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

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Tue, Sep 29, 2009 11:00 PM
A few people have told me recently that Eluned is getting taller, but I couldn't really see it for myself until tonight. Sure, she's gone up another pants size and she can reach higher on our counters/tables/shelves, so I know she is growing.

When I picked her up at Bertha's, Els stood in her carseat for a few minutes.

I can clearly remember earlier this year, around the time she was first learning to walk -- Els was so excited to stand up against the back of the carseat, peer over the back, and try to reach the light in the ceiling of the car. The top of her head barely cleared the top of the carseat.

Tonight the top of the carseat didn't even reach her shoulders. Els could have touched the car light with ease.

Comments:
Sarah: Short people are not treated the same way as taller people. In my mind's eye, I can see her a couple of decades from now, tall and beautiful and intelligent.

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Mon, Sep 28, 2009 9:00 PM
Earlier this month we took Eluned to the Hollywood Bowl for two concerts, Bolero and then Berlioz' Requiem, both performed by the Los Angeles Philharmonic. My sister Rachel joined us.

The first evening went almost perfectly. We arrived early enough to get in a nursing session and then let Els run back and forth in one of the cross-aisles before the concert started. We brought a picnic dinner and ate during the first part of the concert. From our cheap seats at the back of the Bowl, we could see all the way to the Hollywood sign.

Els loved the music as much as I hoped she would. She spent much of the first part of the concert standing by us. She danced. She held on to the back of the wooden seats in front of us, and periodically knelt down and peered through the slats. As the concert progressed, she spent more and more time on various laps. Finally she fell asleep in my arms.

The second concert didn't go quite as smoothly. It started out well. We arrived even earlier, so I finally got to see the gift store. They have some great books and a variety of light-up toys that Els found fascinating. Then we looked around the picnic tables for a good spot and saw parts of the Bowl and of Hollywood that I'd never seen before, but in the end we just found our seats and ate there. Tickets hadn't sold as well for Requiem, so the ushers offered upgraded seats to everyone in our section and we got to sit much closer this time.

Els remembered the Bowl. When we got to our seats she started dancing again. But a few minutes into the concert and she was already restless, so I took her for another run along the cross-aisle behind our seats. We came back to our seats, but she started fussing again. It turns out Berlioz' Requiem is loud, surprisingly loud. Will took her back up so I could eat a little more, and then I joined them. When Els saw me she started crying, so I carried her out of the Bowl.

We spent the rest of the concert exploring the Hollywood Bowl. They have signs all over with blown-up photos detailing the history of the Bowl and the surrounding area. We found all the restaurants. We peeked into the expensive seats and the back of the Bowl, where the dressing rooms and such are. Els fell asleep in the Ergo.

Comments:
Kate: The description of the concert said something about "Berlioz' rarely-performed Requiem." In hindsight, I should have read that sentence differently.

sarah: Since I hardly ever comment in this scrapbook (according to Will), I thought this time I'd put in my 2 cents' worth. I agree with Els' musical taste. Never have been very fond of Berlioz, myself. "Full of sound and fury, signifying nothing" comes to mind as a descriptor.

Wonder what she thinks of Tchaikovsky or Mozart...

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Wed, Sep 23, 2009 10:00 PM
My baby wouldn't let me carry her from the car into the house tonight. Eluned insisted on getting down and walking by herself through the garage, up to the patio and into the house.

Actually she only made it out of the garage onto the patio. There's a big nandina (or heavenly bamboo) bush by the door. Els stopped there to squish nandina berries. She was carefully picking up every nandina berry in sight and sorting them into a neat pile when Will finally picked her up and carried her into the house.

Comments:
victoria jechart: Wow, she sounds just like BD at that age, already sorting 'lego's' and things into little piles by shape and color. So cute.

Sarah: Sure. She had her own intention of what she wanted to do when she got out of the car, and she knew if she was carried, she'd go straight into the house. It takes a smart kid to think like that. She's a strategist, for sure.

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Tue, Sep 22, 2009 9:00 PM
We went for a walk last night. It was supposed to be a short walk after dinner and before bedtime, but it was such a nice walk that we stayed out longer than we planned. The apartment complex around the corner isn't much to look at but they have some beautiful mature landscaping, so we went there.

Eluned held Will's hand on the way there. She broke into a run, and then it became a game. She'd say "run" and they'd run and then "stop" and they'd walk and then "run" again.

When we got out of bed this morning, Els found her shoes on the floor, held them up, and said, "walk Daddy run."

Comments:
Sarah: Els seems to have transitioned from baby to little girl nearly over night. At least it feels that way. When she "gets it" she does so remarkably fast; for instance, going from one word to multiple words, multiple meanings joined with social interaction, apparently over night. What a great kid.

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Sun, Sep 20, 2009 10:00 AM
Eluned has learned to say "okay" and "yup" as well as "no." It's a welcome change for us, and it's much easier to figure out whether she wants something or not. Trying to guess whether she used the affirmative "no" or the negative "no" was challenging.

Comments:
Sarah: Yup. Ready for her John Wayne imitation?

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Sat, Sep 19, 2009 5:00 PM
Eluned has learned the words for directions: "move," "go," "c'mon," "sit down." She still pulls me where she wants me, and she has started pulling Will around too. But now she will also tell me what she wants me to do or where she wants me to go. If I sit in her little rocking chair she may come over, push the chair and say, "rock, rock."

Before she could say "sit down," Els would sit and pat her hand next to herself to tell us to join her. Last week she sat against the wall at the far end of the kitchen and did both, patting and saying "sit down," so Will sat next to her. Els kept patting, though, so I sat on the other side. For a few minutes we all just sat in a row. Then, and I don't remember who started it or why, we started scooting. The three of us, all together, Els holding on to Will's and my legs, scooted up and down the kitchen floor. Els thought it was a great game.

Today, we were trying (unsuccessfully) to get Els to take a nap on a comforter on the floor. She came up to me on the couch and told me to "move." With some tugging, pushing, patting and a lot of "move. no. this," Els got me to lie down on the comforter. Then she covered me with a blanket and went off to play.

Comments:
sarah: ROFL! Talk about role reversal....

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Thu, Sep 17, 2009 10:00 PM
Eluned has discovered that if she has a boo-boo (perceived or real) people will kiss it for her. She offers us fingers and hands to kiss all the time now.

Tonight I was trying to get a quick dinner together when Els bumped her left knee on something and started to fuss. I called her over for a kiss; in a bit of a hurry, I kissed the easiest knee to reach. Oh no. Els patted her left knee and said "this, this" until I got back down and properly kissed her knee.

Comments:
Kate: Els doesn't cradle her hand afterward, but she might offer it again if she thinks it needs more kisses. I wouldn't say she's doing this deliberately, at least not yet, but I think perhaps she plays up her boo-boos a bit.

Sarah: Jenny used to come to me to kiss her boo-boo, then to her daddy and then work up a great case of the sniffles before presenting her boo-boo to her grandmother. She really soaked up the attention. Now she's the very opposite, and won't tell you what's wrong until she's ready to be loaded onto a guerney and wheeled into the OR. Kids!

swati: if she hurts her fingers or hands does she hold them tenderly even after you kissed it? Aneri used to do that. Still does. She acts as if it hurts more than it really does.

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Sat, Sep 12, 2009 9:00 PM
Eluned is starting to demand my attention. She's at her most insistent when I try to have a grown-up conversation with my sister, especially politics (so we've started saving those until after Els goes to bed). Housework is almost as likely to bring a round of "Mommy Mommy MOMMY." But Els will even interrupt a nursing session to make sure she has my attention.

Happily, the delightful child has decided that mornings are Daddy time. This morning she tucked me in with a piece of kleenex and said, "Mommy sleep." Then she thumped her dad and said "Daddy Daddy Daddy" until Will woke up.

Comments:
Sarah: Part of healthy ego development is a strong sense of self and the ability to interact with or control other selves, as they continue to be discovered as being important to oneself. Eventually she'll learn that you have not abandoned her emotionally just because you're not paying immediate attention to her. But that's another stage....

Swati: That's funny. I remember when Aneri would try to divert my attention anytime I tried to talk to anybody. She would always try and act innocent but I knew her devious little mind.

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Tue, Sep 8, 2009 10:00 PM
Will and I are starting to find things in unexpected places. The lowest kitchen drawer is a favorite. We find Eluned's toys in there, laundry (clean, at least), other kitchen supplies ...

I left for work early the other day. I searched all over for my shoes, and finally gave up and left in a different pair. That night, Rachel showed me my shoes in the drawer.

Tonight Will pointed to a brightly colored sock and two small toys on the kitchen table. He had found them in the bag of cat food.

Comments:
Sarah: Waiting for potatoes in the bathtub....

Ann: Hee! Eluned the kleptomaniac! I love it! :)

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Mon, Sep 7, 2009 5:00 PM
Eluned has started leading me around the house. She holds on to my skirt and pulls me where she wants me to go. She'll pull me all the way across the house, turn around, and drag me all the way back as if it's a game.

The other night at bedtime, Els walked through the gate at our bedroom door and started to close it. Then she came back, took my skirt and led me through with her. And then she turned around and closed the gate behind us.

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Sat, Sep 5, 2009 9:00 PM
Update on a couple of previous posts ...

Eluned and I were sitting on the couch this morning when my sister left for an appointment. Will came downstairs a few minutes later and Els told him, "out Auntie door." (She said even more than that, but those were the words we understood.) So Els is starting to use more than one word at a time.

A few days ago, Will and I got busy with something and then realized that neither of us had seen Els for a few minutes. We found her happily perusing one of my catalogs -- Els had found the shoe section.

Comments:
Nana: The trickle has become a stream and soon will be a torrent. What an exciting time for her (and you).

Sarah: Told you! Once she's learned to select several words together, a complete paragraph is not far behind. With her bright mind, I expect you will be wishing, in the near future, that she hadn't learned to ask questions. Heh, heh. She is going to notice everything and ask you about it. A force of nature, just waiting to be unleashed. What a kid.

OK, Will. Another comment posted. So there!

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