Some Pictures, Finally

The last two posts were fairly wordy with no pictures...so I've added a few from the past couple of days.

Part of our morning routine...well I guess any time we are changing diaper, Elena looks out the window.  She points at the bright pink flowers growing over the fence, the mocking birds flitting about and of course the military helicopters that fly over.

Elena brushing her teeth.  I wish brushing teeth was this easy every time.  On days when Elena doesn't want to brush her teeth (corresponds to teething times) I have to hold her down and sing a song about brushing teeth.  Lots of crying but clean teeth!

Elena likes to pick out her bows and clothes.  We may have a little fashionista, although she doesn't like to have her hair brushed.

 
This picture was taken this morning, Elena is blowing kisses.  It's raining outside, well more like a heavy sprinkle.  Rain of any kind this time of year is nearly unheard of.  Just two days ago it reached 113 degrees, yesterday in the 90s and that's what we are expecting today.  Usually any tropical moisture evaporates before hitting the ground.  This sure has been an unusual summer!

Tinkle, Tinkle

Over the past week, Elena has been teething in a major way.  She has at least 2 of the remaining 3 twelve month molars and 2 bicuspids trying to pop through.  Poor girl was a wreck this weekend.  She is feeling better but her teething diaper rash has finally caught up with her.  These rashes are horrible and hurt her very much.  The best pain reliever is to go diaper free.  Of course this means piddle pads to protect the couch and some PBS toddler shows to keep her in one spot, aka diaper free quiet time.  In the midst of quiet time, she climbed off the couch and went to the corner.  For a split second I wondered what she was doing and then...I'm sure you have guessed the outcome...as I realized what was going on, she started tinkling on the floor (thank goodness we don't have carpet).  As soon as I touched her shoulders to pick her up, she stopped.  I took her to the potty and she finished tinkling there.  I am so excited!  I would love to have an early potty trainer.  I've read kids understand at her age and if left naked for three days with super supervision you can break them into using the potty during the day.  Not to say accidents won't happen...but I am dreaming of the day I can pack away the cloth diapers.  Of course that means learning the location of all the public toilets and I'm sure if you ask me in a few months I'd prefer Elena in diapers to using public toilets.

Ee-i-ee-i-Oh

So today Elena is 17 months old.  She is active, yet content and this seems to be an unusual mix of traits.  Elena loves to run around the house, the yard and even up and down the sidewalk.  She is great playing by herself, with us or even other little kiddos.  Elena is full of light and life.

I haven't been taking as many pictures of Elena lately--she's frequently on the go which leads to blurry pictures.  So I don't have any for this post but I just couldn't pass up posting about such a cute moment we had today.  Elena chimed in singing Old MacDonald Had A Farm.  She's been singing "ee-i-ee-i-oh" for a couple weeks now, and it is so adorable.  And we have been working on animal sounds--it's a good distraction when we are the go and it works with most of her books.  Elena put the tune together and will sing the animal noises and the ee-i-ee-i-oh part and it is so adorable!

Elena's vocabulary has been growing.  She likes to point out the stars "dar" and moon "mooh" in the sky, books or even on tv.  She can say 'yes' and 'no' but would rather shake her head in the appropriate direction...and I must say, I like this method too.  So far no screaming 'no' and even when Elena is getting upset she is easily distracted.  I'm not sure if I already mentioned but Elena can also say 'noodle', 'go', 'hi', 'bye-bye', makes her lips vibrate for helicopters and planes and when she wants milk, she goes the fridge.  If you ask her if she dirtied her diaper and she has, she will go to the bathroom although she still doesn't like sitting on the potty.  Elena also understands changing her diaper and and time for bed and will walk back to her room for both phrases.  She also knows when her shoes are on we are going outside--and she gets just as excited as Cooper does--they both love being outside!

Morning at the Zoo

Now that tourist season is over, the weather is back in the 70's and perfect for a morning out.  So we ventured out to see the animals.  I am really enjoy our membership, we go for a couple of hours, bring a snack and head home for lunch. What a treat!

Enough of the pandas...let's get going.  Run, run, run!  Elena is into running, she loves our "walks", she runs, we walk briskly and everyone is happy :)

Here are a few pictures of the animals we said hi to:

Noodles

Elena loves her food but eating isn't always pretty...

The doctor said Elena should be using utensils but Elena would rather use her hands to shovel food into her mouth, better efficiency I suppose.  When given a spoon or fork she uses her hands to put food on the utensil and then picks the food off with her hands and puts it into her mouth; what a silly girl!

This is what happens when you take your eye off Elena for a moment.  It is amazing how many noodles (substitute any food here) she can throw onto the floor in a few handfuls.

Riding Rody

Elena and Daddy playing with Rody.  Rody is like a Hop-It styled into a horse.  She's a little young for it but Elena loves when Daddy bounces her around on Rody.  She also plays dress up with Rody's ears.

Carl said there are not enough pictures of me on the blog, so he picked up the camera and snapped a photo of us reading.  Since I have it on hand, thought I'd post it.

Our Big (Little) Girl

There seems to be reoccurring themes in my posts: Elena's love for everything and how fast she is growing up. Today is no different...Elena is becoming such a big little girl. She is completely weaned, no more breastfeeding. It felt like forever to get here and then kind of abruptly snuck up on us. Saturday night Elena had some troubles getting milk and was biting me. Sunday she didn't ask for it, and since the night before was such an ordeal, I didn't offer. It wasn't until last night, 11pm Elena woke up with a terrible, and I mean terrible stomach ache.  She was screaming and flailing herself all over.  She asked to nurse and it broke my heart to tell her it was all gone.  We got the gas all worked out, Elena settled down and we were all back to bed at midnight.  We haven't had gas problems in such a long time.

Elena has also given up her morning nap.  This has taken a few days to get used to since I used to take my shower during her morning nap, it gets a bit dicey now.  If I'm lucky, I'll get a shower in before she wakes up.  Often though, Elena wakes me up.

The bathroom has often been a place Elena loves to play in.  I have a drawer of hotel samples for guests.  This is the only part of the house that was cleaned and super organized before Elena arrived and it is ironic that it has become her favorite drawer to play with.  We have kept her access to the bathroom limited until recently.  She isn't talking too much, one syllable repeats (i.e. da-da could be da-da or it could be dog-dog, or dora-dora) but actions speak louder than words.  Elena will go it the toilet to let me know she has gone poopy.  I think this is a step towards potty training.  She also hits the tub (and continues to try climbing in head first) when she wants a bath.  When it is time to eat, she goes to her booster and tries to climb in.  She hasn't quite succeeded there yet, but I'm sure she will soon.

Just as I was commenting on the gorgeous weather here (lowest temps in 80 years), the temperature went sky high and we were melting yesterday.  So on our errand run, we both enjoyed a treat from a popular coffee establishment thanks to a birthday gift card.  I had a soy chai latte and Elena had her first vanilla organic milk.  I'm not sure what vanilla milk tastes like but she guzzled it down.  I've never seen her drink something so intensely.

Physically, Elena is doing great, well she still falls a lot but it is expected with as fast as she tries to move.  She can kick beach balls, stand and stretch her arms in the air, and maybe the cutest yet is her high step.  She likes to high step with her right leg while her left leg moves normally.  It is quite the sight to see.  Of course she still dances when she hears music no matter where we are, if she is sitting or standing.  This girl has rhythm, definitely not from me.

Some Beach Time

We had a wonderful weekend that included breakfast with Chris and Lorraine, some shopping and a new laptop to replace my obsolete hardly working laptop that's over eight years old.  We were supposed to go to the beach too because as luck would have it the weather has finally warmed up.  Well, we didn't make it to the beach because Elena refused to nap most of the day.  She was cranky but wouldn't sleep.  I guess this is the process of dropping down to one nap, quite a balance act.  A friend invited us to the beach this morning, so I packed Elena up after breakfast.  Yes, after breakfast because she slept until 9:45--a record!  I guess she's making up for little napping yesterday.

Elena loved running along the sand and into the water.  I realize I say "Elena loves" quite frequently in the blog, but it's true she just loves everything.  Well, maybe with the exception of sitting still.  She is just bursting with life, energy, and joy.

Elena hid her swim suit bottoms, so she wore little shorts.  She is just so darn cute!  After some running, splashing, falling into the water, and digging in the sand, it was time for lunch.  Nothing beats cold broccoli, peas, corn, carrots, and green beans on a warm day in the sun.  She's my little eater.  Or she is until she's had almost enough, then she picks up the bowl and dumps it....of course today that meant we had sandy veggies.  And if it was up to Elena, she would continue to eat these sandy veggies.

Almost time to leave the beach.  Elena is in a dry outfit and enjoying a few animal crackers.  "Roar"

Weather

Unlike most parts of the country, Southern California has been unseasonably cool.  As I have said before, I love it and don't miss triple digits at all.  The mornings start out cool, calling out for warm wool socks to keep those toes warm.  And then the sun burns off the clouds and the temperature rises.  Warm enough to go swimming but not unbearably hot.  It definitely feels more like spring or fall than summer.  We have only used our A/C a handful of times, and who can argue with those small electric bills?

Just stretched out on the chair watching tv.  When Elena is tired she likes to watch tv and the past few nights have not been very restful for us so we're all a bit tired.  Elena is trying to drop a nap but one nap isn't enough to refresh this little girl for the entire day.  And an overtired Elena doesn't sleep well at night.

Go Padres!

Today's game was great!  Not only did the Padres win, but it was throw back to 1978.  The boys were dressed in the 1978 uniforms and all the music was from '78 too!  We had a great time!  And our seats were awesome!  This was our view (no camera zoom here).

Elena loved playing with Pop's buttons.

Elena showing us her butterfly.

Elena was quite the trooper.  It is difficult for a toddler to see a great field of green and yet be confined to a seat.  Pop and Lorraine helped us keep Elena entertained.

Goofing Around the Yard

Elena is at such a cute stage.  She's giggling, running around and having tons of fun.  Tonight Carl plopped her on his shoulders and ran around the back yard.  As you can tell she loved it.

Here they are in motion, which is why I cut off Elena's head.  I was anticipating such quick movements and couldn't un-zoom fast enough.  Still it is such a cute shot, I had to share.

Cooper ran around the yard too.  He is much trickier to catch on camera...he can really cut corners and run around the fruit trees fast.  Elena and Cooper are taking a breather.

And since Elena ran around outside barefoot she was dirty, so in the bath she went.  She loves being in the water.  And in the picture below you can see how long her hair is getting.  I keep debating when to get her first cut/trim but I haven't worked up enough nerve to do it yet.  I think I'll let it get a little more straggly.

Cousin Tim

Today we drove up to LA to meet up with Tim, Carl's cousin.  He's down here from Oregon for a few weeks producing a short film.  After lunch we went to the Greystone Masion, a park in Beverly Hills (http://www.greystonemansion.org/).  Carl and I have wanted to go there for years but never made the drive.  Tim was the perfect excuse to get us up to LA.  It is about 2-1/2 hour drive from our house and until today I never really saw how great LA really is.  The park was quiet, very little visitors and had amazing views of the city and even the ocean.  We had awesome weather, come to think about it, this summer has been quite cool--and I'll take it!

Tim, Elena, & Carl

The park had so many distinct gardens.  I think Tim and Elena both loved the turtle pool.  And it was very cool :)  After we departed from the turtles, Elena ran back over there.  She wanted to go swimming with them.  Daddy and Elena are waving at the turtles in the above photo.  And it's hard to believe in such a serene garden on the other side of the hedge, looking down the hill you see the city skyline.

 

Running....running...and more running...

A couple of times she caught a downward slope and just took off like a little rocket.

Tim and Elena as we were leaving the park.  Elena was extremely tired at this point and didn't really want to be held.  She was so tired she crashed on our way to the freeway and slept the entire drive home. 

When Elena listens better and doesn't run off, we'll have to go back so we can enjoy this park.  There is so much to see and take in, it's a little zen spot in the middle of the city.

Tele Time

The time has finally come: Elena has noticed and taken interest in the television.  She sat on the couch watching PBS for awhile.  She hardly blinked as I snapped a few pictures of her sitting so intently on the couch with her ankles crossed.

At the Zoo!

It has been awhile since we were last at the zoo so this morning, we ventured out to see some animals.  I forget what summertime in San Diego is like...a lot of tourists.  I'm not a hermit, yet, but I'm not a big fan of crowds so Elena tucked ourselves away from the crowds and started at the back of the zoo.  This gave me some good walking time and then we spent some time with the animals.  Elena enjoyed all of our stops but was especially sad to leave the pink flamingos.  We watched as the keepers weighed them and fed them snacks.  She also enjoyed the aviaries.

We didn't hit the children's park or the petting zoo, I feared once Elena was out of the stroller she would fuss when it was time to get back in.  And for those of you who have never visited the SD Zoo, it is very hilly (good work out). There was no way I was going to carry her and push the stroller up and down the hills.  We did stop so Elena could see the gorilla statues and I picked her up so she could see some of the animals. 

This was our first trip to the zoo by ourselves, it is difficult to keep an eye on a wondering toddler, watch the stroller and take pictures.  Though odd angles, overall I think most of the pictures came out fairly good, no doubt thanks to my new camera.

This week is panda birthday celebration so we just had to see the pandas!  And of course there was a line (I think there always is) but the pandas were out and playing and so adorable!

Corn on the Cob

Corn has been in season here for about a month, so we've had quite a bit of corn on the cob (yumm!).  Elena has expressed interest but always giggles when we try to share with her, until tonight!  With Daddy's instruction, Elena actually tried eating corn off the cob.  I should note, I already ate the corn but Elena did a great job scraping off morsels. 

Arrr....

I got it Dada, I can hold the corn and grab my nose :)

"Hiya" Elena is on a telephone kick.  Although she has 4, everything is a phone

Yummy, corn!!

This is great!!!

Rocks

Elena has taken quite the interest in rocks.  At the Del Mar Beach there were quite a few rocks to play with.  Unfortunately she also likes to throw rocks.  Not toddler friendly!  Next time, I'll remember to bring Elena's sand toys.