Our kiddo is in great health and continues to grow: 54 pounds and standing at 4 foot 1 inch.
When Ellie was 18 months old, I took a photo that I particularly liked. Last year, I thought I'd get a shot from the same part of the procedure to show how much she's grown. Now, I think I've created a new photo tradition.
Here's the shot from last year, when she was five:
And from Ellie's 18-month checkup:
After watching all the confetti that was released when the Seahawks won the Superbowl (Go Hawks!) Ellie decided she needed a similar treatment for her birthday and went about making her own confetti. She worked on it for days and had it all worked out when it would get tossed (right before cake).
The morning of Ellie's birthday, as is tradition in our house, we woke Ellie up with singing and a treat. This was made a little more difficult in that Ellie had crawled into bed with us sometime during the night, then was really grumbly when Jeff and I got out of bed to go get the treat and light the candle. Of course, once she realized what we were up to it was all good.
We took Ellie in late to school so we could swing by the bakery and pick up cupcakes for her to bring in to class. We were a little worried that half her class would be out with the "Blue Flu" that day (that's what folks were calling it who planned to ditch school or work in favor of going to the Seahawks victory parade), but as it turned out only 2 or 3 kids weren't there. When we got to school, Ainsley was waiting for her with a muffin with six candles in it. We couldn't light the candles (school policy), but they were festive and it thrilled Ellie to have a special treat. She had a great day at school and enjoyed all the attention.
Usually, Ellie goes to the after school program until we can pick her up after work, but since this was a special occasion, we picked her up early. We came home, ordered a pizza, opened presents and ate cake and then...we introduced Ellie to Star Wars. We'd been waiting to let her see it until she was "older" but Jeff was chomping at the bit to show it to her, and when we suggested it, she was SO excited. She's known the story for ages, and plays Star Wars with her friends, so was thrilled to finally (at the ripe old age of 6) see it.
As it happens we completely forgot about the confetti during cake and movie, but thankfully I remembered at bedtime.
On the weekend, we had a party with her friends. She decided she wanted a small group of her girl friends (Ainsley, Kelly, Emma)
to go to the Point Defiance Zoo and Aquarium. And, thankfully, all the friends' parents were willing to make the drive.
As a gift for Ellie, we arranged to have an up close and personal visit with Petunia, a hedgehog. One of the staff biologists came and talked with us for about 20 minutes about hedgehogs then each of us got to pet her. She was so cute and the girls really seemed to enjoy the visit.
How could you not love this face?
Afterward we went to a local shop for cupcakes, and ice cream and presents.
It was a great day.
January 14th: Second Tooth Gone.
Woke up to tell us it fell out. Just like that. Only the second tooth and it's commonplace.
Since she lost the first one, she really wanted to keep the second. She said please so the Tooth Fairy obliged.
Christmas was a rather quiet affair for us this year. We went to the Children's Christmas Eve service and then spent most of Christmas Day in our pajamas. It was pretty great.
We were blessed to have celebrated our 20th Anniversary! As Jeff and I were planning what to do to honor the day, Ellie became rather put out that our plans didn't include her. But, she quickly convinced us that she was an important component of our marriage and therefore she should be included in the celebration.
Papa and Nana (Larry & Janet) were kind enough to watch Ellie while Jeff and I went off to the Willows Lodge for two days by ourselves.
Then we picked up Ellie and checked into a hotel in Bellevue. She wanted to stay somewhere with a big pool! In addition to swimming, we went to the Snowflake Lane parade and did some Christmas shopping.
Ellie was right. She needed to be part of the celebration of our life together.
Our family loves Christmas Time! And we try to fill every moment with fun and memories.
Decorating the tree:
Decked out for school:
Sitting with Santa:
Decorating cookies:
Let's go for a sleigh ride (as camels):
Visting Narnia:
Skating:
Seattle Center:
Snow:
Cookie decorating with Emma:
Downtown fun with Ainsley:
Zoo Lights with Emma and family:
Ellie really wanted to take us to the Museum of Flight. She's been lucky enough to go several times with school programs, but Jeff and I had only been there once before for a work party - and then only some of the rooms were open. So, we decided a family field trip was in order. While we were parking, we spotted some of our friends also going into the museum.
What a treat! Ellie got to hang with Augie and Callum, and we got to catch up with their parents. Win. Win.
Our antigravity kids watching a presentation like astronauts:
One of the absolute unexpected joys of becoming a father is watching my daughter absorb experiences for the first time. Now I finally understand the notion that being around kids makes you feel younger.
As the holidays approached this year, Ellie decided she wanted a Christmas tree of her own, in her bedroom. The idea sounds odd to me, and I wondered briefly whether saying yes would be over-indulging our only child. But, hell, a Christmas tree in my own bedroom as a kid would have been awesome! My wife and I said yes. Ellie didn’t want a real Christmas tree that would be thrown away after the holiday, so we picked out a little 24-inch artificial tree.
Last night, Ellie and Kim sat down on the floor in the living room (near an outlet) to decorate it. Since the tree is technically designed for a tabletop, it already includes built-in LED lights. Of course that wasn’t enough. The girls had already gone shopping and brought home new lights and ornaments, so while I made dinner, they worked on the mini tree. Ellie practically bounded when it was done, calling me over for inspection and pointing out the star—a cascading gold fabric bow—on top.
After dinner I bathed the girl while Kim brought the tree to Ellie’s room and plugged in. The girl walked in wearing a towel (dry on her torso but wet from the thighs down) and exclaimed, “My tree!” as if she hadn’t heard Kim mention not 20 minutes before that it would be waiting for her.
We usually spend a few quiet minutes in Ellie’s room after tucking her in, and tonight I had the pleasure of watching her fall asleep entranced by the tree. She stared at it, lying on her side with blankets tucked under her chin. She did her best to keep her tired eyes open to gaze at the colored lights, not looking anywhere else in the room. And in that gaze I recognized a sort of satisfied wonderment. This tree, which she’d no doubt envisioned dozens of times since the idea first emerged, was real and there in her own room.
Perhaps she just admired the colors, the new ornaments deliberately bought, the small stuffed penguin now destined to hang from branches instead of get buried at the back of a shelf. Maybe she couldn’t believe that it was really there in the foggy transition just before sleep.
Sitting near her, watching her eyelids droop and slowly open, I was filled with my own wonder. Will this be a memory that stuck with her for years? Will she someday relate the story of when she was five years old and got her very first bedroom Christmas tree? Or would this moment be absorbed by all the other experiences rushing through her young developing self and forgotten, save for a glimmer of recognition each year when she pulls the tree out of its skinny box?
I want to encourage those memories and shape her personality as best I can, while also acknowledging that my contribution may be only a faint sense memory—bright hued starbursts in a dark room with a vignette of sleep encroaching at the edges. I know realistically that’s the best I can expect (especially given the general poor state of my own memory from when I was that age).
Maybe that’s enough. I was there to see her eyes as the lids eventually gave up trying to hold themselves open. I saw that wonder and felt my own glimmer of recognition.
Author. Designer. Late-nighter. www.jeffcarlson.com
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