Belated Italia

I was having camera tranferral issues, so our pics from our October Italy trip are 2+ weeks late. But as they say...So here are some cute ones from, a) lounging with Mom and Dad on the grass opposite the 'Bocca Della Verita', which is near the banks of the Tiber River, and at which one must pay and wait on a long line for the priviliege of sticking one's hand in the mouth. Cecelia didn't care if we were in Rome, Timbuktu, Cleveland or Great Barrington, grass is grass and worth playing on. b) Cecelia unimpressed with the Colliseum, one of the 7 wonders of the world, at the age of 13 months....a sad commentary at our jaded youth of today, don't you think? and c) her car seat, (though the photo looks more like it should be accompanied by a bio, like, " Distinguished author Cecelia 'Chickpea' Clary teaches Infant's Literature at the University of Peanuts. She lives in Housatonic with her parents and doggie Alice." ) She spent quite a lot of time in her car seat in our little Renault, but luckily she had Auntie Erica to entertain and feed her on our long jaunts to Urbino, Perugia, Todi, Gubbio, and San Marino (to see what was so special about it to make it a whole separate country. Turns out, not much.) More photos will be forthcoming.

Grandpas

Bath time lately is in the big bathtub, and it is soooo much more fun than the little kiddy one! We like turning on the shower and splashing mom and dad and falling down repeatedly Grandpa David put Cecelia is a gift bag and lifted her up for a kiss. It is reminiscent of anecdote my dad tells of when his mother, Nana, gave a big wet air kiss to me when I was little (or was it Rachel?) and she or I responded, "Yucky, Nana!"

Here is Cecelia's favorite chair, her new rocking chair from Grandpa Jim and Terry. She crawls into it and rocks, then slides out and does it all over again. Slouchy is her preferred position in it.

First birthday

Here are a couple of pics from the little 1st Birthday party we held for Cecelia on Sunday. Granny Rose is cutting the very rich chocolate cake which Cecelia ate pieces of from nearly every guest. She had certainly never had that much sugar, and we reaped the (ahem) benefits after everyone left and we were left with a whirling dervish in the living room. On her actual birthday she was more mellow, especially after getting blood drawn at the hospital to test for lead levels.

So she is now formally entering her 2nd year of life. Incredible! Her extensive vocabulary you will not find in any traditional English dictionary, but it sounds to me like a combination of, maybe, Turkish? and Xhosa, with a little bit of Hebrew and Gaelic thrown in for cultural color.

Walking and talking

Cecelia has been walking, more confidently every day, for about one month now. She now goes up and scoots down stairs backwards, and climbs down out of bed and off of the couch. As for talking, her babbling sounds more and more like real, recognizable English words lately. It could be our imagination that when I say, "I love you, Cecelia", she responds, "Iruvruuuuu", but she is certainly mimicking us. A budding mimic like her Auntie Rachel! This first pic demonstrates her diva side and the second shows off her bottom teeth and impressive pinching strength on poor Lannie.

Vermont

Well, not the usual image of a bucolic lake scene that Vermont usually conjures up, but...This is Cecelia in the little cabin we rented for a couple of nights up in the woods near Stowe, Vermont. It is just after her bath, and she is a little overtired, hyper and trying to squirm away from me. (I had also spiked up her hair for fun.) The little trip to Vermont was our only real getaway of the summer, but we aren't complaining because our Italy trip with my high school friend Charleen, her husband Tim and their toddler Leo, and our local friend Erica Mielke, is coming up very soon! Today is Labor Day, and I recall that last year on this day I was praying to go into 'labor' with Cecelia, but that didn't happen.

Cute new thing that Cecelia does....when Jim pulls into the driveway, I say, "Who's here?" And she gets excited and giggles and toddles towards the door.

We are back!!!!

Here are a couple of pretty up to date pics of CeceRose. The first also features our friends Matilda and Freya. Notice the standing up pose in the second......the standing has now progressed to walking, too!! She is getting more confident with her stumbling every day. Not sure what this bodes for us and our house but we will soon find out!

Also new since my last ancient post, we are pregnant again, and I am due at the beginning of March. I am just now finished with the first trimester and still not feeling 100%, but not as sick each morning as I was, which is very nice. Now is just one getting episode per day, or so, instead of 4 0r 5.

Our summer has flown by, of course. We spent a fair amount of time at Granny Rose and Grampa David's pool, where she grew accustomed to the water and loved crawling about on the splinter-laden deck, but never really warmed up to her red floaty device that doubled as a sombrero for Grampa to make her (and us) laugh. Some of Cecelia's favorite foods.....anything that is edible, as long as it does not come in a baby food jar.

Upcoming highlights:

• First Birthday!! September 12
• First international trip, to Italy, October 3
• First full day wearing shoes!! Maybe tomorrow.
• First haircut......no time soon. We'll let it grow.
  

Sorry folks

Our camera died and I have not figured out yet how to transfer pics from our new camera yet, so, if anyone is still checking in....you will have to bear with me as I paint a picture for you of Cecelia's doings. She has four teeth, two big ones on top and two little on the bottom. Today I was bitten by them for the first time. Hopefully the last. She has been sleeping the last couple of nights in just her diaper, it has been sooo hot. ( She has graduated to the next size diaper now, what a big girl!) She goes to the doctor tomorrow for some more shots and a weigh-in. She is becoming quite an eater, so perhaps now she is further up the baby size scale, from 25 percentile to 30, for instance. She is happy and healthy, and easier to carry, so 25% is also good. We have been playing with Nell and Matilda and Freya lately, swimming at Lake Mansfield, and today we spent the morning at my parents' pool with Liz Goodman and Jack, her barrel-chested weight lifter of a one year old. He and Cecelia shared a romantic can of lemonade while holding hands. And both made a mess of the table and floor at Martin's during lunch. Perfect pair! Oy! It is so hot. Getting little one into her carseat is becoming more difficult as it so sticky and humid in there, and she can now squirm succcessfully down and away from me. Last night we enjoyed a one day late party for my and Ken Schumacher's birthday at the Siegel pool. Cecelia managed to stay up fairly cheerfully until about 8 at which point we had to make a speedy exit.