Channuka

Hi Sidra,
It's the second night of Channuka, and you've been thrilled by it so far. Last year, I didn't write about it because it seemed like your first birthday was the bigger event at that time of the year. This year it's been quite a different story. In fact, last night when we were trying to go to sleep you were a complete chatterbox. You were talking about lighting candles, latkes, Channuka gelt, the shamish, happy Channuka, and of course, presents. You were just going on and on about it. Although I still have to report that while you gave much talk to latkes, you refused to eat any. I think that will change eventually.

Some of the gifts you have opened so far are: a nice set of long underwear, the Hefelump Movie DVD which you watched later, a very nice wooden Menorah with wooden candles (can be seen in one of the pictures) from your Aunt Jane and Uncle David, and a set of tinker toy type things.

Then today, since this was one of the few times you'll ever be able to use them right in the driveway, we gave you your first skis. You were luke warm about them, sort of the way you are with the sled. You are pretty much a daredevil most of the time, but sledding and skiing don't thrill you as much, I suspect because you don't have as much control as you'd like. But you will gain that control, I'm sure.

There are two pictures here that I really like. The one with you and your mom looking out the window past the Menorah just knocks my socks off. My two beautiful girls in a gorgeous pose. I really like the one of you marveling at the candles burning in your Menorah too.

Well, there are many more nights of Channuka left, and there is good chance there will be more to write about before it's over.

Love, aba

Pride of Accomplishment

Hi Sidra,
I have a couple of stories for you today. They both say something about your developing mind and personality. First, I'll tell about something that happened today. It involves the Pooh Friends as they are known by in our house. They are in the picture. They are your companions in the bathroom, which is to say they are bath playmates but also you like to have them sit on the counter and 'watch' while you are on the potty. Well, we had a road trip to Grandma's house yesterday and the Pooh friends went along. Today on your first visit to the potty you had to accept stuffed animals Hefelump and Eeyore (who is in the Pooh family but not included in the set of bath toys) because the Pooh Friends were still in the diaper bag way downstairs. That worked out without incident. Later while cleaning downstairs I thought of something that you could do to help out. (we've let you handle the swiffer since you've been able to walk, but you're less interested in it now.) I asked you to take the Pooh Friends upstairs and put them in the bathtub. You accepted the chore with glee, happy to help out. I peeked through from the hallway to see you on about the third stair and then turned back to my task. An instant later I heard what could only be you tumbling down the stairs. I rushed over to find you at the bottom. You are becoming a really good speaker but your communication still doesn't rate 100% clarity. I was able to determine that you didn't have any specific pain that was worse than being scared. After some consolation you were determined to finish the chore. I watched you all the way up the stairs this time and you did fumble the toys a couple of times but made it up to the top safely (you've only had two mishaps on the stairs that I know of so this one surprised me). Then I went back to my chore. When you returned downstairs you came and found me and said, while beaming and jumping up and down, "I did it! I did it!" You were so proud of yourself, and so was I.
The other story is from a couple of weeks ago. It's about the video that is on this post. Originally, I meant to record you saying "I love you" without any other voices on the recording. I figured I might edit out my voice and maybe on one of the 'takes' you might do better than the others. I was using my digital camera which will take 15 seconds of video at once. So as I was recording, I was watching the 15 seconds count down and that's why I keep asking you to repeat it. It turns out that what is priceless is your change in tone and body language as you respond to my repeated requests.


Also, you've become a pretty good singer. You have been heard singing with pretty good clarity Ring Around the Rosie and Rock a Bye Baby. And, when asked what you were doing today you clearly said, "Playing with Puzzle." Conversations with you are more interesting everyday.
That's all for now. Keep growing up.
Love, Aba.

Terrible Twos?

Hi Sidra,
We keep waiting for the 'terrible twos' to begin, but nothing like that is happening. We think that this may be the most exciting time of raising you. Your personality is emerging more everyday and you learn constantly. Your speech is catching up with your cognitive ability so now we know more about what you're thinking.
Of course you're not quite perfect, but we don't have many complaints. You have developed a desire to sleep in the big bed with us. The only problem with this is that we wouldn't mind watching a little grown up type television in the last hour before we fall asleep at night. You don't seem to think that our requests for you to lie still in the bed and not try to look over the pillows at the TV are serious until we actually put you in your crib. Then you realize we mean business.
Anyway, you also are making potty progress. You have pooped on the toilet twice this week and once told the girls at the sports club day care that you needed to pee. Your poops were not at your suggestion, but at our suggestion both times, but you might be about to the point of being able to say when you need to go. We did buy you some 'big girl' underwear a couple weeks ago to boost your incentive.
That was the day of your first trip up an escalator. I had to go to a bike shop that was in a Mall. Since you had to be in the car for quite a while that day, I thought we would go in the mall so you could stretch your legs a little. Well we found out that Target had an escalator and we went up and down about 6 times. They also had a little device that carried the shopping carts up and you were fascinated by that, too.
Something else you've gotten to like is typing on the computer. We set you up with Word running with really big font and you tap away at the keys. The video here shows you doing that. Now, you have to listen close because you have the sweetest little voice and only raise it when you're really distressed, but you say the following in the video: "That's O", "That's M", "Y" (which I was psyched about because earlier this morning you were saying Y was W), "There it is(about S)", "zero", "J", "that's 9", "H", and of course "Hi Babes."



That's all for now.......
love, Aba

Look out Springsteen and Dylan!

Hi Sidra,
as usual, the best times with you come unexpectedly. Today you happened to pick up the harmonica and started groovin' with it. There's not much I can say about it, the video sort of speaks for itself. I'm just glad the camera was handy and I was able to catch it.
The other video is called Big Mouth for obvious reasons. You are gaining skill with the eating utensils but your biggest (pun!) problem is reasonable payload. Again, the footage speaks for itself.




Love, Aba

Johnny Jump Up revisited

Hi Sidra,
your mom decided to recycle a plaything of yours today and see if you would still enjoy it. You can see from the video that the answer is yes. We were a little concerned that you would be too big for it but that proved not to be a problem. I thought you would be too much of a free spirit to be trapped in the doorway for very long but you stuck it out for about 20 hard minutes just as energetically as the 45 second video shows.

I saw a bumper sticker on a car yesterday that said
"100 years after you die it won't matter where you lived or what you drove, but how you raised your kids will matter." I hope your mom and I live up to that standard. I think my parents did.

Oh, I keep forgetting to include some stats. We measure you every three months, and the measuring day was last weekend. You are now 32 inches tall, and weigh about 26 pounds. In the previous 3 measurements you grew about a half inch during the three month period. This time you grew about an inch and a half. No wonder you're starting to reach things on the kitchen counter!

Noah's Birthday

Hi Sidra,
There haven't been enough posts lately due to technical difficulties and I apologize. I aim to be more regular poster in the near future.
It was your brother's birthday today (Sept 28). He would have been 3 years old. We did what we have done on his last two birthdays. We went to the cemetery to see his grave and leave some stones. Then we went to Doernbecher's Children's hospital and dropped off some gifts for the children there. We usually give gifts that we might have given Noah had he still been with us. You seem to know about Noah, but I don't think you get it yet. You know his picture and can say his name after a fashion but you really don't know how he fits into the family yet. You will. When we do this next year you will have learned more about him and eventually you will know what he means to our family.
We also did a couple of other things with you today since you don't yet understand that his birthday isn't that fun for your mom and I. I am sorry to report that whileyou are not yet two years old you know the word "mall" and said it when we turned into the parking lot. You also recognized Starbuck's and mentioned "tea" when we passed it walking into the mall. Mainly we went there to return some merchandise but it turned out to be great place for you stretch your legs. After a short warm up period you hit full speed and barely slowed down. We had to do a near trot to keep up with you. There was a play area in the mall and you spent some time in there buzzing around in circles. You made it through all the little tunnels and crawl spaces and I think the only reason we were able to get you out of there was that you sped out the exit and before you realized you were out in the open we scooped you up and didn't look back.
Next we were in a clothing store with really narrow aisles and it was a chore tracking you down. You were making cuts like a football player returning a punt for a touchdown. I was relieved to be able to stay on your trail.
Then it was the Zoo. Agian you were fearlessly bound through the crowds there. Occassionally we would corall you into the stroller but you did a lot of walking and running there, too. We saw polar bears, penguins, a beaver, fish, two eagles and some frogs. We didn't see the six week old baby elephant because the line was at least an hour long and we were only staying for two hours.
Then when we got home you went around the local berry field with Jesse(dog) and I. You usually run for most of the way around the loop and it is probably half a mile. When we returned from our lap you saw the new toy shopping cart your mom bought you and you pushed that around the house almost non stop until bedtime. You were like the energizer bunny pretty much the whole day. You were pretty tired when we got you to bed. Through all the activity you had only napped for about 20 minutes. So you deserved to be tired.
There is a missing post since the last one, about your first trip to the emergency room. I still have to get that repaired.
Love,
aba

First Visit to the Emergency Room

Hi Sidra,

I know that sounds like an ominous title, as if we’re expecting many more visits to the emergency room. Well, I’m guessing it’s not going to be the last but I’d like to see it stay below a rate of once every five years. For the record, your injury occurred on the day you became 20 months old, which coincidentally was our 4^th anniversary.

So, how did it happen? We’re not sure exactly. You twisted your ankle somehow. It may have happened when I let you down from the chair I always eat on and you frequently join me on to share whatever I’m eating. At the time I thought you were just upset about being let down, but it’s possible you’d gotten your foot caught between the chair and your desk that was nearby at the time. All we really know is that later that evening when we were in the shower, you couldn’t put any weight on your right foot. It was pretty late, so we decided to give you Tylenol and ice it, and then see how well you slept.

You slept pretty well, actually. However, the next morning when you took your first steps of the day, you cried out and recoiled again. So we iced some more while you watched a ‘Signing Times’ video and got ready to take you in to the ER. It was really the Urgent Care that we brought you to get a professional opinion. After a lot of waiting and a wrestling match with you on the x ray table it was determined that you had no fractures and you were released without restrictions. The doctor figured you could decide on your own if it was too painful to walk on. The truth is that by the time we left there you were beginning to walk on it without complaint. By the next day, you were back to full speed.

The picture here of the sticker you got to bring home will probably be the only souvenir you will have from the incident. I mean, no bruises, no cast, no bandage.

As I said at the top I hope that this kind of visit doesn’t become a habit but you are a daredevil so we may do this again someday.

Love, aba

Books, Books, Books!

Hi Sidra,

Well, my summer vacation is over. Actually I have two more days before I go back to work but it’s the weekend and it seems like Sunday will be a day of getting ready to be back on the road several days a week. Enough about me, this blog is about YOU! So, what have you been doing?

You have become a voracious reader. You absolutely love books. You will spend time looking at them on your own besides having them read to you. You have your favorites and they go in cycles but you really like seeing new books, too. One of the things you’ve been able to do lately is fill in some of the words if we pause our reading to let you do it. Your improved speaking skills are helping you do that. A couple of the books you have came with music on CD and you enjoy looking at the book and following along with the music.

I wanted to comment on one of your favorite books. Actually I should probably say one of your favorite characters. Of course you like Winnie the Pooh since your mom has encouraged that but an unlikely favorite is this kid David who is in one of the pictures here. The picture is the cover of one of the David books. We also have another book featuring David home from the library. He seems unlikely as a favorite because he’s kind of a rebel and onery. He is always getting in trouble and being told “NO” as the book title suggests. He also has some nasty looking teeth that make him look like a pretty mean dude.

I just wonder if you see him as a bit of a hero. Inasmuch as he pushes the envelope of trouble making, yet he is still loved by his parents. I wonder if you will be like David, always trying to get away with as much as possible.

You are also getting pretty good at recognizing the ten digits and in fact, the first ten counting numbers. I keep trying to get that on video but part of the problem is that you are too soft spoken and the microphone doesn’t quite pick it up. We’ll leave that for another post.

This past week we took a quick trip to Seaside and you saw the Pacific Ocean again. You really like the beach. You didn’t seem to remember the taste of sand from the last trip and had to try it again. You also swam twice in the motel pool and took two rides on a carousel.

Oh, I almost forgot. We had a three day heat wave last week and you enjoyed your wading pool in the front yard. One of the picture is of you trying to drink from the hose. We had a good laugh about it.

More soon……

Love, aba

Working Girl

Hi Sidra,

This post is just to share some cute pictures of you. Your mom got you a little work apron and you had it on the other morning. I put some tools in your hands to make it look like you were doing some ‘do it yourself’ projects. I had stuffed some things in your pockets before you came outside, too. The rattle in one of your pockets worked great, like a cowbell so I could tell where you were going.

I took you swimming yesterday and you had a great time. It was sort of nap time when we got done so you fell asleep in the bike trailer on the way home. It looked like it was going to be too hard to get you out without waking you so we let you finish your nap in the garage.

Love, Aba

Riverdance?

Sidra,

It doesn’t seem like something you’d find a Jewish girl doing. Clogging, I mean. Here’s how it came about.

Your favorite baseball team, the Red Sox, has a player (Jonathon Papelbon) who is apparently Irish because he’s been known to celebrate big wins by dancing a ‘Riverdance’ style number on the field after the big game. In order to capitalize on this someone created this dancing bear that wears a Red Sox jersey with Papelbon’s number and a Red Sox hat. If you squeeze the bear’s hand it will gyrate while playing the clogging music.

Well, you enjoy sharing a dance with the bear and that’s the subject of both videos on this post.

Love, Aba

Dancing video 1

Dancing video 2

MId Summer '08

Hi Sidra,

If I were talking to you right now you would be pretty good at answering back with a sweet ‘Hi.’ Your vocabulary is increasing daily. It is a really fun time to be with you because we can teach you about a new word almost daily. Or at least you are getting so you can say a new word almost every day.

I also want to tell you how much you lift my heart. There have been a couple of mornings recently where I’ve been up much earlier than you and your mom (that’s not uncommon) and while sitting here in front of this silly machine you’ve come in and said ‘hi.’ My heart just jumps. I am just blown away by the fact that your mother and I were able to bring such a wonderful little girl into the world. And then you smile and I just melt.

Now, having just said that you are wonderful, I have to help you maintain your modesty by letting you know that you aren’t perfect. We have been having some issues with your eating habits. You are a little bit picky. Right now I would have to say that your favorite food is hot dogs. So, we get into these battles about eating something else, like vegetables. You are pretty stubborn, and this can be pretty stressful for all of us. We get perplexed because sometimes you won’t eat things we know that you will eat other times, while we are holding the hotdog ‘hostage.’

Aside from the eating issue, you can display willfulness in other ways, too. Occasionally, you protest by acting as if you don’t hear us. I have to say, “I know that you can hear me and I know that you understand me.” Usually that solves the problem. But, once in a while you still resist complying with a request. For instance, the other day I asked you to help me restack some books that you had pulled down and we were finished reading. You were not helping and I took you up and put you in the crib where you howled for several minutes. After a while, I asked if you were ready to help me now and you said ‘yeah.’ Then we went back downstairs and you still balked a little at helping. I thought, ‘man, if she’s this tough now, what will she be like when she’s 13?’ You did help out with no further incident, but it made me uneasy.

Right now I can hear your mom reading the book ‘No, David’ to you. David is a boy that is always testing his limits and getting into trouble. Perhaps you relate to David’s dilemma and that’s why you like that book.

I am only including one picture with this post. It was actually taken about two months ago, but I really like it and I want to explain why. Your mom took it when you were at the beach seeing the ocean for the first time. Then she chose a really good frame for it and gave it to me for Father’s Day. In it, we are exploring the breakers together. You notice that we are in step with one another. I lean down to hold your hand at your level. We look out to the vast ocean that could represent our future. There's a lot out there for us to see together. While it appears that you hold my hand compliantly, I know that my grip is tight to protect you from running headlong into unknown danger. Your exuberance at the new experience brings back to me things I hadn’t noticed in a long time.

Love, aba

Stats

Just a quick post to record your 18 month stats
Height 30½ inches
Weight about 24 lbs.
head circumference 19¼in or 48.9cm
according to a book with a 1997 copyright you are 50th percentile in weight,
over 95th percentile in head circumference, and you will be about 5'7" when you're an adult.

Postscript

Hi Sidra,

Well, I told you things are happening fast with you. I already want to add to what I just posted earlier today. I forgot to put something in the earlier post. It is a pretty big milestone. You are on your first 24 hours without a binky. We are taking you off of it cold turkey. You napped without it yesterday and so we decided that we were halfway there and this might as well be the break from it. Last night you woke in the middle of the night as you do sometimes and I tried rocking you back to sleep. Without the binky, no way. You came in to sleep with us in our bed and that went ok except that you are kind of a thrashy sleeper. So, we’ll take one step at a time. We’ll wean you from the binky, then wean you from wanting to come into bed with us all the time.

Another thing you just learned tonight is how to catch a ball. I made it pretty easy for you but you get the idea. We used a ‘Gymboree’ ball which is really a small beach ball with a corporate logo on it. It was not entirely inflated so you can get a grip on it with one hand. But we had a good time throwing the ball back and forth from point blank range.

You’ve been to your second ‘gymboree’ session. It’s a place where you get to play on some cool play equipment and hang with other kids your age. You like it a lot and spend some of the time just staring at the other kids. You haven’t quite got the hang of being in a group class and sometimes wander off when the instructor is trying to get the attention of all the kids, including you.

The picture is one we took of you yesterday in your ‘hot’ outfit of halter and shorts.

Love, aba

Nudist!

Hi Sidra,

It’s been way too long since the last post. My excuse three weeks ago was that I was really busy with the end of the school year and graduation. Now I can’t use that excuse. I will say that part of the delay is the difficulty I’ve had with my video editing equipment. I got some new software which I believed would result in better quality in the videos, but I haven’t got it to work yet, and now can’t even get the old method to work. So, no videos at the moment.

Enough about my problems. As you can see from the pictures on this post it is summer now. You’ve been having some fun in your wading pool and going to swimming lessons. The lessons are at the sports club where your mom works. You really like the water. You get excited as soon as you see your swimsuit and are always excited to go in the pool. The water is sort of cool though, and you always end up shivering after about 20 minutes. You like to jump in from a sitting position on the side of the pool. Sometimes you will jump in from standing on the side, but if we put you up on the pool deck on your feet, you’re just as likely to run over to the stairs as jump back in. Last night you allowed me to use the paddle board and ‘noodle’ to float you for the first time. When floating on your back, I asked you to do ‘snow angels’ with your legs and you did well with that.

You are pretty good with the signs (language) that you’ve been taught but we need to get you a new video so you can learn some new stuff. You are getting pretty good at talking now, too. When I ask you to tell me what some signs mean, you will say the word instead. You can say, mama, daddy, go, ball, bubble, yeah, no, yellow, orange, hi, hot dog, kitty, keys, cheese, all done, and pooh (as in Winnie the). There may be others that slip my mind at the moment. Some are not recognizable to others but we get it because we hear them a lot. You also say “E,” “I,” “O” and “A” pretty well, getting all the vowels except U. In fact, you like to yell these letters, and we encourage it. One day riding home in the bike trailer from swimming lessons you started yelling the letters and we had a little shouting match going.

Anyway, the speech is really changing fast. You pick up new words pretty well. So, the list might be different by tomorrow.

Some other stuff you’ve been making progress on are the stairs. We’ve sort of relaxed about having the barrier at the top of the stairs, because you’re pretty good at going up and down on them. Now, we’re more likely to put up the barrier just to keep you from going downstairs. Also you have a couple of scooters or trikes that you are figuring out how to ride. I have put on you on the trike, and stood behind you and held your feet on the pedals, pushing them around. You seem to get the idea of pushing the pedals to make it go, but your legs just aren’t long enough to do it yet. The other one is what used to be called a hobby horse before pedal bikes were invented. You sit on it and propel yourself with your feet in a walking motion. You’re pretty good with that one but you don’t stay on it too long. Another thing you do is a bit of a gallop or dance. You hold your hands up and sort of skip along. It’s a happy signal.

Well, I wanted to have some video of you talking and dancing and doing signs by now, but it will have to wait until I get those problems solved. For now we will have to be satisfied with your nudist pictures. I figure this is your summer to be naked. In another year you might be embarrassed to be outside without clothes but now you don’t care and may even relish it.

Love, Aba

Now I know my ABCs

Hi Sidra,

It’s been too long since the last post. You’ve been doing some amazing things. We think they are amazing but they might be pretty normal for someone your age. In any case, some of the things you do seem like you are ahead of your time.

For instance, you know your ABCs. Well, actually you know A, B and C. We have alphabet magnets on the refrigerator and when we ask you to get the letter A and bring it to us you can do it. You can also do it with B and C. Yesterday I asked you if you could bring me the letter D. You brought me 3 letters, but one of them was D.

You are getting pretty good with sign language, too. Some of the signs you know really well, and others you haven’t caught on to. But you are getting better at using them in the right context. I’m trying to get you on video doing some of the signs, but it might take a while to get some good, edited video of it.

Another thing I want to get a recording of is you making your ‘happy song’ while eating. I remember being teased about doing this when I was about six years old. Maybe you won’t keep doing it that long. I think it might be something you inherited from me. This morning you were sitting on my lap trading spoonfuls of cherrios with me and singing really loudly. It was a hoot.

Your speed is increasing, too. You almost always run (although I will say that running for you right now doesn’t mean full strides) instead of walking. I love the pitter patter sound you make when you are ‘running’ this way.

You also like to climb. You can see that in a couple of the pictures. You are moved to try climbing on just about anything, and that makes you a bit of a daredevil. Which brings to mind an incident from a couple of weeks ago. You were jumping on the couch. I was sitting on the couch as your spotter. You bounced toward the end of the couch and when you got there you backed into the arm of the couch and started a backflip over it. I caught you by the ankle in time to keep you from landing on your head on the hardwood floor. You might have gotten a little bit of whiplash when I pulled you back up, but it was better than landing headfirst on the floor.

AND, you’ve tinkled in your potty twice already. I think we lucked out by giving you a chance to do it right before the shower or the bath. Your first time was Thursday night and you did it again on Saturday night. We don’t think you’re going to be finished with diapers next week or anything, but it was pretty exciting.

I am really looking forward to this summer when I get to spend a lot of time with you. Both of us are going to learn a lot and have a good time doing it.

Love, aba

Tuesday Club

Sidra,

You probably won’t get to be part of a true Tuesday Club gathering because of your age but yesterday you got a taste of what it might be like. Actually, you got to be the only attendee at this meeting and thus got all the attention. I guess I should first tell some history about the Tuesday club, and I welcome any corrections to my account.

Maybe ten years ago or so, my mother, your grandmother was puzzling about how she could manage the requests of her children to supervise their kids (her grandkids) during the summer months. She came up with the idea that she would entertain all of the grandkids on Tuesdays. So, Tuesday club was born. But my mother, whose life’s work has been in public education didn’t just put out a couple of snacks and provide a yard to play in. The club eventually had a song and some secret signs. The club took field trips and had other activities. My mom planned lessons for each grandkid specific to them, their ages ranging over about 10 years. There was even sports instruction handled by my dad.

So yesterday you were treated to an afternoon with my mom. I brought you there and then took my bike out for a ride. My mom showed her expertise right away by diverting you from potential disappointment when I left by quickly changing your focus. Then you got to read all the books my mom had pulled out for you, play with toys and puzzles, and even a had a mini field trip to see your cousin’s baby lamb.

So, I just wanted you to know how lucky you are to have my mom as your grandma. I hope you get to tell her yourself some day.

Love, aba

Spring Break 08

Hi Sidra,

It’s been too long since the last post. I’m rally behind. I am on spring break right now, so I haven’t been working everyday so that excuse is gone. But, not working has allowed you and I to hang out a lot this week. You continually amaze your mom and I. You are going to be 15 months old in two days. You are a real chow hound, eating everything we eat (that we let you eat) and some ‘baby’ food too.

You continue to enjoy being read to, and you have some favorite books. We haven’t been reading (singing) Snuggle Puppy too much lately, but I hope we can get that on video before you grow out of it. While I am sitting on the floor singing to you, you lean on my shoulder and drink it in. Those are some real special moments. I guess the books you like best are Color Farm, Good Night Moon, Good Night Gorilla, and Runaway Bunny. But that could change next week.

Another thing that is really cool is that you seem to be able to identify most of your books. For instance, we can ask you to pick a certain book out of the basket or off the shelf, and you can find the right one. I am impressed that you can get the right one off the shelf when only the bindings are visible.

We’ve been having some difficulties with the video devices lately but I do have a good clip of you on your slide without a spotter that shows off your athletic ability. You really enjoy climbing on anything but the slide gives the reward of a fun descent after you’ve been to the top. You seemed to quickly learn how to swing your leg over the top nicely.

The earlier posts show some pictures of you in the snow this winter, well, it’s past the spring equinox and we have snow on the ground here again this morning.

The tooth count right now is 10. You have four on top front, two front bottom and four molars, one each side top and bottom. The molars seem really sharp, I guess they haven’t had a chance to get worn down.

Here is the video of you sliding. In the photo above, you are sitting in one of your toy baskets playing (well at least blowing through) the recorder.

Love, aba

MORE VIDEOS ADDED!!!

commentary

Hi Sidra,

Really this post is more for the other readers than for you. I wanted to let them know that they can post comments here, too. At the bottom of each post there is a link to click on if you want to leave a comment. The comments won’t appear automatically. I have to approve them before they will be posted. So, there will be a delay until I sign on and see that there are comments to be moderated.

Also, we had a day off of school today because the power was out at the school. But the power was on your hair! You were sliding on your slide and the static electricity was making your hair stand up. So I took a cute picture of you.

Love, aba

Tiny Dancer

Hi Sidra,

The purpose of this post is to introduce Sidra the dancer to the outside world. You have a unique set of moves that might be rooted in your babysitter’s ballet moves, but in any case are quite riveting. Your song of choice is ‘bling blang’ by Arlo Guthrie. You just sort of started steppin’ out to the song when your mom played it. Anyway, the video is here.

There is also a couple of pictures of you taken today in the snow that fell at our house. You are in your snowsuit and near the snowman we made. Actually, your mom made it while we watched.

I should also report that for the last few nights you’ve been able to pick one of your favorite books off the shelf on demand. That is, when we ask you to get ‘snuggle puppy’ off the shelf you can pick it from the twenty or so books that are on that shelf.

Love, aba

Tiny Dancer on Google

Chow Hound

Hi Sidra,
You are a chow hound! You can put away a ton of food for someone who only weighs a little over 20 pounds. I am amazed that you can eat so much. The doctor told us you would start eating a lot more after you passed a year old. He was right! Here's a typical day of eating for you:
Breakfast-- Oatmeal with milk and a banana. I mean a whole banana, too. I have stopped trying to fit your portion in a kids bowl. I use the adult one.
Lunch-- Sweet Potatoes with carrots, rice, or some other veggie. Again, adult size bowl.
Dinner-- Lately has been whatever we are eating, Lasagne, chicken with stir fry vegetables, pizza.
Dessert-- Applesauce, a baby YUM YUM (a crunchy sort of cracker there), animal crackers. Yogurt (Yo Baby).
Snacks-- String cheese, Goldfish crackers, Wheat thins, Pita Chips, Rice cakes, Kix or cheerios.

There is a tall chair I sit in next to the kitchen counter where I sit while I am eating or snacking. When I sit there, you are keenly interested in what I might be eating so you always come over and ask to sit in my lap(by holding your hands high and yelling). I usually let you have some of what I'm having.

I also just recorded a sound file that is me humming the lullaby that i've used when rocking you to sleep. I tried to post it here but it didn't work. Maybe I can figure that out and get it connected here soon.

Love, aba

You Say it's your Birthday!

Sidra,

It is time to report on your first year with us. Well, mostly I am going to tell about your birthday. We had a party for you and you got a lot of gifts but you were the only one your age in attendance. You also got to have your way with a piece of the birthday cake. That’s what is in the picture.

It’s hard to believe it’s already been a year since you were born. But then again, you have changed so much in that year it’s just amazing. I remember being amazed at how you appeared so quickly that day (well what should I expect, it was a C section delivery) and how things changed so dramatically for you that day. One minute you are inside your mother breathing fluid, and the next minute you’re out on your own breathing air. Looking at pictures of you from those first few days, I can’t believe you were ever that small.

For the record, you now weigh about 21 pounds and are about 28½ inches tall. That means that in a year you’ve grown about 9 inches and gained about 13 pounds. It’s hard to say really how much taller you are, because you weren’t able to stand up a year ago so you had to be measured laying down. Anyway you have increased your height by about 50% and your weight by about 160%. I am going out on a limb and say that you will probably not have any other years of growth more dramatic than that the rest of your life.

As I write this it is New Year’s Day 2008 and you are still asleep at 8:48am. You usually sleep pretty well. You went to bed about 11:00pm last night, although you didn’t go right to sleep. Your routine now is to take one long or two shorter naps each day. You usually wake up in a pretty good mood though not always. And you are usually not testy about being put to bed. Well we were going to take you skiing again today, but your mom isn’t feeling well, so we will be staying home.

I have had a super time on this vacation for the last 16 days because I’ve been able to hang out with you a lot. Alas, I return to a regular work schedule tomorrow morning. Early.

You will be awake soon, so I am off to get ready to dress you in day clothes and feed you breakfast.

Love, aba