Blue Star Sundress

I made a few changes to the sundress pattern. I also copied and shortened the pants pieces to make shorts. To be active and running around she definitely needs the shorts! I like this one so much better for several design reasons. I lengthened the back two inches and moved the straps some. The front underarm of the bodice is still a little weird -- but I'm not sure what or if to do anything with it. It is size 2 (so was the other one) so she will be able to wear it for a while as she is just barely fitting her 18 month clothes still and moved on to mostly 2T clothes.

tidbits

So cute tonight Esme went to hide behind the oven like she usually does but I didn't play along. A few seconds later I hear a singsong mimicry of 'Esme where are you?' from her (just the 'melody' - not the actual words) And I stifle a grin and ask 'Esme where are you?' and she comes running out and I say 'There you are!' while she giggles at me.

Silly girl.
She is such a cool kid.

a few new words

we've been noticing 'whee', 'wow' and 'you-okay?' lately. Esme is also doing more 'mini-sentence' babble like 'I see it - doggie, pretty doggie, Iggy doggie, uh uh doggie, owies! bad doggie' etc etc... 'I see it', 'I hear it' and 'you-okay', 'i get it', 'i did it' etc seem to count as one word each for her, as she says them as full phrases each time.

She's getting lots more ideas as well that she wants to share with us and plans she wants to do. She piles things up, sorts toys and will carry two separate things together in order to do something with them across the room. Mark and I often find ourselves just sitting back and watching her execute her plans shaking our heads and wondering how she came up with the idea to find a small box and put a rattle toy in it and then go bang it on something to make a bigger noise etc etc...

When she sees something she thinks is great, like her bath toys all piled up and waiting for her or a plate of food when she is hungry she'll happily stretch out the word 'WOW' just like I do.

Other words 'chee(wee-oh)' (cheerios), di-oh-saur (dinosaur), tigger, ball, shoes more clearly but not often, saying 'milk' more often and making the slurpy noise I make for drink. She's been saying 'all done' often for more than just being done with food, and sometimes she will add 'yea' on the end of something she wants like 'cheerios YEA' or 'All Done YEA' She is also running to the fridge each time she sees a sippy cup and pulling on the door hard and furiously wanting to help us with the next step to everything (and that extends to everything else too - cooking, brushing teeth, laundry, dishes - she knows what comes next and wants to help out)

Esme is a ham

And Mark gave me a really nice gift for Mother's Day (besides Esme) - some yarn and candy and a copy of the Goonies. Thanks Mark ;) Now I have to think hard for Father's Day.

The Other day at Grandma's House

The other day at Grandma's house I thought we had a different kid! Not really, but Esme showed a few new abilities and tendencies. She drank from a straw for more than just 'by accident' - and was happy about it. She also said (although not very clearly) a word that sounded like Gramma, but she said it for Grandpa too. She also sat at a chair to eat some pudding from the table height - and was very very proud of that. So proud that ever since she did that up there she has been getting into a chair here and pounding on our kitchen table. We don't eat at that table - and the chair isn't quite the right height for her, but she tries anyway.

Esme also did something very strange while sitting at Grandma's table. It took a few days for me to get a good explanation of it. I put her Cheerios on a napkin and she put the napkin in her lap and wiped her pudding-covered hands on it. That looked like a very grown-up manner she would have not seen in our house, or even in Grandma's house. But she did it anyway, and repeated it here at home as well when I put Cheerios on a paper towel. I got an explanation yesterday - Mark has been putting a paper towel in her lap in her 'high' chair here at home to catch spaghetti sauce etc... so Esme took the napkin on the table as needing to go in her lap like Daddy had done. I hadn't seen that habit either as he usually does it when I'm not home -- when I'm home she gets messy and I take her off for a bath immediately after supper.

She is turning into such a "little person" - with lots of habits, thought processes and ideas about how the world should work. She knows about faucets and doorknobs and cabinets - about the refrigerator, dishwasher, dryer, ziploc bags and shoes - toys and books and how to get Mom to sing songs and visit Starfall.com and how to get a piece of paper and put it on her easel etc etc... it is so hard to believe sometimes that a year and a half ago she was a tiny little 8 lb baby unable to even hold her head up!