Shutter Release Error

“Shutter Release Error” is the warning our beloved Nikon SLR kept giving us when we tried to capture a few moments of Ellis’s 11th month last week. We’ve had the camera for three years and thankfully purchased a five year warranty from B&H Photo at the same time. So while our Nikon is in NJ getting inspected, I am making due with my trusty ‘vintage’ Canon Powershot. Here is Ellis enjoying her favorite new hobby: standing on the bed and gazing/grabbing the poster on the wall. Her top three or four teeth are popping through. Some nights have been sleepless and some days have been fussy, but I can’t wait to see how her adorable smile changes with the new additions. I really hope our camera makes it back before September 20th.

Infant test subject: Ellis V.

One of the forms I had signed in the blurry days after Ellis’s birth at NYU was a volunteer form for their Infant Action Lab in the physchology department. Last week they called and asked if we were interested in having Ellis come in to do a crawling obstacle course of sorts. They explained that she would be crawling over a series of bridges of varying widths and they would observe her perception of space and balance. It sounded interesting enough and I was curious to see what else they might say about infant development. The graduate student spotted Ellis the entire time, so I felt very safe that she was never in any danger of falling. Erik and I called to her from the other side and caught her attention with a lot of interesting toys and cheerios. She crawled at lightning speed across the wider bridges and became more and more tentative with the increasingly narrower ones. When they put on a ridicuously narrow two inch bridge, she looked at us like we were crazy and decided to practice standing and cruising instead. Ellis didn’t fuss at all and they said we would be on their call list for more studies in the future. I am curious about their language studies once Ellis begins to really talk.

Typical evening

Ellis loves avocado and tonight she also loved how it felt between her fingers, behind her ears and all over the table. Erik and I love watching her discover new textures and tastes. She only wants to feed herself these days. This means no more purees. Over the weekend she tried french toast and veggie burger. Her reaction was mixed, so I went back to some of her favorites for dinner: avocado, blueberries and watermelon. At almost 11 months, there are very few foods still off limits. It’s up to us to keep introducing them.

After dinner, Ellis went straight into the bath. She only wanted to stand up in the tub, which made scrubbing her down surprisingly easy.

Woodstock week

Can hardly believe we’ve already been back from vacation nearly as long as we were gone. Our week up in Woodstock and the surrounding Catskills with Rein and Christa really flew by. It was incredibly relaxing and a great retreat from the city. We spent our days hiking, swimming in the pool, enjoying dinners outside, reading, and playing with Ellis. We made day trips to visit Mommom’s sisters in Stamford, Storm King Sculpture Park and the Woodstock Animal Farm Sanctuary. We also had a nice visit from Josephine on her drive back to the city. The cottage was much fancier than our apartment and we were spoiled by the large living room, washer/dryer and dishwasher. The pool wasn’t bad either. Ellis really liked splashing in the water, but was less enthusiastic about the sharp grass. Such a city girl! We even hiked up Overlook Mountain for a gorgeous view of the entire area. We celebrated Erik’s 32nd birthday on Saturday and found out the amazing news that Marijke and Adriano are expecting their first child in February!