Everyone's a Critic

Lately, Ellie just devours books (I took a picture of Ellie chewing on one of her books to insert here which would have made this line hilarious, but the picture didn't turn out). She definitely has her favorites, distinct tastes in which books pass for story time and which don't. She seems to prefer the subtle sophistication of Goodnight Moon over the more crass Goodnight Gorilla, though lighter fare such as Boynton's Belly Button Book! or Sesame Street's Bubbles, Bubbles is certainly not beneath her notice (given her parents' occasional ventures into pop lit, who can blame her for a little guilty pleasure reading now and then?--we never did finish that book, for the record). I'm not sure how much any of these books are really developing her intellect, though. Her basic, formalist approach to most books is both obvious and lacking depth by privileging form over social context. I find her Marxist critique of Hippos Go Berserk a bit of a stretch, claiming that it is the nine proletariat hippos who "come to work" that incite all the hippos to "go berserk," thus leading to the eventual departure of said hippos and demise of the one, leaving him, in the end, alienated and "alone once more." However, I do think her postcolonial take on Curious George is spot on. (Sometimes I miss being in school. Just sometimes.)

Turns out, as wiggly as Ellie is most of the time, the one thing she will hold still for (other than eating ice cream) is a good book. She loves when we read to her. Ever since she was tiny, this has been a soothing activity for her. Sometimes we'll do a solid half hour of reading before she wriggles down to go do something else. She loves to point at and pat the pages, and she anticipates when the good parts are coming and starts smiling and laughing a page early and trying to turn the page to get to it. Sometimes the pages of her board books are stuck together because she gives slobbery "kisses" to her favorite pages.




The best is bedtime stories with Daddy, though. She is quite a daddy's girl lately, and loves when he reads to her, especially since he does better voices than I do most of the time. Sometimes Brady will read the same book three times in a row because he want to try a different accent each time. We've discovered that Sean Connery is the best voice for "Hickory, Dickory, Dock," and that there is no one quite so reassuring to Little Bo Peep that those sheep will come home than James Earl Jones. It's probably not the most conventional way to get a kid to bed, but at this point, we'll take what we can get.

At the Zoo

Ellie took her first trip to the zoo last weekend with some of her cousins. She was very well behaved, but somehow it was hard to get a 10-month-old very excited about seeing the animals.

Kind of so-so on the "wallaby walkabout."

Pretty apathetic when it comes to lions.

A little embarrassed by Daddy at the petting zoo.

Penguins? Meh.

Cousin Jared tried to explain the exciting attributes of penguins to Ellie.

Not even Gracie could get Ellie excited about penguins, though.

Okay, giraffes are pretty cool.

And Isaac does make a good gorilla . . .

But Ellie's favorite seems to be people watching, waving to Grandma and Hannah over Daddy's shoulder.

She was definitely excited about sharing Daddy's milkshake after the zoo.

Or sharing anyone else's milkshake, for that matter.

She seems much more interested in people than animals right now and is likely going to be our little social butterfly.

She seemed to have a pretty good time, despite her lack of interest in the animals. She was so good we just might have to take her again sometime.

10 months

This month Ellie did not particularly want to hold still for her picture. Here's a little how that photo shoot went:

"Maybe if I act really cute they will let me have that sign"

"Now . . . LUNGE--grab the sign!"

"I WILL have the sign."

"What? You don't like it my way?"

"Fine. We'll do one your way. Happy?"

It went downhill from there, as did the quality and readability of the sign in the pictures. This kid does not like to hold still. Some apt descriptions we've collected from family member who have tried to hold Ellie: "It's like trying to hold a tornado," or "It's like holding a fish while you're trying to get the hook out to throw it back," and I believe I already mentioned her nickname, "Ricochet." She certainly is on the go a lot.

Here she is showing us where exactly we need to baby proof in the kitchen.

And here she is playing with her favorite toy in the family room. The walker is helpful for keeping her upright after feedings and we thought she would have fun with it. She does, but mostly climbing up to it and pushing it across the room.

Here is a video of one her favorite activities, climbing stairs. It's a good way to get her worn out right before a nap.

Incidentally, the "Floppy Dog" we keep referring to is a the stuffed dog we are encouraging her to become attached to in hopes that she will sleep better on her own at night. She's been getting better, but this whole move across the country really threw her and she hasn't quite slept the same since. So Floppy Dog does a lot with Ellie lately. I don't know how well it's going to work, though. I remember making all her toys do "tummy time" with her about five or six months ago and she didn't seem too impressed.

Other highlights this month: learning to wave, clicking her tongue, and getting a little more adventurous with food (which isn't easy with only two teeth). She hasn't really said any words besides "cracker" consistently (and sometimes she calls Brady that instead of Daddy), though now and then it sounds like she says a word. But she doesn't let lack of vocabulary stop her from giving us a running jabbering commentary of her day. I get the feeling that once she has the words, she's going to have quite a bit to tell us.

Sick and tired--and that really hurts

We are all sick, sick, sick around here. Being sick is usually not high on people's lists of "fun things to do," but after being sick with a baby, I've become almost nostalgic for those sick days of years past. Being sick with a kid is hard for two reasons; one, you have a kid to take care of while you are feeling crummy, and two, you likely have a sick kid to take care of who probably gave you the bug in the first place. At times I can't help but think how luxurious it would be to just burrow in to a big down comforter, sleep 14 hours a day, spend all the other hours reading a good book or watching good movies on the laptop and just reveling in the misery of a good head cold. But now there's this little, squirmy baby who is just as sick as I am, who needs to sleep 14 hours or more a day to get better, but can't seem to. Her baby voice is hoarse and deeper from congestion. And then there's that little cough that sounds so much worse during pre-dawn hours and that just makes your heart ache a little when you hear it. Being sick with a sick kid is terrible.

Ellie still manages to be happy most of the time, in spite of how miserable she sounds, but everything has been harder with this cold. Teething, sleeping, eating, taking a bottle. Poor kid. Sometimes it just gets too hard to cheer up enough to even eat. Sometimes, anything that can get your baby to perk up is worth it. Hence, Charlie, below. This video never fails to cheer Ellie up. I don't know if it's seeing someone else in a little pain or not, but her whole face lights up whenever we play it. Sometimes over and over again. And when she really needs it, she will settle in and finish a bottle or eat a little food. Totally worth it. It's probably one of those bad habits we will have to help her get over soon, but in the meantime, I can't help but smile too when I overhear this video playing from the other room. Hope it makes you all feel a little better too. I'll get more Ellie pics and video posted when we're better.

*I should also add, that being sick with a kid is a bit easier when you have Grandma close at hand to help out. Still sad, but easier.

"Cracker, please"

Ellie was not super-psyched to turn nine months old. Bad teething day, I guess. She still only has two teeth. At this rate, she's not going to have all her teeth until she's about 15 or so.



Inflicting some of the pain on Daddy seemed to lift her spirits.


She certainly is learning how to tease. (Not sure why some of these pictures are coming out grainy/blurry--sorry)


Finally, the shot for posterity.


I realize that we are now closer to the ten-month mark than the nine-month mark (the 3rd of the month), and since it has taken me so long to update, I have forgotten exactly what goes with which month. Also, as soon as I finished my post last week I got called to give a talk at church, so my limited computer time was devoted to that for the rest of the week. So here goes for just a big, long jumble of pictures and updates.



Over the last several weeks we have dragged Ellie across thousands of miles, a couple of time zones, and completely turned her world upside down.



She was a good sport while we were so busy getting ready for the move. Brady was crazy busy wrapping up his internship, I was packing and cleaning all day, and Ellie got to know friends from church who were so kind to come play with her or take her to their homes while I worked.



By the end of it all, she was pretty worn out. We drove as far as Nashville the first day and Ellie cried about 2/3 of the trip. Poor kid. We were so excited to stay at a motel with a swimming pool to finally really take her swimming. She was a trooper and went along with it, and even though she was exhausted, she perked up a bit and seemed pretty happy with swimming--for a while.

Ellie and I flew the rest of the way from Nashville. Other than a couple of major meltdowns in the airports and changing a really messy diaper at 35,000 feet, she traveled pretty well, especially considering what her week before had been like. We finally landed and have been worked back into normalcy again.

Ellie has enjoyed spending lots of time with cousins since we got here:




They take good care of Ellie (Jon was assigned the job of keeping her on the couch after she tried to somersault off the front)



They play with her outside.


Always ready to entertain with silly faces, songs, books, toys, or "Ellie's movie" (Here Come the 123's by They Might Be Giants)


They probably love giving kisses more than getting Ellie's slobbery kisses; she has become very affectionate with family.


And they like to help feed her. And bonus, their parents don't need to take them to the petting zoo now. Basically, Ellie is like fun little pet to the cousins.


Ellie has also gotten to meet more of her extended family.


Here she is checking out Great-grandpa's amazing garden.


Four generations. This is the grandma Ellie is named after. These are Ellie's only living great-grandparents. Ellie is getting a little pictured-out here, I think. (Note: I am actually the tallest person in this picture, but to get everyone in I had to hunker down a bit, so we didn't take a lot)

Ellie has also been doing lots of eating since we moved.


Lots of sneaking treats with Daddy.


And lots and lots of messes.

Other developments this month (which require video to illustrate and this entry has already taken me two days to get caught up on--maybe next time I will edit and format and upload videos): Ellie has taken up crawling. She never bothered with the army combat crawl and just went for it, full on crawling a few weeks ago. It has opened up a whole new world to her. She is still pretty determined to walk, though, and pulls herself up to standing on anything she can reach, whether it will hold her weight or not. She waves hello and smacks her tongue. And she said her first word: "cracker" (hence, the title of this entry). I thought I was just making it up a couple weeks ago when I thought I heard it, but my sister said she heard it too. This past weekend when all my family was around for a reunion, they all said they heard it too. So it's not just me. Every time I feed her crackers, she will say it back to me.

At first it was under her breath, more like she was commenting about the cracker when she had it in her hand. I thought how amazing it was to finally be able to communicate with Ellie about something. Now, however, every time I feed her something she doesn't want, it results in an anguished cry of "CRACK-AHH!!" and we have to bargain a bite of real food for a bite of cracker after a while. Maybe this talking thing isn't always so great. But she seems to be recognizing more of the words we say to her and I think she enjoys finally being able to communicate.

She's getting to the fun age of something new every day, probably too much to blog and update about. But we are enjoying getting to see her personality unfold more and more. If we can keep up with her (Ellie's new nickname from Grandpa: "Ricochet"--try holding onto that through Sacrament meeting.)

Notes on a Dead Laptop

Before I begin my next exceedingly long blog post, I think we should take a moment to reflect on the passing of my trusty old laptop. One morning I went to start it up, and it tried and tried, sputtered a bit, and never fully revived. We recovered the hard drive, put it in a case and now it is an external hard drive, so I still have all the files and pictures. And I have a large, flat paperweight. Oh, little lappy. You were a good companion over the last few years. So many hours of researching and writing for my thesis. So many files and presentations for teaching. So many grade rolls and video games to distract me from grading. So many videos and hours of music to keep Ellie and me company cooped up in our apartment all winter. So many emails and video chats connecting me to the outside world. Rest in peace little lappy. Enjoy that big laptop repair shop in the sky.

Well, enough sentiment. This is mostly to explain my lapse in blogging. It's not in the budget right now to get me a new computer, and I hadn't realized just how much I had gotten used to having my own computer. I googled "dead laptop" on my mom's computer to try to find some answers and came across a page called "Notes on a Dead Laptop." It ended up not being repair tips, but rather and essay on technology, etc. After citing continental theorists Becht and Mallarme, the author claimed "The death of the laptop is essentially the death of the self." I think I am recovering rather well, though I do see how life is pretty different without a computer of my own. I am finding, though, that the world keeps on spinning even if I only check email every couple of days and if I don't even log into Facebook for a week or more at a time. I am, however, a less-frequent commenter on other people's blogs, though I still enjoy reading them. I have kept up on the family and friends' blogs that I check regularly, lurking, but rarely getting a chance to comment. (Select appropriate comments for your most recent blog entry from the following: "what a funny story!" "such pretty pictures!" "looks like fun!" "I can't believe how big he/she is getting!" etc.)

Sorry. I'll try to be better. Anyway, I promise a big, photo-filled update very soon.

You're the only Ten-I-See

Our time in Knoxville was one of those paradoxical experiences that was at the same time both long and short, both loved and endured. I think what we will miss out weighs what we were glad to leave behind, and we will always look back at it fondly as the place we first saw and met our Ellie, but all in all, it feels good to get back to our Western roots.

Things We Won't Miss

• Living on the third floor
• Living above neighbors who got mad and pounded on the wall every time Ellie played on the floor and started kicking (which she always did)
  
• Living in a building full of people who smoke and make our apartment smell like an ashtray (I have my own theory for why they're called the Smoky Mountains)
• Not having sidewalks on any of the roads
• Driving on narrow, windy roads everywhere (I often found myself sucking in my breath and hugging my elbows in whenever there was an oncoming car)
• Having to take SAL wherever I went--and still getting lost most of the time
• Not having Costco
• Being confused whether UT is an abbreviation for Utah or University of Tennessee
  
• Driving three hours one way to get to the temple
• Being so far away from family and friends
  
• The humidity. Oh, the humidity!

Things We Will Miss

• Living just down the street from our favorite park
• Blue Bell ice cream
• Walking around Market Square and people watching after a good meal
• Eating Rita's Italian Ice while walking around Market Square
• Rita's Italian Ice
• Sitting on the balcony with Ellie at dusk and watching the fireflies light up
• Tennessee thunderstorms
• Our "critters"--the chorus of crickets, birds, frogs, and whatever other insects and animals that would get louder and louder as it started to get dark in the evenings; when we first moved in my dad referred to the how loud the critters were at night and it always made me smile to hear them sing after that.
• Dazzo's Pizza
• Leaving a loaf of bread on the counter and it never getting moldy (store bread, anyway. Anytime we would have a loaf for more than a few days in Utah it would start to get mold, but never once did I have to throw out moldy bread in Tennessee--weird, huh?)
• Blue Bell ice cream. That's right, it's on here twice.
• People calling shopping carts "buggies"
• Green, green, green everywhere; we never quite got over it, the kudzu vines draped over already full, green landscape--we felt like we were living in a jungle after being in the desert so long (technically, that area is the most bio-diverse area on the planet and could be considered a rain forest--fun fact)
• All that green changing colors in the fall
• Coolato Gelato--notice how much of our list is food related? I don't know if that says more about us or about Tennessee.
• Watching mist over the trees in the early morning from all the moisture in the air (the real reason they are called the Smoky Mountains)
• All the wonderful people we got to know in Tennessee; friends from Brady's work who were so warm and welcoming; friends from church who stepped in without a second thought to help so much during a long, difficult winter with Ellie and while getting ready for the move. I learned a lot about friendship and charity from these friends. Over the years I have collected "next door neighbors"--people we like to spend time with and who I have decided should come be our next door neighbors when we finally settle down (wherever that may be). Brady has commented that we will have to have quite a large and oddly shaped house and yard to accommodate all these next door neighbors. I have found several more in Tennessee. So if you're in Tennessee and reading this blog, you can add your name to the list of what we miss, and someday when we're settled you can come move in next door with all our Utah, Idaho, California, etc. friends and family.