About Jane

Jane seems to have made an intellectual leap over the past couple weeks. She has added several new words to her vocabulary and uses them with glee. When she sees someone heading for a door, she will wave and say "ba!" for bye, even before anyone else waves or says anything. She absolutely loves seeing dogs in any form, and even recognizes highly stylized cartoon dogs on TV. She gets super excited, points and shouts Da! Da! until we recognize her accomplishment. Oh, and when she sees pictures of sheep she says "ba-ha-ha-ha!"

I am amused by how opinionated she has become about books. When I sit with her in her room to read board books, she will lean over toward her bookshelf and start pointing. If I get the right book, she happily squirms down onto my lap, grins and helps me turn the pages. If I get a book she doesn't like, she will try to close it, or push it away saying "nah!" or even try to shimmy off my lap. This morning she just wanted to read the same book over and over, and every time I tried to get a new one she pushed it out of my hands and pointed to the same book again. So...we read it quite a few times. At the end of the book she lifts two flaps to reveal a mirror. Every time, she laughed and said "baby!" when she saw herself.

She has leapt ahead on lots of little tasks, like stacking blocks (she is getting the hang of putting smaller blocks on top of bigger ones for better results). Also, the other day when she picked up a tiny doll hat and I told her "hat!" she put it on her head and grinned. She is enjoying doing funny things and then looking around to be sure everyone appreciates her comedy.

Soccer player

Jane stands up!

Yesterday, Jane pulled herself up to stand--all by herself--for the first time. Most babies hit this milestone well before their first birthdays, but that just means this accomplishment is all the sweeter for Jane. We've been working on the motions a lot in physical therapy and whenever I can incorporate them into her regular playtime, and now it's finally paid off. She managed to pull herself up to stand on the slide in the backyard twice (I ran to get the camera after the first time and luckily she did it again). She's at kind of a crazy angle, but she even tried to take one little step before she flopped down. Go Jane!

My helper

Jane has lately taken on the time honored Graff Girl tradition of helping me unload the dishwasher. Notice her glee (I think she can hardly believe I'm letting her do this):

Check out the neat stack of bowls:

Hoping for crumbs: 

Jane speaks

Three new words:

"Da" for dog. Every time she sees a dog--real, on TV or even a toy--she excitedly points and squeals and says "Da! Da!"

"Ba" for ball. This word has been coming and going for weeks, but I've heard her say it several times in the last two days.

"Baby." She has said it, perfectly clearly, several times. Today she pointed at a doll while saying it.

Weekend in Santa Barbara

Robert and I just spent a much-needed weekend away from the girls. We went to Santa Barbara, less than two hours away by car but a universe away in spirit. It was heavenly having all that free time to do as we pleased and not having to worry about taking care of anyone or doing anything resembling work.

We stayed at the Canary Hotel:


I didn't get any photos of the room, but it was pretty and the bed was super comfy. Here I am standing in front of the hotel door:

At the Santa Barbara Mission:


We took the self-guided tour of the mission and saw the interior rooms, sanctuary and gardens. But the best view was from the front:


We did a LOT of walking, mostly up and down State Street going to restaurants and shops. We also walked all the way to the beach just to get a look at the ocean:


The roof of our hotel had a patio and pool. One of the highlights of the weekend was the hour we spent up there basking in the sun, which was just warm enough to be comfortable (with a breeze blowing to make it sheer perfection):


The view from the roof was beautiful. Hard to tell in this photo, but that's the ocean in the distance:


We ate like kings the entire weekend. The best meal was at a steakhouse called Lucky's, where we met our friends Zach and Martha for dinner. They are newlyweds, so naturally we gleefully scared them about what life with kids is really like.

I felt like a nerd asking them to take our picture in the restaurant, but I wanted to get the shot. We look so relaxed and happy (possibly the bottle(s) of Syrah had something to do with it):


Today (Sunday) we wrapped up the weekend with a drive through some of Santa Barbara's surrounding wine country. I highly recommend visiting the Gainey Vineyard if you ever have the chance, even if you're not particularly interested in drinking wine. They were very friendly, gave an awesome tour and mini-lesson in wine making, and had a bunch of food items out for tasting in addition to the wine.

Wine-to-be growing in the sun:


Fermenting in oak barrels:


Going into the happy, happy people:


We only did a smidge of tasting, but it was enough to help us pick out a few bottles to bring home. Even the drive home was relaxing--we stopped for sodas, felt unhurried and listened to an audiobook together. We arrived home to cranky kids all hyped up to see us, and insanity ensued as we struggled our way through dinner and bedtime. But now it's quiet again and I'm enjoying looking at the photos. And wishing we were doing it again next weekend. Well...maybe we can at least get away a little more often than ever 2+ years!

Manicures

My new fall schedule calls for a weekly outing one-on-one with Maggie. Yesterday we got manicures--Maggie's first. She felt very grown up as she chose her polish (gold sparkles) and got her nails filed and painted. And they only charged $5! I got my nails done too, and afterward we did a little birthday gift shopping for my mom and had a snack together.

A few photos of Jane

Jane is 15 months old

I took Jane in for her 15-month check-up today. She is 31 1/2 inches tall, weighs 20 pounds 4 ounces, and has a head circumference of 47 centimeters. She is healthy and doing great. She is hitting all her milestones for fine motor, social and communication skills. She's still way behind on her gross motor skills, of course. I talked to the doctor about her physical therapy and progress (or lack thereof) and she gave me some advice about possibly pursuing a different source of therapy. So I'll be looking into that.

Meanwhile, Jane is still my happy, sweet little girl. She loves to be held, but she also crawls all over the place and easily goes up on her knees to reach things (but doesn't yet pull up to stand). If I stand her up against something like the couch, she will hold on and balance there for a while. This is good exercise for her and we do it several times a day.

She likes to use everyday objects purposefully, like holding the phone up to her ear and babbling, or pointing the remote at the TV. If someone says Hi or Bye, she waves even if she doesn't see someone wave first. When she hears music, she dances by bouncing up and down. We've been working on teaching body parts, and she's starting to point at noses a little.

She says Mama, uh-oh, nah (no), hi, dat (that) and meow (when she sees a picture of a cat). Those are her most reliable words right now. She often mimics other words or noises, and sometimes will be working on a certain word for a while but then seems to forget it. For example, she was saying "nana" for banana for several days, then stopped, and I can't get her to say it again.

Janey still likes to eat, and eats plenty. Every few weeks I make her a batch of mini muffins with gluten-free flour and keep them in the freezer. She loves these. I just used a new recipe to make pumpkin-apple muffins and they turned out particularly well (the girls have been scarfing them down too). Other favorite foods are scrambled eggs, wheat-free waffles, Cheerios (especially when she eats them out of her snack-trap cup), most fruits, and ice cream.

Her naps have been a bit unpredictable lately. She has been transitioning from two naps to one for several weeks, and is still in the phase where one day she falls asleep at 9 am, another day at 1pm...some days she takes one long nap, some days two short ones...it's harder to plan my days but otherwise it's no big deal. At night she goes down easily around 7 p.m. She gets a bath or a wipe-down with a washcloth, teeth brushed, pajamas, stories, cuddles, and then into the crib. I still do her bedtime routine most nights, but Robert's taking it over more and more often. She rarely gives us any trouble, though sometimes she wakes up in the middle of the night and needs some comfort and a pacifier before going back down.

That's Jane in a nutshell--plus of course, there's all the unbearable cuteness, the outrageous sweetness, the unquantifiable lovableness--that's our soft, warm, sweet-smelling, bright-eyed, happy-talking, perfect girl!

O happy (mostly) day

After six long weeks, Maggie got her cast removed! She was looking forward to it all day, though she was a little anxious about the noisy saw.

As soon as the cast came off, her arm started aching. She also has some raw spots on her skin. All of that is normal and shouldn't last too long.

We celebrated by visiting Robert's office. He had a surprise ready for her: cupcakes!

She says her arm isn't aching now, but she's babying it and won't use it for anything. She'd been looking forward to doing her homework with her left hand, but I think we'll have to wait until tomorrow to tackle it.

The not-so-happy news is that she has to be careful for six more weeks: no sports, running or jumping. I think we can handle it; we're just so happy to have the cast finally gone!

Happenings

Maggie: Loves kindergarten. Is adorable in her school clothes. Is still being a trooper about her broken arm; the cast comes off Tuesday (yaaaaay!). Loves long fairy tales, especially the parts that involve princes, kisses and weddings.

Audrey: Loves preschool. Stayed longer on Wednesday and Friday so she could nap there. Has stopped eating; is living on milk and air. Loves building puzzles and throwing balls. Gives wonderful tight hugs and noisy kisses.

Jane: Sweet and adorable as ever. Says Mama constantly. Still learning how to stand up with the physical therapist's help; doesn't much like it. Always ready to giggle and snuggle. Loves to rifle through drawers and cabinets; is talented at finding the smallest most dangerous objects and popping them in her mouth before laughing and handing them over to me.

Robert: Bought a gigantic redwood play structure used, cheap. Spending many happy hours reconstructing it and planning its renovation. Preparing for official title of Dad of the Year when structure is complete.

Deborah: Given up on writing for the moment; concentrating on settling into the new fall schedule and keeping the family on track. Worried that I over-committed as a volunteer at Maggie's school. Taking walks several times a week; listening to audio books keeps me motivated. Focusing on feeling grateful for all I have and happy in the present moment, which is pretty darned wonderful.

Royal food taster

Jane has recently become suspicious of random foods that I set before her. This morning it was chopped up fresh pear, even though pear is normally one of her favorites. I tried to pop a few pieces into her mouth, but she clamped down her lips and gave me the look of death. I ate a few pieces myself and yummed, but that didn't work. Then I fed some to Maggie, who obligingly yummed, licked her lips and rubbed her tummy. That made Jane smile. Then I tried to give some to her again, and she took it happily. After that first taste she scooped up the rest herself and finished it in a few seconds.

An early birthday gift

Robert just surprised me with news of my birthday present...a few weeks early. He has arranged childcare so we can go away for a weekend together (which we've only done once since we started having kids...and that was over two years ago). He knows I like planning trips and I like looking forward to things, so he chose the date and lined up the grandparents, and now I get to pick the destination and look for ideas online. Yay!

So...any suggestions for where we should go? Cities, hotels? We want to be able to drive there, so nothing more than a few hours' drive from L.A.

Audrey's first day of preschool

Ever since we attended orientation last Thursday, Audrey was really looking forward to starting preschool. She was very excited all weekend and we talked several times about what she would wear, and she was especially looking forward to playing with a magnet set she had started to play with at orientation.

This morning I had to rush to get everyone ready and dressed by 8 a.m. Robert took Maggie to school and I took the littles with me to preschool...but not before taking time to pose for some photos outside.

Audrey was ready to go in her new dress and shoes, lunchbox in hand:

She is so proud of being able to spell and write her name now, and she loves reading it on things like her lunchbox:

Three years old:

Walking up to preschool:

Putting her lunchbox in her cubby:

Settling in for circle time. She gave me one or two glances over her shoulder, and then was happily singing along:


I hovered outside the room for a few minutes, but it was unnecessary. Audrey was perfectly happy and confident. After singing, they lined up to march into the main classroom and Audrey didn't even look at me. She was holding hands with another girl and grinning as she went into the classroom to start the day.

As I was leaving, a couple of the other new moms started to get teary. I smiled at them and felt like an old pro--after all, I'd already sent Maggie to preschool and kindergarten, and Audrey had gone off to daycamp this summer. This wasn't a painful separation.

Then I got into the car with Jane and it hit me. Suddenly I wanted Audrey very much. I missed her nonstop chatter and her fierce and frequent hugs and kisses. I got a little teary myself, and I warned Jane that I might not ever be able to stand sending her to preschool.

The morning passed quickly (and quietly) before I picked up Maggie and then went to preschool to get Audrey at 12:30. But she didn't want to leave! Her school actually goes later, but I had decided to pick her up at 12:30, figuring four hours is plenty. But she begged to stay, so I left and returned to pick her up at 2:15. Even then she didn't want to leave, but I lured her with the promise of a snack at home.

Her teachers reported that she had a great first day. She stacked cubes and counted them so well that they had her do the number rods, and she counted those too. She drew a picture and wrote A on it, and she told me that next time she'll write her whole name. She is very excited to go back. I couldn't have asked for a better first day for her.

Big girl beds

At long last, Maggie and Audrey have twin beds in their room. Poor Maggie has been asking for a bigger bed for about a year now, and was looking increasingly cramped in her toddler bed. We decided on these white beds for both of them. Maggie pored over catalogs looking at all the options for bedding, and she fell in love with these polka dot sheets. Luckily Audrey liked them too, and both of them are claiming "red and pink" as favorite colors right now, so it all worked out perfectly.

Much as it pains my heart, I must now admit that the room is completely transforming from a nursery to a big-girl room. I'm going to shop around for some more accessories and wall decorations to reflect my two big girls' growing personalities.

Kindergarten and preschool

Those four hours of kindergarten flew by...at least they did for me! It seemed like I had hardly dropped her off when it was time to meet her outside her classroom. Maggie had a big smile on her face and couldn't wait to tell me about her day. The thing she most wanted to talk about was lunch: the cafeteria, the line for milk, and the most amazing thing of all--lunches for sale. Maggie was beyond excited to discover that kids can buy lunches at school, and she wants to study the menu and pick some days when she can buy lunch. She is also considering buying chocolate milk every day. Since she hasn't been drinking much milk lately, I was happy to hear this.

She told me all about sitting on the rainbow rug to sing songs and listen to stories. She also liked sitting at her seat, though she was disappointed that it was a table instead of an individual desk like she had seen on TV. They got a lesson in telling time, colored a picture, and wrote their names. She said that she was having a hard time writing her name with her right hand and one of the teachers said she couldn't read it, and this made Maggie feel really bad, but luckily the other teacher came right over and explained about the cast and that Maggie wasn't able to write with her primary hand right now. That made Maggie feel a lot better (and I was relieved to hear that the teacher remembered and smoothed this over!). Maggie's looking forward to getting her cast off (in less than two weeks) so she can show her teachers how well she can write her name.

Maggie says her favorite parts of kindergarten are playing on the playground and reading books at quiet time. She can't wait to go back tomorrow.

And now for the preschool portion of this post: This afternoon I took Audrey to preschool for orientation, because she starts next Monday. She was nervous about going and told me she was going to be shy and wouldn't talk to anyone. But as soon as we got there and she remembered everything about the school, she started acting very happy and comfortable. I felt the same way--it was like coming home! I hadn't been there since Maggie's graduation in June, and it was nice to see the teachers and the students again. Everyone wanted to know how Maggie was doing, and they were all happy to see Audrey too.

Audrey got to play with some of the materials that before, she was never allowed to explore very much when we visited Maggie at school. I kept pointing out to her that she would get to spend a lot of time on all these things now, and that pleased her. She had a snack and a drink, and played for a long time with a magnet set while I chatted with other new parents and caught up with the teachers. By the time we left, Audrey was feeling great about preschool and says she's really looking forward to starting school there next week. I hope she feels the same way on Monday!

First day of kindergarten

Maggie started kindergarten today. She was excited (but a little nervous) this morning as she got ready. She picked this outfit from her new wardrobe of school clothes that fit the dress code.


She was very proud of her new red backpack. Inside was her lunch box, a water bottle, and a folder for bringing home paperwork.

All five of us went to school together and spent some time on the yard before class started at 8:45. Maggie and Audrey both played on the playground for a while and were happy to see their friend Rocco, who's in the same class as Maggie.


Inside the room we counted 23 spots for the a.m. kindergarten class. Each child had a pencil box with their name on it, with crayons and a pencil inside.

Back outside, Maggie was really happy to discover one of her favorite thing: hopscotch.


At 8:45, the teachers called for the kids to line up. They waved goodbye to all the parents, blew kisses, and marched into the classroom. Maggie waved happily and walked away without a backward glance. I got a little bit teary at that point. I was so proud of her, and have mixed feelings about her being in "real" school now. When she was in preschool I always had the options to keep her home when I wanted to, take her out early for fun activities, etc. But now that luxury is gone. It makes me kind of glad that she's in the a.m. class, so we still have long afternoons for other activities.

Vegas

My friends Suzie, Amy, Laurie and I decided spur of the moment to go to Vegas for a quick one-night trip. We went to Star Trek: The Experience for one last visit before it closes forever. We also did a lot of shopping, talking, eating and walking. A LOT of walking. Almost enough to burn off all the calories from the ridiculous blue cocktail I had that was mostly ice cream.