Laurel's latest

Laurel seems to be growing and maturing in leaps and bounds every day. Her language has made immense progress in just the last month. She has become a little parrot and mimics a lot of what we say. Usually she repeats the last word in our spoken phrases. She still picks the syllables that are easiest for her to say and doesn't say the sounds at the end of the words. She is also picking up on her colors very easily and even learning the firs letters of her alphabet! Laurel has recently started singing! We've been singing her Itsy Bitsy Spider which is her current favorite. She loves to do the finger movements and I've caught her singing it to herself. She also likes to "drive" the bus when we sing The Wheels on the Bus go Round and Round. We've also started singing Old McDonald and she gets excited to hear about the animals on the farm because she knows her animals so well now. Her favorite animal right now is Molly:). Mom's little dog has been with us for several weeks now, during her visits and keeping her inbetween. Laurel loves to walk the dog, is excited to see Molly when she comes home, asks about her, and insists on bringing the dog in the car and checks on her all the time.
We continue to struggle with eating new foods. I've discovered that if I offer Laurel something she really likes, like strawberries, she will try a new food - after much crying - but she will try it. Sometimes she likes the new food and sometimes she spits it back out, but it's progress!

to nyc and back

From May 15th until the 21st, I was in New York for our yearly exhibition at the National Stationery Show. This was my first time away from Laurel for an over night. I was very sad to leave and missed her so much! Good news is, she had a perfectly great time at home without me! She came to the phone when I called, but was easily distracted away by her playtime. I know she asked about me while I was away, but she was mostly her same cheery self! So while away, we stayed in New Jersey and commuted in by bus. We did have our token baby on the trip, Leora brought Delaney and her parents came as well to babysit. The show as a whole was really nice! We didn't have high expectations due to the economy. We met our goals and were able to breathe easier. The booth came together smoothly and we even ran out of promotional materials and had to print more! The buyers were very enthusiastic and mostly frustrated by the fact that they couldn't spend more money! So many people were just looking and the orders that we took were low amounts, but that was expected. As before, we really enjoyed face time with our clients and chumming around with our fellow artisans, some of whom we only see that one time every year!
Upon return, I was so excited to see Laurel! I almost think she grew while I was away! Reports tell me that she had some good days at school and that they figured out a key factor in keeping her happy all morning. Keeping her shoes on! She makes it through most of the morning's activities but then gets upset when they take shoes off and go to play in the gym space. Last Thursday they kept her shoes on and she was great! Laurel still gets upset when we drive up to the school, she recognizes the route we take. And she definitely in a fit when we leave her. But she quickly calms and joins in with the class and the teachers are so thrilled with her progress!!
Mom came to stay with Laurel for a couple of days. Alex had some unexpected time off from work and was able to be with her while i prepared for the show and the first couple days that I was away.

Mother's Day 2009

For Mother's Day we went to Huntington Gardens in the morning. Just for a short time to take some photos. Laurel loved the koi fish in the ponds as usual and it was just gorgeous weather. Afterwards, we drove down to OC to the clubhouse in Alex's parents' neighborhood. They have a really nice playground for the kids, a barbeque area and a few lovely pools. Laurel was very timid and scared at first, but we started out in the water very slowly. The kiddie pool was very shallow and she was willing to sit on the first step in the water. Soon after, we were on the steps on the big pool. Before we knew it, she was playing in the water and jumping into our arms from the side of the pool. It was such a joy to watch her learn and grow!

I dont' seem to have a pic of her actually enjoying the pool:).

We love fishies

We're getting our first pet in the Velez household - fish! Laurel has taken a liking, no...a loving...to fish. She watches Finding Nemo at least once per day. The infatuation has the impact of her Elmo obsession. She asks for it first time out of bed and anytime we come through the front door. She asks to sit on the couch and watch "fwishhies". Just like Elmo, we have to leave the house to get away from the fishies! We went to Disneyland last week. Alex's company is the middle of a transition and he's had some unexpected time off. So we took the tot to Disney and she had a great time! She's been twice before, but each time we go she seems to pay more and more attention to the attractions. She particularly enjoyed the Finding Nemo ride - of course. And she's starting to develop a fear of things that are naturally on the scary side, like the dark Pirates of the Carribbean ride. She danced to the music in the parade and finally met Mickey and Minnie in person. Being a weekday, the park was much less crowded, so we were able to get some photos. Laurel stared at them dumbfounded like she was meeting a celebrity and couldn't think of what to do in their presence.
Laurel continues to go to her little school and we continue to work on the separation. She can go without us something for a short period of time. But I still wait for her in the parent room for them to call me in when she gets upset. Someday...sigh.
She is learning new words almost daily.
"shar" is shark
sky has a very soft s
mah-yee is molly, my mom's dog
"wat" is rat (the little rat in ratatouille)
she copies a lot of words when you say them but then doesn't say them again. but she's slowly increasing the vocab. she's also asserting herself more. probably a terrible two preview, minus the tantrums. she will drop to her knees and refuse to walk if you try to encourage her to do something that she doesn't want to do. we shall see how that progresses.
We have potty training on our horizon. We bought Laurel her first potty! She does sometimes point out to us that she pees and poos. So we're taking that as a cue that she may be open to the suggestion of a potty. She often accompanies us to the bathroom and she's aware of what we grown ups do. Laurel has also moved out of the baby tub and into the big tub for bath time. She seems to like the play space a lot more and is enjoying some new tub toys.

I will be going to NYC in a couple of weeks for our annual trip to the National Stationery Show. I can't believe it's that time again already. It really snuck up on me this year. But we also have a lot of custom work that we haven't had in the past, so we're feeling a bit spread thin. We have 2 new everyday lines of cards and notes and 3 new lines of holiday plus a custom holiday album. I'm really excited about some of the designs and hope we have a positive outcome. The show is looking to be a real question mark with the economy.

Easter 2009

We had beautiful weather for our Easter holiday this year. Megan and I decided to sing in the Easter choir for Bel Air Pres. this year. The choir was almost 100 people strong and made for a very enjoyable experience. We sang for Palm Sunday, Maunday Thursday and Easter morning. We had rehearsal at the holiday bowl on Saturday morning and sang for the service on Sunday. After the service, we drove down to the Velez house in OC for a family gathering, egg hunt and lunch. We had our own egg hunt and egg dying on Saturday. Laurel didn't understand the egg hunt at first, but once she got it figured out, she was searching for the eggs every time we went outside! she says "Eeee?" for egg. We also dyed eggs and she found that really interesting. She wanted to see the eggs while they sat in the cups being colored. She liked to help using the egg scoop and we had to repeatedly dye several of the eggs over and over again because she kept asking for more.

the latest with laurel

Laurel had her 18 month appt. a couple of weeks ago. She is 23 lbs and 2 ft., 8 inches tall. The 2 year measurement will be the one that really tells us something about her adult height. But for now, she's in the 60th percentile for her age for height. She's usually 75% but the doctor looked at her chart and she tends to have a growth spurt followed by a plateau. This is a plateau, so soon we will have another jump in height! Her weight is low as usual - the 25th percentile. And her head circumference is 75%, so she's still a little head on a long stick:). Her torso is definitely long for her age. She's now wearing 24 months for any shirts that snap at the crotch. Her pants are still 18 months since she's narrow at the waist. She's still fitting her size 5 shoes and continues to be infatuated with her little pink crocks! She has to have them on from the moment she wakes up in the morning to when she goes to bed.

Laurel starts a baby play school tomorrow. She'll be going 2 times per week, Tuesday and Thursday mornings. She was definitely becoming bored with the play sessions at Gymboree and is becoming more aware of the kids around her. She is now looking to actually play with them. Her way of approaching other children is to offer to share something with them, or pick up something they tossed aside and give it back to them. So I think the play school will be good for her social skills and allow her to play with people her size, in a way that will be a learning tool. Hopefully it will help her language skills and we're also going to work out attachment issues. Because she takes so very long to adjust and warm up to anything, I'll be going with her for several weeks, but hopefully she will learn that when I leave, I do come back.

Her language is expanding, so that's been fun. No 2 word combinations yet, but there's total comprehension and some response now. For my memory:), I'm going to try to make a list of everything she has learned to say between 12 and 18 months. She didn't really talk before her 1st birthday, so we're making progress!
"No" - of course!
"Yah" - yes
"duhn" - done
"moh" - more
"poon" - spoon
"toe", "mou" for mouth, "eayah" for ear, "noh" for nose, "eye", "behyee" for belly
"dohr" - door
"buh buh" - bye bye
"mo-mo" - elmo of course!
"baby"
"heyah" - hair
"me"
"book"
"cat"
"gee" or "doh" - for doggy, the syllables aren't together yet:)
"car"
"beep"
"pitty" - pretty
"good guhl" - good girl
"boon" - balloon
and she makes the noises for cows, ducks, sheep, horses, pigs, dogs, lions, and a cat says "cat"!

In addition to talking, she's developing her own hobbies - like wearing our clothes and shoes. Her shoe obsession actually drives her to insist that we take off the shoes we're actually wearing so that she can put them on. I've given her the bottom drawer in her small dresser for dress up clothes. They're basically clothes and jewelry that Megan and I have grown tired of and Laurel find pretty. Laurel still loves to shop and has started to pull clothes off the rack and say "oooo" and pull them over her head! She also enjoys taking rides around the neighborhood in the little push car that we have. She sits in it and "drives" it and I push and steer from a handle that comes up from the back. She's also gotten more familiar with Copper Willow. She recognizes the parking lot and asks for Elmo, knowing I usually put the video on when we're there. I've collected a lot of her toys and some books at the shop and I put out the basket and she plays by herself with Elmo on in the background while I get some small tasks finished. She loves the swings at the swingset is starting to recognize the nature around her. We take her for "nature walks" and point out the flowers that are blooming, seeds that have fallen, etc. She loves it when I blow dandelions and she can watch the little seeds float about. She continues to like balloons and ask for them whenever she sees them. She's become a lot more playful and says "tick-y, tick-y" and tries to tickly us. She wrestles with Alex and he pretends to be asleep and reaches out and grabs her. She squeals and is so thrilled! But best of all, she remains a cuddly girl and gives lots of kisses and hugs...and of course loves her blankets. Some things don't change and that's just fine by me:)...until someday she'll have to give up that thumb, but it's cute for now!

18 months!

Laurel just reached another milestone - turning 18 months old! Today, we went to Sears for a little photo shoot. Typical to her personality, she was timid and scared at first but once she had a chance to warm up, we got some great shots!