Eluned G. Sharron Bethea » October 2009 Journal Entries » AboutMyBaby - online baby scrapbooks, photo albums, videos, birth and pregnancy announcements

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Tue, Oct 27, 2009 7:00 PM
Eluned is going item by item through my stack of mail, carefully marking each piece with her red crayon, and then neatly stacking them into a new "marked" pile.

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Sarah: OK, Mommy, you can retire now. Els is on the job!

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Sun, Oct 25, 2009 5:00 PM
I realized yesterday -- for the first time last Sunday, Eluned took off running around with the other little kids at church.

We've been letting Els wander farther and farther away from us at church and for longer amounts of time for a while now. I feel safe with all the people there. But up until now Els has been wandering around on her own.

Els has also been interacting with the other children at church more and more. The little girls just love her, and lately I've come outside a couple of times to find Els sitting in the middle of a group of them.

Then last Sunday, at a luncheon after church, Els and Andrew and I think Jasmine (all from the nursery/preschool class) found each other. They started running across the dais, down the ramp and back up again.

I didn't think anything of it at the time. I just changed Els into jeans, the better to run. But yesterday it hit me: Els has watched the other kids run off so many times. She finally gets to join them.

Comments:
Daddy: That was glorious. I think it stems from all that activity at the Halloween party.

Also, Sarah, that's a good suggestion. I'm not sure what our plans are.

Sarah: This January she turns two? You and Will planning a "terrific two" acknowledgement of the marker between infant and child (I seriously dislike the expression "terrible two")? Exploring on her own, developing social bonds, it's all good (though a bit stressful for Mom and Dad, at times).

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Sun, Oct 18, 2009 5:00 PM
I'm going to have to stop recording Eluned's new words soon. She's adding words to her vocabulary faster than I can remember and note here.

Els is using multi-word phrases regularly now. The other night, I was trying to coax a little more dinner into her and Els was insisting, "all done." Then she looked at me and said, all seriousness, "put [the] spoon down."

Els has been mimicking us for a long time, but the line between mimicry and comprehension has become much less clear. The other day Els was singing "Mommy Mommy Mommy." Will asked her if she was singing for Mommy or about Mommy, and Els replied, "about my Mommy."

Comments:
Sarah: I liked the mother/daughter picture taken in the aquarium. Note the expressive concentration on both faces.

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Wed, Oct 14, 2009 10:00 PM
Observant.

That's the word that keeps coming up to describe Eluned. I hear it from complete strangers and from people who know her well.

It's not the first word that I would use. But I don't have any experience with babies or toddlers beyond Els, so I have no basis for comparison. And I'm so close to Els that I don't see things that others see.

We visited a new place last weekend, Descanso Gardens, with my friend and her son. There were a number of other people there with young children, and we kept running in to one couple and their two kids.

Descanso Gardens has multiple koi ponds, but we found a really good one where Els could get right up to the water. I think she even touched a fish.

Els was sitting on a rock by the pond next to the little boy and girl, and one of the mothers commented to me -- and there was the word again: "She's so observant."

Comments:
Sarah: Yes, now that it's been said, I see that Els comes by her observant ways honestly, as the saying goes. You, too, have that way about you of really looking at what you focus on, really listening to what's being said, and so forth. I think it's a most becoming attribute.

You will really see it when Els starts school, the contrast, I mean. There are so many children who gaze about with a distracted air, or fidget meaninglessly, or just "hover" but she will be the one solidly grounded, looking and listening and taking it all in.

Poppa: I remember another young girl who used to study everything; I don't recall people using the word observant to describe Els mother, but you were always watching and learning about the environment you were in - and then talking about what you had seen. Of course, we didn't always underestand what you were trying to tell us; it wasn't until several years later that Aunt Ginny figured out that every time you said "tuckabody", you were really saying "Let's talk about it!".

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Sun, Oct 11, 2009 7:00 PM
Eluned has started doing this thing that I think of as "circumnavigation." When I'm standing, say, in the kitchen, she'll start to walk by me. But instead of going past me, she'll rest a hand against my leg and swing around in a circle. Sometimes she'll walk around and around me.

This morning after church, I was sitting at the end of a row of chairs with our bagel. Els took off towards the front of the sanctuary, then turned down the first row of chairs. Then she came back along the second row. For several minutes, I watched a wisp of blonde hair go up one row and back down the next. At my end, Els would pop out for a second to make sure I was still there and watching. Then she'd head off on another circuit.

Comments:
Sarah: I wonder if it's how the brain learns how the body exists and moves in three dimensions, establishing oneself as a multi dimensional being. Next, time as another dimension?

Nana: You were a circumnavigator too at about the same age going down the hallway, into the livingroom on through the diningroom, into the kitchen,back to the hallway - over and over again - laughing all the way. I think maybe trying your wings a bit, but in a safe place.

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Sat, Oct 10, 2009 9:00 PM
Sharing is not one of Eluned's strengths, at least not yet. She is especially possessive around the cats. If the cats so much as sniff at her food or the toy she's playing with, Els will chase them off with "no meow-meow no!"

Someone, presumably a cat, pulled a decorative red string out of the box of wrapping paper and supplies. Els found it on the floor and started waving it around. Well, the cat thought that was great fun and joined right in. Els scolded the cat ("no meow-meow"). When that didn't work, Els took off running, trailing the string behind her, growing more and more agitated as the cat chased her across the floor.

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Sat, Oct 3, 2009 8:00 AM
My Aunt Ginny is down here for a visit and last night she gave Eluned her bath. Afterward Aunt Ginny broke out the goat's milk lotion (that we hardly ever use) and gave Els a thorough application. Els loved it.

Els has had a touch of a cold all week, so before bed Will and I tend to her nose. To distract her last night, Aunt Ginny rubbed more lotion onto her feet. Well, foot; we move fast. Then Aunt Ginny did the other foot. And we realized, Els was so distracted by her nose that she didn't realize that Aunt Ginny had gotten the first foot. Els was very insistent ("foot. this.") until Aunt Ginny applied another layer.

Els was so delighted with her lotion that she kept finding new spots that she felt Aunt Ginny had missed. Els would point them out, "this, more," so Aunt Ginny could get them too.

Comments:
Ann: I took a couple of cute pix of her while the choir was warming up Sunday -- cool shades and all. :) Then Will tried to give her a teddy bear to play with, but she wouldn't take it from him -- he set it down on a chair, and THEN she'd pick it up. Yes, yes, you have an Independent Woman on your hands. :)

Sarah: Next it will be, "Peel me a grape." Heh.

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