Eden had a birthday

Our tiny girl turned one this December.

Eden has started walking all over, leaving behind her gimpy, one-leg-dragging crawl.

The combination of the firsts and lasts of this age is bittersweet to me and I was happy to see that she was still a baby, the morning after she turned one.

Eden says "Daden" when she wants Daddy or Daniel. She has just recently begin signing "milk" when she wants to nurse or when I ask her if it's time for milk (when she wakes in the morning, before her nap and at bedtime). She says "dah!" when I get her up because we go to the window in her room and say hello to the day and to the trees and the cars outside her window. I think she says "Aaaadah" and signs "all done".

This girl dislikes laying down to be changed or dressed more than any child I have tidied up on our changing table. Sleeping is not a huge problem so long as Kitty is present but Eden would prefer to take only one nap during the day and she would prefer it to begin at 10:30 or 11am. We are working on changing that to a post lunch noon start time.

At meal time, she enjoys almost any kind of soft finger food she can pick up: bananas, black beans and chili, rice, french toast, the non liquid parts of any soup we're having, steamed apple pieces, peas, steamed broccoli and cauliflower, cut up bits of dried apricot... We have also been availing ourselves of the more recent convenience foods for babies. I love being able give her a little pouch of something mushy that I didn't have to prepare but I don't love that many of the food pouches on the market are primarily apple and banana rather than the superfoods they claim to contain. Eden has begun to drink water from her cup. To date, she has never had a bottle which has made evenings away a bit tricky but now she is eating so many big girl foods now that it's not a necessary hill to climb any longer.

We celebrated her first year with the usual ingredients: cake and family and presents. Eden loved it all.

 

Happy Birthday, Eden!!

Friends and Games

 

Fall Has Fallen

Fall happenings from around our house:

 

Eden is busy feeding herself in her high chair and learning to walk. I think we've seen her take 4 or 5 little tiny steps at a time. She still plops down and crawls her funny one legged crawl for most of her on the floor transportation. 

 Another kitchen project is complete. PANTRY! Well, and I guess it's not actually complete. We still need to put the doors back on. But, hooray for a more functional pantry!

And, some pre-Halloween fun the small boys and I had last week. Functional Pantry can be seen in the distance. For our project, I ripped; they glued. 

Today is very gusty and rainy outside. Then we will be surprised by a burst of sunlight between storms. Most of the leaves on our backyard maple will fall as a result. I like fall. 

Halloween 2014

 Candy waiting

Daniel's bat pumpkin

 

Mercy's toothy pumpkin

James glaring pumpkin

 

 

Josiah's ghostie pumpkin

Bob and Rebecca's trunknosed pumpkin

 

Michael's hungry pumpkin

Reuben's kitty pumpkin

Eden Bee (yes, the little pompoms that used to be on this costume have long since fallen off)

James Fireman

 

Mercy as Laura

 

Josiah as Ninja

Daniel the Centurion

Reuben as Super Why

 Michael the Hairy Hobo

Everyone

Post trick or treat candy trading
Step 1
Sort
Step 2
Trade
Step 3
Keep 10 of your favorites
Step 4
Put all the rest into a communal drawer of candy that will remain in the house for a week or so

Happy Halloween!

Hiking with my Dad

James turns 5