First pair of shoes

The time has come, and Mom and Dad are pleasantly surprised at what a wonderful and sweet milestone it has been to give Carmela her first pair of walking shoes. Now that she's a walking expert, Ela can hardly stand to be carried on her evening walks, and Mom and Dad realized they needed to get her a pair of shoes that would protect the soles of her feet from the dirt, stones, and twigs on the sidewalk and in the park, and the general schmutz of public places like stores and the library.

Mom's actually kind of surprised at how fast Ela's picked up walking. It seems like just last week that she was exclusively a cruiser, never venturing beyond the couch. Then she took her first clumsy, shuffling steps in the kitchen, arms outstretched, toward her Dad, and boy was she proud. Now, she crosses entire rooms like it's no big thing. This evening, she held Mom's hand from her house on one corner all the way up the block to the other corner, and on the way home, she went all the way up the stairs by herself (except on her knees because the steps are too high for to climb standing up). All of Carmela's milestones have been amazing, but this one is really something.

Heat wave

Temperatures got really high here recently — not as hot as last summer, but close. Miss Carmela beat the heat by walking all around the house stripped down to her diaper and sprightly green bib. She told Mom that going mostly nekkid is very liberating, and she'd prefer not to wear clothes anymore. Mom said that was interesting, and she could understand how it would be very freeing to play with Wheelybug in only a diaper and bib, but we will be wearing clothes when we go out (even if it's just our jammies).

New toys

Carmela got a great new toy last week. Mom and Dad ordered it from Amazon (thanks Grandma!), and it's called a Wheelybug. It's not technically supposed to be used as a walking aid, but Ela's still too little to ride it properly, and she does love pushing it around the house. It's great fun and she'll do it for several minutes at a stretch, crashing it into things and getting mad when it gets hung up on something.

Uncle Jason's friends Owen and Geraldine just found out they're moving to California, so they gave Carmela a brand new little wooden pull-toy lined with perfect wooden blocks. They will be great tools for Ela as she learns letters, numbers, counting, colors, and shapes. Right now, they're great tools for banging together and banging on other things.

In related news, Mom thinks it's time to start editing the toy box a bit. It's getting a little out of control.

More steps, more teeth

It's been a big couple of weeks for Miss Carmela. It seems she went from cruising to taking a few tentative steps to almost walking so quickly that Mom and Dad haven't had time to document the progress. Carmela still prefers to hang onto something for balance and stability, and if she needs to get somewhere in a hurry (cat tail, cookie, open door ...), she'll speed-crawl, but now her favorite thing is to hold onto Mom or Dad's hands and go for little walks. Mom thinks her legs get tired after awhile because she'll plop down onto her butt even if she's walking just fine (she doesn't lose her balance or anything), but Carmela is always *completely* delighted with herself, and claps her hands and beams at Mom and Dad, the cats, and anyone else within beaming distance.

Ela is less thrilled to report that she's getting yet another tooth. She recently battled her way through a top incisor (the third one), and now the fourth one is starting to push its way to the surface. Fortunately, sweet corn is in season, and corn cobs make great teethers!

Red-handed

Carmela has quite a reach. Lately, she's learned how to put it to good use. Today, she managed to reeeaacch her little hand up to the top of the dining table, grab hold of the Tupperware container sitting up there, pull it onto the floor, and score! get the last two chocolate chip cookies into her two chubby little fists. Guess who got caught with chocolate chip on her chin?

Circumstantial evidence

The suspect:

The scene of the crime:

Lots to report!

Mom's taking a short break from studying for the bar, so we'll keep this update brief:

Carmela turned 1 last month! Even though she had her big celebration on the 15th, Mom still made her a birthday cake and Mom and Dad sang Happy Birthday on her actual day, May 30.

Baby steps! Ela has tried taking a few steps on her own, and she kind of likes it! It's scary and exhilarating, and she has the most wonderful look of excitement on her face (after she plops down onto her butt). Sometimes the steps go forward, sometimes they go backward, sometimes they stay in one place. She'll get the hang of it.

Climbing! Yes! Carmela has figured out how to climb things — she hikes up her little knee, finds a good hold, and pulls up with her arms, pawing and clamoring along with her other foot. She does best when Mom or Dad is there to help (she still feels a little unsure about this business), and she hasn't yet gotten it firmly established that she can't plop her butt down on the stairs because she'll topple backward over the edge. Also, she can go up, but she's a little scared to go down because she doesn't know how. She has great enthusiasm, though! And Mom's working on teaching her how to get back down.

Words aplenty! Ela doesn't talk too much, but there's a near-constant stream of babble, and her vocabulary is growing, even if she doesn't use it yet.

Ela's almost graduated from the baby food and is moving more into small, cut-up bits of whatever Mom and Dad are having for dinner. Bread, cheese, and toast remain hands-down favorites, although lately, Carmela discovered how to spit things out (open mouth, extrude tongue, let food spill onto chest, smile winningly), so she's been doing that a lot with her toast. She tried cherries yesterday and gave them a big thumbs up. Tonight we're trying kiwi (if she ever wakes up from her nap ... and considering it's going on 8 p.m., which is bedtime, tonight's looking a little questionable).

Ela has developed a little bit of separation anxiety, possibly after all the recent disruption to her routine because of Mom's bar class. She makes the most pitiful expression — big pouty bottom lip, big watery tears, eyebrows raised — as she crawls as fast as her little arms will carry her toward the door while Mom tries to sneak out. Thankfully, Dad gives *awesome* pony rides, so those serve as a pretty good distraction while Mom leaves. This is definitely the hardest and most heartbreaking part of bar prep, and Mom hates it.

Motor skills: Ela is able to play with her toys in whole new ways now that she has a firm grasp of object permanence. She loves to play with things that go in other things, and sometimes find a way to put things in places they don't go. She likes cars, push toys, and other toys that roll, and she really likes to play with balls. Mirrors are still a thrill. These things pale, though, compared to talking on the phone. Ela will drop anything to talk on the phone (and we have a couple of old defunct models she gets to play with). She also loves to talk on her penguin tub toy, her Desitin tube, and her Little People construction worker — anything she can hold up to her ear and jabber at is A-OK with her. Incidentally, Ela goes into hysterics if she can't have a latte cup when she and Mom make a trip to Starbucks (Mom gives her her own cup with a lid so she can play with that and Mom can enjoy her decaf americano) or the set of keys when we lock up the house.

Big girl! At her last doctor appointment (which was earlier this month), Ela measured 31 inches (long? tall?) and weighed in at 20 pounds. She's long and thin — back in the 95th percentile for length (height?), but only in the 30th for weight. Mom has tried feeding her more, but honestly doesn't get it, as Mom has precisely the opposite problem.

This little monkey is so much fun — we love her more every day!