Miranda's Month Photos 2015

Oh, how my little baby girl has grown! I miss it all already! Here are her month photos.

The day Miranda was born

1 Month Old

Not her actual 2 month photo but I like this one much better


3 months, and showing a little leg!


4 Months, the month she meowed a lot.

5 Months, with her Nana

6 Months, sitting on her own

7 Months, cuteness explosion!

8 Months, enjoying Christmas, pre-crawling and scooting

9 Months, speed crawling and sleeping through the night!

10 Months, just a few days from walking on her own...

11 Months, walking and running everywhere

12 Months, running at her party (again, cuter than the sticker picture)

Okay, so despite all my promises when James was born that I would try to do the same stuff for them, I did not get a photo of Miranda every single day. This was not because Miranda was less adored though, it was because it wasn't much fun the first time I did it with James. But I took photos almost every day, since unlike with James, I always had a camera phone handy. I took approximately 2,400 of Miranda her first year, so does it really matter that they weren't all on consecutive days? No.

Almost 365 days... I couldn't get them all in one screen shot.

• James's Month Photos 2012

Miranda is a Year Old! 2015

The perfect little Miss Miranda

I'm kind of sad my baby is already a year old. She is the most beautiful, smart, sweet little baby we could ever have hoped for. We love her little raspy laugh, seeing her dance, hearing her say tickle-tickle-tickle, and have her give us "kisses" by smacking her tongue against her lips. Miranda, your dada and I are so in love with you that it's a little ridiculous!

She's in charge of the sticker this month.

Growth- Miranda had her 1-year doctor's appointment yesterday! Her measurements were 31.5 inches tall, and 22 pounds and 8 ounces. She's wearing 12 months pants (or he would if we had any) and 12-18 month and 18 month shirts.  She has 4 adorable teeth that she chews and smiles with.

Cute smile!

Eating- She just came off formula (hurray!) and she can, and does, to eat everything. She loves meat and sweet things, especially.  She feeds herself finger foods and has co-opted her brothers sippy cups for extra water and milk.

Her passion for food mirrors mine.

Sleep- If James doesn't disturb her, Miranda sleeps through the night from 8:00 p.m to 8:00 a.m. (2 more hours than her brother used to sleep at night at this age). She takes two naps a day in her crib, by herself, one 45 minute nap, and one 45-120 minute nap, depending on how much she slept the night before. 

Can you handle the cuteness? I cannot. 

Moving- She's been walking since 10 months, and within a few days she was running and carrying heavy toys with her. She had a little trouble at the park at first because she was still too little to do anything besides eat the wood chips, but she's gotten a little more comfortable with the concept and will run around for a little while before sitting down with Dada to enjoy the sights.

Running at the park

 

Enjoying the swing (sort of)

Language/ Social- She says, "dada," "mama" (though I rarely hear this one lately), "tickle-tickle-tickle," and "go!" She makes kissy noises to communicate love or playfulness, claps and dances when she likes a song, and points to people she knows because she thinks it's funny. She shakes her head no and yes, and when she does the latter she looks like Barbara Eden in a "I Dream of Jeannie." She scribbles on a little etch-a-sketch, and sometimes she steals the milk bottle to "paint" the coffee table.

Chilling with her etch-a-sketch masterpiece

She understands some things. She gets a book at night time when we ask her to. She understands, "no," but chooses to ignore us. Except for this stubborn streak and her HATRED of driving places, she's a pretty easy baby on the whole.

Sweet and innocent...

I would describe her personality as "purposefully mischievous." She thinks it's funny to do little mean things. This aligns pretty well with her father's sense of humor, though his is more witty, and hers is, so far, more slapstick.

Example: Pulling her sleeping brother's ear.

Fairy on the move! Watch out!

• Miranda at 11 Months, March 2014
• James at a Year Old, April 2012

James's 4th Birthday Interview and Quotes

Since James's three-and-a-half-birthday, he's developed a lot. He writes a lot more words and he reads a little - not just memorization of his books but actual sight-reading. He negotiates, whines, cajoles, and plays me and Kevin off each other. He either turned 4 years old or 14 years old on Monday. I'm not sure which. He had his 4 year appointment today and he's 36 pounds and 40.5 inches tall, and is otherwise completely healthy. We feel very lucky.

Autumn joy

Interview, 4/20/15
1. What's your name? James.
2. What's my name? Ma... uh.. Ericka.
    What's his name? Dada.
3. How old are you? Four.
4. How old do you think I am? Thirty-three? Thirty-five? (I am 36.)
5. How old is Dada? Forty-four. (He is 35.)

Holding worms at nature nursery school

6. What is your favorite animal? My favorite animals are all the animals. I like the animals in The Littlest Pet Shop. (TV Show)
7. What is your favorite color? The colors of the pet shop.
    Can you pick just one color? Blue, because that's a panda in The Littlest Pet Shop.
8. What is your favorite food? Apple.
    What's your favorite breakfast? My favorite breakfast is eggs.
    What's your favorite lunch? My favorite lunch is peanut butter and jelly.
    What's your favorite dinner? Peas and eggs. (Quiche?)
9. What is your favorite book? I don't know. My favorite is Goodnight Moon.
10. What is your favorite song? Twinkle Twinkle, and Itsy Bitsy.

 Interrupts... Can we please not talk this? Where's Grandma's iPad?

Building a Duplo castle

11. What is your favorite toy? My favorite toy is a coloring book.
12. Do you sleep with any toys at night? Just Fudgie.
13. What is your favorite show? All of them. The Littlest Pet Shop is my favorite.
14. Which is your favorite movie?  The Frozen movie, and the Lego movie.

Eating snow

15. What do you want for your birthday? Cake. A ballon.
16. Are you funny? Yep.
17. Who is your best friend? Everybody.
      Well who do you like playing with the most? Grandma.

Giving Grandma a checkup

18. Do you like school? Yep.
19. Who are your teachers? Miss Andrea and Miss Sue.

Strange and troubling things he writes on his own. Warning!

20. Do you love me? Yeah.
     What does it mean that you love me? That you're pretty.
     Do you love Dada? Yeah.
     What does it mean that you love Dada? He thinks he's pretty.

Definitely loves his sister.

21. Do you want to get married one day? Yeah.
     What kind of person do you want to marry? All the girls in the town.
22. What do you want to want to be when you grow up? A teacher.

Wrote "Good Mama, Good James, Good Miranda, Good Dada" on his own.

Quotes from the last six months

11/18/14:

K: Go use the potty, James.

J: I don't pee or poop anymore.

K: That's untenable.

Full of personality!

1/13/15:

J: Is it tomorrow?

K: The answer to that question is always no.

E: Tomorrow isn't like Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday. Tomorrow is always the day after today.

J: What? That's a crazy story, Mama.

 

Selfie at Dada's reading

1/16/15:

Me: I have to squish you (hugs James)

J: Sorry I have to do my work.
Me: What's your work?

J: Lifting things.

Me: Well this is my work, I have to squish you.

J: (laughing) Sorry, gotta go work.

Too cool for words

1/26/15:

J: Dada, can I have balloons for my birthday?

K: Balloons for your birthday? Sure. How many do you want?

J: Mm, a "meeyon."

K: A million! No, how about another number?

J: Two?

K: Sure. How about four since you'll be four on your next birthday?

Drew a seriously awesome Pacman game

2/23/15:

J: Ericka...

E: Why are you calling me Ericka?

J: Because that's your name.

E: But I'm your mama.

J: That's your middle name, Ericka.

Sharing the chair

3/29/15:

J: "I only speak Spanish." (in English)

Super cool

• James is 3.5
• James 3rd Birthday interview
• James's interview at 2.5 years old
• James wasn't interview ready at 2 years old, but he was starting to use sentences. 

Reading at James's Nursery School 2015

At the beginning of March, Kevin was a mystery reader at James's nursery school. He read two of James's current favorites PRETEND by Jennifer Plecas and BOY AND BOT by Ame Dyckman.

 

Kids made him this thank you card!

He said it was fun and James was pretty excited, so I went in on Friday and read. The weather was nicer so I got to read outside. it's a nature school so there's lots of animals around. The kids were pretty good but I was heckled by a rooster. Seriously. I read The Curious Garden by Peter Brown, a fictional account of the Highline Park and my favorite story in Frog and Toad (the one about a letter) by Arnold Lobel.

Huge scary dinosaur about to eat me.

Reading The Curious Garden

Michele Visits- April 2015

Michele made a quick trip to New York, and even though we just saw each other at Clou-a-rama I, we still had loads to discuss. We took the party back to Brooklyn, old-school. We thought we were going to the Brooklyn Museum, but it quickly turned into a choose-your-adventure type of day. We tried to choose a perfect mojito but it didn't choose us back so we ended up in a hot chocolate and marshmallow hot tub, as evidenced by this picture:

Michele and me at Chocolate Room

After our giant marshmallows, obviously we needed tiny beers. We met Michele's good friend Nina at Strong and ordered all the tiny beers that our waitress would tolerate. To punish us, she took away all our plates forcing us to eat our cheese plate like animals.

Nina and Michele at Strong Place- Michele with tiny beer

In other words, super fun, just like any time I hang out with Michele!

Cedar Beach- April 2015

Monday was warm, and when it gets warm enough we like to take James to the beach sometimes to run around. It's almost more fun than going in the summer because I don't have to worry as much about him going into the ocean and there's no crowds.

One posed one- and onto the fun.

Beach fun time

Picking up rocks to throw in the ocean- James could do this all day

Watching the intrepid explorer

Easter in Floral Park 2015

Easter came a little early this year and we're tired from traveling, so we sort of skipped Easter. No Easter bunny, no baskets, no egg hunts, and no dressing up for Easter. Sorry kids! Grandma has promised some birthday-Easter baskets, so at least someone has your back.

Even better than a visit from the Easter bunny though was a visit from Sarah and Lukas. This might be one of the last times they hike out to see us in a while since Sarah is due basically any second now! I'm so excited to meet the little redhead!

James, Sarah, and Miranda playing on the LeapFrog

Lukas getting a little more last minute practice in.

Diary of an Angry Pink Baby #10: Driving

My daughter doesn't like driving, or perhaps it's more accurate to say--since she's only eleven months old--that she doesn't like being driven. When my son was younger, he didn't like being driven either, which I covered previously (search: "vomits" and "sanity"). Now that he's almost four, he likes driving fine; it's everything else that fills him with the abiding unhappiness of a nineteenth century Russian novelist.

But back to my daughter, who really hates being driven! My wife and I have sensitively adjusted to this condition by repeatedly placing her in a rear-facing car seat and taking her on long drives in the middle of the day. Recently, we drove the whole family to Charlottesville, Virginia, which is one of the most wonderful places on earth if you don't have children or a debilitating illness courtesy of those children.

That's right, my daughter is already vengeful. Is she aware of her vengefulness? She might be. Her favorite word is "no," which she understands to mean "sure!" She happily shakes her head when you tell her no before resuming whatever she was doing, such as swallowing a nightlight. In the restraints of the carseat, there is little she can do, so she responds by crying or screaming or a sort of crying-screaming hybrid that sounds almost like laughter. She insists I hold her hand, difficult though not impossible as that may be while operating a moving vehicle. I thought that the fourteen-hour roundtrip drive might cure my daughter of her driving hatred, but it seems only to have reenforced it.

Just kidding, I never thought it would get better! Really, I didn't think anything at all. When more than one person in Charlottesville asked me what our plan was for the ride home, I started laughing or maybe crying-screaming. You have to understand I was very ill. At one point, on Route 29, my wife, son, and daughter were all asleep. The Blue Ridge Mountains rose to my left, and hills rolled gently into fast food restaurants and gas stations to my right. I thought: This isn't so bad. And it wasn't. Then somebody or everybody started crying, and I thought: This is very bad! Then I forgot, which is the only thing you can do.

Asleep... for now.