Cookie Monster

We watched Sesame Street on TV when Elsa was sick, and ever since she's been doing an impersonation of Cookie Monster. It usually comes out randomly, like when she's playing in her crib before her nap. I hear her over the monitor it scares the bejeezus out of me. This is the best clip I could get; usually she does it with a bit more gusto.

"Rarr rarr rarr...cookie."

Feeling better, rockin' out, going bananas

Here's our sick, miserable girl, a week ago today. She had a fever for 3 days, but it was over 102 in this photo. She's all better now. The same week, Tim had to go away on business for a few days. They were inseparable when he came back.



Elsa's play room includes a 'baby' baby grand piano, drums, and mini accordion. I have to remind Tim to share the instruments with her most of the time!


We have Elsa wearing barrettes every day now, just like a real kid. She's 17 months old tomorrow - not a baby anymore. At first she didn't like them, but now she doesn't mind. I suppose tolerance has come with age.


This is video from this morning at breakfast. Elsa starts saying "banana" instead of "nana", etc. The way she says it kind of reminds me of the two-headed monster on Sesame Street. You know, the one that puts words together like so: Ba----nana. Ba--nana. Banana!

Sick baby

Elsa is sick. She's had a couple minor coughs before, but this weekend she's really and truly sick, with a fever and all. She's almost 17 months old so we're pretty lucky. Still, it sucks. There's nothing worse. I'm glad i've become a freak about germs - it's totally necessary.

Here are some photos of happier times from last week. In this one, Elsa successfully lifts a 5-pound weight. She seems to enjoy the challenge of lifting heavy objects. I honestly don't know who she gets this from.


Our little Gene Simmons.


Here's a video of Elsa smelling my slipper. I guess I should wash them.

Tim taught her how to say "Peew!", and now she says it whenever she smells anything, whether it be a sock, food, or a flower. The greatest thing is, we always know when to change her because she always lets us know by dramatically shouting, "Peeeee Youuuuu!"

Fun times, quiet times, and finally! - a haircut

Elsa was afraid of her new Christmas rocking horse at first, but now she demands to rock on it all the time. When you press the ear it makes cool trotting and neighing sounds.


Here she is on the way back from my grandma's 80th birthday. You'd expect that my grandma was the wildest one at the party, but it was Elsa who outdid herself.


There's no denying it, Elsa has a mullet. We tried to convince ourselves it was just growing out and getting long, and it was. A long mullet. For some reason we put off cutting it. She's perfect even with a mullet, after all. Tonight I finally talked Tim into cutting it. He's somewhat of a barber. The entire 8-plus years i've known him he's always cut his own hair and I must say, he does a stunning job. We put her in front of a Barney DVD and it actually worked. No tears or blood shed! I think you'll agree it looks SO much better.

BEFORE...



AFTER...

Dad at work.





Perfection! I'm talking about the cheeks, but the hair looks great too.

Back by popular demand...

more video! This whole video thing is really more complicated than it looks. There's no way to edit it (that I know of), so whatever I get between 'play' and 'stop' is what you see. It takes a lot of random recording to get a good one.
In case you don't speak toddler, i'll translate. In this clip, Elsa suddenly starts asking, "Please please please. Paper." Then I give it to her and she whips it on the floor and says "no no". She does that a lot lately - she'll scream or throw something and follow it by saying "no". We find it amusing, but we aren't about to let her know that.


UPDATE: I guess I don't speak toddler either. She was actually asking for more ketchup, not paper. They kind of sound the same when she says them. She said the same thing today when we had ketchup with lunch. She loves it - she eats it plain. No wonder she threw the napkin on the floor! My bad.

All done

I taught Elsa how to say "all done" while I was sick and congested a couple weeks ago. Now this is how she says it. Coincidence?

Our little walker

Here is a video clip of Elsa walking to a cookie. Yes, each time she reaches her destination she shouts,"Ahhh!" We're proud, and she's proud of herself, too!

A 2008 miracle!

Tonight after dinner, for the first time, Elsa WALKED! She was standing next to the dining room chair and then, just like everyone says it will happen, she took off. She walked away from me and started making the long journey across the kitchen floor. When she fell, she'd stand up and keep going, then turned around and walked back to me. Cool and confident! Our video camera happened to be right there so I got every second of it. No photos yet, maybe tomorrow. We're so happy - we've waited a long time for this! 16 months and 1.5 weeks, to be exact.