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

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Wed, Apr 29, 2009 10:00 PM
Eluned has a whole new interest in the buckles on her carseat. We could see her looking at them and trying to puzzle them out. I guess now she has figured them out, because she'll try to hold one side of the chest clasp for me so I can snap the other piece in. She's just about got it, too.

And Will has discovered that when we forget and leave the downstairs gate open, all he has to do is ask -- "Els, will you please close the gate for me? -- and she does! Well, she can't close the handle yet. But she swings the gate closed.

Comments:
Sarah: Clearly a child with a genius for the mechanical. Gate closing, buckle insertion...what's next?

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Tue, Apr 28, 2009 8:00 PM
Eluned loves sitting in our laps now. She'll back in to us and sit down. It's very cute to watch when I'm sitting on the floor, Els patiently backing up. Even if there's no lap or leg available to sit on, she'll back into one of us anyway and slide to the floor to sit next to us.

All of this sitting is frequently accompanied by a book.

Comments:
Aunt Ginny: Over Easter when playing with her eggs, I swear I heard Els say "take it" whenever she handed me an egg.

Kate: We take the hint. Although I have recently resorted to hiding certain books from her after, oh, the 5th or 6th time we've read it to her in the past hour.

Sarah: accompanied by a book? can you take a hint?

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Mon, Apr 27, 2009 8:00 PM
Eluned has reached the mimic stage. I have to be careful, so I don't count words towards her vocabulary when she's just imitating us.

I was sorting laundry over the weekend. I set a few things aside into a separate pile and said "stinky." Els starting pulling laundry out of the basket and saying "stinky stinky" (well, close enough).

Els has also started playing a game that's sort of acting out an animal-monster-growling role. The first time she did it I thought something was wrong, until I realized she was just playing. She usually gets down on the floor, or she stomps around, and growls and makes funny noises.

Comments:
Sarah: What a wonderful mental visual image: tall, blond daddy and little Els, down on the floor together, growling and stomping nd making funny noises. There's nothing like a placid household.

Daddy: Daddy is more than happy to encourage this behavior by joining her. Loads of fun, quite stress relieving, actually.

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Wed, Apr 22, 2009 7:00 PM
I remembered the other firsts from this weekend ... Eluned discovered that she can flush the toilet. We're discouraging that a little, but only a little; we hope she still thinks it's fun in a year or two. Mostly we're trying to keep the bathroom door shut.

And Els found the fridge magnets. They're her new favorite toys. I rearranged them so she can only reach the baby-safe ones, mostly advertising magnets for take-out food, etc. She'll take one off the fridge and carry it around the house, then put it back. She keeps trying to stick them to other things, although thus far they've only stuck to the cheese grater and the bottom of her feet.

Then tonight, Els got her fingers caught in a drawer and fussed for a second until I rushed over and freed her. I went back to what I was doing, but I heard her fussing again so I ran back over -- and she was fine. Els was acting out the fussing again to see what I'd do. When it worked the second time, she did it a third time. But by then Daddy was on to her.

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Mon, Apr 20, 2009 8:00 PM
Eluned tried a bunch of new things this past weekend. She had her first piece of candy (or, first that Mommy and Daddy know about), a See's dark chocolate caramel, naturally. She liked it, but gave half her piece to Mommy and would have shared with Daddy too. She had her first popcorn, which she loved. She had her first taste of ice cream -- well, this frozen soy milk/fruit puree dessert that Daddy calls ice cream -- anyway, Daddy and Els like it.

And Els had her first fish. I was going to hold off a while longer, but we had this wonderful grilled salmon and Dr. Zimble wants to make sure our fruit-loving girl is getting enough fat. Els tried a couple of bites.

About 20 minutes later Els spit out a big mouthful of what looked for all the world like the foam stuffing from a cushion. Will and I were trying to figure out what she'd eaten when we realized it was very, very well-chewed salmon. Els never did swallow any, I don't think. She just chewed it like gum for a while.

Comments:
Sarah: I had to laugh at this one. She didn't hate it, or she would have spit it out immediately, I'm guessing. Was she trying to figure out what it was?

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Sun, Apr 19, 2009 3:00 PM
It's my understanding that toddlers Eluned's age don't really play with other children yet, but Eluned sure tries. She and Nathan, the little boy at Bertha's, are best buddies.

When we go to the playground, Els is starting to interact with the other children there. And I'm impressed with how willing older children are to include her, or at least to play around her so she doesn't get bumped or jostled.

Els and I were sitting up on the play structure watching some kids run around. One boy climbed up, ran right by us and hopped off the other side. Els started yelling at him, and it was so obvious that the little boy turned around, looked at her and said, "What?" before running off.

Bertha told me she found her granddaughter sitting with Els last week. They were sharing a pair of headphones, one in each of their ears, and watching a movie together on her granddaughter's iPod.

And today at the mall Els met a very happy, friendly, 18-month-old named Reagan. They were very interested in each other and Els followed Reagan up and down our end of the food court. Reagan even tried to hold hands with Els.

Comments:
Sarah: Hmmm...I get the feeling that what's "generally" true of "most" children may not be so for Els. She seems like an exceptional child, in more ways than one!

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Tue, Apr 14, 2009 7:00 PM
Eluned had her 15 month appointment yesterday. She weighs 20 pounds, 5 ounces and she's 29 1/2 inches tall. That's right on track with her height curve but her weight has fallen off a little. (No one's worried though.)

Els can use about 10 words* now in a mix of English and ASL (and maybe some Spanish, I'm not sure yet). This means she has the vocabulary of a typical 18-month-old, although Dr. Zimble says firstborn girls are often advanced with language skills.

Dr. Zimble also said that Els can probably follow simple instructions now -- if the mood strikes her. So when we got home I decided to test this. I asked Els to bring me the bag of peanuts that she had knocked over. Els gave me the same look you'd give me if you didn't know what peanuts were ("seriously?"). I rephrased my question and asked her to hand me the red bag by her foot -- and she did!

* Mommy, Daddy, hi, bye, kitty (speak and sign), doggy, up (speak and sign), down (sign), all done (sign) and (maybe) tree.

Comments:
Sarah: I am struck by the particular words she can use, and obviously the much wider range of the ones she understands and can respond to. It will be interesting to follow her vocabulary as it expands.

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Mon, Apr 13, 2009 3:00 PM
I wasn't sure what Eluned would make of her first Easter egg hunt. I even thought about staging a trial run at home on Saturday, but Els was sick so we didn't. I needn't have worried.

We were late to church on Sunday but arrived in time to hear Will perform the solo from Orff's Carmina Burana. Then we wandered back outside to wait for the egg hunt. Els seemed better but I kept her with me, out of the nursery, and we watched the older kids hide the eggs.

Els took to egg hunting immediately, before it had even started. She just started following the older kids and picking up eggs. I stopped her after a few to wait for the other nursery children, by showing her that her plastic eggs opened to reveal treats inside. But when the little kids came out Els lost all interest in the eggs; she watched the other children instead.

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Mon, Apr 6, 2009 9:00 PM
Due to her newfound love of books (and because I don't think I can bring myself to read Good Night, Baby! even one more time), we took Eluned to the library. She's been to the library before, but more as a passenger. This time, we turned her loose in the children's section. She was thrilled. They put the books for the youngest children into bins at the ends of the shelves, so Els started there. We never did get through a whole book. Els would toddle up with one and sit on my lap, but we'd only get a few pages in before she'd hop down and go find another. In the end Will and I chose a few books for her; we'll go back soon.

Comments:
Kate: Jinx. We do. Right now I mostly point out things in the pictures -- trace the shapes in "Skippyjon Jones shape up," suggest the movement in "Hop on Pop," etc. -- but I follow the words sometimes too.

Sarah: Now if I could just teach myself to proofread the entry before I post it...I meant "teaching"....

Sarah: May I suggest that when you read to her, you run your finger under the words as you read them aloud? You may be surprised at how quickly she recognizes words by configuration, long before she gets them phonetically. At the very least, you'll be teacher her to scan left to right, top to bottom, an essential first skill.

OK, I'll get off my teacher's podium now....

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Sat, Apr 4, 2009 3:00 PM
We're starting to see more and more of Eluned's sense of humor. This morning she blew a raspberry on my tummy.

I first noticed a few weeks ago. Els did something that made me laugh. I forget what exactly; I think she accidentally bonked herself on the head with a toy. But when she saw me laughing, she did it again, deliberately. She was trying to make me laugh, to be funny.

If we forget and leave the gate or the back door open, Els will make a break for it. And she loves to be chased. So when she's in a good mood, she'll race us to it, giggling the whole way. We laugh too. And then when she loses the race (although it's getting tighter) Els will just crack up.

Comments:
Sarah: A great sense of humor seems to run in the family.

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Thu, Apr 2, 2009 10:00 PM
Eluned learned "whee" while we were at Disneyland and now we hear "whee" all the time. Our hotel room overlooked the new park, so Will would stand at the window with Els, watch the rides, and say "whee." Els loved looking out that window. Since we've been home I haven't figured out the pattern, but Els says "whee" while she's playing. I've been trying to add some context for her by saying "whee" when we play airplane or swing type of games.

Comments:
Sarah: Whee! Els has learned a new word. Must add it to my vocabulary, too. To see things through the eyes of a child....

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