Ebright Park

I have a plan. An idea, really. It started last summer, but we didn't get too far. The fact that Laine wasn't walking yet made it not quite as effective or fun.

My idea is to visit as many parks with Laine as possible. Last spring, we started out going to a couple nearby (our neighborhood park included, of course) and a few in Bellevue. These days the weather is still very crisp on the sunny days, but this kid is bored rather easily (i.e., not interested in toys) and I am always willing to get her outside. Our cul-de-sac is great, but you can only push toys, bounce balls, and ride the wagon around the circle for so long.

So in the afternoons, (morning is still too cold) Laine and I will go to parks. If they have playtoys, great! If they have walking trails, good! If they have dogs, AWESOME!

We started out this winter at Ebright Park, just less than 10 minutes from our house. It's where we had our photos taken with Desiree for Laine's first birthday. I'd never been there before then, and wanted to go back.

Outside the front of our house, before we left.

Mom, you need to stain the fence.

Slides are fun! (To crawl up.)

Walking along the paths.


This is my favorite series of photos:
Laine leans in to better see the stream.

This child makes me happier than words can express.

Life is grand.

I wanted to see the horses, but PLEASE don't suggest I get anywhere near them!

These miniature ponies sure look like dogs, mom.

The Tip of My Tongue

Laine has LOTS of words now. It didn't seem like very many until I actually wrote them down, and I think I've forgotten some too! I haven't been counting words as "real" words until it's clear that she understands the meaning, too. To tell you the truth, she is not much of a repeater. If you ask her to say a word, she probably won't. (Good for you, little girl, you don't just follow orders blindly!) Laine is a big thinker. She listens to what you tell her, what you read to her, and what you point out. And then, a day or two later, she comes out with the words herself, surprising you that she was listening at all.

Her words:

Mama
Dada
Grandpa/Grandma (Boppa: this means mostly Grandpa, but sometimes applies to Grandma!)
Banana (nana)
Puppy (pupup)
No
Snow (Sounds like no)
Baby
Water (wawa)
Bath (bhla) hard to describe, she ends it with her tongue sticking out but it doesn't make a "th"
Bedtime/Nightnight (nighnigh)
Dinner (nin-nin)
Bye bye
Apple (AHHH-puh)
Gorilla (lilla)
Kiwi (my favorite: comes out like cwcwcwcwcw, the sound an espresso machine makes!)
Laine-Laine (Sounds like Ling-Ling. This is Jayson's fault. He got her to say her name twice, and she won't say it just once now. We didn't name our kid after a panda at the zoo!)


Laine's Animal Sounds:

Cat (mau mau: sounds like wow)
Dog (woofwoofwoofwoof- high pitched)
Duck (wacwac)
Horse (Nnnnay)
Owl (hooo hooo)
Cow (mooo)
Fish (opens and closes her mouth, and even pops her jaw!)
Pig (oddly, same sound as kiwi sounds like! cwcwcwcw--I think she likes the "k" in oink.

Parts of the body Laine can point out to you:
Mouth
Teeth
Nose
Ears
Eyes
Fingers
Toes
Feet
Knees
Belly and bellybutton
Hair
Head
Tongue

Laine at Fifteen Months

Fifteen months. Can you believe it? To think back one year ago...well, wow. We were still just getting to know our little Laine. Her changes seemed fast then, and now it's something new each day! Since my last big post, Laine has added some "skills" to her repetoire. They include, (in loose chronological order since November):

• Tickling Daddy's feet on request. She doesn't quite touch your feet when doing it, but we always laugh and laugh.


• She will hit the buttons on certain toys when you ask her to "play some music." A little dancing follows, but it's always very brief.


• She will rock her dollies when you ask her to; but dolly gets tossed on the floor right after.


• When listening to her recordable book from Grandma and Grandpa, she held up her one finger when the book said "one."


• She enjoys plugging her ears and experimenting how her voice sounds different. It's also a favorite activity while eating (must make chewing sound different) but this usually ends in a bath...sticky hands in the hair!


• She always wants to get under our kitchen sink cabinet. It's locked--and one day she started blowing raspberries at it. I thought she was just frustrated that I wouldn't open it, until I realized that that's where I keep her bubbles! She was trying to tell me she wanted me to blow bubbles!


• Laine shows affection to her dolly, rocking her, and feeding it her cereal the other day while she was having a snack.


• She points up to the trees and blows when we're outside--demonstrating that she remembers the first time I showed her the trees were blowing in the wind. She will blow when you say "blow."


• When our kitchen timer goes off, she says "BEEEE BEEEE!" (Beep beep.)


• I told her the other day that the oven was hot, and she walked over and got out the oven mitt. I don't think she understands that hot = the need for the mitt, but she does know that you need the mitt when opening the oven. The other day she used my dish glove and tried to open the oven!
  

Laine wanted to play in the tub so badly that it didn't matter to her if she was wearing clothes!

Helping mom with the baking.

• She knows what "thirsty" is. I asked her if her stuffed puppy was thirsty and she gave him her sippy cup.


• The other day, she asked for a bath and did not let up until she got one. (It was only 9:15 in the morning!)


• Her latest activities include spinning around in a circle (both while standing or while sitting) and walking backwards for quite some distance.


• She tries to jump. She saw our neighbor kids jumping on their trampoline and she now tries to jump--although the feet don't leave the floor, the knees just bend!

Yes, chairs are for sitting, but this one is not meant for even babies. Ha!Laine saw this (decoration) on our shelf and had to try it out!

Blueberries are still a major favorite food. We had to start buying them in larger quantities!

Spinning on the floor has quickly turned into spinning while standing. Much safer on the floor; you can't get dizzy and fall into the furniture! (That hasn't happened, thank goodness.)

This doesn't seem like much of an important video, except that Laine says "bath."

Saturday Loungin'

Jayson is teaching Laine how to properly relax and unwind on a Saturday morning. Lucky for us, she's a fast learner.

Using a Fork

Laine is beginning to learn how to use a fork. It's more for play than anything, and to tell you the truth, I've discovered it's a good way to get her to eat more. If she seems like she's finished with her beans, I can spear one with her fork and she'll attempt to eat more. Sometimes she's successful, but more than likely she'll try and try and then pick up her food with her fingers and eat it that way.

I made two videos of Laine's fork skills, and the second one is longer and wouldn't load--unfortuately, as it has the funny ending where she finally gets the asparagus in her mouth and makes a terrible face at the realization that she's been working so hard to get something yucky!

It's "Gnowing!"

Laine has added another new word to her repetoire--SNOW! It sounds just like "no," but somehow it sounds like there is a "g" in front of it, like the word "gnome."

"Ooooh, more white stuff!"

Christmas Wrap Up

As sad as it is, we are hoping that this will have been our last Christmas in this house. It's been a wonderful place to call home for the past eight going-on nine years, but we've certainly outgrown it. It's the place I've lived the longest; which is why I think I'm so antsy to make a change. Even though we go through our belongings more than a few times a year and take bags and bags to Goodwill, we have fully outgrown our space. We don't even have half of our belongings from our parent's house here--we'd need another two garage stalls if we did!

There was still some snow on the ground, so I made sure to take outdoor photos of the lights-- but left the outside porch lights on, so the effect isn't so great. Jayson begged me once again to allow him to light the top roofline, and I almost let him this year. I guess working in construction safety got me a little too hesitant about roof work!

Before we took the tree down, (which incidently had some bulbs short out a few days earlier,) I had to get some photos of Laine in various "holiday outfits" in front of the tree. Her pajamas, her Christmas dress, and her Santa outfit; it made for a bit of stress with clothing changes and trying to get this active toddler to stand still in front of the tree. How do parents get their babies to sit in front of the tree?! There's no way I could get Laine to sit...the photos in the chair were taken in the ten seconds she sat still.

We feed her, I swear.

Fishes

We had a fantastic visit to the Seattle Aquarium just after Christmas. Laine was LOVING every second of it: pointing, exclaiming delight with shrieks and gasps, and making lots of fish "noises." At one point, I think people began to wonder if she'd ever set foot out of our house--she was just so animated and involved.

Giving Daddy a big backwards hug.

Feeling an octopus leg.

Mommy was having fun, even though she looks like a deer in headlights here!

Looking up at the glass ceiling at the salmon above.

Excited about the otters!

A big seal of some kind. (I think. We didn't spend much time reading the information!)


After our fun trip, we made a stop at Red Robin, where Laine charmed the waitstaff and enjoyed a grilled cheese sandwich. She also got her fair share of Mommy and Daddy's milkshakes!

This pretty much sums up the excitement of the day.
(There weren't even any fish in that tank, just water!!)

Showing off her fish faces at lunch before we left.

Our Special Brick

When we visited over Christmas, Grandma and Grandpa Good took us down to the Harbor History Museum to show us our brick! Oddly, the one they purchased for themselves was nowhere to be found--even though it was ordered at the same time!

What a special honor to be placed among many other familiar Gig Harbor names--we'll look forward to visiting our brick on each Harbor walk we take for years to come!

New Toys

Two of Laine's favorite new items from Christmas are her new tent and her bath toy faucet.

Peeking out at Daddy!

One evening, I heard Jayson calling to me from the family room. I went downstairs and discovered his bottom-half sticking out of Laine's tunnel. He needed my assistance to get out--but I couldn't resist snapping a photo first!

Laine spanking Daddy for being naughty.

We can barely get Laine out of the tub these days. She actually swatted Jayson's hands away when he tried to get her out after 45 minutes! Her feet are so wrinkled once we pull her out, fussing! She LOVES her faucet toy (a pump that recirculates the water) and even sneaks in the bathroom in the middle of the day to try and play with it!