HELP! I'm standing and I can't fall down!

Selah mastered pulling herself up on furniture, toys, and nearby animals and humans before she crawled. I thought this was an odd progression, but as all mothers know, kids do things in the order and timing that THEY so choose. So, now she is crawling all over, pulling herself up, and then... getting stuck! This is especially bothersome at nap time, when she will be bellowing her head off, and I will go in to find her standing in her crib with her head drooping in fatigue. Once she was standing by the couch, having pulled herself up to inspect what Elianna was doing up there. (Mind you, Elianna hides up on the couch because it is one of the few "sister-free zones" in the house.) Selah is delighted to see that Elianna is looking at her discovery cards. (These are giant flash cards BUT somehow not as taboo as the regular-sized flash cards that modern educators in childhood development will assure you are warping your child's brain and sapping their ability for creative thought. Although, I don't think they hurt me... but I digress.) Anyway, Selah views these cards as she does most items she can lift: something to eat. Elianna starts shrieking and flailing as Selah reaches hungrily for the nearest card, and Selah suddenly realizes that she either has to get back down or risk getting knocked down by her sisters thrashing limbs. (I am across the room and therefore no help at all.) Selah chooses to get down... and lets go. She falls back and lands on her bum, then rolls over onto her side, then finally onto her back. Not sure if that last part was for dramatic effect or leftover gravitational pull. Either way, Elianna contentedly returns to her cards, and now Selah is screaming from the horror of hurtling oh, about 8 inches or so to the ground. I tried to comfort her, but the damage was done. Now, when she wants to get down, she yells as loud as she can and looks around for someone to get her down. If no response comes quickly enough, she shrieks until someone comes. And, the last resort is tears and an immediately puffy red face. I'll be so glad when she either progresses to coasting or figures out a more graceful retreat.

Potty Success

Elianna has been doing so great with her "Big girl" panties. A couple weeks ago, she managed her first poopy on the potty, and she has not had an accident of any kind since!!! (Up to this point, we had to put a diaper on her when it was time to do her business. She flatly refused to use the potty.) We had also been putting diapers on her when she went out somewhere, took a nap, etc... Going back and forth between diapers and panties was confusing her, though, so we made the decision to ban diapers. We should have tried it sooner! But, you never know what will work from one kid to another. She has been accident free, even on longer trips out (like the zoo) and all through nap time! Phew! That was easy enough... let's see if Selah is this easy to potty train!!!


Chad thought it was too funny the way she demands a Readers Digest if she has any serious business to do on the potty.

Another Art Post

Oh, this was just too cute. Elianna was scribbling away on her "Doodle" and she kept doing that little growl she does when she's frustrated. I asked her what was wrong, and she says, "I can't draw the eyes! Can Mommy draw eyes for my face?" I asked, "What face?" And she showed me this:

Budding Artist

Elianna has this habit of singing to herself all the time, and generally she makes up both the words and the tune to go along with whatever she is thinking, feeling, doing, or has recently done. Well, she was painting merrily away, and I was sitting at my counter working on taping a book back together that had been ripped to pieces. Now, this is tedious and detail-oriented work, so I wasn't really listening to her or paying attention to her. I would hand her a different painting implement when she asked, but didn't turn to watch her work. I could hear her singing one of her wandering tunes about the bridge she was painting, whether Allysann was coming over, how much she loved Papa, all the usual topics... until something caught my ear. She was singing, "Ooooh, I like to paaaaaaaint, and I paaaaaaaint on the waaaaaallll. With my paintbruuuuuuuush, on the waaaaaall." I turned around and sure enough! She had covered a section about 2' by 3' of the wall. I have no idea how long she was painting the wall instead of her paper!!! I guess I will have to pay more attention to her singing - who knows what else I'm missing! (It would be nice if she didn't outgrow this. I can just hear her as a teenager singing to herself, "Oooooh, I stayed out laaaate last night, but Mom didn't noooootice. I scratched the caaaaaaar, Dad will be maaaaad.")

SOOOO Cute!

Don't you just love all those little tricks we teach our children? I guess it's our way of making them perform in front of other people in the hopes that someone else will be awed and amazed by how adorable/smart/creative our child is. Well, Selah has a few of those, and our favorite is when you tell her, "You're SOOOO cute!" she will tilt her head to the side and grin. What can I say? I can't help it - I think she's adorable.

First Trip to the Zoo!

Sooo... after a busy weekend of camping, beach bumming, picnicking with Colombian friends... we decided to go to the zoo on the way home! Well, it wasn't exactly on the way, but close enough to make it worth it. Plus, with our zoo membership, we got in free!! (Free is always a plus...) This was Elianna's first trip to a zoo, and she just loved it.


Chad and Elianna took a camel ride, which I tried to take a video clip of... only to find out 2 seconds into the clip that I was out of memory!!!!! GRRRR!! So, here's the 2 second clip I got anyway, plus a couple pictures. (That's what I get for not clearing out my junk pictures before they started their ride!) After the ride, when Elianna saw the other camels in the zoo she said, "Now I want to ride that one!"




Okay, where are the monkeys in these pictures? (Sorry, I couldn't resist...)



There was a huge kid's area for "training" young explorers. Elianna liked trying out the saddle and LOVED the wooden train play structure (which we had to pry her off of - she is such a train fiend.)

Elianna's favorite part was the petting corral. She especially loved brushing the animals with all the different brushes that were available.

Then and Now

I thought these were cute... pictures of Elianna from last year's camping trip compared to this year.

Lovin' the Beach!!!

Every year we take a camping trip to Northern Michigan and stay at our favorite state park. The best part of this park is the miles and miles of beautiful Lake Michigan shoreline beaches. Elianna loved it as much as last year, and her tan just got darker and darker! Poor fair-skinned Selah was relegated to the cabana the entire time, but she didn't seem to care. I have hundreds of pictures, but here are some of my favorites.

Say Cheeeese!


Heading to the beach in style!


Selah was happy to spend her time in the shade of the cabana.


Catching waves with Daddy


Just relaxing and listening to the waves


The little adventurer climbing the dunes


The best picture of Mommy... very far away!!!


Making shapes with sand molds


Sharing some special Daddy/Daughter time


Our little beach headquarters


Walking with that purposeful stride of hers...

First Tooth!

Selah has been fussy the last two days, which I attributed to our recent trip and the corresponding schedule upheaval... Today, however, she was gnawing on my finger and I noticed something poking me. Sure enough, a little bottom front tooth had poked through!!! Fortunately she hasn't been biting while nursing anymore, and let's hope she doesn't resume anytime soon with her newfound hardware.

Selah is Signing!

We've been out-of-town (again!) for the Annual Colombian Connection picnic. I have a ton of pictures to post of our trip, so sorry I've been MIA. Plus I have been battling a nasty virus that sapped all my energy AND gave me laryngitis. Neither of which are very fun with my two little darlings. I will try to get caught up on posting, but I am also trying to get caught up on my housework... so we'll see which one wins. I detest unpacking, so that is why I'm posting now instead of what I SHOULD be doing.

Anyway, some milestones I want to record before I forget...

I have not been as diligent about using baby signs with Selah as I was with Elianna, generally because now (with two kids) my hands always seem to be full. Be that as it may, Selah has started signing. There were a few times we were wondering if she was signing "more," but now she does it all the time, and with this intense look on her face. She also signs "all done," "touchdown," and claps for "hooray!" Sometimes she gets them all mixed up, and will just sign something random like waving "hi" for more. Then she gets mad and bangs on her tray as if to say, "Oh Mom, you know what I'm trying to say! Just give me more puffs!!" She is developing a bit of a temper, and can let out this shriek that will shatter glass. Elianna was a shrieker at 4 months, so I feel lucky that Selah is only now shrieking. She also crawls a few "steps" now, but then flops down. Or, she will rock really fast on her hands and knees, then THROW herself in the direction she wants. This generally ends up in a tear-filled face-plant, but this works for her. She pulls herself to standing all the time now, but has not perfected getting back down. This results in many tumbles... and more tears.

Elianna is getting a bit more impatient with Selah now that she is mobile and gets into her stuff. (Particularly her beloved books.) Still, overall, they really love each other and can make each other laugh and giggle as if they are sharing some inside joke. (They probably are! I don't even want to know what they are plotting...) Elianna is always making us laugh with her off-the-wall comments, so it's no wonder that Selah finds her so hilarious. They both just amaze us daily, and we are so thankful for the wonderful life God has blessed us with. Oh, I have my moments when I feel like I'm going insane, but then again, how much fun would a mommy be that wasn't a LITTLE bit cRaZy.

Such a Character!

I get that comment from so many people, especially the first time they meet Elianna: "She is SUCH a character!" She seriously has the personality of a 14-year-old, and with attitude to spare. Her newest hang-up is she always wants to walk around with her "Booh feet" (bare feet). (This grosses me out - I am not fond of the whole hillbilly look.) In the car, if the sun is in her eyes she howls for us to "Cwose my binds!" (Close my blinds) She calls those little window shades that you stick to the car window with suction cups her "blinds." She still replaces all her "w's" with "f's," so she will ask to "fatch" a DVD or announce to me that "Sissy fake up!" She is going through a picky phase, so in addition to the oft-repeated "I don't font to!" (I don't want to) she has added, "I don't like it. It's lucky." (lucky = yucky) She will subsist for an entire day on a handful of raisins and a few swigs of milk. I am standing my ground, though, and not catering to it. She was SUCH a good eater, devouring anything that didn't eat her first. Overnight, she became Princess Picky Pants, and I am riding it out like all annoying phases. I figure she's only a couple feet tall - she has to have another growth spurt eventually and then she'll get hungry again.

In other news, we got a crib! (Thanks, Sherry!!) Come on, don't all kids sleep in their bassinet till they are 7 months old?!?! Actually, she didn't sleep much in the bassinet, somehow she always managed to end up in bed with us. Generally this was a very late or very early nursing session that I fell asleep during... and voila, there she was the next morning all sprawled out taking up most of the bed. Well, at the ripe old age of 8 months Selah has officially moved into her own room AND is sleeping through the night. And I don't want to hear any lectures for letting her sleep with me (and nurse during the night) for so long. She's probably our last baby and I was dragging it out as long as possible, so if I get any condescending comments I fully intend to delete them. (Gee, I don't know where my daughters get their attitude from...) But yeah, she was actually getting more and more restless at night, waking more often and treating me like an all-night diner. I realized that she really was going to do better on her own. We moved her crib downstairs, gave her some last-minute snuggles, put her in the crib, turned on her favorite lullaby CD, shut the door, and turned off the sound on the monitor. (Talk about tough love!) She screamed her lungs out for the first night, screamed for about 5 minutes the second night, and has been sleeping about 11 hours straight from the third night on. Yippee Skippee.

Days of the Week & Counting

Elianna is just starting to grasp that different days have names, and also that different days are associated with certain activities (Sunday=church, Tuesday=Grandma Day, etc...). Today was the first day she asked what the day's name was! She woke up and said, "We go Nothe today?" (She knows we are going back up north, and I get asked about 200 times a day if we are leaving yet.) I said, "No, remember what day we are going up north?" She thought for a while, then said, "Today is Mon-yah?" I told her, "Today is Tuesday. Yesterday was Monday." She looked puzzled, "Toos-yah?" (For some reason, she says the "day" part as "yah," like a German would say "Yes.") This is progress, since she remembered my telling her yesterday that it was Monday. So she says, "Toos-yah?" and I said, "Where do you go on Tuesday?" She grinned and said, "I go Papa's Hah-vey's house!" Although it's actually GRANDMA that picks her up, the house and all the rooms are Papa's Hah-vey's. (Yes, she adds the "s" to both Papa and Hah-vey.)

Another break-through for her was counting. Today she counted on her own to 8. This may not seem like much, but teaching her anything is more like a negotiation. She thinks any number should come next while counting, and if you tell her the correct number she gets annoyed with you. Same for colors and shapes. She dubs an item "blue," and if you tell her it's "green" she'll glare at you and say "La-la want Booh!" However, I think it is dawning on her that there is a right and wrong answer, and she is putting more effort into saying her numbers in the correct order as well as naming the correct colors and shapes of things. I am hoping she develops a more teachable spirit as she grows older... especially before we begin home-schooling!!

Working Hard at Eating Puffs

*Boredom Disclaimer* This is one of those posts that to anyone but me (and maybe grandparents) will be as exciting as watching grass grow. However, please keep in mind that this blog also serves as my baby books for both girls right now. So, while the following may not be momentous to anyone else, it was cute to me!! *End Disclaimer*

Here is Selah's first time eating anything other than baby food. She is covered in pea soup, which she also tried to feed herself. Then, she worked SO HARD at feeding herself rice puffs! I thought it was pretty good for a first try:

Pool Fun! (Selah Meets the Water)

We had a great time visiting with cousins this weekend, and in addition to all the new people Selah also was introduced to the pool. Although from the pictures it looks like she just floated there with the expression of a grumpy old man, in truth she really enjoyed it. She splashed, played with little cups, and blew bubbles in the water. Elianna is learning to kick to move herself around, and even though she isn't much of a water person she also had a blast! (Mommy even got in, although I didn't dare try on a bathing suit. It's one of those situations where ignorance is bliss.)

Bikini Babe

Just floating around...

Drying off with their new animal towels. Elianna loved it, and Selah screamed and pulled it off.

Snuggling with Papa


Afterward, everyone piled onto Papa's bed to watch some "Little Bear."

Wave Hello and Don't Be a Noggish

Selah has started waving! She was doing it sporadically for the last week, but Wednesday at church it was really obvious. It is too cute, she just grins from ear to ear and waves like crazy when you say "Hi!" to her. (Right hand only, by the way!) She also has gotten up her hands and knees, but instead of rocking she just flops her legs out and screams. I'm not sure what about it is making her so angry! She much prefers just sitting up, so she doesn't get much practice with crawling/scooting. She howls when I put her on her tummy, so for the most part I don't fight her. She'll crawl when she's good and ready.

Elianna's new fave phrases are, "I don't font to!" (I don't want to) and "I cahn't do it." ("I can't do it," complete with a British accent.) And if these don't work, if you ask her to do something that she doesn't want to do, she sits down with this exasperated look and says, "I'm just takin' a bwake." (A "break," to the lay person.) This "bwake" will last until she thinks you've forgotten what you asked her to do, which I unfortunately have a tendency to do. She has an amazing vocabulary for her age - which can be both good or bad! One of my favorites was once when Chad was teasing me one day. (Yes, I know it's hard to imagine Chad being annoying.) I was yelling at him to stop and leave me alone, and Elianna puts her hands on her hips and says, "Daddy, top bein' a noggish!" We about died laughing when we figured out she was saying, "Daddy, stop being obnoxious!" (Yes, I'm a mean mom, I use that word a lot.)