Eighteen months

Today is Helena's half birthday. I'm going to write down her day today because at some point, I might find it interesting.

7:30am She wakes up. Harper goes in and gives her a couple of wooden puzzles to work on while I'm drinking my coffee and getting their breakfast ready (a very labor intensive activity which, this morning, required me to pour their cereal into a bowl)

8am After having thrown all of the puzzle pieces out of her crib, she begins to chant, "Ma-MA! Ma-MA! Ma-MAA!" I change her size 4 diaper and nurse her. Then she has her breakfast: oatmeal mixed with a jar of baby food (apples and blueberries this morning) and then an entire banana which I have to cut into slices or she would shove the entire thing in her mouth at once.

8:30am Down from the high chair and she is off. I really need another baby gate that isn't being used as a doggie gate. She can run now and she darts from one room to the next, smiling and babbling and not minding at all when a certain brother or sister yells, "NO HELENA!" or, "NO UHYAYNUH!" when she gets all into their stuff. She is still very disposed to put everything in her mouth, especially very hazardous things like marbles just the exact size of her esophagus. Thankfully, she spits most things out after a brief taste.

9:30am If we're staying home, I put her down for a morning nap. Today we went to Target. It was pretty empty, so I let Harper and Hudson run races down the aisles. Helena watched from the cart and squealed her approval. Hudson performed some very impressive karate moves on aisle 9.

11:30am Lunch. Today it was yogurt and some peas and brown rice. Usually she has some grapes or cantaloupe or watermelon or blueberries too.

12-3:15pm A nice, long nap. In her sleep sack, which she calls her "sleezak" which makes her sound kind of like a little Polish baby.

3:30-5pm Play time. This afternoon we tried out the new pool we picked up at Target for $14.99 today, which seemed kind of expensive until I realized it's still five dollars cheaper than the $20 we paid to go to the new West U. pool a few weeks ago.

5:15-6pm Dinner. Tonight she ate a large bowl of black beans, some diced tomatoes, some quacamole, and then applesauce. Then the rest of Hudson's black beans because she cried a little when I mistakenly assumed that surely her stomach must be about to explode and tried to remove her bib.

6pm Bath. And teeth brushing, which she really enjoys.

6:30pm I nurse her and put her to bed. In her sleezak. I put her down, she pops in fingers index and middle on her left hand and, I assume, falls asleep. I do not hear from her for 13 hours. It's beautiful.

She is saying lots of words, sometimes on cue. I don't know how much she weighs--maybe 20 pounds? She is mostly wearing size 18 months clothes, and size 5 shoes, I think. Her hair is really curly in the back and I had the husband do a dread-lockectomy on a couple of tangled beyond repair ringlets yesterday. She is finally discovering books, but I have yet to read successfully with all three kids. Helena wants to interact with the book by grabbing it and turning 3 pages at once and maybe tasting it a little, which tries the patience of Harper and Hudson. Hudson gave her a little coloring lesson on Sunday:


In other big Hudson-related family news, there is this: I'm doing as well as can be expected. A little frayed, perhaps. But the boys in this family just love to drum. So the girls in this family just have to embrace the rhythm.