Red Balloon

Helen and I went to the Red Balloon Bookshop on Tuesday for some new books and a red balloon. She spent the rest of the day playing with it and talking about how it goes "up!":

Happy Birthday!

Jessica came to spend the day with us on my birthday. The best gift of all? Watching Helen and Jess reading books in the sun:

Piano

There were only four kids at music on Wednesday (usually there are 7). Before cleaning up and singing the goodbye song, there is exploration time when they get to play any of the instruments or toys that they used during class. All four of them decided that they wanted to play the piano together. The mom paparazzi went nuts.

Passport

Helen and I went to get my driver's license renewed this morning at the same office where we got her passport last year. Being there reminded me of that crazy day. She was 2 months old and she was sound asleep until they made Eric hold her as far from him as possible while they snapped her picture. As you can see, she was miserable. She didn't even care that she was wearing the cutest little navy blue sleeper chosen especially to make her look adorable on her passport :)

Now, just over a year later, she climbed into the big toy bus they have in the waiting room and turned the steering wheel around and around and pretended to honk the horn. Afterward, we went upstairs to the global market and did some grocery shopping while she sat in her stroller, held her baby and chewed on her new giraffe. On the way home, she sat in her car seat and put on her own mitten. What a big girl! So much has changed in such a short time.

iPhone Love

How do you know Helen is her father's daughter? Check out this video:

Seward Co-op

More than just a grocery store, the new Seward Co-op is one of Helen's favorite destinations. She loves to go there because she gets all kinds of attention from customers and employees alike. When she was smaller, we used to go to the old Seward Co-op just down the street and she would contentedly ride in the Ergo baby carrier observing the sights and sounds and cooing at friendly strangers. Now that she's big, she can help load up the groceries. She looks disgruntled in all these photos, but trust me, she has a good time.

Being forced to help:

Jelly in a Bowl

The highlight of Helen's week is Wednesday morning at music class when it's finally her turn to climb onto the big ball and bounce along to the silliest rhyme imaginable. Throughout the week, we spend a lot of time practicing for this big moment - putting her babies in a circle and bouncing them on a ball. (she makes sure to get a turn between each doll, unlike music class where she has to wait)

Here she is practicing her bouncing skills on her own. I imagine she's chanting "jelly in a bowl" in her head because she dismounts with a classic "boh boh boh" sound:

Children's Museum

We met Zach and Simon and Stella at the Children's Museum yesterday and spent a lot of time in the new Clifford exhibit. Helen enjoyed dressing up like a dog and sitting up at the art table with the big kids making dot-dot-dots with crayons. Simon couldn't get enough of the slide.

How old are you, Climber?

Helen is serious about climbing. With zeal, she'll tackle any chair or couch or set of stairs. Here she is a couple weeks ago, so proud of her new ability to climb onto the dining room chairs all by herself.










And here's a video of Helen one month ago (14 months), telling us how old she is:

Play Dough

Helen had to stay home from art class today and go to the doctor instead. She has a rash all over that is the result of a virus she's fighting. They thought it might be strep (negative), so she had to brave a throat culture. As usual, she hardly complains when she's sick - even though she's also dealing with six new teeth coming in at the same time. Amazing kid!

Homemade play dough to the rescue:

1 cup flour
1/2 cup salt
1 cup water
2 tablespoons oil
2 tablespoons cream of tartar
food coloring
vanilla

Doctor Frost

Helen has had a slight fever for the last few days. It used to be a struggle to use the ear thermometer, but now we just check Big Girl's temperature first and then Helen sits very still while I check hers.

Art Class: Dot! Dot! Dot!

Helen started art class a few weeks ago at a lovely little place called Articulture. Every time we say the words, "art class" or "your teacher, Emily," Helen stops what she's doing, pokes her finger on whatever surface she's in front of and says, "DOT! DOT! DOT!" During the second class, Emily showed Helen how to take a marker and make dots on her paper. Obviously, it made an impression.

There are three other 1-2 year-old kids in the group. At the beginning of each class, the kids play with some toys designed to introduce texture and color. Then Emily reads a story (see blurry photo above) and leads them into the art room for some projects. Last week was play dough (see photo) - upcoming lessons are: pastels, drawing, painting, movable art, collage, carving/printing - we have so much fun!

Here's her very first painting from week 1:

Here she is demonstrating her ability to paint without looking (believe me, she really does enjoy this):

Turn Around, Skip to My Lou

Another video of Helen practicing her music class skills. If you couldn't guess, "ba-ba" means "baby."

Bounce

Helen loves to climb. She loves to dance and play with her dolls and run around the house. She loves to play peek-a-boo and she loves to sit and read books. But, what she really loves more than anything is to BOUNCE.

This is a special Dada game that she cannot wait for at the end of each day. As soon as Eric walks in the door, she's asking for it. We've even made up a sign for it: two fingers bouncing on opposite palm. Here's a conversation you can hear/see several times a day at our house:

HELEN (signing bounce): bah! bah!
ME: Who bounces you?
HELEN (gleam in her eye): Dada
ME: Where is Daddy?
HELEN: (sign for car)
ME: Will Daddy bounce you when he gets home?
HELEN: (BIG NOD)

She loves talking about bouncing and she'll even take her own dolls and say "bah! bah!" while bouncing them up and down. Here's a video of the latest version of bounce. New styles are added all the time. Full rotation bounce, for example, was added after this video was shot. Maybe we'll do a bounce update in a month and see what else Eric comes up with.

Animoto

Allison introduced me to this amazing site called Animoto. It only took me about 10 minutes to make this slide show of our trip to Brooklyn last summer. It's super fun and easy, so I'm sure you'll be seeing more slide shows here soon.

Boots

Last weekend, we had some relatively warm days. Eric took Helen out a couple times and even though she didn't get into the snow, she wore her boots. They're really meant for next winter, so it's hard for her to walk in them, but loves putting just one of them on and running around the house saying "boo" for boot.

She liked touching the snow, but got upset when it wouldn't come off her fingers just by shaking her hand. Way more exciting than the snow was the ambulance that went zooming past the house. She still talks about it whenever there's a lull in the conversation. She looks at us very seriously, twirls her finger in the air and says, "woo woo woo!" Then we have a long talk about ambulances and sirens.

On the lookout:

Asah?!?

If you spend any time with Helen, you will find yourself answering the question, "asah?!?" (what's that?) several times a minute. It's so cute that we wanted to capture her saying it before she's actually able to pronounce her words more clearly. You can hear it at the tail end of this video. At the beginning of this clip, she's trying to make herself dizzy and right in the middle she tosses up her hands - another very common gesture of hers. This can mean "where?" or "who?" or "what?" and is basically the sign she uses when she's wondering about something.

She has just started using that gesture in the middle of her favorite book, Knuffle Bunny when we get to the page that says, "As soon as her Mommy opened the door, she asked, 'Where's Knuffle Bunny?' " We read the book over and over at home and recite it in the car to keep her occupied (or awake). Yesterday as we were driving home from Sayen's, she threw up her hands and made a questioning sound, "uu uuuh?" right when I got to that part of the story. It's so fun to have her participating as we read her books - even when they're not in front of her.

Jump! Jump!

We spend a lot of time playing "music class" around here. One of the activities from class is "Jelly in a Bowl." Each child gets a chance to sit on a huge ball while the teacher bounces them and all the parents chant this silly rhyme. Some kids are reluctant to hop on, but I actually have to hold Helen back so she doesn't interrupt the other kids' turns. She dives into all the activities like that. At home, we put all her dolls in a circle and they take turns on the ball. She loves it because she gets a turn between each doll. She points to herself with her finger and says, "Ha" for Helen and sits on the ball.

Another song from class is "Skip to My Lou" with commands. Here's a video of her doing "jump, jump, skip to my lou." Eric and I were shocked the other day when we sang, "turn around, skip to my lou" and she concentrated and started walking in circles.

Michael

H and I went to the Shoe Zoo on Friday to find her some slippers. She found a pair of pink rain boots with kitten faces painted on the toes (for 3 year olds) and walked around the store, carrying them and saying, "maaa-ooo" She insisted on trying them on, but they came up to her thigh and she couldn't walk. She took them off and went around picking out shoes for Dada - sparkly pink.

Next we went to Lund's where we ran into Brad. The only person Helen was interested in talking about, however, was Michael - the man who carried the groceries to the car. On the way out, she pointed at him and asked, "who's sah?" As we were driving away, she got very serious and said, "Mah Kah" and so we talked about him all the way home. When I put the bags away at home, she pointed at them and said "Mah Kah" - more conversation. I think she's fascinated that someone can have a name so similar to her beloved "mickah" (her word for nursing/milk).

Guh Guh

Helen is working so hard at her new words. She's been able to say Mama, Dada, Nana, Grandpa (Bah-Pah) for a long time, but always gets tongue tied when she tries to say Grandma. Check out this amazing effort:



(oh, and I take back what I said earlier about the blueberries - she's back to devouring them. who can blame her?)

Good Eater

Helen's been in a blueberry mood lately. The other day, we could hardly get them on her tray fast enough and she'd be saying "moe! moe!" Suddenly today, she'll have nothing to do with them. Put them in front of her and she'll methodically remove them from her tray. So what's her new favorite? Grapefruit! Amazing how her body knows exactly what it needs.

She's gone through obsessive phases with clementines, edamame (see photo of her eating one with chopsticks - a TOTAL fluke), bananas, spinach, beets, avocado, carrots and more. One day she can't get enough and the next she's on to something new.

Welcome!

Want to know what Helen's up to these days? Subscribe to this blog and you'll get frequent posts. Here's the latest:

• Helen has 10 teeth that have come in completely and 6 more that have broken through her gums and are still fighting their way through. Ouch! She does amazingly well with the pain.
• She loves tumbling on the bed. We say, "dive, Helen" and she stands up and reaches her hands as high as she can and flops down saying, "ah!" (see photo) She bends over for us to help her with somersaults - sometimes she tries to grab her own ankles to flip herself.
  
• She tries new words all the time. Yesterday she was playing with the Lulu doll Kevin gave her and she called her "NooNoo" Later I said, "should we call Aamera?" and she nodded and said "Nah Nah" (Her word for Layla - Aamera's daughter). She sees us using our tongues for the "l" sounds and arches her tongues and ends up with "n"