Summertime

It's hard to believe it's already July, June just flew by. Gloria is now running, in fact running away from me every time I try to get her to do something like change her diaper or come to the table for dinner. She has a mind of her own and is now firmly a toddler. She says no and yeah to let you know what she does and does not want. She loves playing with her sis, in a fort or sliding down the slide in the backyard, or just running around the house. She eats beautifully with a spoon and fork and loves experimenting with a cup full of water. I'm afraid I've lost track of how many words she has now, needless to say new ones every day. We have often asked Charlotte to give Gloria some space (she loves to get right up on top of her), and now Gloria has caught on and will put her hand out and say "space" when she wants us to leave her be. She loves to do everything her sis does, including applying lotion, somersaults, playing dolls, walking down the stairs, putting on dresses, and "helping" with various household chores. Her favorite summer fruit is blackberries (dap dap), which we have been picking every time we take a walk on the trail.

Charlotte graduated from preschool which of course made me cry thinking about how big she's gotten, what an amazing kiddo she's become. The caps and gowns were too much!

We spent four days at a beach house on Whidbey Island with Nanni and Poppi, Liz, Eric and the twins. It is an understatement to say that all the kiddos had a fantastic time. Sand, sea. treats, playing together. And the grown-ups had a pretty good time as well.

The girls are very excited about the playset we had built in the back yard- complete with platform swing, climbing wall, slide, and a baby swing for G. Charlotte struck up a friendship with the girls who live next door and they have all sorts of fun back there.

Spring 2017

It's May already and lots has happened since our last post. Gloria has gone from walking to speed walking- she is so fast! Turn your back for a second and she's swishing around in a toilet! Lots of new words, her current list includes: mama, dada, sis, cheese, hop, up, off, more, balloon, ball, dog, nanni, and egg. More every day! Right now she is obsessed with dogs, inspired by some friendly encounters with our neighbor's dog Lucy.

We took a family trip to Suncadia in Cle Elum for spring break with Nanni and Poppi. The girls had a blast sharing a room and sleeping on bunk beds. We borrowed a bike trailer from a friend and loaded them up for a ride. Smores, swimming, elk sightings, lots of fun.

We hosted an Easter egg hunt. We had a fun field trip to Carkeek with C's class. And Matt went to Jazz fest in New Orleans for 5 days- a long time to be solo mama! Nanni and Poppi had a sleepover at our house one of the nights which was a huge help. And the next weekend C, Nanni and I finally went on our rescheduled big girls trip to San Francisco! We rode the cable car to Ghiardelli Square, saw sea lions off the wharf, went to the Botanical gardens in Golden Gate Park with some friends, and even made it to see Matisse at SFMOMA.

Marching On

March has zoomed by! Gloria *can* walk, but she chooses not to. She prefers to walk around and around the house holding my finger, chasing her sister. She will growl when you ask her what a tiger (or bear) says. After a couple nights when she had trouble falling asleep, we introduced 3 stuffies in her crib with great success, which Charlotte has named as follows: Heartly the monkey, Spots the giraffe, and Dewey the dog (Dewey's name came from Gloria's most frequently babbled syllables). Plus of course Po the lovey panda. When you ask her to say Dada, she clicks her tongue and won't say the word- a mystery! We also moved her out of her high chair with tray into a kid chair with straps that pulls up to the table. It is mostly working, however she often insists on eating with one foot up on the table. Very laid back. She has also taken to Cs old baby doll Stella, whose hair she likes to brush.

Charlotte has been really into a women in science book she got as a gift- mama loves it, too. And speaking of mama, I had my first night away from G since she was born, a weekend in Palm Springs with my college friends.

Matt has been hard at work building us a mud room so we have somewhere to put all our coats and boots and hats- a must in Seattle! Our first project in our new house.

February 2017

February is often on the sunny side in Seattle, but this year it has been snowy and rainy. The Wasses were happy to have a snow day and quicky turned that snow into a snowman. We have otherwise had a pretty mellow month, celebrating Valentine's Day, touring kindergarten classrooms, and fun with friends and family. Matt has been baking up a storm lately inspired by British TV baker Paul Hollwood, with tasty results. Charlotte and I saw Moana and we have been listening to the soundtrack on heavy rotation- it's really good!. And it's the first Disney movie with no prince, no romance, no marriage, hallelujah. Charlotte has lately taken to the concept of mitzvah which she learned in Hebrew school and has been clearing the table and doing other acts of kindness and generosity, much appreciated. She is very patient and understanding with Gloria, it is really a testament to her ability to empathize with what it means to be a baby. Her creativity in imaginative play is astounding. She has two alter ego recurring characters, Fritz and Naughty Rose Red, who make tons of bad choices, are very rude and mean, and act out all of her rebellious fantasies. It is absolutely fascinating to engage in with her, and very informative! Sometimes it feels like she does not stop talking/interrogating us from the moment she wakes up until the moment she goes to bed, but Matt reminds me that in the not so distant future we will miss hearing exaclty what is going on in her little head and we should enjoy it now while we can. Truth.

Gloria has taken some steps here and there and continues to try to climb anything on which she can gain purchase- packages, suitcases, chairs, sofas, beds, anything she can summit. She loves climbing up in her little orange chair and getting down and climbing back up and standing up, etc. Right now she has 3 molars coming in at the same time but she has been a real trooper. She loves to fork and spoon her food and will make a forking motion to ask for a utensil if we don't provide one. She loves to brush her teeth with her sis and will come crawling at high speed to the bathroom if she hears the word toothbrush. No new words quite yet, but she is working on dip, Gloria, and sis. She is still sleeping like a champ- 2 2-hour naps and 12 hours at night 7 to 7, just like her sister, god bless them both.

Happy New Year 2017

Given that I spent last New Year's Eve birthing a baby, I was pretty much happy to do anything else this year. We went out to dinner with Liz and Eric at a hip new street food restaurant on Capitol Hill. We were supposed to have a birthday party for Gloria on New Year's Day, but Charlotte got a case of the barfs so we had to postpone to the following weekend. Matt made her a panda carrot cake, and we repurposed Charlotte's second birthday banner into a first birthday banner for our littlest pup. But apparently the party was a bit of a germ fest. Matt and I contracted Cs stomach bug, G got a really bad cold, which Liz and Nathaniel also came down with, then Nanni got a sinus infection, I got the cold, and then Poppi got the stomach bug and Charlotte got the flu. Bleached our house top to bottom 3 times! We had to cancel our trip to San Francisco, and unfortunately Charlotte was still sick on inauguration day and was not able to join me in the women's march. So between a plague of illnesses and a megalomaniac taking over our country, January has not been the best month!

Gloria is up to all kinds of new tricks. Her favorite pursuit is climbing in and out of her little orange chair or rolling around and climbing on the sofa or on pretty much anything she can get on top of. She's getting very good at signing for more, waving hello and goodbye, and of course her favorite clapping. I wouldn't say she really has any words yet, although she sort of says more and mama and hi dada. She loves walking around the house and can now do it holding just one hand. She loves to push her push cart around and climb in and out of it. Her favorite toy is whatever Charlotte is holding in her hand, usually a Barbie. She has a very keen eye for issues of equity and fairness, and she's always scoping out the dinner table to ensure there's nothing that anyone else has on their plate that she has not gotten her fair share of.

December 2016

December is such a busy month full of all kinds of holiday fun. We kicked off the month with our annual nutcracker viewing Pacific Northwest ballet. Charlotte sat through the entire thing absolutely riveted. We also got tickets for the little mermaid, a full-scale musical production at the 5th Ave Theatre. It was pretty amazing stagecraft including harnesses to make the mermaids look like they're swimming.

We also of course had to get ready for our annual vodkas and latkes party, frying up a ton of latkes and infusing some creative new flavors. This year Charlotte stayed over at my parents house and Gloria slept downstairs in the guestroom. We had such a great time!

Gloria is pretty excited about the Christmas tree, she's been pulling ornaments off the bottom and sticking her hands into the water whenever she gets a chance. She's not really talking yet but we think that's because she is so busy being on the move crawling, standing pulling up, and walking around the house holding hands. She's also been spinning around on her tush which is pretty funny to watch, and when she is enjoying a nice meal she likes to flap her hands with glee. We call it conducting the symphony.

Charlotte was game for a Santa visit this year so we headed to Swanson's saw some reindeer and for the first time she actually did sit on Santa's lap! For Christmas eve we had dinner with the West Grabowski's, and Christmas day we had breakfast with the Schinfeld's, followed by the traditional Chinese Christmas dinner. We fit some cookie decorating in their gingerbread house making and of course gift opening. And Hanukkah list started Christmas eve this year. We had a Hanukkah party at Nannys house with leftover latkes and all the trimmings.

Off the year with a visit from grandma and Papa and we took a trip together to Leavenworth. It was charlottes first time really being in a lot of snow and she took to it like a little snow bunny, rolling around in it like a crazy little animal. There was sledding, snow angel making, snowman construction , hot chocolate, and good old fashioned winter fun .

November 2016

Fall is Charlotte's favorite time of year, because we go right from Halloween into her birthday! Unfortunately this year her birthday fell on the day after Election Day, which turned out to quite possibly be the most awful day of my life after 9/11. But I pulled myself mostly together and headed to Cs school for her class bday party, where I hugged her teachers and managed to read a book to the kids. Then we headed to Nanni's office for a visit and some special dessert, then to McCaw Hall for Daniel Tiger Live. C had a blast, but all I could think about were the poor performers onstage trying to smile and dance while wondering if they'll have health care next year. Then we joined up with Gloria for bday dinner at the Broiler, where C had her fave Mac and cheese. We had Cs birthday party the following Sunday at the Little Gym, where she and her friends Jumped around for 90 minutes! Gloria got right into the spirit and crawled all over the place with Poppi. Nanni made a rainbow marzipan cake which Matt carved into Hello Kitty. It was a welcome reprieve for the parents to see all the kiddos so joyful.

And we also managed to fit in a family photo shoot right before the election. Bribery with candy was required for cooperation.

We had a fun trip to LA for thanksgiving. Plane travel with a 10 month old is so draining it felt like we flew cross country, but G did pretty well and C was a complete angel. It was so warm we actually got to play at the beach, in bathing suits splashing in the water! The playbthis year was Snow White and Charlotte made her debut in a starring role. She was very serious and was so brace to stand up in front of everyone. She even gave the prince a kiss- on the forehead!

Gloria is seriously on the move. Her crawling has picked up speed, and she is pulling up and cruising and wants to be right in the action at all times. She has delusions of grandeur that she can stand on her own, which has resulted in some toppling over- not sure how she'd survive without the helmet. Nursing or bottle feeding require extensive entertainment strategies to hold her attention-try nursing and turning the pages of a book at the same time! She continues to eat up a storm of pretty much anything, but her faves are blueberries, whole wheat tortilla, omelette, and beans. When she gets excited she has this adorable laugh that we call her evil baby laugh because it sounds like the laugh of an evil overlord ha ha ha. She also has an interesting mannerism of swiping away things that displease her with the back of her hand, as if to say "get that out of my sight." And she has started giving some kisses, but so far only to her big sis.