Odds & Ends

Children’s Museums

Over the last month, we have checked out two of the area’s children’s museums, one in Buffalo and one in Rochester.  It is clear that while Elisa is not big enough for many of the activities, she is big enough to enjoy herself hugely! 

At the beginning of the month, Elisa and Daddy had a special day all to themselves while Mommy was away in Michigan giving a talk.  So they went to the Explore ‘n’ More center in Buffalo.  Elisa enjoyed sitting in the train and even came back to it (Grandpa Rood would be proud!).  She played different musical instruments, hid under the dress-up clothes, and had fun playing in the rice table!  Someone volunteered to take this picture of Elisa and Daddy in hard hats.

This last Tuesday, Andrew took a day off and we went to the Strong Museum of Play in Rochester.  It was amazing!  Elisa had fun playing for 2 hours and that was just in the first 2 of 9-10 sections of the museum!  Mommy and Daddy even had to pull her away from activities so that they could get a better sense of the museum. 

We started by watching beautiful tropical fish in a few large tanks – and Elisa kept running back and forth between the two tanks, which meant she was running across the main pathway into the museum!  Then we moved on to the section devoted to what is learned from play, both science and life lessons.  Overhead, balls rolled, giant mobiles modelled balance and there was a large kaleidoscope.  There was a mirrored and lighted section that allowed Elisa to be in a kaleidescope, musical instruments to play, a giant drum to drop plastic beads into to make different pitches of music against the different sized nails, race cars to drive or mini-ones to put on a track, fun houses that set off your sense of balance or perspective and many other things.  Elisa particularly liked driving, diving under the tongue pillow in the fish chair, and putting beads down the drum.

We went on to Sesame Street, where Elisa knocked on the door, looked at books, was on TV with Mommy and Rosita (counting in Spanish!), hid under dress-up smocks, climbed in the Muppet Taxi (to drive, of course), and played the musical pipes with a paddle.  (Mommy can’t wait until we can look up in the tree and count all the different things hidden in it!)  Elisa also got to ride the train around the track and climb in the cockpit of the plane in the next section before we grabbed a stroller and just took a tour of the rest.

We did visit the butterfly garden and were the only ones there.  Besides having butterflies land on us and fly past, we also got to watch the butterflies emerging in the crysalis case and Elisa just stared!  There were also turtles, coy, and a tortoise that wanted to get close to Elisa.  At that point, we were done for the day, but Elisa had really enjoyed herself and had another good nap on the way home – and slept well that night!

Merry Christmas!

We had the rare chance today to celebrate Christmas by ourselves at home – most years we have been traveling ON Christmas.  It was a nice relaxing day where we could spend time with Elisa and do a few special things.

Elisa got her big Christmas gift at the beginning of the week – an open playhouse (that folds up!) with working doorbell, light, burner noises, opening shutters, letter to go in the mail box, etc.  We gave it to her early since her Grandparents Rood had contributed to the gift and we wanted to make sure she had time to get used to playing with it before they arrive this Sunday …but she didn’t need any time to warm up to it!  She loves the mail slot, doorbell and light (and sometimes looks like an engineer trying to analyze the light as it turns on and off as she flips the switch).  What was unexpected  is that she already understands the idea of pretending in the kitchen – using the faucet to fill the water glass and then drinking or putting dishes on the burners. It is clear that there is much more going on her head than she can communicate!

This morning we took out the nativity scene (that hasn’t been out this Christmas since it is ceramic) and took out the pieces and used them to tell the Christmas story with Elisa.  She kissed both Mary and baby Jesus.  After putting it away immediately, we opened some presents she had been sent.  She enjoyed the guitar that plays songs and went back to it intermittently throughout the day.  She also got a cute coat for when the weather is a little more mild and three books, which we read during the day.

She then took a nice long nap (mommy and daddy’s Christmas present), enjoyed playing in the afternoon, had another short nap, and a yummy special dinner that daddy cooked.  We ended the day with a Veggietale.

We have been blessed to enjoy the earthly family God has put us in as we remember the heavenly family that we have been invited to join, with Jesus as our older brother born so many years ago!

Thanksgiving in South Carolina

 We have been in North Myrtle Beach, SC with all of Andrew’s family for Thanksgiving.  We drove down leaving after Kristin’s Monday afternoon class and staying overnight.  Poor Elisa – we drove late enough both nights that she was asleep for the night in her carseat both nights and just waking her up to take her in meant that she took a long time to get back to sleep!  But she so desperately wanted to be asleep that she would climb out of Mommy and Daddy’s arms and walk to the crib even though she would just lie there.

Elisa has enjoyed being with all her cousins – 10 of them ranging in age from 2 year old triplets to two 12 year old cousins!  In return, all of her older cousins (all male) have been very sweet and nurturing, playing peekaboo, hiding under pillows, reading to her, and holding her.  They have had fun playing with each other’s toys – trains, stuffed animals, books.  Elisa’s family photograph book has been quite popular with all the younger set.

Since the beach is just past the buildings across the street, we have walked over a couple times.  It is late November, so the wet breeze has kept it pretty cool, but the sun was out Friday afternoon and Elisa got to go wading.  Note the nice late fall clothing…  She was very excited, putting out her foot to reach the incoming waves and running in place to get good splashing.  Daddy was making sure she didn’t get knocked over by the waves and let go after she was more sure of herself…so of course, she took a couple of dives.  She had no fear in the process, but the velvety sweatsuit and fleece coat were soaked, so we took off for a warm bath.

Elisa did enjoy her couple baths in our jacuzzi bath (we had the master suite since Elisa shared out room) with the jets.  The first time, Andrew had bubble bath in and the jacuzzi supersized the bath.  Only Elisa’s head showed when she was sitting, but it was great fun for her.  Once again her fearlessness came through since she (accidentally) dove in headfirst right before the end and Daddy rescued her (and got quite wet) – but Elisa didn’t mind.

Elisa has also tried a number of different foods she didn’t get at home.  On her own volition she asked for cucumbers and olives – and finished the cucumber and ate most of a second olive.  She enjoyed daddy’s cranberry juice on the way down and some of his fried okra (a different meal!)  The first attempt at french toast didn’t take, but she did enjoy two small bites of a Krispy Kreme donut.

The whole family went to Brookgreen gardens Friday morning, a sculpture garden and zoo of local animals.  Elisa enjoyed her stroller, petting and taking pictures with the different animal sculptures.  She also enjoyed watching the different animals, being very patient with her parents.  She pointed up at the birds and said “bir.” At one point we were trying to point out a pair of otters basking in the sun and she kept pointing in a different direction, only for us to realize she had found an otter we had missed! 

She has picked up a number of new words.  She has asked us to pray – “way” (and bows her head!), fixated on a “ba” (bath) when we said it was time, and repeated fan - “an” – after mommy when looking at the bedroom fan.  She continues to get closer to “ma” and “da” – fully able to make the sounds, but it is unclear when she means it.  As we started on the trip, she had also picked up the sign language for “please” and uses it with great earnestness – we assume she picked this up from one of the other kids she is babysat with.  She has also picked up and concatenated up and down – daddy had been giving her rides on his recliner footrest up and down and now she says “up-down” when going up and down stairs or wanting up and down from her highchair.

Another interesting development is that Elisa is starting to request her diaper to be changed.  Before we left, she had shown some interest in her diapers, once or twice pulling out a diaper, spreading it out and sitting on it.  The day before we left she pulled the diaper up around herself.  While here there have been a number of times that she has gone to our closed bedroom door and asked to have her diaper changed by getting out a diaper and lying down.  This is a little scary for parents who really don’t want to think about potty training until summer break!

The major snafu of the trip was that Andrew broke his glasses Sabbath morning and we planned to leave that afternoon for home.  So Andrew and his dad got to bond over finding a 1-hour glasses place on a Sabbath morning.  And of course, early next week the glasses Andrew had ordered at home should come in…  But this way he has a back-up pair! 

We are very thankful for our time with family, especially since people are from so many places, headed to a different set of places and who knows when we will have the chance to all be in the same place again and how much kids will have grown by then!

15 months!

Well, it’s been almost a month, but Elisa is 15 months old!  When the doctor’s appointment finally came, she weighed in at 24.2 lb, was 30 in. long and had a head circumference of 18 in.  And she got 4 shots…  We had actually been to the doctor 2 weeks previously (just before she was 15 months old) to see if she had an ear infection (nope) and she had stood on the scale herself!  She waved and said “bye” to the doctor after he had checked her ears and he was impressed that she did this spontaneously – after he had been concerned/surprised at 12 months when we weren’t sure she had any words yet!

Elisa has a lot of teeth at this point: 7 of 8 front teeth and all 4 molars (although one or two may not be fully through).  She is using the molars well and chomping on apples and carrots.  She “brushes her teeth” every morning while mommy dries her hair and brushes her teeth – usually biting the brush.  Then mommy helps!  She enjoys closing things - dishwashers, trash cans, the refrigerator, doors to bedrooms, etc.  Of course, she frequently traps herself inside rooms, so she has learned to knock (as well as cry) when she finds herself trapped.  She frequently picks her shoes and almost always pick a matching pair.

She is doing a good job going down stairs expeditiously on her stomach – somewhere between a slide and crawling.  We had kept the gate at the top of the stairs so she can run around upstairs without slipping down, but last weekend she turned a laundry basket upside down and climbed on top of it just a foot or so from the gate…and apparently the presence of the gate becomes more dangerous than its absence, so the gate has been removed.

Elisa enjoys reading books and recently has picked a favorite to read over and over for a day or two – lately Good Night Gorilla, The Wheels on the Bus and The Itsy Bitsy Spider.  She particularly likes books with songs – and regularly dances as we sing the Itsy Bitsy Spider to start out that book.  She will get a big smile and stand up (rather than sit on our laps) and shake her hands while holding them out in front of her to try to imitate the spider.  

We have been fighting the battle of not having her stand on chairs – she likes to stand in both her rocking chair and the new solid wood children’s chair that she was given by Ruth Bottoms, a woman in our church.  It is almost a game, with her almost sitting down and then standing back up.  She is trying to be compliant, but somehow doesn’t seem to understand this instruction.

She has 5 words – bye, hi, ki (kitty), dog, and uh-oh.  (Uh-oh is the most popular of the five!)  She knows many more words than she can say.  When asked if she wants to go upstairs or downstairs, she will head for the stairs and start.  She also knows where to go to have a bath.  She will respond if asked if she wants to play the piano or have music, either heading for the piano or the stereo.  She started climbing up on the piano stool and has learned to play with more than the volume, so that means the music often ends pretty quickly!  However, she still loves to dance and continues to get more moves!

She is starting to come when asked (but not always) and responds to a number of requests: bringing her shoes, socks, moose, finding her sippy cup where she dropped it, etc.  She and Ink are getting along a little better.  Ink will frequently sit still while she pets (and pats) him and will even purr at times.  Of course, she hasn’t figured out that Ink isn’t always in the mood, so there have been a couple minor scratches and Ink enjoys escaping down the cat door to the basement.  Elisa also enjoys throwing things through the cat door – papers, toys, anything that fits! 

Recently, Elisa starting holding our hands to pray for meals.  She will hold out her hands as we sit down to eat and after we hold her hands she bows her head – briefly!   It makes us feel like we are doing something right that she seems to have picked up this habit – and very humbled that we can be reminded by our 15 month old of how great our God is and how many reasons we have to be thankful to Him!