Pictures from the Atlanta aquarium

Checking out the fish at the gigantic fish tank. Carmela had to walk through a glass tunnel to get to the tank, which was amazing because there were some gigantic fish, including whale sharks, in there!

Crouching down to get a better view.

Loving it.

Chilling with Will.

Completely tuckered after a long plane ride back to Seattle.

More pictures from Ela's big adventure - Washington, D.C.

For the record, Carmela does not like being put in her stroller.

Looking at a fountain with Daddy.

Walking on a little pavilion with the Washington Monument in the background.

Mom and Carmela at the Capitol Building.

Maryland + Atlanta

Carmela June had quite an adventure this past week. First, she got an airplane and flew all the way to Maryland with Mom and Dad to see a wedding, and she loved it! She slept through the actual wedding part (Mom got to sneak a peek of Sara's vows, but spent the rest of the ceremony in the church nursery playing with toys and watching Carmela nap), but then she got down at the reception. It was great! She danced, she ate, she explored the vault where they kept the gifts — it was a real blast. Over the next few days, she played with her Great-Grandma and Great-Grandpa, her Great-Great-Aunt Betty and Great-Great Uncle Bill, her Aunt Tauni and Uncle Justin, and lots and lots of other cousins, second cousins, and second cousins once removed. What she did NOT do was sleep. There was way too much excitement, and besides, sleep is for suckers.

On the last day of her visit, Carmela got to visit with Bill and Kylie, who will be having their first baby in a couple of weeks. After lunch with them, she got on another airplane and took a quick hop down to Atlanta to visit with her friends Will and Will and their amazing dogs, Bentley and Titan. While she was there, Carmela learned to say, "Hi Bentley!" which came out, "Hi Nent-nee!" She visited the Atlanta aquarium, which was very cool, and also got to visit the High art museum, where she got to play in the toddler room and make an incredible mess of her dress and hands with markers (Mom and Dad and Little Will checked out the Salvador Dali exhibit, which was very good).

Carmela also got to visit with Melissa, and got to meet all of her second cousins once removed: Helen, David, Yosef, Jesse, and Saul. She helped them chow down some dinner and admired Saul's hair before all the kids had to split for various soccer and basketball engagements.

The plane ride home was a little rough, but now we're all here, and Miss Carmela is snoozing away peacefully in her own bed. Mom and Dad are very jetlagged and tired, but definitely enjoyed the visit. Now on to the pictures!

Here we go! Carmela listens to music in Mom's lap on the airplane.

Visiting with Great-Grandpa.

Sitting with Aunt Tauni at the wedding reception.

Sitting with Mom at the wedding reception.

Exploring the vault of gifts with Daddy.

Carmela checks out the dance floor with her Blanket and Daddy in tow.

Off she goes!

Carmela hangs out with Grandma and congratulates the beautiful bride.

Take a letter

Ela's a very helpful little girl, so when Mama needed her to take a letter, she jumped at the chance. Thank you, Carmela, for being such a great helper (and having a never-ending fascination with the laptop!)

Coloring

A couple of weeks ago, Mom introduced Ela to a box of 64 crayons. Ela didn't get the idea of coloring at the time, and proceeded to munch on many of them, leaving a tattered yellow box of mangled crayons and shredded paper. Mom thought she'd try the triangular crayons intended for smaller babies — same result. But recently, as with the books, something clicked, and Ela now enjoys scribbling with crayons. Success! Mom is looking forward to many rainy afternoons (it is Seattle, after all) with warm slippers, hot cocoa, and coloring books. Ms. Jacque was right: Every phase is better than the one before.

Welcome Fall!

As we watch the leaves drop from our neighbors' tree, we can't help but wonder, "Where did summer go?" Fall has indeed arrived on Burke Avenue North, so Miss Carmela dug out her corduroy, pulled up her fuzzy boots, and went outside to kick up some leaves.

Carmela has been busy as ever the past few weeks. The most notable thing lately has been the emergence of a few more teeth — she now has all of her incisors (top and bottom), her top two molars, and a bottom molar. Ela also just came down with what Mom and Dad suspect is the first of many colds ('tis the season, and we don't waste any time), so Ela confesses she's been a bit of a mess the past few weeks. Mama and Daddy forgive her, but they would just love some sleep.

Ela got to attend her Auntie Ursula's wedding brunch at Ms. Ann Pearl's house, and she loved it! First off, she would like everyone to know that she LOVES scrambled eggs topped with lime creme fraiche and blue sturgeon caviar. Delish. Next, she loves to watch beautiful striped fish dart around inside a fish tank, and she really enjoys watching the feeding frenzy when they get a frozen cube of red worms. Awesome! Finally, she loves meeting new soft kitties. Success on all counts (and nothing broken to boot!).

Now that she's got the walking thing down, words are pouring from Carmela. She imitates quite a few ("spider," "noodle," "knee," "bite," "yes") that she doesn't use on her own without prompting, but she also is building a solid vocabulary of useful words that she knows and uses appropriately: "eye," "mine," "no," "bubble," "bath," "all done," "down," "Abba," "Mama," "cheese," "hot," "what's that/this?" "apple," and "banana." She also says, "Mmmmm" enthusiastically whenever she gets a bite of something delicious (like scrambled eggs with lime creme fraiche and blue sturgeon caviar), and if Mom or Dad asks if she'd like something, such as a delicious bite of apple, she'll bounce and hop in place to say yes, indeed! Ela also loves screaming, shrieking, bellowing, and shouting.

Ela's about in the same place as she was in the last post with regard to toys — they hold her interest for a few minutes, but she'll soon wonder off, leaving her toy behind her. She loves music, singing, dancing, and twirling; Mama has a cd of nursery rhymes that she particularly enjoys dancing to. Ela also prefers push toys because they help her work on her favorite skills: Walking and running. Ela also has picked up climbing recently, but frequently gets herself into a pickle and cries for help from whatever perch she's found herself on.

All in all, Ela is 100 percent toddler — busy, frustrated, joyful, funny, hysterical, curious, and loving. Mama and Daddy love the adventure of it all, but, again, they'd really love some sleep, okay, Baby?

L'shana Tovah!

A year ago, Carmela June couldn't even sit up by herself (but she could hold her head up by that point. We think.). Today, she's a totally big girl who can run around by herself, so she joined Mom and Dad on a big adventure to an apple orchard in Skagit County to pick apples for Rosh HaShanah. She had a great time selecting apples for Daddy to pick from the tree and handing them to Mama to get started with a bite. Carmela munched on many varieties of apples: Yellow ones with pink flesh; tart, dense reddish yellow ones; sweet, soft, bright pink ones (a favorite); and old standbys like Gravensteins and Galas. She also got to try Asian pears that tasted like butterscotch (!) and yummy Italian prune plums. She got to ride in the wheelbarrow, too, until she started picking the apples out of the box and tossing them onto the ground for Daddy to pick up. After a few rounds of that game, she was ejected from the wheelbarrow, which she then got to help push. She also waited patiently when Mama finally (finally!) discovered several yards of beautiful, ripe blackberries. At the end of the day, Mama, Daddy, and a very tuckered Carmela June piled back into the car with a great haul of fruits and berries, and Carmela slept all the way home.