Hello!

Hello,

I guess it’s been about a month since our last post. A lot can happen in a month… I guess the most recent [future] news is that I’m going to California for 6 days, leaving the Emily alone with Lizzie. It’s been the first time Emily has had a long stay without help. I’m sure she’ll have an interesting post soon.

So what have we been up to…Kristen took a 2 week vacation in May, so Lizzie and I got to spend lots of quality time together. We had the house painted at the same time, so that was a bit of a nuisance. It was a good two weeks.

Shortly after Kristen got back, Lizzie’s cousins came for a visit from NH. It was a great time for everyone. Lizzie was clearly smitten with both Olivia and Maddie, and spent a lot of time following Maddie around. She got to see O&M playing together, and she tried to join in, but still doesn’t quite know how to play with other kids. Lizzie clearly wanted to be like them, and started rejecting her high chair in favor of a booster seat at the table. Nowadays she switches depending on the day. Ma ‘n Pa still like the high chair because there is much less mess.

Shortly after the Blanchards left, we had a huge thunderstorm, and lost power for 2 days. It got hot in the house, so everyone slept in the basement for a night (and a nap). Liz didn’t seem to notice too much, except that the TV didn’t work.

Around the same time, she started waking up earlier, like 5am. So we had a rough 2 weeks where Liz got up around 5 every day, sometimes earlier, sometimes later. Napping was also very irregular, so everyone was tired out by the end. Things have been better lately.

The next week was Kristen’s last week, and the week after that, we went camping in VA Beach. It was sad to see Kristen go. Lizzie really loved her, and Kristen was a great sitter. Oh, and the night before we left to go camping, Liz took a good tumble down the stairs and had a trip to the ER. Just some bumps and bruises, nothing serious, but it was scary for everyone. She has started getting careless on the stairs, fooling around, etc. She also seems to only go down when no one is looking – she stops when you watch – which makes chaperoning difficult. We had to delay the camping trip a few hours to get a checkup the next morning from the doctor. Then we were off to the land of sand and oysters.

Camping was lots of fun. Lizzie hated walking around the campsite, because there were leaves everywhere. She kept getting them stuck on her feet and sitting down to get them off. Then she’d get sand and leaves everywhere and have a meltdown. We finally figured out that socks and shoes would keep her sand and leaf free. The campground has a beach on the Chesapeake, so its calm and fairly warm – good for kids. Lizzie had a great time at the beach, which was certainly the highlight of the trip (except for the fact that she slept for almost all of the driving). She is still a bit timid in the water, but playing in the sand is sure fun.

That brings us up to date with main happenings around here. In terms of development, Lizzie is doing great with signing, and we have a new batch of Signing Time DVDs for her to watch. She’s even started making signs that she’s seen once or twice. Mom and Dad are having a hard time keeping up with her learning. It is clear that the signs will be a great help. She is clearly willing and able to communicate with signs. Sometimes her words aren’t clear, so having the sign really helps us figure out what she is trying to say. I think the next few months will show some big improvements.

Independence is perhaps the biggest change in her personality / behavior. It is clear that Lizzie wants to make her own decisions about what she eats, what she plays with, what she wears, when she naps, etc. I hear this is normal for toddlers, along with an attention span of 30 seconds… Besides this, she’s getting bigger, stronger, and faster every day.

Ok, time for bed. Lots of new pics on Picasa, so check them out.