In-Network

At the Grace's visit to the dentist for her cleaning, her 5 year old status granted a new experience: x-rays. When the images were transferred to the computer screen, I was immediately called over to have a look.

Somebody is about to loose some baby teeth, the staff exclaimed. We are sure the next time we see you, you'll be missing some teeth Grace!

On Friday night, Grace had her first visit from the Tooth Fairy. Not for tooth collection, but for formal registration with the Tooth Fairy Network. That sly little sprite left this package on Grace's bed overnight for her delight at dawn.

The message read:
Dear Grace ~
I hear you have some loose teeth!
Congratulations and welcome to the Tooth Fairy Network!
To schedule a visit, leave a tooth in this pillow.
~ The Tooth Fairy

And for the rest of the day, she whispered her tongue across her teeth testing for wiggles.

Big Time

This chair has been a center point of my world for the last five and a half years.

It has stood true, creaking toward the end, but always giving a place to nurse, feed, snuggle, rock, sing, sleep, read, laugh and cry. And today, it has found a new home. It is just across the hall, newly designated as my reading chair, but still, it's presence is missed.

It's time had ended though. We need room for this.

Clare no longer fit in my arms in that chair. She no longer needed my body as a pillow to sleep. She needed the next step. She needed a big girl bed.

We do need to get her a little stool to help with a boost into that big bed though.

To the 9's

I love this day, the day of our love. I mix it up in my head sometimes though, are we 9 or 14 - 4 or 9? In the end it dosn't really matter, because it is all the same, plus you remind me.

Nine years married, 14 years together. Married on the 4th, first date on the 9th. It is all about the same thing in the end. Our commitment to the end. And despite the bumps we have been though this past year, we are solid and unbreakable; forever.

Happy Anniversary Matt. You make me just as happy today as you did on the 4th and the 9th.

Salted Air

I am on vacation. Right now. But have had such a fantastic day I need to capture it.

I am going to start with the end though, with the ME. I  am sitting on the deck of our hotel room, listening to the ocean sounds and drinking Pedroncelli Mother Clone. (If you don't know Mama Clone as we like to call her, you are missing out.) Anyway, I am blissful.

This is my view.

This is my sea salt.

I love it.
It is crusted onto the balcony which is hosting my glass of Zinfandel.

Anyway, this isn't what I was supposed to be be writing about. I wanted to talk about this:

HOLY GUACAMOLE Y'ALL.

Grace is standing in a real pool all by herself. Sure, it is the shallow end, but that officially makes her 3ft and 1 entire head. Which is official BIG GIRL territory.

And while I blurred out her pretty little face so you can't really see it, you should have seen her smile. The realization that she has met some sort of metric milestone. That she could be in the water and still be in control.

The realization that she was BIG.

After that moment, she asked me to carry her to the fountain in the deep end.
As we swam, I told her that she would always be my Baby.....
And then brought her back to the shallow to tell her she would always be my Love, my Baby, even when when she was BIG.

Summer Thrills

Our town has a carnival that comes this time every year.

It is a week long extravaganza hosted by the fire department, with a firework conclusion. And really, how do you refuse that? Knowing that some portion of the vast amount of money you just bled into the summer night goes to help support the neighbors that protect you. How do you not to drop an extra $5 into the boot at the hot dog stand?
(I may or may not be a little biased on this one.)

So we marched into the sweltering heat to meet with the family of one of Gracie's besties, and bought the all-you-can-ride wrist band. Grace rode with abandon: carousel, train, dragon roller coaster, tilt-a-whirl.

Clare watched with eager eyes, but didn't get to join in on the fun. Until we got to the ferris wheel.
Me go? Mine Mama? Mine, me?

And we went. She and I tucked neatly into a capsule.
It was the beginning of the end.
Now she knew she was allowed to go to, and so she went on her first carnival  ride with Grace.

Quickly followed by a ride all by herself.

I don't think I've seen her that happy in quite awhile.
Well, except for when I make popcorn.

Two

Clare-

You are a perfect combination of storm clouds and sunshine. I guess, by default, that makes you my rainbow, huh?

And you are two today.

When you were born, I was so afraid for your ability to thrive. You showed me though. You've blossomed and grown like a wild vine, weaving a path of your own choosing. Your eyes sparkle with laughter and mischief, your voice sounds with clarity and force. You leap blindly and fearlessly into adventure. You twirl uninhibited, stretching your limbs into service for your own joy and our amusement.

Happy Birthday my Love. I can't wait to watch you grow, making your colors as vivid as your personality.

Love,
Mama

Up Where the Air is Clear

Clare has been walking for a week now.

One whole week. Only one week. It's like she came out of the womb toddling along.

It's how this kid does everything though. We she crawled, she crawled. There was little wiggle-worm shimmying involved. Same with her steps. Although I take that back, she's been cruising for months. But always with a death grip on something like the Earth would swallow her whole if she let go.

Clare with her boa(constrictor) boa

Last weekend (while I was away) she finally let go. And hasn't looked back.

The Cut

Grace is 2 years, 10 months and 3 days old today. It is a monumental day. Her golden locks have fallen.

Gracie was essential bald until she as 1 year old. She didn't have hair long enough for pig tails until she was 2. There was never really any reason to bring out the scissors. Lately though, her hair has become a bit unruley. It looked a little bit like a overgrown mullet.

So I pulled out the bribes- Dum Dum lollipops. (that I *aquired* at a bank that doesn't hold one cent of my money. But my friends pennies pass through their door so I felt intitled)

We started slow. A lollipop for a trim of the bangs. I asked her if she wanted to cut all her hairs (as I do almost daily now) and she said no. Until that lollipop was gone. She wanted another one. How does a toddler aquire more candy? By sucumbing to parental pressure. Sure Mama, you can cut my hair if I can have more candy.

And so it was. I hesitated only for a second. I brushed her hair straight and steadied by hand.

Snip.

The deed was done. We were committed.

And I started to cry, but finished the job.

Bye-bye baby curls.

Timelines

It's a little bit ironic that this is my 300th post. A big, fat round number to accompany a post that forever changed our lives and the dynamic of our family. The birth of our second daughter.


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At my 35th week OB appointment, my favorite doctor said it was too early to schedule Clare's induction, but suggested I start taking Primrose Oil vitamins to help speed up the process. Okey-doke doc.

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During the start of my 36th week, Matt came home with the Pimp-Daddy-Caddy. That weekend the three of us went out to dinner. Matt ordered margaritas and I prayed to God that my belly would de-wedge from the booth we sat in. Given my alcohol free state, I drove home. At a stoplight I was tentative on the gas. Matt chided me and told me not to underestimate the power of the Caddy. She may be 16 years old, but could shotgun from a red light like nobody's business.

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At my 37th week OB appointment, the same doctor rubbed her hands together eagerly and declared she was going to make the phone call and get my induction time slot scheduled. She came back minutes later and declared Sunday, April 25 my arrival time and I should have a baby in hand by the 26th.

She also decreed that she wasn't going to bother checking my cervix because she was sure 'I was still hard as a rock' and there was no need to put me though such an unpleasant exam unnecessarily. When I reminded her that I had been taking the Primrose Oil pills she suggested, she complemented herself on being smart enough to suggest them, but still said an exam was not needed.

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At 37 weeks and 6 days, the night before I was scheduled for the induction I was awoken from my sleep with contractions. I sat downstairs from 1 - 3:30 am counting them. They ranged from 7 minutes apart to 21 minutes apart. Finally I convinced myself to go back to sleep, that no even if they were more than just crazy Braxton Hicks, they weren't regular enough to do anything about right now anyway.

After a few more hours of sleep, I woke feeling as if nothing had happened in the wee morning hours.

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I was scheduled to be at the hospital at 6:30 pm on Sunday. Around 5 pm my stomach started to hurt. A little after 6 pm, while in the car on the way to the hospital I started having contractions. Not the 'oh my God I can't breathe kind of ones' they say are the true indicators of labor, but still definitely there. I went from nothing to 7 minutes part.

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At 6:25 pm, as we sat at one of the last stoplights standing in our way between us and the hospital, Matt decided to demonstrate the power of the Pimp-Daddy-Caddy as we made the final turn.

My water broke.

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Approximately 7 hours later, and almost exactly 24 hours from what I thought were Braxton Hicks contractions the night before, I held my daughter in my arms without the assistance of pitocin.

Please, Applaude Freely

Like I said the other day, Gracie is blossoming. Her understanding of language, emotion and self if developing at a miraculous speed. Tonight we had another milestone.

The potty training seat has been getting a lot of attention lately. In May it was moved into our downstairs bathroom. On quite a few occasions, she has demanded her diaper be removed before sitting on the seat. Nothing has ever happened. Wait, I take that back. The last time I took her diaper off, she immediately peed on the tile floor, sat on the seat for 30 seconds demanding she was all done, then rose and immediately peed on the same tiles again. I was thrilled.

Over the last week, during bath time she would often declare that she had to go pee. Usually though, the declaration was followed immediately by the action. Whatever, bath time was over anyway.

Tonight though, tonight Gracie made the same declaration with a twist. She held it and stared at me for the next course of action. Do you want to use the big potty? I asked. Yes! she responded.

So I hoisted her out of the tub and made a quick transfer to the toilet. My 20 month old little girl sat, balanced carefully on the seat, shivering and dripping water until .... Hallelujah! Can it be? Is that tinkle more than some more wayard droplets of rapidly cooling water? It is! It is! Yea Gracie!

After a round of applause and shouts down to Matt, the final treat and ultimate bit of recognition for her came, the square of toilet paper to wipe with like a big girl.

Gracie fell asleep quickly, soundly and with a smile on her face tonight.

The Magic of the Bee Bo

Over the last week, she has taken to once again tormenting the dog. I know she doesn’t mean to hurt him and in the end she only wants to hug him, but right now it is torment.

The new game is to chase Lil’ Rick around in circles while she cackles like a lunatic. When she finally does catch him, (and lets face it Rick is easy to catch, he’s got little legs and is 12 years old) Gracie clutches handfuls of his loose old man skin and pulls out big chucks of hair that are still firmly in place.

Thank God he is the gentlest creature on the planet, because frankly, if I were him I’d bite her.

Grace is very familiar with the phrase ‘not nice’ and uses it willy-nilly when she is mad at us. Like when she shimmies up a chair and onto the kitchen table to dance and we have to forcibly remove her. This, apparently, amid the shrieks and tears qualifies as us being ‘not nice.’ So be it.

So I’ve been working on the expansion of not nice. As in “When you pull on Ricky’s fur like that it is not nice. It hurts him. Hurt. Ouch. Hurt. And that makes him sad.” I must have repeated that phrase 20 times yesterday alone. Grace kept looking at me like I had two heads and then went on to rip some more doggie hair out.

She must have been paying attention though because last night we had a communication break through.

When Matt was putting her to bed, she started crying and fussing which was uncharacteristic. He pulled out the old, 'what is wrong? use your words' on her. And you know what? It worked.

She said ‘bee bo’, which translated from Sandra Boynton, means belly button. So she kept saying ‘bee bo. bee bo hurt. bee bo hurt’ which Matt was able to further translate into ‘my tummy hurts’ and then soothes with belly rubs until she fell asleep.

Now it is never a good think when your kids stomach hurts, but this is the first time she’s been able to tell us. Which (obviously) is a fabulous thing. Now I just need to figure out how to make her understand how much it hurts the dog when she body slams him and pulls hair.

Linguistics: Gracie & the English Language

At Grace's 15 month doctors appointment we were asked how many words she had. I had to think about it. We were told that anything between 3-5 was on par and I knew we definitely had that covered.

As we approach the end of her 15th month, why not document her words? I know there will be a vocabulary boom in the next year, so let's start with the basics and see how the list expands over the next few months!

20 months-
Aunt Jen, Uncle Jer
grapes, sauce, chicken, vitamin
car=vroom, truck=honk, fire truck=woooo, plane=zoom
umbrella,
hurt, pee, poo

19 months- 48 new words (135 total)
face, body, hand, fingers, leg, toes, belly, eyebrow, cheek, chin
pickle, strawberries, chicken, broccoli (also called trees), beans, cookie, ice cream, peach, apple, crab, fish, food. spoon, fork
inside, outside, swim, pool, ocean, sand, beach, tree
home, hello, bye-bye, mine, potty
car, truck, fire truck, ambulance, bike, bus, boat
yummy, ickies
Word Combinations:
Daddy home!
More please!
Not nice! & Hagi says not nice!
Kind-of / Sort-of:
Count to 10
Sing: Wheels on the Bus, Twinkle Twinkle, ABC's, Row Row Row Your Boat


17 months- 45 new words (87 total)
cat = meow, dog = woof, cow = moo, sheep = bah, snake = sssss, donkey = hehaw, bird = tweet, duck = quack, fish, dolphin, worm, bug
eyes, ear, nose, mouth, hair
sun, cloud, sky, moon, towel
sorry, bless you
juice, pizza, eat
sock, shirt, sit, tooth, brush, bath, poo
dude, dingo (yeah, I know I need to stop referring to my daughter as "dude" & "dingo", but come on...)
Word Combinations:
Bot please!

16 months - 13 new words (42 total)
Mommy, Daddy, PaPa, Grandma, Grandpa
More, Please, Thank You (Pronounced: De Da (but it really does me thank you)
Happy Birthday! (Pronounced: Hap' Biray!)
Book, Socks
Word Combinations:
Bye Bye Daddy!, No do!


15 months - 29 words
Yes, No
Hi, Bye
Up, Down
All Done (said as 1 word)
Mama, Dada, Matt (yeah, I know), Gracie, Lilah, Hagi, Rick, Dog
Eat, Banana, Blue (berries), Cheese, Milk, Bottle, Cup
Ball, Sit, Book, Balloon, Shoe
Wow, Boom!

ABC's & 123's

As you can see by her list of words, Gracie's knowledge and understanding of things is exploding. (Sometimes literally, in the form of temper tantrums, when she can't do something by herself.)

Her latest kick? Alphabet reciting and counting.

She's been dancing to the Alphabet Song for months now. Whether the song is via a dancing dog, refrigerator Leap-Frog toy, or my off key voice, the entire world stops and she sways to the song.

She knows key parts. The Alphabet Song, in her voice is sung: A. B. C. D. E. F. G. H. I. C. D. C. D. C. O. P. C. D. C. T. U. C. C. C. Z.

It WAS a similar phenomenon with counting 1-10.

One. TWO. Two. Two. Two. SIX. Six. EIGHT. Six. TEN. Yeah! (Always followed with a cheer of Yeah!)

Last night however, we hit a new milestone. If we count with her, she can fill in the blanks and do every other number. (Sort of.)

Me: One. Grace: TWO! Me: Three. Grace: Whore. Me (after giggling): Five. Grace: Sits. Me: Seven. Grace: EIGHT! Me: Nine. Grace: TEN! Yeah!

As annoying as it is after the 100th time, it would be annoying counting to ten 100 times correctly too. Eventually she will get it, and while I know I am biased, I think it is amazing that at 18 months she can ALMOST count to ten.

Forget Me Not

We hit another first yesterday.

It was more my milestone in motherhood and parenting, or lack there of, though. Yesterday, I FORGOT Gracie at daycare.

Not for very long. It's not like I left her at the airport or anything.

She spent an extra 3 minutes in the classroom that she loves so much, but I know she spent it waiting for me. She knows the schedule. She knows sometime around 3:45pm my face will come around the corner.

My excuse for forgetting her? She's been sick (no pickup duty) and I am easily distracted.

We arrived a little at daycare a little later than normal, which means I signed into work a little later than normal. Which means we will get home a little later than normal. Which means I was thinking about what we were going to have for dinner that could be created in half an hour's time.

My mind was going through freezer and pantry items, lists of work that needed to be completed before the weekend, plans for the weekend, plans for the month of April.... and zip.

Right by the daycare.

Right onto the the road.

I didn't get far.

I realized my mistake as I was turning out onto the main road and was quickly able to do a U turn and head right back in. I was only home in my head when I realized that there was no head bobbing along to Pink and Lady GaGa in the backseat.

Not before I got a disapproving snuff from a security guard though.

Snow Day

I hate the weather in the Mid-Atlantic. The weather casters just never know what's going to happen. Last night they were predicting "somewhere between 2-12 inches of snow!"

I'm sorry, there is a huge difference between 2 and 12 inches of snow.

I guess you really can't cast blame them though. There is a mountain range and other crazy assorted geographical formations to contend with that we didn't have to account for in the Mid-West. In Chicago we only have the Lake Effect. Which just always means more snow.

Here? Not so much. Panic ensues all the time over the possibility of 'The Big One,' much like the excitement over Nascar crashes. There are school cancellations constantly, just on suspicion of snow. More often than not, not a single flake sticks to the ground.

Last night it did. This morning it has.

Grace got her first official Snow Day. The first time we've donned the snow pants with coordinating booties. (Which caused my mom scoff at the fact that Grace didn't actually own any proper snow boots.) The first time gloves and hat were REQUIRED. The first time we've gotten to experience the parent's side of stuffing a squirming child into 5 layers.

We ventured outdoors and quickly realized that it probably is indeed hard to walk in snow that comes up to your knees combined with slippery polyester boots on your feet. (Read, Grace tried to take a step and face planted in the snow. She was mad. She was ready to go back inside.)

Let's just get the sled out!!! We can pull her!!! Oh, wait. We don't own one. (See 'proper snow boots' above.)

Our solution? Wagon! It's the best of both worlds. Grace could still go fast, but Matt had much more control and she was semi-secured.


The wagon redeemed her opinion of this winter wonderland and caused Grace to spend much of the day looking out the door saying. 'S.No. S.No. Hi S.No. S.No'

But It Dangles

Yesterday was a two-fer for the milestones.

The first, the official declaration of toddlerdom is major. The second, is a milestone that I’ve been thinking about already, but had no idea we would hit so soon.

Body parts. Interest in them. Discovery of them.

When I thought about this though, it was her own. Or mine. And she would be able to talk and ask questions.

Nope not my kid. At just shy of 15 months old, what did she do last night?

Barged in on her father in a non-dressed state (not a big deal), walked right up to him (big deal but only because of the newness of the walking) and grabbed hold of his … ahhh …. umm … manhood (big deal.)

No. No. In all the conversations we’ve been having about what to do when curiosity about body parts arises, we have decided to use actual names.

Grace grabbed Matt’s penis last night.

There. I said it.

Well, I typed it. It was still hard, even through my snickering. It is so hard to stop snickering.

At this point there is nothing to do. She doesn’t understand the concept of ‘private areas’ yet and I doubt there is even any point in trying to explain. She has a whole new perspective (literally) on life. There is so much more in her line of sight.

There was a thing dangling right in front of her. She’d be crazy NOT to grab, right?

While I know not very many people read this, any suggestions Internets? (Aside from Matt putting clothes back on faster.)

How do you handle this? How do we prepare for the questions to come?

Officially Official Now

We are the official proud parents of a Toddler now.

Yep, you read that right. At 14 months, 4 weeks and 3 days old, Grace has upgraded from four legs to two.

While yes, she has been walking for quite awhile, I kept telling myself that cruising isn’t quite the same thing as toddling. When she can cross a room like some crazy looking Japanese robot, then and only then, will she get the title.

That moment came tonight. My baby, I mean toddler, made the long walk from the front door all the way to the kitchen table.

Watch out world. She’s coming for you.

More Than Words

It’s amazing how quickly Gracie’s language skills are developing. Just a month ago I was worried that she hardly had any words. Now she seems to learn a new word, and its meaning, almost daily.

So far my favorite is “Aww Dun!” (Translation: “All Done!”)

It is punctuated, of course, with hands thrown into the air like she is about to begin the decent of a mammoth roller coaster. After all, what’s the point of announcing that you are finished with your dinner if there is no grand gesture to accompany it? This is always directly followed by a quick session of “All Done” and “More” where she pushes and pulls her highchair tray back and forth. A few more pieces of food are usually consumed too, thus proving that she was in fact NOT “All Done!”

In the number two spot is “Baawl.” (Translation: “Ball.”)

Why is such a simple word and object a ranked favorite? Because I’m lazy, that’s why. My mom has bought Grace the Ball-o-saurus Ball Pit with accompanying bag ‘o 100 balls. I wrapped the pit, but ran out of enough paper to wrap the bag ‘o balls. So they’ve been sitting on our dining room table in plain sight. I figure that she’s 1, she’s not going to even notice that they are there.

I was wrong.

The other day, in an attempt to occupy her, I asked Gracie to go get a ball. What does she do? Crawls straight over to the dining table, stands up and points at the bag ‘o balls. Oh. I guess she does notice the large see-through container of brightly covered toys, huh?

Number three? “Daawg and Wik.” (Translation: “Dog and Rick.” Which is one in the same.)

Every morning, after her cries have been answered and she’s rescued from her crib, the first thing out of her mouth is “Daawg.” She has come to adore Lil’ Rick. She spends a quite a bit of time crawling after him, pulling his fur, poking his face, trying to trick him into licking her and when not engaged in those activities calling “Wik. Daawg. Wik. Wik. Wik!!!” The dog in turn, spends the majority of his day trying to avoid her while still being near family. Plus, he doesn’t come when WE call him half the time, much less when Gracie is screaming his name in her 1 year old accent.

The fourth favorite is “Aww-el.” (Translation: “Angel.”)

Gracie has been mastering the art of Christmas ornament removal. Frankly, I am fine with it because at least I can put the ornaments back on the tree. Originally, she was plucking the needles of our White Pine.

On top of our tree is an angel. Directly across the room from it is another angel on a shelf. She has noticed both, and started pointed both of them out. I know, not ground breaking, but I am still impressed that she recognizes that while they are distinctly different objects, more different than the balls anyway, they are the same. Hurray! Taking those nasty fish oil pills while I was pregnant is paying off!!

Finally “Da Da” is a great one too. (Hopefully no translation is needed.)

It’s a favorite because she is finally starting to ONLY use it when addressing Matt. For awhile, it was her only word, so everything was Da Da. Now, she likes to lay on Matt’s chest and poke him with a jabbing index finger (very similarly to the dog) saying, “Da Da.” Matt then responds with “Gracie” to her. The game is great. It can last quite a long time. And doesn’t involve my participation in the slightest.

Butterflies

I’ve always considered the flu to be a practical version of the butterfly effect. If you think about it, there are similarities.

Someone, WAY over THERE gets the bug from someone else even more WAY over THERE. A random dude doesn't wash their hands, the wind blows in a funny direction, a cricket chirps in a forest....

Then someone that is in my vicinity touches my door or sneezes or coughs or just breathes and there is the evil bug, just floating around.

So I walk through the cloud of ick and come into contact with the dreaded thing. Micro-particles just floating in seemingly harmless environments. And it sticks to me.

What do I then do? No amount of neurotic hand washing and sticking, burning sanitizer gel or even shots can save you if the F-L-U really wants to come in.

It came a knockin’.

Grace was sent home from daycare on Tuesday. I received two panicked phone calls in the span of 20 minutes. I guess you would be panicking too if you had to clean up the entire contents of a child’s stomach off the floor. Especially if it’s not your kid.

So we were banned. The rule is 3 runny poops or 2 yacks and your home for 24 hours.

I picked Gracie up mid-nap from daycare. She immediately fell asleep in the car. I woke her again to bring her inside the house when we got home and she immediately fell asleep in her bed again.

Hmmm. That’s not normal.

She took a conglomerate 4 hr nap. That is so not normal.

Two hours later she was ready for bed (an hour early) and preceded to sleep for 13 hours.

So, so, so not normal. Let’s call the Doc.

It’s confirmed. It’s the flu and only the flu, so your going to just have to wait it out. Umm, and as for your trip to Chicago Thursday morning, I wouldn’t plan on it. Not unless your all want to be miserable, infect everyone around you and pray that she doesn’t vomit or have explosive poop on the plane.

Good point Doc. Throw in the fact that my dad is immune depressed and Matt’s dad just got out of the hospital, let’s consider the visit cancelled.

Shortly after the doctor’s visit, we developed a one diaper an hour routine.

With another 13 hour bedtime, that was the making of quite the mess come morning. (1 diaper x 13 hours – actually changing the diaper in that 13 hours = EWW.) Throw in a little more yack just for good measure and that had been our last 3 days.

(I do have to admit though, I catagorized this as a milestone. Gracie's first flu. To celebrate lets all go wash our hands.)

How is your week going? Watch out for butterflies this time of year.

Please Approach the Elephant

Have you ever been to a Rainforest Café? (I know, stay with me here…)

It is overpriced, but extremely entertaining and monumentally kid friendly. As the name suggests, it is highly stylized in a rainforest theme. It is actually REALLY cool.

My favorite part of the experience though was always over before we were even seated. (OK, sure I loved the faux thunderstorms and random monkey noises too, but if I had to pick one it was this...)

The host stand was a giant elephant. Think Disney’s Dumbo ride (slighlty less cutsie) and that was the size of the thing. So when you were ready to be seated, the host would get on a microphone and call, “Will the X party please approach the elephant. Your adventure is ready to begin.” You would then follow the waitress along a path of painted footsteps, into the jungle that was the restaurant and order fancy sounding smoothies.

Having someone tell you to “Please approach the elephant,” was always so joyful. It was your turn. It was finally your turn!

Well, I do believe we are about to hear, “Please approach the elephant, your adventure is ready to begin,” from Gracie. She is standing, quite well, with no support these days.

At home she has been stretching the length of time she can stand without wobbling. It seems like just last week it was 5 seconds. Now is it up to 30 seconds. This morning I got a report at daycare that yesterday she stood on her own for about 3 minutes. Apparently, the only thing that caused the tumble was her excited clapping over the accomplishment.

Normally, the daycare people are really supportive about milestones. With this one though I have been warned there is trouble to come. One they can stand, walking will come very quickly, I am told.

“You’d better watch out. That Gracie, she will be into everything!” Thanks lady.

Another milestone is upon us.

I am excited about it. I love the excitement and twinkle in Grace’s eyes when she figures out new skills. And this is a big one. There should be fireworks!