Birthday for all of the babies

Today we joined over twenty families from our neighborhood to celebrate our babies’ first birthdays with a group party at Play. It was great to catch up with some familiar mothers and babies and to see Ellis playing happily with the other toddlers. I made the hanging banner with all of the photos for a little added decoration.

Some exciting news from the weekend: our repaired camera is back! (So glad we purchased that warranty). And Ellis is standing by herself for a few seconds! A lot of the other babies her age are already walking, but we are still very excited for each new step whenever she feels ready to take it.

Happy First Birthday Ellis!

We can’t believe the big day finally arrived. Ellis turned one on Monday! I was surprisingly emotional all day, gazing at Ellis for long stretches, running through everything that has happened in the last twelve months—so many wonderful moments and so much learning about what it means to be a parent. Last September was a haze of swaddles, diapers, nursing marathons, and napping when we had the chance. This September, Ellis is bursting with personality. She is imitating our actions (trying to put our shoes on her feet, holding the remote control up to her ear and babbling into it like a phone), sipping from a straw and a cup, feeding herself and giving us bites. She studies objects and pictures that have always been around with a completely new focus. She’s a lightning fast crawler and is gaining interest (and balance) with walking. She is obsessed with buttons and the kitties, of course.

We celebrated a little at home with singing and opening presents. On Sunday, we were invited to Dave and Simone’s annual fall dinner with friends. We brought along a strawberry shortcake with some lovely frosting typography and helped Ellis blow out her single candle. On Saturday, we celebrated Graeme’s first birthday in Prospect Park. He is one of the babies Ellis has known since her first weeks at daycare. It was great to talk with his parents outside of school and to watch Ellis and Graeme play so comfortably with one another. They do, after all, spend about 40 hours a week together!

This evening we came home to a package from Oma and Opa. Ellis enjoyed ripping off the paper and playing with her first puzzle, a book from our favorite bunny Nijntje and some adorable clothing from the Hema.

More parks and a little taste of Sweden

The long labor day weekend was lovely. Great weather and lots of adventures around the city to various parks. On Sunday we made it down to Brooklyn Bridge Park’s Pier 6. The new park is beautiful and fun for older kids, but could use a little shade. I think Ellis will really enjoy going there once she is walking and interested in sand (instead of being freaked out by it). After that we rode the bus to IKEA. I admit that when their catalog came in the mail earlier in the week, a seed was planted and I had to plan a visit. Ellis tried her first Swedish meatballs, mac and cheese, and some veggies. Of course what she really wanted was my french fries, like mother like daughter I suppose. I love their cafeteria and am always amazed how delicious and affordable it is. We managed not to do too much financial damage in the actual store; just picked up a new duvet cover and some plastic bowls and cups for Ellis (great for eating and stacking). Since the office was closed on Monday, we were able to meet up with Simone, David, Sophie and Roman for a little Central Park picnic. The weather was perfect and I loved seeing how fascinated Ellis was with Sophie. We visited the Conservatory Garden after lunch and I can’t believe I had never been to (or really heard of) this beautiful part of Central Park. What a gem!

Last half day Friday

What a bittersweet afternoon. Very excited about the three day weekend ahead and sad to say goodbye to half day Fridays. They have been great. Some were spent traveling, others meeting up with friends and running errands, and a few were spent working in a wonderfully quiet office all by myself. Today, Erik and I tried to make the most of our last afternoon. We had a picnic lunch from Pret A Manger in Union Square with Ellis, then headed up to the Met to see the Big Bambu installation on the rooftop. Ellis particularly enjoyed pointing at the Greek and Roman statues. I haven’t been to the Upper East Side in a while and it was nice to stroll around the pretty streets, wander through the museum and end up in Central Park for a little time on the grass. We found a nice patch close to the museum. After Ellis refused to touch the sharp grass in Woodstock, I was delighted to see her crawling all around the soft central park lawn.

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!