small

When you were born, you weighed 5 pounds, 15 ounces.
And when you left the hospital two days later, you weighed 5 pounds, 9 ounces.

Well, it seems that Ella is going to give you some competition.

Today the doctor told me that she is small. Really small. Almost worrisome small. We're going to get an ultrasound in two weeks to check her out and make sure she's all right. He said I probably just have small babies. So we won't freak out about it just yet.

But tonight, DAAAD didn't let me eat Cap'n Crunch for dinner. Perhaps all the chemicals? The sugar? The lack of genuine nutritional value? Instead he cooked me an egg sandwich and brought me a bowl of strawberries.
Sweet Daddy.

BFFs

In this week that we've been on vacation, something's happened.
You and DAAAD have become best friends.
You don't even call him DAAAD anymore. You say "Daddy," with the most perfect enunciation and respect for the word.
I think it has something to do with our second night in Ensenada.
You woke up in the middle of the night screaming. I kept putting you back in the crib, but DAAAD decided to change your diaper and then let you sleep in the bed with us. This wasn't the greatest of plans because suddenly there was no room for me and a kicking Ella, so I was sequestered to the couch in the sitting room.

In the morning, that was it. I was out of your life.

When DAAAD went to take a shower, I tried to get you to go to the balcony with me where we had a sweeping view of boats and pools and the ocean. But instead, you got your cup of milk and patiently waited outside the bathroom door until he came out.

Since we've been back home, when your BFF walks out of the room, you say "Daddy?" and follow him, even if it's to the kitchen to wash dishes.

When we drive in the car, you point at his head and say, "Daddy!" and laugh as if you're remembering all the great times you've had.
Like this time in Coronado.
I tried to take you in the water and you flipped out and didn't want anything to do with it. But when DAAAD carried you in the ocean, he took you so far out that his waist was covered and waves were splashing your face and it was the greatest thing you've ever seen.

Vacation = tie-dye clothing & guacamole!

You are cute 100 percent of the time. But . . .

This is what you look like 25 seconds before you throw a tantrum.

See how enormous my smile is? That's because I'm trying to stop it from happening. But it never works.

This tantrum right here is diaper related. You don't like diapers. You don't like sitting still. And together this equals a level 9 meltdown. Lately, I've been able to tame them to a level 4 by letting you put baby powder all over yourself.

But the tantrums that reach level 10 are actually the oddest of all.

Level 10s happen because I won't let you pull a straw in and out of a drink.
This makes you very mad because, obviously, putting a straw through a tiny hole is a big deal for you. And splashing sticky lemonade all over my clothes is super fun!
The ultimate point to this game, of course, is to drop the straw on the floor and stick your hands in the glass of water/juice/slushee/milkshake. And OHMYGOD if I don't let you do this then YOU WILL THROW YOUR HEAD BACK AND SCREAM. And you do not care if we are at a restaurant or at the park, or even better, my office

How I know you're big now

A. All of your car seats face forward.
B. You take baths in the regular bath, not the baby tub.
C. You danced on your own at music class.

And best of all:

D. You went down the slide ALL BY YOURSELF!!

(We should have had photos to document all these events but the camera ran out of batteries.)

A request

Please Ella, stop making me eat Cap'n Crunch every night.

A better-than-average afternoon

Stuff we did today:

1. Went to the Balboa Park dog park.
Except no one told us the grass was all gross from all the dog pee. And that a lot of the dogs there were way bigger than you. So for the first time in your life, you pointed at your stroller and asked for me to push you away.

2. Had snacks.
So we went to the other side of Balboa Park. To the area where my grade school, which is two blocks away, used to have P.E. class. Only it's kind of sketch in the afternoons. Or if you're there without a bunch of other sixth graders and teachers. I never realized how many creepy men walk around there. But we had a few dried apples, waved at tourists and moved on.

3. Got some tea (iced).
I wasn't ready to sit around our crampy, messy house quite yet. So we stopped at this cafe by where I used to live. It's had a lot of different names. But right now it's called Cream. We shared a lemon scone. And you were being so cute, sitting on the bench and playing peek-a-boo with people. Unfortunately, Cream is pretty much the geekiest place in town. It was all full of nerdy guys, their iBooks and headphones. No one played with you. And that's when you start babbling very very loudly and the geeks finally looked up. So we left.

4. Went shopping
At the boutique next door, called Neighborhood. Which has tons of cute things, none of which I can wear because of the baby growing at a really ridiculous pace in my belly. You, however, walked in, saw a pair of red, suede ankle boots and pulled them off the shelf. Like I've said: you = cooler than me.

5. Ate flowers
Finally, we went to the greatest park, ever. I think it's called Trolley Barn Park? Anyway, it has tons of toys to climb. And a super bumpy slide that maybe I shouldn't have tried. You went straight to the plants and picked a flower that smelled like grapefruit. Then while you were swinging, you ate some of it and almost choked. But you didn't. And we came home tired, happy and full of dirt.

Bring it, boys.

This weekend we went to a party. It was the first party you've been to where you can walk. It was also the first party you've been to where there were lots of boys - the kind of boys that throw balls and toys and sticks very hard at other kids.
But even though these boys completely freaked me out, you were not afraid.
Instead of running away from them like I wanted you to, you stood in the middle of their crazy shenanigans, loving every second of it. And even when the boys went in a tent and said "GO AWAY! WE DON'T LIKE GIRLS!!" you just stood there and gave them this kind of sweet but intense smile and kept eating your cherry popsicle as if they didn't even matter. Which goes to show that you are already so much cooler than me and DAAAD ever were.

Thirteen months ago

Remember when you were this tiny?
I'm just pointing it out because you! walk! now!