Week 33 - The Hostess With the Mostest

Wow, what a weekend! Ellie hosted her first weekend guests and it was quite a houseful. We had Riley Keohane (almost 2 years old) and her mom Heidi (from VA), and Ryan and Meredith Thomas (from CA) staying with us for the weekend. In addition, we had Jim and Kathleen (from MD) join us on Sunday. We were so excited that Ellie could finally meet Meredith, Ryan and Riley, and that she was in a happier state then when Heidi met her last (which was at the height of her eczema/allergy madness at 5-6 weeks). Throughout the weekend, Elise was pleasant and very well behaved. She also seemed to love having a playmate around, and of course she loved having an audience (as she is still quite the performer). She also continued her recent trend of sleeping through the night, even with all the people and chaos. That’s really all we ask, especially when we are staying up late playing Taboo. (Side note: never play with Heidi for money. She is a ringer.)

We all had a blast hanging out with our friends and once again, we got the chance to see if we could handle more than one child at a time. A few times througout the weekend, Heidi left Riley with us while she was getting ready or something and we observed 1) that an almost two year old and an almost eight month old can definitely get along well 2) that when one of the children has entered a stage in life where they can bring things to you, it is immensely helpful. Meredith particularly noted this, since oftentimes she’ll ask me for something and I get very easily distracted. Ellie had fun throwing things onto the floor and Riley had fun picking them up and giving them back to Ellie, so it was a win-win for everyone!

The main thing is that we have entered a whole new developmental stage… Meredith and I that is, not Ellie. Sure she crawling all over and playing hostess by letting people pick her up and hold her, but more importantly, her mommy and daddy used a babysitter for the first time. This is a major step forward for us. Granted, we only went to a restaurant that we could walk to down the street for about 3.5 hours, but it’s all about baby steps isn’t it?

Actually, the almost literal strides that Ellie takes every week are staggering. She has mastered crawling. This, mind you, is no small feat when you have hardwood floors all over the joint. When she ventures off the rugs to the hardwood, she struggles to get where she’s going as she slides all over the floor, more pulling herself forward with her hands than using her knees to propel her. She’s not going to be crawling for too long however, since she much prefers to be on her feet. She stumbles along holding on to whomever’s hands will assist her get to where she’s going in a bi-ped fashion.

One last observation from this week is that she is mommy’s little girl. Previously, it didn’t really matter much to her whether I held her or Meredith. But after I was gone for four days, there was a noticeable difference whenever Mommy left the room. I’m okay with that since I’m noticeably different when Meredith’s not in the room too! But I’d be lying if I said that I wasn’t a little hurt… but then I thought about it from Ellie’s standpoint – I wasn’t around. I had to work a little harder to get back into those good graces. I had to earn it.

I’m happy to report that as of this writing, I seem to have earned it back. The lesson learned is simply that the next business trip it’s Meredith who will have to earn it back.
☺

Week 32 – What a Difference a Week Makes!

This week, Marty went to a work conference in California for four days and left us girls home alone for the second time since Ellie was born. This time, however, he was gone during the workweek, so my parents graciously came over to help out for much of his absence, so we weren’t as much “home alone” as we were “without daddy” for a few days. (Thanks Oma and Opa! We appreciate it!) As it was last time, I think that it was harder for Marty to be away from Ellie than it was for me to have her by myself.



When Marty went to California for a wedding in October, he was gone just a few days and when he got back, Elise was the same little baby that she was he left. But as she gets older, Elise seems to grow and change so much faster – I swear she is bigger some mornings than she was when we put her to bed! (although she remains practically bald and completely toothless, she grows in other ways!) She is learning and doing new things at such a fast pace now that just a few days make a huge difference. Elise has already moved past her Creative Crawling stage (see last blog entry) and has now begun to crawl in the traditional knees and hands way - and boy can she motor. Of course she makes a beeline (she is done with Avenue Q) past all of her toys, directly for whatever object (electrical wires, heater, magazines, shoes) that she shouldn’t be getting into. What a difference a week makes!

In the past week, she also learned a new party trick - pulling herself up. She has actually been pulling herself to a stand from sitting using our fingers and clothes (and lips and noses) for weeks now, but this is the first time she has been pulled herself to a stand using an object. In fact, she just discovered that she can pull herself to standing in her crib and this completely delights her. She thinks that it is the most hilarious thing ever - she whoops and squeals and laughs, so proud of herself. I think that this means that we have entered into a whole new era (and it seems potentially dangerous)!

Speaking of dangerous, this newfound standing (and thus falling) actually led to her first (of many I am sure) falling boo-boo. She was standing up holding onto the coffee table and slipped and bonked the bridge of her nose on the coffee table. At first, it was shaping up to look very bruised, like a broken nose, but it looks much less painful today. Even with her ability to crawl everywhere, she still prefers to stand (as she has since about two weeks old!) She is chomping at the bit to walk, but still does not have the greatest balance (ie: coffee table incident) so I think she’s still a few months away. But then again, who knows…a week can make a big difference in the life of a seven month old!

Week 31 - Creative Crawling

Quick – put up the baby gates, hide the breakables and give the cat a running start; Elise started crawling this week! Now, when I use the term “crawling” you are probably envisioning something like this: little baby on hands and knees, moving arms and legs simultaneously in order to get from point A to point B. Well, you would be wrong with that vision. While we can safely say that Elise is crawling now, it is not anywhere as graceful or efficient as the classic crawling imagine above.



She has begun to what we like to call “Limp Crawl” and it looks a little something like this: She starts on her hands and knees in classic crawling fashion. Then she tucks her right foot under her and uses it to propel her forward (which sometimes lands her on her belly, sometimes she stays up on her hands), then repeat. She usually uses the right foot, so she is not very good at going in a straight path, but she somehow (eventually) reaches her intended destination. We like to say that she gets from Point A to Point B by means of Q.


Like I said, she gets where she is trying to go, but it is neither graceful nor efficient. It is, however, absolutely hilarious. She also uses an alternate crawl, which we like to call the “Monkey Crawl”. With this crawl, she moves from Point A to Point B using her hands and feet, with her little butt up in the air walking like a monkey. She cannot get as far with Monkey Crawl (she usually topples over and then moves to Limp Crawl) but it is equally as hilarious and ungraceful.

Unfortunately in addition to the fun and joy that crawling has brought this week, Ellie has also had a not-so-fun past few days due to a nasty cold. Her nose is running like a faucet and she’s been having trouble eating since she can’t breathe out of her nose. She hates having her nose wiped and it is a full-fledged battle to try to get her nose clean (a process that is impossible anyway because right after we clean it, it’s right back to full of gunk almost immediately). Luckily other than the eating issue and hating getting her nose cleaned, the cold has not really dampened her spirits. Her newfound mobility is just too exciting!