Happy Blogiversary!

This last Sunday marked not only Father's Day, but indeed another special day for us. It is our 1-year anniversary since the inception of this blog! It seems as though that was so far away (or so close, depending on the day), but one thing is for sure; a lot has changed since in the last year!

First of all, there's Ellena. She has been taken. Yes, I said it. I am still convinced that she was snatched up in the middle of the night while we were sleeping, and replaced with a more-toddler-like-version of her. I mean for weeks this has been my boilerplate response to "How's the baby?"; "The baby is gone!". The new Ellena is a complete transformation of the "baby" we knew so well.

She has caught on to so many of the sayings we've been using to/for her relentlessly since at least New Year's. She has also started to communicate with us non-verbally by using sign language (finally!). We had almost given up on signing because we felt as though she had no interest. She will now tell us if she is "all done" at the highchair - a blessing if you are a parent and want to know if your child is full, or simply tired of what he/she is eating. The "all done" waiving of both hands has transpired into everything else it seems to. If she wants to get out of the bath, or pool, or doesn't want to drink any more milk, it's "all done". This has proven to be very useful in other areas as well, like trying to communicate to her that there is "no more snack left" or "we're done doing such-and-such".

She is associating so much more too. For example, every time we put our shoes on, she starts waving goodbye! Even if we are putting HER shoes on, she starts waving. It's really cute. She is also at this stage of repeating what you ask her to say. "Can. You. Say. ___blank___" is a commonly-spoken sentence right now. Overnight, she just started saying and repeating so many things.

We have a little bedtime routine that makes things pretty simple at night. We bathe her, dress her in pajamas, give her a cup full of milk (oh yea, she has been off formula since right before her birthday. All the sources we references made us a bit leery to make the switch, claiming that it could "take a few months and we should start slow". Well, if you know my wife, you know we never take anything slow; in one three-day weekend, she was on the milk, and off the bottle, as they say) while we read a few books (or rather a few pages out of a few books) and go brush her teeth (which she loves and will mimic anytime she hears the phrase "brush your teeth") and then go to bed. I moved her entire personal library to the lowest two shelves on her book shelf and out of nowhere, she knows that after pajamas, upon hearing the inquiry "book?", she gets to walk over to the collection and choose a few. Unbelievable. Yes, for those of you who haven't seen her in a bit, she has by far gone through some dramatic changes lately!

The most surprising action she started to do for us however was made when we were asking if she knew where her hair was. She reached up over her head and began "washing" her hair. It sort of came out of the blue.

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Now, secondly, since my last post here, my employer, or perhaps I should describe "former employer" has decided to break up with me. Notice I didn't use the term "unfortunately". Honestly, we don't feel as though my job loss was unfortunate. On the contrary, the almost-two weeks I have spent home have been a joy and I consider my very fortunate. Perhaps it is because the summer season is upon us, or perhaps because it is too much fun to play and be with Ellena all day, or perhaps it is because being a stay-at-home-dad is still too new, but I am really digging it right now. The long-term plans are of course unknown, but isn't this true of ALL plans? I am (and we are all) right where God wants us to be. And right now, I have no desire to jump back into the race!

Father's Day was great, as was the last one, although the biggest difference between this year and last is my daughter handed me a card and said with a smile "da-dee". I scored one of those little rickshaws that allow kids to scam a free bicycle ride while having all the comforts of a camping tent (including a breeze!). After our inaugural make-sure-it-stays-attached-to-the-bike run around our sub, we headed to the nearest Metropark. We took a break and the three of us ate a snack on a blanket under a tree. I chose the following video clip to serve as both proof of the gift (in bright colors to the left of the screen) and E's appetite to talk. Here she is saying "A ride!"