Baby C has been having a grand old time lately. After months of barely speaking words, she has started trying to say everything…my current favorites are her renditions of armadillo, meatball, and her santa “ho ho ho”. She has also made up her own sign for blankie. The only color she can name is yellow, and it applies to everything. She has a fearsome “roar” for lion, and abbreviated trunk swing and squeak for elephant, and likes to spend story hour at the library pointing to all the other kids and squealing “baby!”
Unfortunately, my great sleeper has fallen off the wagon and G and I have the dark eye circles and grumpy mornings to prove it. At least her nap refusal phase seems to have passed (hard to deal with if you are used to a four hour baby free block every afternoon)! She has also gotten much friendlier and gives lots of hugs and kisses at bedtime.
Baby C attended her first birthday party where she seemed to know at least some of what was going on. I pushed her into an old outfit of big C’s and she wore it well…
You might be able to see some other current interests, such as a bones necklace which has stuck around after Halloween and her ability to drag a chair over to the kitchen computer and then demand “Da!” which is “dance”—she loves the YouTube.
This Thanksgiving was possibly my most chill…yes, it required 3 nights of cooking before Thanksgiving and essentially the whole day of, but I had everything in the oven on time and most of the prep dishes cleaned well in advance of dinner being served. Potato and Leek Casserole from MSL was a huge hit, a new to me riff on pumpkin pie, who can say no to adding chocolate and bourbon to pecan pie?, and I made my own seitan roast. Rounded out with veggie miso gravy and vanilla bean ice cream, and dishes brought by guests. The only flop was pumpkin rolls, but overall the meal went well.
G’s cousin W was able to visit for a long weekend over Thanksgiving and we dragged him out downtown for some fun kid-style. The aquarium was a great choice (baby C could actually see stuff!) and Santa was diving that day.
We also did our annual post-Thanksgiving Fremont trip—vegetarian brunch, Fremont Troll visits, and boutique shopping.
(With some below freezing temperatures G and W were able to try out some handknit hats and big C was rocking her fingerless mitts!)
And then suddenly it was December and we are scrambling to get ready for the holidays! Some unplanned bumps in the road (baby C dislocated her elbow, a bug infestation false alarm) and a busier social schedule than usual haven’t helped. Which is to say, the annual Christmas plate of cookies that I give to neighbors is in danger of getting scrapped this year. We’ll see. I am about 75% done with present shopping, still have some present making to do…we don’t have outdoor lights up….we have a tree but it isn’t decorated yet. Oy, the New Years cards aren’t even close to done. Yikes. December fail over here.
