Holiday Cheer!

So far we've had an excellent holiday season. We spent Christmas up with Andrea's parents by Baltimore and tomorrow we're headed down to Florida to spend New Year's with my family - they are just too excited! This is a picture of her holiday outfit from our excellent neighbors Rosella and her daughters.

I guess the big new news these days is our adventures into potty training, or, more appropriately, Adelais' interest and pleasure in using her potty. A couple of weeks ago she became very interested when Andrea or I were using the bathroom, so we got her a little potty to sit next to ours. We explained that the big one was ours and the little one was hers. One day before her bath I asked her if she wanted to sit on her potty and she did, but she didn't do anything. Though, and this was very common at the time, as soon as I stood her in her bath she started pee-ing. So, quickly and lightly, I scooped her up and set her on her potty. Of course, she stopped pee-ing, but resumed once I told her that there, on her potty, she could go. Well, since then she has more and more used her potty. Now before and after her bath she uses it and usually when we're changing her diaper she wants to sit on the potty and go alittle bit more. And over the last couple of days she has asked to go sit on the potty and go pee even though her diaper is still dry. We're not pushing it at all, just waiting for her to take the lead, which, to no one's surprise, she is. : )

quick note

Today Adelais and I were driving to Takoma Park to go to the farmers' market and co-op for groceries. On the drive there I could see that she was beginning to fall asleep in her car seat, so I asked her, "Adelais, are you going to make it to Takoma Park or fall asleep?" She opened her half closed eyes and said, "fall asleep." And then in a minute or so she was fast asleep - it was the cutest thing!

update Dec 2008

Here is a long overdue update about the continuing adventures of Adelais:

• Talking: Adelais is talking non-stop these days, and not just nonsense words - but each day her words are getting clearer and its seems that everyday she pulls out a new word. Just the other day she picked up a piece of clothing and started moving it around and said "fold" and I realized she was folding her clothes.

• Counting: At this point she can count up to ten - just 2 days ago she was walking up the stairs (I was holding both her hands and helping alot), but with each step she took she counted, "1...2...3...", etc.. all the way to ten. She also like to count fingers and blocks.

• Colors: She knows and can name a number of colors - purple, red, blue, yellow, pink and green, at least - The cutest thing is when she's tired or not really paying attention and you ask her what color something is she always says its purple. 

We just started a little gymnastics class with her so I'm sure there will be more to report very soon.....

Ocean City 2008

This month we went to Ocean City with Andrea's family and spent a week hanging out on the beach. Adelais, undoubtedly, had a great time. She loved playing in the sand, getting her feet wet in the waves and watching all the birds on the beach. We also bought her her first kite - a frog - that she really liked, at least when it was only 10 feet off the ground - any higher and she didn't really pay much attention to it. We also played miniature golf, which was a hit, though she kept moving everyone's ball. Walking on the actual board walk was alittle overwhelming, but I think that's true for everyone one - just complete sensory overload. Anyway, here's some pictures to enjoy.

Wow!

Wow. It's been along time since I've posted anything.. and so much has happened!

Tonight as I was getting her dinner ready she came into the kitchen, did the sign for "eat" and said something that sounded very much like "eat". She was ready. So, I scooped her up into her chair and started feeding her carrots - which she rarely likes, but tonight it was yummy, yummy. Her ability to communicate just continues to increase - practically every day. She is getting more signs to the point where she can use them (eat, water, milk, more and of course shaking her head "no"). She also has a number of words that are really close to being said and used. She points all the time and I'm beginning to understand why they become frustrated - she is clearly pointing at something, it just isn't always clear to me and she doesn't understand why I don't understand. Hopefully as she learns more signs the frustration won't increase (hers, nor mine).

Tomorrow Grandma Sally and Grandpa De come from Florida, so the next couple of days should be really fun!

New Reading Techniques

Recently Adelais' reading has taken a shift. She has, for a long time, really enjoyed looking at books. She use to turn the pages as quick as she could, stop on one picture and stare at it, then continue. But, over the last week or so she has been looking more intently at each page and pointing to different things on the page. As she points to something she wants you to say what it is. She will point at one thing, then another, then the first thing again and so forth. Recently we were reading a book that has a different dog on each page. Our reading went something like this: point, "ear", point, "nose", point, "ear", point, "paw", point, "ear", point, "nose", point, "ear", turn the page, point, "nose", point, "ear", turn back the page, point, "ear", "nose", turn the page, point, "nose", point, "paw", etc.... What is amazing to watch is how Adelais is teaching us how she wants to learn right now. Obviously she doesn't know that, but clearly through repetition she is making connections. On one page this is an ear, on the next page this is also an ear even though one looks much different than the other. You can see her thinking and starting to make those connections. Just another reason to find her utterly amazing. : )

Birthday Celebration

On May 10th Adelais turned 1 year old! Grandma Sally and Grandpa De came up from Florida, Grandma and Grandpa C come in from Baltimore and Uncle Boyd came down from NYC. We all hung out and were immensely entertained by Adelais who seemed to have a great time. The above picture is her sitting in the rocking chair that Grandma Sally and Grandpa De got her.
See Adelais practicing the piano that Grandpa C got her - she's really into free-form improvisational music right now.
Smiling as she unwraps a present. : )

New Twists

Some updates:

• Mainly, Adelais is walking like a pro. She started walking alittle over two weeks ago and now just cruises around the house. She still has trouble stepping over or onto things, but other than that she is good to go, and she does!

• Last week, for the first time, I walked into the room while Andrea was holding Adelais and she (Adelais, not Andrea) leaned and reached to come to me. It made me so happy.

• The stereo - we have a stereo in the living room and when it is on Adelais loves to grap the big volume nob and turn it up and down and up and down. She doesn't quite get the concept of "too loud" yet, so we have to be close by, or we end up running and turning it down.

That's it for now - she is just getting more and more fun! : )

Again, with Mountain

New Pic.

This is what happens when Daddy feeds the little girl...

Pointing

Adelais is now pointing at everything. When she wants something, she points. When she sees someone, she points. When you ask her, "Where's Mommy?", she points to mommy. I even showed her a picture of her, Andrea and me and asked her, "where's Mommy?" and she pointed straight at Andrea. She also knows where to point when you ask, "Where's Mountain?", or "Where's Bessie?". She's not so good with "Where's Daddy?" yet... But, it is amazing that she has connected names with people and animals and can signal what she wants when she wants it. Of course she is also using it to distract herself at times. Last night when I was putting her to sleep she kept pointing at everything trying to get me to get it for her. Soon I realized she was just trying to keep herself awake with distractions so I turned off the light. She wasn't too happy at first, but in ten minutes she was asleep. : )

Yes, Mountain and Adelais are buddies.

First Performance

Last Saturday my dance company, The PlayGround, performed in a choreographers' showcase at the Clarice Smith Center for the Performing Arts at University of Maryland College Park. We had a 3pm performance, so it was perfect for Adelais to come and watch us dance. Grandpa C brought her along to our "pre-performance event" in the lobby (see photo) and then back at intermission to watch us perform on stage. She did great - though I'm not sure how much she actually watched (again, see photo)...

On the Move...

Me and My Girl!

While visiting my parents in Florida over the holidays we had a professional photographer come to the house and photograph the family. Here is one of my favorite photos of Adelais, more photos from the shoot will follow of the next week or two.

On another note, Adelais is now standing - on Wednesday she crawled over to a low table, grabbed on and stood up. Since then she has been doing it non-stop, even at times letting go for a second to begin finding her own balance. It is so amazing to watch each step develop - I wish she wasn't blazing through each step so quickly... she's going to be walking in no time...

You can find out more about C and C Photography at www.ccphotostories.com

Extra Happy!

We are so lucky that Adelais is such a happy baby. : )

Clap, Clap!

On Thursday, or Friday Adelais was standing on her knees (albeit somewhat wobbly) and began banging her hands together. After 3 or 4 times she started making noise and was clapping. At this success she started to smile so big I couldn't help but laugh. Now, it seems all the time, she loves to clap and will even respond when you clap. It is really great!

Giving Bessie a ribbon

The New Year Crawl

From Dec 31 through Jan 7th we were down in Florida visiting my family (Mom & Dad, Sister & kids, and Grandma) and had a great time despite the weather (coldest weather in 5 years!). For Adelais it was a momentus occasion - she began to crawl. Before we left she was taking some small single steps, but by the time we got back to DC she was cruising arond with no problem. It was great to watch her get better and better at it each day and I was really excited that my family got to watch it happen! First thing I did when I got home (with help from Andrea's Dad), even before unpacking, was to put the baby gate at the top of the stairs - She is unstoppable now!

The picture is Adelais with her cousin Dakota.