little girl *actually* walked across the stage. Well, now you have it: Proof that Carmela June walked on May 15. You can congratulate her with waffles and ice cream after she wakes up from her nap.

Since it was already a big day of celebration, and since Grandma was in town, we all decided to celebrate Carmela's first birthday up at the park. She enjoyed playing with Ashley and seeing all of her old law school and not-law school aunties and uncles, and she definitely enjoyed squishing her fingers through her cupcake. What a day!

Was she ever really that small?

A little comparison:

Carmela June, in her bouncy chair, about 1 month old

Carmela June, in her bouncy chair, about 1 year old

Strumming

Ela has quite a musical repertoire. In addition to her bongoes, Tupperware lids, and her little Harmony uke, she also likes to help Daddy when he plays the guitar. She adds important touches like muting all the strings, hitting the fret board, and picking at the strings. So musical!

Mother's Day 2010

We celebrated our first Mother's Day with Nana and Grandpa at Kisaku, a really good sushi restaurant in the neighborhood. Mom of course forgot to bring the food and Cheerios she'd pulled out the trip, and Mom and Dad both forgot to bring toys, so Dad sprinted back to the house after we were seated to grab them. Meanwhile, Ela was pretty squirmy — we're almost to the age where we have to choose our restaurants carefully, eat quickly, and smile apologetically — but it turns out she was pretty well appeased when Dad got back because she was mostly just hungry.

Ela tried some tofu and really enjoyed it, and she also got her very own sushi — white rice and avocado. Daddy smashed it up for her and fed it to her with her spoon. She totally dug it.

The pictures of Mom and Ela are not from Mother's Day, but they turned out much better than the ones from Mother's Day, so Mom's exercising her executive authority to use those ones instead. (Now that school's over, Mom hopefully won't look like a scary zombie anymore.) The others are pictures of Nana holding Ela up by the sushi bar, where the sushi chefs are chopping and slicing fish and vegetables to make the sushi rolls. Exciting!

Big and small

Even though she's getting so big, sometimes Mom can't help but think just how little she still is.

Fan club

Mom was going to use these photos as Ela 11-month update pictures, but decided on the ones of Ela cruising along the couch (and getting into things) instead. But this picture is fun because it shows how wildly popular Ela is at daycare. The second Mom set her down, she was instantly surrounded by fawning, adoring little girls who wanted to sit closest and touch her jacket and her hair. Ela loves the kids at daycare, and they seem to love her. One little boy, Jack, evidently babbles on and on about Carmela to his parents (our daycare lady told us his parents dropped him off one day wondering who this Carmela was).

Pinch hitter

A couple of weeks ago, Mom was struck with food poisoning (bad falafel from the law school cafe), so Uncle Jay had to step in to feed Ela her dinner that evening. He did a great job! Mom felt better soon enough, and Dad came home early from work to get Ela into her jammies and into bed. Three cheers for pinch hitters!

Story time

It's still kind of hard to get Ela to sit still long enough to enjoy a whole story, but every now and then, we get a few sweet minutes where she'll snuggle into Mom's or Dad's lap to flip through a book and look at some pictures. This one is Snoopy. Ela and Dad read it a lot.

Chompers

Carmela has teeth. Teeth 3 and 4 are on their way, poking their points through her top gums. Not much crying this time, but she still gets the drool.

Ankle bone

One of Carmela's best new toys is a ball. She doesn't quite understand the word "ball" yet, but she loves to play with one — she seemed almost gifted with the ability to understand what a ball was for, and was quite good at catching it when Mom or Dad rolled it to her, and could even make a really good effort at throwing it back.

But that's not why Mom posted these pictures. Mom posted these pictures to show how much ankle bone is poking out of the bottom of little Ela's pant leg. Good thing Nana and Grandma sent a bunch of new pairs of pants! This little girl keeps getting longer and longer.

11 months!

Carmela is definitely starting to look more like a toddler and less like a little baby — and she's acting more like a toddler, too. She babbles almost constantly, and she'd much rather be standing up than sitting or lying down. She crawls like crazy, loves to explore, and still really doesn't want to take a nap.

Ela's learning a few more words and sounds, and loves to use them appropriately. She has a picture book of animals that Mom and Dad "read" to her. Ela says, "Woof, woof" (which comes out more like "Ut, ut," but we know what she means) when she sees the picture of the dogs; she says "Uuuu" when she sees the cow, and she says, "Rrrawrrrrr" (her favorite) when she sees the lion. She also says "Rrrawwwr" when she sees her lion finger puppet and her stuffed lion, so she definitely knows what it means. She still says, "Hi!" with a big smile when she first sees someone she loves. She's also just starting to understand some very simple commands, like "Come here" and "No." Waving bye-bye is still intermittent, but she knows how.

Ela's food repertoire is pretty big now. She mostly loves carbs (the fruit doesn't fall far from the tree ... ), and Mom and Dad know they can find mealtime success with toast, Cheerios, noodles, or other grain-based goodies. She also really loves avocados and cheese. If she could live off cheese, avocado, and toast, she'd be thrilled. (Frankly, so would Mom.) But she also really enjoys most vegetables and fruits ... if she doesn't like something, it usually has more to do with the texture than the flavor. Lately, Ela prefers to feed herself; she'll turn her head emphatically to the spoon, but happily pick at little bits of toast or avocado on her tray. She still has milk all day long, too — all those calories are helping her grow like a little weed, and she's a big, active, strong baby.

She's also very adventurous. Last week, she somehow escaped from her crib during naptime, so Dad had to lower the crib mattress. Exciting! (Read: Terrifying!)

Short update today as Mom has to study for finals — more soon, as we upload pictures of our more recent adventures.