. . . the pool, like a pro.

Last year, at four-and-five-months, we-the-parents enrolled our precious girl in swimming lessons at the YMCA.  Ah, the thrill of it, our little baby learning to swim.  Ah, the wonder, the dreams, the plans - weekends at the beach with our growing girl gliding through the waves, Saturdays spent at some remote mountain lake watching her sweet face popping up out of the water, holidays at the Auntie and Uncle's with pool time meaning real swimming.  We-the-family were set.  We-the-family were excited.  It was going to be grand!

The sweetest girl was excited, too. Right up until the moment she had to step through the fence into the pool area and walk over to the group of children waiting with greatly mixed emotions for the class to begin.  Some of the children seemed happy and excited to be there.  Most of the children seemed to have buddies already in attendance.  And little Bee was absolutely terrified.

She was terrified, but brave. She walked with her very loud, very jolly, very bold swim coach over to the side of the pool.  She followed instructions and sat down on the edge.  But when the stranger (because that's what he was, honestly, a stranger) tried to coax her into the water by picking her up, the tears began.

She did get into the water.  And she did do the first floating task.  But once the coach pushed her under the water, she was done.  Frankly, so was her mother.

Needless to say, the week wasn't what we expected and we did not spend the rest of the summer vacationing a-la 'Baby' at some amazing mountain lake resort.

In the end, brave girl switched to a softer, gentler coach, a sweet and kind young lady who had exactly the right touch, and Averie spent the remaining weeks of swim class happily kicking around on a board, blowing bubbles and splashing safely and confidently.

A year later, we-the-parents were certain we would absolutely not enroll the five and five month girl in the program again.  We would be the ones to lovingly and kindly teach our Bee to swim.  And our first adventure of the year took place at the aforementioned Auntie and Uncle's pad - a ten day vacation which saw the six of us spending every single day in the pool.  It was grand.  It was fun. It was the best part of the summer.

Even with the amazing coaching of her Uncle, a great swimmer and former life guard, Averie still refused to  venture into the realm of swimming.  Even with a flotation device strapped around her chest, she would not pick up her tiny little feet and kick.

Until we returned home and took a Saturday trip up to the YMCA, the same spot that saw the disaster of last year's teaching attempts.  But this time, this year, this summer, the bravest swimmer, the fastest swimmer in the world (take that Michael Phelps), strapped on her life-vest, stepped into the pool and SWAM her way , past the three-foot-six-inch mark, all the way to the four-foot-six-inch-mark!  Over and over, around and around, up and down the length and width of the pool she went.

She was amazing.  Day after day, she continued.  A trip to the natatorium saw the same determined strokes, this time all the way to the deepest part of the pool.  Say it again, she was amazing.

And we-the-parents, as the proud parents of an amazing swimmer, the fastest one in the world, again look forward to next summer's trip to the mountains, where in some freshwater lake, (maybe at a place like Kellerman's) we'll celebrate with our little fish.

. . . her first hair cut

Nearly four years after her birth, the baby-adorable got a haircut. Mama nearly fainted, but managed to persevere through to the end. Averie was ecstatic, even though her mother would not cut off as much as she requested. Dadoo, ever the photog for these family events, captured the before and after. Mama's thinking it may need a little evening up after her next hair-wash.

Before:




Surveying her new do:




The After:

. . . 26 days of sisterhood

It's been three weeks and five days since our first tiny baby became a big sister. In just two more days, a near month will have passed since the arrival of baby sister. Life here is different and wonderful and lacking lots of sleep for the three eldest family members, big sis included.

Nights and days blur, no one has his/her own bed anymore and things that used to be relatively easy, (making and eating lunch, for example), are now more complicated and require a greater time commitment from all parties. Even our big girl, (who's really just a little, tiny girl, says mama) is taking more time to get through her daily routines (brushing her teeth, finding her shoes, drinking her juice, going to sleep).

It's still the hardest thing we've ever done. And it's still the best thing.

And our sweet, baby-adorable, now a dear little girl of three ('and a half, mama' she often reminds me), is the most precious big sister, bringing kisses and hugs and toys and comfort to the tiny baby who "came out of mama's tummy", as Averie informs anyone she deems in confusion over the arrival of her sister.

One of the best parts of every day is the morning, when big sister wakes up and asks first thing to see baby "Iwah". This is what that kind of love looks like.

. . . lotsa language

There are lots of new words here at Chez Adorable as our tiny toddler finds new ways to express herself and alert us to all that she sees and experiences.

A walk two weeks ago took we-the-family past a small, yappy dog's residence. 'Puppy!' the girl cried as the little, wildly-barking dog ran up to us. 'Chihuahua' said Mama as we continued our walk.

A walk a few days later took us past the same residence with the same little, wildly-barking dog. 'Kih-wah-wah! Kih-wah-wah!' the girl shouted as we continued our walk. 'Bye, bye, kih-wah-wah!' she said. "!!!!" said Mama & Dadoo to each other, speechless as we realized she remembered.

Other words, bigger words, words with more and more syllables are joining her vocabulary. 'Humidifier' is a recent favorite, along with 'negotiable' - as in 'Putting your jacket on before you go outside is non-negotiable'.

The biggest language change, though isn't just the sheer volume of new words the toddler is learning. It's more about the way she uses them. These days there are very few of those baby-type phrases spoken. These days, it's all about a multitude of words, all the ones she knows that are relevent to the current situation, pouring out into as many sentences as she thinks it takes to explain herself to us.

'Mama, Dadoo fix milk for Averie. Dadoo come see us milk.' ... 'Dadoo, one, two, three, four, jump! My turn!' ... 'Come on, Mama! Come on!' ... 'Dadoo! Open. In there. Now!' ... 'No! Other ones! Other ones! Heark ones!' ... 'Mama an' Dadoo, see? Wah-Wah (flower)!' ... 'Hi Wee-ull (Will, our neighbor)!'

And last night, a new line, more evidence that she's got stuff figured out:

Dadoo: (eyes tired, arms covered in spaghetti and cookie crumbs) - "Averie, we don't play with our food. Eat your cookie or I'll take it away. Do you understand?"

Averie: (mouth full of cookie, eyes shining) - Nods head. "Yeah." (In stronger, determined voice) - "No, Dadoo. Dadoo, I take it away. Now." (Cue small hand holding cookie stretching away from Daddo until cookie is out of his reach, meanwhile toddler's eyes gleam.)

Mama: (sits silently, hand over mouth, stunned by the mocking-bird voice of defiance coming from her tiny girl . . . wondering if Dadoo understoond what just happened, then realizing he didn't.)

Dadoo: (suddenly becoming more aware) - "What just happened?"

Mama: "Um . . ."

Averie: "All done. Get down. Now."

Fin

. . . 'big girl' practice: round two

We're all tied up here as we-the-family work toward the days of diaper-free living.
The current score:
Team Toddler - 1
Team Tee-tee - 1

Round one went to the girl who showed poise, endurance and good judgement in keeping the tee-tee in until the diaper was on.

Round two went hands down to the tee-tee, which showed strength, determination, and an amazing ability to spread . . . down the legs of the girl, down the back of the couch, and down the pants of the Dadoo who was sitting on said couch playing 'nigh-nigh, hop-hop' with the girl. Luckily for Mama, she was sitting on the floor and so avoided getting soaked.

The girl was not so happy, and wanted panties removed immediately. She seemed upset, and not quite sure what had happened. The tears stopped once she and Mama decided to get out her 'ruffle' jammies and watch George* for a few minutes before bed.

This morning while she was getting dressed, she asked to wear her 'pannies' but seemed to be ok with practicing wearing them later tonight.

The game continues. And it feels like progress. Yet it also seems a little bit like a disaster waiting to happen. Mama has a sneaking suspicion that the whole 'learning to potty' thing is going to involve just as much laundry as those early, newborn days. And a small, tiny, itsy part of her finds diapers to be such a convenient container for all the stuff she doesn't want to have to wash out of tiny clothes. It's a mixed bag to be sure.

...

*This George that we're watching is the 65th anniversary edition and it has a lot of stories on it - including some of the 'Frog and Toad' ones. The opening story, 'Curious George comes to America' shows the Man in the yellow hat practically stealing George from the jungle. Which is bothersome. Mama seems to remember that George was rescued from poachers . . . but she doesn't have the book on hand to check. Anyone know what the real story is here? Was George kidnapped?

. . . ribbons and candles

Not very many days ago, mama's growing girl requested ribbons for her hair. Mama obliged, and raided her craft stash to find tiny satin ribbons for the toddler's tiny curls. Each day since, the girl eagerly awaits the adornment of her hair. Her most frequent request is for 'pink ones, mama! pink!'. Today, a ribbon in the hair wasn't quite enough. She needed one for her wrist as well. After she was sufficiently bedecked, she gathered her candles (battery operated, of course) for some moments of meditation on the (holy-cow-it-needs-to-be-swept) kitchen floor.

In other itsy news, the toddler wore her first pair of itsy panties last night. This big-girl practice run went extremely well with no accidents at all. She wore them for about 2 hours and even told mama that 'tee-tee coming! it's coming' in time for us to race to the potty. In truth, it wasn't coming, but it was good training for we-the-family. After her bath, the poor girl cried when we put her diaper on - she only wanted to wear her 'tiny pannies! no diaper!'. It broke our hearts. She recovered quickly once we agreed she could watch George before bed.



**Editors note: Original title edited to remove '& panties' for obvious reasons.

. . . chocolat

Hot chocolate. Yum.
See baby-adorable with her first ever sip of fall's special treat.

. . . pink: the sequel

In recent weeks, we-the-parents have been watching for signs that our baby-sweetheart is ready to begin moving toward the next stage of her toddler years. For months now the growing girl has been following mama in to 'powder her nose', and though she's still a bit young for full-fledged potty training, mama went ahead and ordered this little pink potty for the girl.

It arrived a little over a week ago, and baby-adorable immediately loved it. She began sitting on it every night right before bath time - not really doing anything but smiling and talking about going tee-tee. And then, a mere 2 days after it arrived, baby-smartest decided she really did need to go tee-tee. So she did. In her potty. And she even asked mama for tissue to wipe.

OK, sure, mama hears you. A fluke you say. A random accident. She's too little. Which is exactly what we-the-parents thought until she did it again the following morning. And then again the next day. And then, well, then she really did have an accident - on daddy's shirt while she was waiting for mama to get out of the shower and open the door so she could get to her potty.

Since then, the baby's been sick and so has not been on her potty as much, but after missing a few days of her regular sittings, she got right back in the swing of things a day ago. This blushing color is turning into our magic charm, and we-the-parents feel certain that thanks to the pink potty, our days of diapers are numbered.

Just because it's adorable, here's the smiley girl demonstrating the proper use of shades.

. . . a whiter shade of red

Many days it seems that the adventure which is our life is wrapped in an ever-growing pink ribbon. The color is everywhere in our days - from petit breakfest bowls and furry bunnies to toys phones and little shirts - as though the arrival of our baby girl cast a pink tint over the world.

In truth, our trip down this rosy road began before the baby-sweetest was born. The journey started with a soft pink corduroy jacket that mama bought for the girl on the very day the sonographer announced to we-the-parents that our tiny Bee was a girl. Soon after that announcement tiny pink blankets, socks, onesies and other soft baby things began to fill our home. Even so, baby-mama was determined not to let the color overtake us, and made sure the growing baby had plenty of other, less 'girly' colors in her life. Of late however, pink does seem to be the color of choice for our girl. Take for example, her new shoes.

Way back before mama knew Bee's gender, she customized two pairs of shoes for her still-in-the-womb tot. One pair was blue with green details and the other pink with green, and mama vowed to order them as soon that baby was born. Time teaches parents much - especially that good intentions and lots of other things get postponed in the world of life-after-baby, and for some reason, mama never got around to ordering the shoes. Last week, though, she made good on her promise and picked up these.

The girl loves them, and has happily pranced around wearing them and various articles (or not) of clothing all week long. Happily, she does not try to un-tie the double-knotted laces - in fact it appears that she doesn't notice them at all. Babymama could go on and on about how she's the 'you-know-what', but at this point, it probably goes without saying . . .

See her here, just like mama:

. . . the return of the faux

You may recall many, many months ago when the sweetest baby was sporting a feminine version of daddy's hairstyle. It was her first foray into things faux and we-the-parents have not seen the likes of such ee-mee-tah-see-on, if you will, since. From the moment the rest of her hair grew in, our forthright girl has been nothing but the 'what-you-see-is-what-you-get' kind of baby - making it fairly easy for us to gauge her behavior and our responses to it.

The first hint of a reemergence of the faux came during a recent dinner at one of the girl's early haunts. The independent, self-feeding baby-grown-up started choking on her (V-8 Fusion cleverly disguised by mama as) juice. Mama reacted with the expected lightning-speed pats on the back, which seemed to help the tiniest girl recover.

After breathing a sigh of relief, mama was beginning to return to her own dinner plate when her efforts were arrested by the 'ack, ack, ack' sounds coming from baby-adorable. Quickly dropping her fork, mama moved in close to her tiny baby and started patting her on the back again. After a mere moment, the 'ack, ack' sound was replaced by a low 'aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhh', interrupted with the staccato thuds from mama's pats. Mama stopped her patting, and looked at the girl, who was nothing but serious as she began to 'cough' again.

"Ack, ack, ack", said the baby, and looked expectantly at mama with her big, brown eyes. "Ack, ack" she said again insistently, waiting for the next pat. Of course, you can imagine how we-the-parents responded to what must now be the cutest-thing-ever. We could barely keep our laughter at a socially acceptable level as our girl studied us with her oh-so-serious eyes and fake coughs.

In the end, honesty won out, and baby-truthful dissolved into laughter with mama and daddy, we-the-family happy and completely amused with one another and the first, innocent deception of our growing girl.

And, to brighten your day with an example of the kind of sincerity we're talking about, here's a picture of those eyes. Go ahead. "Uh-door-uh-bul".

. . . new levels of cute and a little independence

The sweetest is seemingly cuter every day. We-the-parents don't know how this happens, as to us, she's always been the cutest thing we've ever seen, and yet, daily we sit and watch as this adorable factor multiplies. Sometimes, the cuteness gets you right in the chest.

Yesterday, for example, baby-sweetheart noticed a doll that was sitting high on a shelf in the back room. The doll was mama's own doll when she was tiny. It's wearing a purple dress with matching purple bloomers - both trimmed in little white lace. The doll was a gift from babymama's grandmother, and the dress was made by babymama's mother. It's a special doll that mama has saved from her own childhood, and one that the baby girl immediately desired.

'Uh! Dat!' she pointed at the doll. Her little face was so excited and hopeful. So mama decided to give it to her . . . and the rest of the day, the little 'mama' carried her 'baby' with her everywhere. She fed the baby a bottle (imagined by the girl from a container of eye-make-up remover she took from mama's bag), covered her up and patted her back. And then in the what was one of the cutest moments of our family life, she found a comfy spot on the ottoman, pulled her baby into her lap and a box of baby-wipes to her side and proceeded to carefully wash the baby's face - one wipe after another.

This morning, first thing after getting up, baby-cutest grabbed her 'baby' and held her to her chest as she watched the Wiggles. She sat on mama's lap and held her baby for a few more minutes, and then carried her baby into the bedroom to show daddy while he was getting ready for work. When it was time to leave for school, both of the 'babies' were waiting by the door.

Needless to say, mama's little girl took her 'baby' on the car ride to school, and mama is still smiling thinking of how cute she looked strapped into her car seat with that baby-doll hugged close to her cheek. So grown-up already.

And in the realm of grown up, the ever learning toddler that is our Averie has started putting on her own pants. Mostly she likes to put them on, stand up and then take them off. She hasn't mastered the art of pulling them up all the way over her diaper, but we feel that's coming soon. It appears that we're nearing the stage of potty chairs, and mama can't wait to try this one.

. . . her first enigma

We-the-parents have been feeling pretty lame over the past month after realizing that our baby-brilliant has outgrown most of her toys. Our ephiphany came after watching her play with an adorable little boy who's a little shy of 2 years older than our girl. She loved him, and she loved his toys - little cars, a table and chair set, some great art stuff, etc. Our return home was a sad one for all of us: she, tiny and disappointed to be home again, missing her new pal and stuck with a bunch of baby toys, and us, older and disappointed in ourselves for not seeing the obvious.

But hark! Thanks to John Spilsbury, a remedy (albeit one in-progress) has begun, and our recent toy shopping selections included three wooden puzzles. Even though the puzzles are designed for older kids, they've turned out to be the perfect fit* in the tiny one's daily entertainment schedule.

Baby-smartest figured out the shapes puzzle right away, even managing to get the confusing diamond, rectangle and square shapes into their respective homes. The other two puzzles are farm animals and jungle animals, and the sweet girl loves to work on both of them at the same time.

Speaking of animals, the girl loves them, and can demonstrate even more animals sounds than before. She does the most amazing owl imitation. She's so good at it, in fact, that when we-the-parents awakened in the dark a few nights ago, it took us both several minutes to figure out that the sound we thought was coming through her baby monitor was actually a real-live owl outside our window. Whoo-hoo-hoo-hoooooo!

*That one is just to make daddy smile. It's a joke, see? A perfect fit? You're laughing, right?

. . . a dance in five steps

The less-baby, more toddler sweetheart that lives in our house has a new chant these days. This enthusiastic mantra, like many of the girl's expressions, includes full body movement, and we-the-family have started to participate in it together, as one, whenever we have the opportunity.

It starts suddenly, so if you'd like to join in, you need to know the steps. Here's how to share the fun:

1. Suddenly and unexpectedly stop everything you're doing. Drop things if necessary, but you must come to a complete standstill.

2. Stand up and bend forward a little, at the hips, so that your back is at roughly a 25-degree angle to your hips.

3. Be sure your eyes are serious and your will resolute before continuing.

4. Bend your knees and push your body upwards, extending both arms (shoulder width apart) toward the heavens while shouting, "The sky! The sky! The sky!"

5. Finally, smile and laugh and give a tiny jump on one foot while leaving the other one on the ground. Laugh some more and repeat.

Of course we love it, and swear it's the, well, you know . . .

Mama must admit, however, that there are times it feels a bit cult-like.

* Also new in the world of adorable, our girl recently (a la the 23rd) discovered wind during a morning walk. She loves it, and we think she finds it funny. Whenever it blows around her, she stretches out her little arms and waves them back and forth, up and down while scrunching up her face and laughing. Mama is glad the tiny one likes it, and feels that this will be a good thing as the family (sans Daddy, sniff) makes plans for another upcoming dance - this one with three not so great acquaintances. .

. . . the sun, sand & sea

Before the miracle of our baby-adorable brought such wonder and joy to our lives, we-the-parents (like others who share the good fortune of living near the ocean) spent much of our free time at the beach, relaxing, reading, resting and generally enjoying the sound and feel of the waves, wind and sand. It was a place of rejuvination for us - a spot amid the rush of life where we could share a bit of calm.

After our girl arrived, we spent many days talking about how we couldn't wait to take her out to the islands, to show her the sand and let her feel the foamy ocean as it lapped up to the beach. We laughed as we imagined what she'd think about the texture of the sand, how she'd like splashing in the water, looking for crabs and gathering shells. We planned and plotted and waited for the perfect day to make our first trek to the shore.

Since baby-sweetest was too tiny to have sunscreen her first summer, babymama and daddy opted to skip the sunny expanse until she was old enough bear a little SPF, and so, until a few weeks ago, that tiny girl hadn't had the chance to dip her toes in the Atlantic. One impromptu visit to our own South Beach sans bathing suits only convinced us that we needed to carve out more time for a 'real' trip.

And finally, two days ago, we managed to arrange a family day at the beach. Early Friday morning, we packed up the cooler, our beach bags and to-go coffees (and juice bottles) and loaded all of the gear and ourselves into the car. A short time later, we arrived to a nearly empty beach and found the perfect (read: super-close) parking spot. After pulling into our awesome parking space, we quickly discussed our options, pulled together a strategy, and began to implement it:

• First, get baby out of car. Set her on blanket on trunk and strip her. Put on swim diaper (yeah, Babymama knows what you're thinking - but the trip to the beach is a fairly good drive, and we knew we'd have to change her diaper as soon as we got there, and swim diapers are more expensive and less absorbent, blah, blah, blah).

• Cover baby in very high SPF sunblock - avoid eye area. Put tiny bathing suit on baby. Shove tiny feet into stretchy beach shoes. Dance around like crazy people before realizing that the stinging you've been feeling for the last 5 steps is coming from the inhabitants of the large ant bed you're standing in.

• Baby-mama takes baby girl and beach bag number 1. Baby-daddy takes cooler and beach pack number 2 with umbrella. Put sun-hat on baby. Parents and baby walk across dunes to beach. Commence to having fun.

The day was a great success and baby-beachy had a wonderful time, though there was little digging in the sand and minimal splashing at the water's edge. Her main focus was the 'dirdies' and she happily chased them across the wide beach as long as her little legs could hold out. When the sandy girl had walked what we estimate to be the toddler equivalent of ten miles, she sort of slowed to a turtle's pace until Babydaddy picked her up and carried her back to the blanket for some juice and fish. After her snack, she played with mama while daddy went out in the water before we packed up our things and headed for the car.

As 16-month-old parents ourselves, we're still new at figuring out how to manage things with an ever-changing 16-month-old toddler, so Babymama is happy to report that most of the steps in our plan worked out perfectly. They were, however, just a tiny bit harder than we thought they'd be. For one thing, swim diapers are tight - by necessity surely, but nonetheless, they are not easy to put on or pull up. For another, swim shoes are also tight, and perhaps useless, as we-the-parents learned after removing them in the car to find multiple blisters on our tiny girl's feet. Also, the loose sand of the dunes is a difficult surface for tiny legs to master, making it necessary for at least one parent to have a free arm for carrying the baby. (Actually, a wagon would be a huge help in this process - fun for the girl, helpful for the parents. The baby-girl likes this one though mama wonders if she shouldn't have more of an ATV type to handle the sand . . .)

It must also be said that photos of our adventure are few, as mama was more than busy making sure that the baby-sweetest didn't chase her 'dirdie' into the ocean, but mama did snap the one below near the beginning of the day. It's very representative of the entire morning . . . baby-girl running, we-the-parents chasing.

. . . a 'new' toy

When babymama was a little girl, her own mama and daddy gave her a hand-made doll-bed for Christmas one year. It was tiny and the perfect fit for all her dollies, and it came complete with a quilt made by her own mama and two afghans made by her grandmama. Babymama loved to play with her babydolls and made sure she tucked them soundly into their special bed each night.

Babymama grew up, but never out-grew the love she had for her childhood doll-bed. She kept it with her, taking it from one college apartment to another, moving it carefully each time, before it ended up in her current home. Until recently, it's been stored away - a secret memory of mama's growing up, waiting to be revealed to a new little girl with new little dolls. And earlier this week, mama spent a little time with a polishing cloth getting it shined up to share with baby-adorable.

One evening, before dinner, mama sat down with baby-sweetest to show her how to make up the little bed and how to tuck her 'babies' in under the now-vintage blankets. Mama was so excited to see how much fun her little girl would have putting her babies to sleep - just like she did twenty, um thirty?, years ago. But baby-sweetheart is an independent-kind-of-gal, and promptly tossed the babies out of the bed. She has her own ideas about how that bed should be used, and she immediately set about putting those ideas into action.

. . . her first steps

It happened today . . . with smiles, laughter and much revelry. Baby-sweetest chose today for her first steps. The grand event happened after the closing credits of Bunnytown, today's episode featuring Pinky Pinkerton reporting on the age old race between the chicken and the egg, as well as the amazingly catchy (in the sticks-in-your-head-all-day-kinda-way) theme song, The Bunnytown Hop (hop, hop, hop, hippity hop).

That adorable girl was hopping on mama's lap when she suddenly decided to hop right into a standing position. She repeated this motion for a bit, and then proudly, certainly, determinedly stood up and walked 3 big, brave steps all on her own.

Babyparents are so proud. We tried to get her achievement on video, but all the excitement has Baby-sweetheart thinking this is some kind of game, so instead of continuing to walk, she throws herself down to the floor, laughing each time, between babydaddy and mama.

Until we can get her on film, here's a picture of her in her yellow animal dress. Of course, you know we think she's beyond adorable.