Whirling Dervish

Cecelia is quite the whirling dervish...or tornado depending on who you ask.  Cece's aunt referred to her as a walking tornado this past week.  She got to spend a solid week observing Cece's quirky behavior as she and Cece's cousins were visiting.  Cecelia simply doesn't stop moving.  She'll squat to take a break.  But she rarely sits and stops to play with one thing.  She's always on the go and emptying drawers where'er she goes.  She also noted that Cece likes to abandon her drinking cup entirely when she is done drinking.  While she takes the time to pick up spilled snack and cleans quite well, her cup seems to be something she could...live without.  Cecelia is also a bit...demanding...and...bossy.  Her cousins experienced this first hand this past week.  At one point, her older cousin asked why she was screaming (her way of communicating most things) and from the start decided it was just much easier to give her what she wanted.  He took to this quite well.  Her other cousin, however, disagreed (as I would also).  Cecelia decided that she would like his truck.  That moment stuck in his mind the rest of the week.  I'm just hoping he's not scarred for life by this encounter.  For the rest of the week, when Cecelia entered the same air space that he was occupying he would get very upset and either leave and go to a different room, or otherwise indicate that he had NOT forgotten the truck transgression.  And, no, he was not going to get over it.  I'm just hoping that Cecelia has learned a few more manners before her next encounter with her cousins so that, hopefully, she will not have any more faux pas such as this one.

Almost Famous

I've been away for far too long...and hopefully I'll be able to get back into the swing of blogging, but in the meantime, here's a peek at a day in the life of Jeff and Cece.  Enjoy!

Age: 14 Months

Picture Taken September 14th.  And yes, this was the best/only we could do.  We'll see how October goes, but this may be the end of monthly pictures...

Danger Zone

Cecelia likes to live dangerously and keep us on our toes.  While she's become quite proficient at walking and even dares to tread on both sand and grass now (look out!), she has recently begun some new daredevil moves. 

 

 She started climbing up on the recliner which is an achievement of physics calculations I don't understand but she still manages to pull it off nonetheless.  Like stairs, getting up is the easy part.  Coming back down is a smidge more difficult.  She has safely navigated herself down on her belly and gently placed her feet on the floor.  Unless she's in the mood to give Jeff or I a heart attack by leaning forward and feigning that she is about to dive head first.  But I digress.  

So, she'd been doing this for a few days when, one day, Jeff went to use the facilities and returned to the living room to find Cecelia sitting on the couch and when he entered the room, laughing at him.  Mischief!  Now, again, this is all well and good until she realizes that it would be really fun to climb on the back of the couch and teeter there at the top of the stairs.  We may need to create a different feng shui for our living space, though I'm not sure moving the couch elsewhere is the answer as that would leave the bars exposed for squeezing her head through.  And if I know my daughter, that's JUST what she would do next.  

So, fingers crossed she doesn't take up an interest in base jumping in the next few days.  Then there's the spiral stair case.  Some of you may recall she learned to climb stairs on that very set.  Then we deftly blocked it off with a storage container of toys.  Most recently a tub with mega blocks was sitting on one side and the storage container on the other.  The same day Cecelia was found sitting upon the couch, she also decided to move that tub out of the way (it's not terribly heavy) and ascend the stairs.  At which point her father replaced her at the bottom of the stairs and put the tub back in place.  Followed by her doing the same thing again (are you seeing a pattern here?).  Next, daddy-o moved the much heavier container of toys to block the stairs.  After some lugging, Cecelia gave up on moving the container and, instead, decided to climb up into the toy container, step on and wade through the toys to get to the other side, place both feet on the bottom step and continue on her merry way.  


Trouble.  Big trouble.  But, she is quite the problem solver.


See what Dooce has to say on the topic of daredevil children as she writes about her daughter who is one month older than Cece.

When In France

I'm not sure this is an appropriate follow-up to yesterday's post, but Cecelia isn't always "appropriate" so here we go...

Cecelia has recently begun to show her receptive language skills.  While expressive language (though she's quite expressive, just not verbally...articulate) is not her strong suit, she's always been a "so big" girl and can now show us where her head and belly button are.  She'll also respond to such requests as those to dance, go to her high chair, answer the telephone, etc.

One response that is awesome, but could prove troublesome is her kiss.  When you ask Cecelia to give you a kiss, she'll either ignore you entirely or approach your face with a wide open mouth.  We'll have to combat this before pre-school or she'll be that girl.

Dorian, one of Cecelia's many men.  Just kidding.

We Know Not The Time Nor The Place

One week ago today we lost a good man.  There are many descriptors for my Uncle Bob, but good seems to encompass so much and, of course, words can never fully express all the lives he has touched.  My uncle's departure was a sudden and unexpected one.  He led a healthy life, doing all the "right" things: going to the doctor regularly, exercising, eating right, and enjoying retirement fully.

I know that Uncle Bob would not want us to grieve on this day, or rather grieve and then celebrate a life fully lived.  My uncle lived each day to its fullest and not in some cliche way.  He worked in an industry that he enjoyed (so much so that he ended up retiring...twice) and that challenged his intellect and creativity.  In retirement, he didn't talk about doing things.  He did them.  He was intrigued by woodworking and creating with his hands.  So he did.  He wanted to keep his body healthy with exercise and activity.  So he did.  And he continued to enjoy a favorite past time in golf.  And another favorite past time was giving time both in a voluntary form to help others and spending time with family and friends.  Uncle Bob knew how to do things right.  And his way was always right.

My Uncle Bob and Aunt Cathy lived a life filled with love.  They also showed that love took work, and sometimes tolerance.  That love is not always easy.  But that it is worth it.  And that death does not stop a marriage.  On the night of my uncle's passing, with many family members filling their home with love and support, the power went out.  I decided that Uncle Bob wasn't finished bugging my Aunt Cathy and that we were sure to see many signs of his presence in the near future.  That night the sky filled with lightning and powerful, booming thunder and my cousin's reflection that "Someone special was entering heaven that night" was proven by the spectacular night sky.

My uncle was proud (as he should have been) of both his children.

My cousin, Rob, followed dreams that others would only dream, but never live.  He drove cross country to really experience America, worked in game development for Harmonix industry (a dream for any child of the 80's), and pursued Air Guitar Champion prowess on the national stage.  Most recently, my uncle gathered his family together around his laptop computer for us to watch a surprise.  That surprise was my cousin on stage with the Boston Pops, along with the development team from Harmonix, to sing a Beatles medley as they introduced the advertisement of their newest release.  It was spectacular (as Rob himself is) and he was so proud.

My cousin, Gaby, embodies the kindness of both my aunt and uncle.  Their giving nature and generous spirit.  She has always been a big sister to me and we have always been close, both emotionally and geographically.  My uncle was proud of Gaby being able to stand on her own two feet and find what made her happiest.  She found that in my cousin-in-law, Joe.  Joe has been an amazing source of support for my aunt and cousins and I feel so happy to know that my uncle spent his last moments doing something he loved with someone he loved and trusted so much as Joe.  He also lived his last days creating memories with people he loved in a place he loved.  How many people have that opportunity?  As we've heard many times over the last week, "We know not the time, nor the place."

With that in mind, I feel blessed to have been invited to the beach two weekends ago and to have spent so much quality time with my aunt, uncle, husband, baby, and mother.  Two years ago, Cecelia spent similar time with Aunt Cathy and Uncle Bob and I'm so happy that we were able to have more memories with Uncle Bob before his death.  I know that he enjoyed spending time with my daughter (and I'm also happy she was well behaved for this trip to the beach) and one of my favorite memories of that last weekend was my Uncle Bob bringing Cecelia up onto his lap to give her a tutorial on the computer.  I have a feeling that Cecelia will have a similar love of all things technological as her Uncle Bob did.

I reflect back on how my uncle lived his life and see it as a lesson for us all.  To live each day fully.  To love completely and to accept without judgement.  To see opportunities to help others and embrace them, not begrudge them.  To look at the world and see all there is to marvel at; not all that is wrong.  To see death as only a part of a life well lived.

Inverse Proportions

So, I'm not sure if this post is exactly mathematically accurate but what I do know is that it is a little after 5:30 and I am up and blogging.  Why?  Well, that is certainly a good question.  Now, my alarm was set for 5:30 as that is approximately the time Cece wakes up these days, which is quite frankly a DREAM compared to her erratic sleep behaviors for approximately the full year prior to that which would have equated to just about anyone's NIGHTMARE.

So, good news is that she sleeps now.  Her timing couldn't have been better since I returned to work and really needed the sleep.  I don't know what I would have done if her night waking had continued in quite the same manner.  So, she naps now for 2-3 hours pretty consistently mid-day and sleeps for, on average (and by average I really mean maximum) 12 hours, sometimes more like ten, usually starting at 6:30 or 7.  So, like I said a dream for we who were waking hourly with sometimes stretches of 2-3 hours for about 13 months.

 Now, with that said sometimes you get used to things and that is what we like to call a false sense of security, so 2/3 weeks ago - time is blurring together even if I'm getting better sleep....we were down the shore a-visiting and discovered that while Cecelia used to sleep better sometimes even needed us in the same room or bed in order to get quality sleep, now she NEEDS to be in a room of her own.  If she stirs in the night she will resettle herself, but NOT if there is the remote possibility of fun in the air.  So, when Jeff, Cecelia, and I shared a room at the shore, when she awoke around midnight she could not/would not/refused to resettle and sleep.  We got to 3 o'clock and I decided enough was enough.  I took her to the car, we drove (which ironically worked...not because she loves the car now but because she was exhausted.  And then when I was sure she was asleep, I pulled back in the driveway and slept in the car myself as well.  I thought about trying to bring her back in the house.  Then I thought better of that idea.  So, we learned that lesson and upon return trips to the beach slept in separate rooms.  It is amazing that in a house with 6 adults and 1 baby the only person who got a room to herself was the baby, but those 6 adults wised up to the only way that anyone was going to get some sleep was by giving her a little "privacy."

So, onto the inverse proportions.  Something else we've learned that seems to be unfortunately consistent is that the later Cecelia is awake, the earlier she wakes up in the morning.  For example, last night we had visitors over for dinner and we all stayed up and played a smidgen past bedtime.  Maybe 7:30 or so. So, as punishment from the baby gods, Cecelia woke up at 4:00 and could not be convinced to return to a sleep state with her pacifier, by closing the window, nursing, or snuggling.  Nope.  She was up for the day.  And so, alas, am I.