International Friends

Here's a quick shot of Aletheia with our new friend Jane from Buenos Aires.

19 Months

A Quotation

I ran across this while looking for something else and wanted to be sure I didn't lose it. This is as good a place as any.

Certain is it that there is no kind of affection so purely angelic as of a father to a daughter. In love to our wives there is desire; to our sons, ambition; but to our daughters there is something which there are no words to express.

Joseph Addison

Bedtime Story

19 Months, 22 Days

Minty Fresh Kisses

Aletheia brushing her teeth while wrapped up in her duck towel.

And finally, after three days of kisses for Elmo and none for her parents, Mommy and Daddy received sweet little good-night kisses from the kiddo.

19 Months, 18 Days

A New Milestone

I mentioned yesterday that Aletheia's vocabulary is growing day by day now. Today we had another milestone--full sentences. Nothing fancy, but a real subject-verb-object combo. It happened twice:

"I have milk."
"It's a puppy." (Looking at a picture in a book.)

Pretty good for a kid who's 19 months and 17 days old.

Allie had her first visit with her new pediatrician, Dr. Best, today. No illness or anything, this was just the initial "get to know you" appointment. The new stats: 25 pounds, 32 inches. She's about 50th percentile on weight, 75th on height, and 90th for head circumference. Tall, slim, lots of brains. Lucky girl.

She kissed Elmo goodnight but still won't kiss us. If only I were red and furry.

Another Moment on the Swing

It's still very busy around here. Not everything is unboxed yet--at home or at my office--and the normal new job/new city/new home transitions are going on. But Aletheia appears to have adjusted well. She's sleeping through the night again, and she has several new little friends at church. So all is good.

We're definitely moving into toddlerdom. She's learning how to object, and occasionally there's a mini-tantrum, although she's just as likely to take a move from the civil disobedience playbook and go limp. But those are rare occurrences. She's still the most good-natured kid I know.

She's reached the stage where she thinks it is great fun to do for mommy and daddy what they have been doing for her. She'll feed me, brush my hair, tickle me. It's a lot of fun. And her vocabulary seems to grow every day. Recently she's mastered light, shoes, socks, shirt, and lady. She really likes green beans, but for the moment she calls them "bean beans," which somehow is about the funnest thing I've ever heard. She had green beans tonight, and I couldn't stop laughing, which just encouraged her. "Bean beans! Bean beans! Bean beans!" she chanted, giggling all the while. And I got one of her adorable squinty-eyed smiles.

She also knows the Sesame Street character Elmo, although we don't know how, since she never watches TV. But he's on her diapers, and on a couple of toys. And she just loves him. But she can't quite pronounce his name right. "Melmo! Melmo!"

Mommy bought her a book with an Elmo puppet, and when the Elmo puppet is talking to her, she's mesmerized. "Can you clap, Aletheia?" And she clap, clap, claps, wide-eyed, in wonder. "Can you rub your tummy?" Rub, rub, rub. "Can I get a kiss?" She leans in and kisses Elmo on the cheek, which she won't do for mommy or daddy yet. But that's okay, too.

What We Did Today

We already had the frame of a swingset in the backyard, so we finally got around to adding a toddler swing. It was a hit.

19 Month, 13 Days

Training Has Begun

19 Months, 9 Days

New 'Do

19 Months, 11 Days

Cleanliness is next to...

You know, that's a really weird saying, now that I think about it. Plus, it's not true.

19 Months, 7 Days

Aletheia's New Bedroom

We're still getting settled in, but slowly things are coming together in the new house. For Aletheia's room, we're continuing the ladybug theme, but the room itself is a little toned down compared to the old house. There, we had a different color on each wall--yellow, blue, red and green. Here we have three white walls, and one deep shamrock green. We might have gone with red for that one, but that seemed a little much. Still, I like color.



This is the east wall, where the changing table is, plus one of Aletheia's favorite parts of the room, her mirror.



Turning to the left, on the south wall we have a wide window with red curtains.



Slight left again and we're looking at the southwest corner of the room. More ladybugs on the wall and the shelf, plus you get a glimpse of the ladybug dresser I painted for her before she was born.



West wall. You might notice the nightlight is upside down. For some reason, all the outlets in the whole house are like that. It's not too inconvenient, except when we have to stand on our heads to watch TV.



North wall. The kid has a lot of books. Which is good because sitting down and turning the pages of a book is absolutely her favorite thing to do. And it doesn't matter if it has pictures or not. She seems just as happy with The Complete Works of Edgar Allen Poe as she does with Goodnight, Moon.

Weird kid. But I like her.