"The Princess Ship"

Elizabeth is just starting to get good at holding and controlling writing instruments. She has learned how to write her name, and she's just started to develop the patience to sit long enough to color an entire picture. Here's her first complete picture, yesterday's masterpiece. She says its called "The Princess Ship." Now, one day, you can say you knew her in her early days when her medium of choice was crayon on typing paper.

Updated to add: The title of this piece is somewhat in dispute, as she refered to it yesterday as "The Fairy Boat."

Unbelievable.

Last night, Charlotte was up 4 or 5 times. About the 3rd time, we realized that she had rolled over onto her tummy - in her Miracle Blanket! Now, we're big lovers of the MB at our house, and we expected to swaddle her much longer, but I when read that tummy swaddling increases the chance of SIDS by 1200%, it was clear that we had to be done with the much-loved Miracle Blanket.

I've been fretting about this, although, surprisingly, not too terribly much, because I had a plan in place. I was braced and prepared for the two or three nights of crying (Charlotte too) because she couldn't soothe herself without the swaddle. I knew it was going to be a long few nights, and I was prepared...but if I'm honest, I was dreading the stress of it all.

Her teachers put her down without it today at school, and she did about as expected. The first nap was frantically awful. She just couldn't figure out what to do with her flailing arms. The next two naps, she finally rolled herself over onto her tummy, and then was asleep within ten minutes. The second of those - the "long" nap of the day, she was awake again within 45 minutes, but after 20 minutes of light fussing (not even crying), she was back asleep for another hour. And tonight? Well, here's a picture of her no more than 5 minutes after I put her down on her back.




Unbelievable. I hope this means good things are ahead.

Cereal Time!

So Charlotte had her first cereal this weekend. I personally wasn't sure she was ready for it (she still can't sit up on her own and the breast milk is seeming to suffice her just fine), but she's 5 1/2 months old, and her GI warned us about starting too late. Seeing as how we've already had allergy issues with her, we didn't want to wait too long. So, this weekend was her big debut! Now begins a whole new world for her, and for us!!

First bite. She didn't take right to it, but she didn't reject it either. It was more like she didn't really know what to do with it. I think I made it too runny, so we'll try to do better next time on that front. (I forgot how it keeps getting runnier the longer it sits...how quickly we forget things from the last baby!)

All and all, a success. I think more ended up on her bib than in her tummy, but hey, it was a first try!

Happy 4th of July Weekend! (A Little Late)

Our July 4th weekend was packed! The girls had the annual "4th of July Parade and Picnic" at their school, I had a final that day in my summer class, we had relatives in from out of town for Elizabeth's 3rd birthday party, regular Sunday service at my church...and, on top of all of that, the matriarch of my church died on Wednesday, so I had a funeral to conduct Friday and Saturday (2 hours away from our home, might I add). But with the help of lots of wonderful family, we pulled it all off and a great time was had by all! Happy 4th, y'all!

Happy Birthday, Elizabeth!

Dear Elizabeth,

Well, you're officially a "big girl" now. There's nothing about you that screams baby -or toddler, for that matter, any more. You're growing up...and nothing makes me more proud than to watch you from a distance and see what a wonderful little girl you're becoming.

You're so smart. Really. I'm not just saying that 'cause I'm your mamma. You amaze us every day with the new things your know. Just the other day you were helping your Amma make your birthday cake, and you told her which colors to mix together to get the icing colors you wanted. You can spell - and write! - your name all by yourself. You seem to think you need help with the Z and the B, but I'm convinced that you could do it by yourself if you wanted to. You're just soaking up the world of knowledge around you, figuring out how things work more and more every day.

You love art. At school, y'all get to do a lot of paining and watercolor and coloring and collages every day, and you eat that up. You're willing to spend a lot longer on each of your masterpieces than your peers, something that consistently impresses your teachers. You also love music. You love singing - in English and Spanish - and making music with all your instruments. Sometimes the racket starts to bother me, but I'm glad you have an appreciation for these things. Maybe sometime in the near future we can start to refine your interests. :-)

And, most importantly, you're growing into a kind and compassionate little girl. You love your sister immensely, you work hard to get along with your friends at school (even the ones that are not so easy to get along with), and you're starting to understanding that not everybody is as lucky as we are, and care about them. I'm proud of you. You teach me about the important things in life everyday.

So Happy Birthday, Elizabeth. I'm lucky to be your mamma. Keep growing and learning and loving.

Love you,
Mamma