Day 334: Hey, Y'all!

Today was one of those days where I didn't have much more than 60 minutes with the Goose, but I did manage to snap this picture.  Hey, y'all!  Hope you had a great day!

Day 333: Family Birthday Lunch

Today is Cousin Louise's birthday (Happy Birthday!), so we met up with family for a birthday lunch.  It was also Cousin Danny's last day in town (boo!), so we wanted to make sure we got to see him one more time before he flew off to Iowa.  Where else would we go but to our favorite Mongolian barbecue place.  Yum!  Too bad someone's been a picky pain in the butt lately...

Making a goofy face.  We sent everyone off to grill up their food while we colored and munched on Cheerios and tortilla bites. 

Have I mentioned goof ball? 

"Coloring"

The only marks on the paper were made by me.  I'm quite the artist, by the way.  Nothing beats my yellow sun and colorful hearts.  

It's funny, though - we still have no idea if she'll end up more right- or left-hand dominant.  This picture doesn't exactly help.

Hugs with the birthday girl! 

Family photo!  She's looking a little less Marlon Brando in this picture - the one immediately preceding it is a better impersonation, but not all eyes were open!  At least I managed to pull her shirt down over her full tummy!

Day 332: Standing Strong

I committed the outrageous sin of putting the baby down to make dinner.

She did not approve.

This is how she expressed her displeasure.  Maybe she's trying to block me from getting to the stove?  Trying to push me down?  Just wants me to pick her up and won't move until i do so?  I'm not entirely sure.

Crazy baby.

Day 331: Goosey Kid

Moments like this, I can't argue that this baby goose is turning into a goosey kid!  

She still crawls more than she walks, but the ratio changes every day.  She amazes me.

Day 330: Fun and Games

We scrapped plans for an outing to the zoo for a lazy day at home.  We spent lots of time playing together, including trying out some toddler apps on the phone.  She loves playing with our phones, so instead of letting her open apps at random, we found a few that are age appropriate.  This one is a coloring app - she's doing a great job coloring in this alligator with her right hand.  We're still unsure if she will end up right or left handed.  She SEEMS left dominant, and then I'll notice, like in this picture, that she is using her right.  

Briefly playing with her "laptop" 

 What a surprise... playing with blocks.

Another "new" toy - there are multiple pieces of animal halves.  If you match two, it plays some music and congratulates you on the match.  Very cute.  It's a refrigerator magnet toy, but she refuses to leave it on the refrigerator door. 

And just for fun - dinner.  Notice what remains on her plate - chicken and potatoes.  Only a few pieces of broccoli.  This was her second serving of broccoli.  She didn't seem interested in the other parts of her dinner, but broccoli is always a favorite.  I'm going to choose to not be too worried - in terms of food to eat in great abundance, broccoli is preferred.


On a fun note - notice Bailey in the lower right corner.  He's no dummy.  

Day 329: What Goes Up...

... must come down!

While she is NO WHERE near ready to be let loose on the stairs on her own, she is really starting to get the hang of going down the stairs.  It is amazing how quickly she learns and grows and changes!

Day 328: Thankful Thursday

What a Thursday to be thankful for!  Every part of it was super awesome and perfect.  Lots of cooking and cleaning in the morning, then some Skype time with my mom (even if the computer battery kept us from video chatting for long), then an early dinner with family and friends.  So very thankful for all of the people we love in our life - from those who were able to join us today to those who are further away. 

Thanks to my friend Geryl for snapping this shot of the dinner table.  This was before everything was out on the table - it was quickly VERY difficult finding room for everything.  All delicious, of course! 

Michal seemed unimpressed with her dinner.  She did try some cranberries (see the photo up above - cranberry stain on her dress), but in the end she really only ate some of my dinner roll.  I ended up grabbing some garlic sauteed tofu from the fridge.  She ate a few pieces of that.  Strange picky baby lately.


SHE DIDN'T EVEN WANT MY PIE.  Crazy.


Oh, and I was ready with my camera for a reaction shot once she tried the cranberry, thinking I'd get a great sour face shot.  Nope.  No reaction.  Again.. crazy.

Having fun playing with Geryl! 

Crazy Goose LOVES her blocks.

So thankful for those blocks - she will play with them, by herself or with others, for a really good amount of time, even for a fifteen month old. 

She has a personal vendetta against stacked blocks.  She absolutely hates them.  If someone builds a tower, she must knock it down.  Want to rebuilt it?  She will fight you tooth and nail.  Swat, swat, swat. 

I was getting down some containers for leftovers.  All of a sudden, I realized I was no longer alone on the step stool.  Crazy, crazy Goose.  She was not very happy she couldn't climb to her favorite perch on the top step.

Time for bed!  We finally removed the barrier, and off she climbed up the stairs (her OTHER favorite activity) to get ready for bed. So thankful for our favorite Goose.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Day 327: Routine

We have a great bedtime routine going, and it has really worked for quite some time.  Not only is Michal a pretty easygoing kid, but she gets really playful before bedtime.  It's usually the three of us in her room, and it is just such a lovely time of the day - we hang out, listen to music, read some books... some books multiple times, and then get ready for bed.  Once Michal has a nighttime diaper and her jammies on, we ask her what time it is, and she replies with something that sounds like "teeth."  Off to brush her teeth.  

Once her teeth are sparkly white, it's time for her bedtime book.  Lately it's been a new favorite - Moo, Bah, LaLaLa.  It's a fun one to read, as she has started to imitate the sounds the animals make - here she is, singing "la la la," the sound these crazy pigs make.

Once the story is read, we head to the door to kiss her mezuzah.  Only recently has she really done this part - she reaches up to touch it, then makes a kissy sound with her mouth, then reaches to touch her mouth.  It's her own special take on this tradition. 

Before heading in to turn off the light and go to bed, we always stop to say good night to her name.  She loves touching the flowers, heart, and butterfly on each of the Hebrew letters.  I hope she'll always love her name as much as we do.  Such a special name for a special little girl.

Day 326: Beth El Babies

Since Michal only comes into the office for a couple of hours on Tuesdays now, everyone gets really excited to see her.  Today we showed the ladies in the front office her walking skills, and when we got upstairs, we were quickly greeted by her friend, Trey.  He is so incredibly sweet with her, and she just think he's super awesome.  

One of my coworkers brought in this baby carriage for Michal, but she hasn't played with it yet.  Trey found this Hanukkah-themed "doll" and got her strapped in for the ride. 

 Off they go!

(What you don't see is that she is about an inch or two from running into the wall.  She could not drive that stroller straight for anything.  It's a good thing we have a few years to worry over her driving skills.)

Not sure what she was looking at, but look at that corkscrew curl!   

Watcha looking at???

Day 325: Overdue

It only took me three months, but I finally finished the photobook of Michal's first year, and it arrived today!  I was so nervous that the photos wouldn't have turned out well, the resolution would be off, or it would just plain look dumb.  Of course it didn't, and we had so much fun flipping through it, reliving moments of one of the most amazing years of our lives.  Michal really wanted to look through the book as well, but we had to keep her from trying to turn the pages - I know too well how that could turn out!

I love how all I have to do is put away a toy for a couple of weeks, and when it reemerges, it is her favorite thing ever.  Michal could play with these stacking blocks for tens of minutes.  She doesn't seem interested in stacking them, in fact, she seems insulted when I stack them, quickly reaching over to knock down my tower.  No, she loves to nest them within each other.  I'm not sure what that means, but it is amazing what focus she has.  And those eyelashes kill me - super jealous!

Day 324: Budding Musician?

It shouldn't come as much of a surprise that we were super excited when Michal seemed to know, as if by instinct, that if she pressed (read: banged) down on the piano keys, she could make music.  Josh and I met in college, in band... (to be exact - the band service fraternity), and music is a huge part of our lives.  Even though we do not play as often as we once did, music is a constant in our house.  I've been thinking how cool it would be to get a piano at some point so our kid(s) could learn how to play, so when Josh showed me this picture of today's new Goose trick, well, I was pretty darned please.  Play on, kiddo, play on.

Day 323: Strawberry Cutie

Just a quick shot I took during our afternoon snack.  Caught her mid-strawberry bite.

Sometimes she's just too cute, I can't barely stand it.

Day 322: Jane's Animal Expedition

Fridays are my day off, so Michal and I had the entire day to ourselves.  While we made it out of the house to run a few errands in the afternoon, our morning was spent with books.  Lots of books.  As in Michal decided to empty her book bucket and took up residence inside.  She didn't stay in there for long, as she realized she couldn't pester me into reading her favorite book a billion times if she was cooped up.

Example A - I have read Jane's Animal Expedition more times than I care to admit. 

C'mon, Mama!  She's about to get into her plane and take off on a journey!  We can't delay!

Day 321: Cranky Pants McGee

A certain Goose was not a happy camper tonight.  We barely made it through dinner, barely made it through the bath, barely made it through jammies.  My best guess for the reason behind Michal and the terrible, horrible, no good, very bad evening: sleepy, hungry beeb.  Oh, and you can see she's in the Ergo carrier - she did NOT want to be anywhere but with me.  Which made the making of dinner tricky.  We made it through but just barely.  Luckily, tomorrow is another day!

Day 320: Eureka!

And there you have it, kind reader: a picture of a walking Goose.  Of course, it could totally just be the kiddo standing in place, since you cannot necessarily see movement in a still photo, but take my word for it - she is walking!  I have no idea why she needed to push her shirt up.  Weirdo.


It's not easy to get a picture of it, since Josh wasn't home to help tag team the photography adventure.  I worked my magic, though!  Oh, and the ladies at her school got video of her walking, so I'm hoping to get a copy of that!

I simply cannot pass up one of these profile shots.  She makes me want to go upstairs, get her up out of bed, and snuggle her tons.  She is such a sweet baby.

Oh, and you can see how curly her hair is, here.  Her school is often pretty warm, so most days she comes home with tons of curls.  

Crowing about her accomplishments?  She LOVES this microphone. 

Is there any doubt she's our kid?  Her new super duper favorite activity? Books.  Looking at them.  Crawling into our lap and having us read any number of books, sometimes twenty times each.  And here she is - it got quiet in the living room, so I went to go check on her as I made dinner.  Not making a beeline for the stairs - she was raiding the book bucket.  And strewing them everywhere.  

Day 319: New Kicks

Not much new on the walking front - Michal did not seem super interested in doing much aerobic exercise (ie walking).  She did manage a few steps for the ladies in the office, although it took much persuading.  For a while I thought she was going to make a liar of me!


We did pick up the Goose's first real pair of kicks.  Went to a really awesome local children's shoe shop and got her fitted (Size 4.5 WW - double wide!).  She did well in them, but only when holding on to hands or chairs to cruise around.  She hasn't really WALKED in the new shoes yet, but they're new - she'll get used to them.

Another angle of these cute shoes!  

Oh, and note the fingers in the mouth - pretty sure their omnipresence is a sign more teeth are on the way.  Given she only has four left to go, I think, it looks like the end of teething is nigh.

Day 318: Take Two

After yesterday's big milestone, today's goal was to take a picture of the Goose walking.  She did some walking at school today, so when we got home, I got dinner started and we attempted to capture this important moment.

Unfortunately, someone wasn't really in the mood.  I think she was overtired.  Instead of taking steps, she just started to fuss and cry, objecting to being forced to do this horrible, mean, awful task.  

But... I... don't... wanna.... walk! 

We have added another favorite food to Michal's list of favorite foods.  Cincinnati Chili.  As you can see, she couldn't get enough of it!

Tomorrow's mission: walking pictures!

Day 317: Not the Picture I Wanted to Post

Today started out like any other day.  After work, I met up with Josh, the baby, and the rest of the family for lunch, afterwards heading home to hang out.  Nothing unusual - we headed down to the basement to watch the Ravens take on the Seattle Seahawks.  Unfortunately some other, lesser team showed up to play, and the Ravens added another loss to their record.  Oh well.

It's a little blurry, but I LOVE her super happy faces! 

Love her jeans and jersey!

Of course, the camera's battery died, so I didn't have the chance to photograph what I REALLY wanted to capture - the Goose took a few steps!  Considering how I was just saying that when she was ready, she'd probably take a bunch of steps... well - I was right!  Up until today, she's take a half step here or there, but nothing more, and none of our coaxing worked.  And then suddenly, tonight, voila!  At first, three steps... then a few more... and a few more.  And then back to crawling and cruising.  But it's a start - she figured it out on her own, and when she's ready, she'll walk full time.  Until then - yay!  It is such fun reaching new milestones!  Oh - and I can't wait to finally buy shoes!