The Harris Family

Last week, Elsa’s cousin Amelia visited from Ohio along with Jensen’s brother Carr and Carr’s wife Christy. Amelia is three-and-a-half months older than Elsa, and because they are so close in age it was fun to see them together!

This was the first time the girls have spent time together since they have both become mobile and talking, so we couldn’t wait to see what they thought of one another.

We had a great time, and the girls played together really well! By the end of the first day, Amelia would say “Elsa, Elsa” whenever Elsa would leave the room, and within a few days, Elsa was saying Amelia’s name as well (although the diction left something to be desired.)

Below are two sets of pictures from the trip. The first set are pictures of Elsa and Amelia together on various day trips. We took the ferry to Bainbridge Island to visit the Bloedel Reserve on Bainbridge Island and walked around for a few hours; this was the first boat trip for both girls. Some of the pictures are from a visit to the Bellevue Botanical Garden.

The second set of pictures is just Elsa (although Carr appears in a few of them as well.) We stayed a bit later at the Botanical Garden to let Elsa romp around in the grass.

It was so much fun seeing everyone together!

Elsa and Amelia – May 2010

Elsa at the Botanical Garden

It has been a while since we’ve posted pictures of Elsa, so I thought it was a good time to share a few of the photos we’ve taken over the last few months. As the weather has gotten nicer, we’ve been able to take Elsa outside a lot more, which she loves. Early next week she’ll be 17 months old!

Here are the most recent pictures, taken last weekend in our driveway and at Bellevue Downtown Park:

Elsa – May 2010

Here are a few from Mothers’ Day, when we took Elsa to go play in the fountains at Redmond Town Center, and then took her to a park near our house to go play.

Mother’s Day 2010

The next set is from the May Fair celebration at the Three Cedars Waldorf School. Elsa even made the newsletter (bottom-right of page 5.)

Afterwards she went swimming an the pool. Elsa loves swimming and goes several times per week; recently her swim teacher suggested pulling her out of Parent/Tot and putting her in the next level swim class, so today she’ll be in her first class with mostly 3- to 5-year olds.

May Fair 2010

Finally, here are a few pictures of Elsa at lunch and then out-and-about on a chilly April afternoon:

Elsa – April 2010

This week, Carr, Christy, and Elsa’s 20-month old cousin Amelia are visiting for the first time since last year. It will be great to see them and to see the girls play together!

This has been an unseasonably temperate winter in Seattle: not a flake of snow, a minimum of rain, and the flowers and trees started blooming in late February!

Yesterday it was 65 degrees and sunny, so we decided to take Elsa on a trip to the Woodland Park Zoo (the largest zoo in the Seattle area.)

Elsa loves identifying animals and making animal noises (her favorite is the duck, but she is equally adept at pig, cow, horse, sheep, dog, cat, crow, elephant, whale, snake, bunny rabbit and a bunch more I’m sure I’m forgetting.) So we thought she would love seeing the animals in person.

We stayed at the zoo for almost three hours, but Elsa eventually tuckered out and fell asleep. Although she seemed to enjoy seeing many of the animals, spotting a duck brought out the biggest smile.

Here are some pictures from our trip to the zoo:

Woodland Park Zoo

I’d estimate that Elsa knows how to use more than a hundred words now, although her pronunciation on many of them is pretty rough and requires mommy or daddy translation. She often leaves off the first sound from syllables, so water is “ater” and “sleep sack” is “eep ack.”

About three weeks ago, she learned how to add words together with prepositions to form mini-sentences. In particular, she knows on, off, up, down, in and out, and likes to demand everything possible to change state. “Lights on!” “Music off!” “Walk out!” Sometimes, the meaning is clear, even if the grammar is not. “Book on!” means that she wants to read a book, for instance, usually preceded by “this one” to indicate the book she wants to read.

Here are some pictures from about a month ago that I haven’t had time to post, of a trip to Crossroads Park. Elsa loves the swing and the slide, and wants to go on them as much as possible!

Elsa – February 2010

Elsa can run and jump now, and she’s learning to stomp, walk backwards, and to go down stairs (with a hand from one of us.) The pace at which she’s learning words is definitely increasing, and she’s becoming more talkative during the day, especially around people she’s comfortable with.

December 25. Two holidays in one: Christmas and Elsa’s birthday all wrapped up in one exhausting, fun-filled day!

The morning was devoted to celebrating Christmas.

Lynne’s parents, sister, and grandma are in town, and they came over to the house around 10, just as Elsa woke up from her morning nap. Elsa went over to the Christmas tree and played Santa, grabbing presents and bows and learning to rip open wrapping paper. She had a great time opening presents and playing with her new toys! Among the presents she received were shape sorters, pull toys, and musical instruments. At the end, she opened her stocking and found jumbo-sized crayons to go with her new drawing paper!

Elsa has been walking everywhere for the last month; she seems to love the freedom (and speed) it gives her. So, all morning she was darting around the room, playing with wrapping materials, presents, and people. She knows how to say a couple dozen words now, and was eager to show them off to the family, including done, yes, up, down, book, duck, lights, keys, hat, home, and milk. She also learned that pigs say oink and was wandering around saying “oink, oink, oink.” (She is also getting great at imitating the words people say to her.) All in all, Elsa seemed to have a great time!

Then, Elsa went down for an early afternoon nap, and when she woke up, it was the beginning of the birthday part of the day! She immediately noticed the pink birthday balloon upstairs, and ran over to play with it, dragging it all around the room and batting it around.

We had a birthday/Christmas dinner of lamb, brussels sprouts, salad, carrots, and zucchini, and Elsa tried a little bit of each of the vegetables.

After dinner, we presented Elsa with her birthday cake: carrot cake with cream cheese frosting and a single candle on top. Of course, the first thing she did was to plunge her hand into the cake. I will also reveal that Elsa successfully extinguished the candle by herself, but I will leave the “how” up to your imagination until I have time to post the video.

We finished up with her birthday presents and cards, including a tractor that actually drives, a few books, and a few very beautiful pieces of jewelry.

Overall, everyone had a lot of fun, and Elsa was a trooper through all the excitement. Below are some pictures from the day; the first pictures are from the morning (Christmas) celebration, and the later pictures are from the more birthday-centric part of the day.

Christmas and Elsa’s Birthday 2009

Hope that everyone had a great holiday. We are looking forward to 2010!

This was Elsa’s first Halloween, and she dressed as a pumpkin!

Here she is, showing off her costume at a Halloween party with her PEPS class:

While she wore the costume in good spirits, Elsa seemed relieved to ditch it after a few minutes and to scamper around in just her black Happy Halloween shirt and pants.

Happy Halloween!

Sorry it has been so long since we’ve posted pictures! Life has been extremely busy, with a new job at work and a full schedule of Elsa activities: music class, swimming, sign language, tumbling, etc. It seems like the days are just flying by.

Over the last month, Elsa has become totally mobile. She is now an expert crawler, deftly plodding wherever she wants to go. We built a giant play area for her to roam around in our living room (basically padded mats with gates around them.) Elsa can go anywhere she wants within the play area, and she likes not having to be constantly pulled away from things. (In the rest of the house, some of Elsa’s favorite things to reach for are cords, plastic bags, electronics, and drinking glasses—so you can see the benefits of having a safe play area.)

Elsa loves standing, and she tries to pull herself up wherever she can. She is fairly wobbly still, and can only stand totally unassisted (without holding on to anything) for a maximum of ten seconds, and then she needs to reach out for something to hold on to.

Here’s some video of a typical few minutes of Elsa playing. I was playing TV themes for her on the stereo, hence the unexpected soundtrack:

Elsa is also recognizing more words every week. She knows the names of many of her toys, and she can point to them and retrieve them. Here’s a short video of Elsa pointing to and then chasing after her ball:

Last week, great-grandpa Don came to Seattle with his friend Susan to visit for a few days. We had great fun with them! Here are some pictures from the visit:

Great Grandpa Don’s Visit

As you can see from the video and pictures, Elsa has her two bottom-center teeth now (they came in around a month-and-a-half ago.) She currently has her first upper tooth coming in as well, right in the center.

Elsa’s growing up awfully fast! This week will be her nine-month birthday and well-baby checkup; we’ll let you know how she’s doing and how big she’s grown after the appointment.

People who don’t live in Seattle are often surprised to learn how beautiful the summers here are. This summer has been a typically great one weather-wise: sunny and clear nearly every day, with temperatures in the mid-70s/low-80s. Perfect for outings to the park with Elsa!

Below are a set of pictures which span from Elsa’s half-birthday on June 25 to this weekend. Elsa is on the verge of becoming mobile; she pantomimes crawling motions on her stomach, but she’s not quite strong enough to pull herself along yet. She grabs everything within her reach these days, and she’s especially curious about shiny objects, cords, and anything she hasn’t seen before. Elsa also likes to bang on the computer keyboard; she performed her first search today—unfortunately, it was a string of z’s, f’s and b’s and no results came back.

She’s making an increasingly wide range of sounds now as well: da-da-da, low growls, rolled r’s, and high-pitched screeching are among her current favorites.

We’ve taken Elsa to the splash park just a few blocks from our house a couple of times over the last month. She likes the water and, hopefully, she’ll be able to start swim lessons before too long!

On the fourth of July, we sat out on the deck and barbecued, and Elsa had a chance to play with (and taste) the American flag. Then, we watched people set off fireworks over Lake Sammamish before going to bed.

Lynne’s parents have been here for the last few weeks along with Great-Grandma Salva; you can see pictures of them together in the set below.

It won’t be long until Elsa’s scooting around the house; it’s time to put the childproofing effort into high gear!

Elsa – July 2009

Elsa’s half-birthday is coming up next week—six months so soon!

Several interesting things have happened since last time we wrote.

Elsa learned to sit on her own about a month ago. This has been a seriously positive development because it makes her more independent: able to reach for the toys she likes, grab things when she drops them, etc. While she does occasionally fall over, it’s usually because she’s grabbing for something too far out of her reach and she loses her balance or because she doesn’t want to sit anymore. (Many times, when she falls onto her back, she giggles, as if she’s proud of herself.)

Here are some pictures of Elsa sitting around:

Elsa – June 2009

Elsa also tried her first solid food a few weeks ago, a small piece of avocado. A very funny movie was made; I will try to post it when I get a few minutes to encode it.

Since then, she’s had applesauce (the first food she actually swallowed) and sweet potato, which she seems to love. For the last few months, whenever anyone eats anything in front of Elsa, she watches them intently. So it’s no surprise that she doesn’t want to be fed things, instead she grabs for the spoon and tries to feed herself. It is very funny and, of course, very messy.

Elsa is also starting to learn to stand by herself. For a few weeks, she’s been able to stand up for a moderately long time if someone is holding her hands, Very recently, she is starting to be able to stand unsupported by herself for short periods of time (a minute or less) by herself holding on to her play table.

It is going to be some time I’m sure until she’s secure enough to stand for longer periods of time, but it’s amazing to watch the pace at which babies learn things!

The last month has been an exciting one for Elsa and family.

In late April, the three of us made a trip to Ohio to commemorate the passing of Elsa’s great-grandfather Donald Harris (aka Bopy.) While this was a sad time, it was also a happy time because it gave Elsa a chance to take a her first plane ride—an ambitious cross-country journey at that!

She was mostly content on the plane, with the exception of a 90-minute stretch of our flight from Denver to Cleveland in which Elsa made it known to everyone on the plane that she was ready to land. Other passengers were mostly sympathetic.

A lot of fun time was spent with family. Elsa got to meet her great-grandmother Marilyn (Nana), for whom her middle name is in honor of. She also got to meet her cousin Amelia for the first time! Amelia is three-and-a-half months older than Elsa, so it was fun to see how much further developed she is.

Here are a few pictures of Elsa with Nana and Amelia in Ohio:

Elsa’s First Trip to Ohio

Then, only a week later, Carr, Christy, and Amelia came from Ohio to Seattle to visit for a five days. They stayed with us, and we got tons of time for Elsa and Amelia to play and for all of us to hang around and see some of the city. On the last day, we went to Downtown Park in Bellevue and Amelia went on the swing for the first time!

Here are pictures from the trip (including some adorable pictures of Elsa and Amelia together):

Elsa and Amelia – Seattle, May 2009

Today, Elsa is five months old. It’s amazing how fast the time flies and how much she’s changed in that time!

Today was that awaited day that happens each year—the balmy, beautiful sunrise that proclaims that winter is finally on its way out and spring is dawning.

65 degrees and clear, bright sunlight. Perfect weather. Convertibles were out, people were boating on the lake, and our neighborhood butcher (Pleased to meet you, Meat to please you) was packed with people primed to start up their grills for the year.

We got up well before 7am (Elsa’s choice) and decided as long as we were up, we’d take a long walk around the neighborhood. We were out for more than two hours; Elsa was happy riding along in the Moby wrap, mostly asleep but sometimes looking around interestedly.

In the afternoon, we took turns playing with Elsa and running errands. Elsa has become ticklish over the last week, and so we have been having fun watching her laugh as we rub our fingers on her tummy. She also loves peek-a-boo, and that is also usually good for a laugh and gaping smile.

I also took a few pictures of me and Elsa together, trying to match facial expressions.

We grilled lamb and ate out on the top deck for dinner. By then, it had probably dropped into the mid-50s and so we dressed Elsa for the outside, hat and all. The result was a bit comical as you’ll see in the photos below.

We took the camera around all day and shot a few pictures both in and out of the house. I hope you like them!

Elsa – Week 15

Hats.

We were led to believe that babies love hats. Wherever we go, we see infants with cute little hats on, reclining docilely in their carriers, sleeping quietly.

Not Elsa. Elsa hates hats. If you put one on, she’ll squirm around until the hat is off. Pretty much the same for socks, mittens, and anything else remotely removable. This episode’s set of pictures includes a cute vignette of Elsa delighting in her flowered hat.

Also this week, we tried out Elsa’s new rubber ducky bath tub for the first time. It’s inflatable, and quacks when you touch the nose. It was pretty successful; Elsa likes warm bath water. The process of getting her out of the bath, on the other hand, is something Lynne and I haven’t fully optimized yet, and the transition out of the ducky was not seamless. Elsa is not shy about letting us know when she doesn’t like something, although she’s getting better about not always crying, but instead loudly “talking” to us to express displeasure.

We put Elsa back on her blanket recently to visualize how much bigger she’s gotten in the six weeks since we took the original blanket photo. You’ll find that photo in this set as well.

Elsa – Week 11

Last week, I finally went back to work, so hopefully the flow of photos and videos won’t slow down too much. We have a few things in the hopper that we’ll post when we have a few more free minutes.

It’s hard to believe Elsa is already over two months old!

It seems like just yesterday we brought her home from the hospital and started adjusting to a new member of the family. Now, two months later, it’s hard to imagine what life was like before she was here.

Some things have remained the same. Elsa was a big baby when she was born, and as of her two-month checkup, that hasn’t changed. She’s tracking in a high percentile for length, weight, and (especially) head circumference. She still has blue eyes, although they’ve changed from a dark, almost gray-blue when she was born to a brighter, lighter shade. We’ll know by mid-summer or not whether she’ll keep the blue eyes or develop brown eyes like her mother did.

Elsa’s hair, on the other hand, has gotten progressively lighter. Looking at the pictures from shortly after her birth, the change is very evident. Right now, I’d describe her hair as either light brown or dark blond. Because it’s so thin and sparse, it’s hard to really tell though.

Elsa is a very spirited baby and loves to be awake, talking and commanding social attention. She love to play, smile, and chat, but like most infants, she is also prone to over-excitement. We’ve read that two-month-old infants should be sleeping 15-18 hours per day, but Elsa rarely takes more than a few short naps through the course of the day. Happily, though, over the last couple of weeks Elsa has started to dependably wind down around 8 or 8:30pm and to sleep through 7am or so (with only one or two interspersed feedings.) She’s usually good for at least one 5- or 6-hour contiguous sleep period during the night, which is a godsend.

Here are a few pictures of Elsa wearing one of the shirts Lynne herself wore back in the early 1980s:

Elsa – Week 10