C is for Climber

Adelaida was never very skilled in the "gross motor skills" area of development. She wasn't so far behind that we were worried, but she was always a little slower than other kids to start doing new skills like crawling, walking, running, and climbing. In fact, she was 2 1/2 years old before she was able to climb onto a sofa or into a kitchen chair without help.

And based on our experiences with Adelaida, we expected Estella and Cordelia to develop in the same general way.

We were wrong.

In most ways, Cordelia has had very typical gross motor skills development, with sitting up, crawling, and walking all occurring at the expected times. But Cordelia is happiest when she is up high. She started crawling up the stairs long before Estella did, and spent a fair amount of time on the shelf of the changing table before she could walk.

After she started walking, her climbing became more daring. One day I walked into the playroom and saw her sitting on top of the lego table, with a huge "I'm so proud of myself" grin on her face.


The baby doll stroller became her favorite seat, and she even used the stroller as a stepping stool to climb up on the huge printer box that spent some time in our dining room.


Now, because Adelaida is so small for her age and because she has never been much of a climber, we purchased a step stool that we keep in our downstairs bathroom in front of the sink. Adelaida climbs up on the step stool to wash her hands. Well, one day I walked into the bathroom and saw this:


Cordelia had climbed up the step stool and into the sink!


(Before you call Child Protective Services, my first reaction on seeing Cordelia sitting in the sink was NOT to go get the camera so I could post this on my blog. I did the responsible thing and immediately got her out of the sink and folded up the step stool so she couldn't do it again. But later, when Dale was home, I did set her in the sink again, with the camera handy, to try to recapture the moment. Don't worry, Dale is just outside the field of view, ready to catch her if she falls.)

She apparently enjoyed herself so much that she has tried to repeat the performance several times. To my knowledge, though, she's never gotten above the second step, and we try to keep the bathroom door closed now whenever she's awake!

Fifteen Months and Growing!

We celebrated Estella's and Cordelia's fifteen-month birthday this week. Every time we celebrate such a milestone, I reflect back on the girls' lives and the pace of time with kids. On the one hand, these past fifteen months feels feel like they have flown by! It is hard to believe that fifteen months have passed since I met these two beautiful girls for the first time, or that five whole months have gone by since they learned to crawl (it seems like just a few weeks ago!). Was really an entire year ago that we took them to balloon fiesta for the first time, and they just slept in their stroller the whole morning? On the other hand, when I think about how much both girls have changed in the past fifteen months, it seems like such a long time. Remember when they were newborns and I could hold them on my chest, curled up in little baby balls? Now they love to run when Adelaida chases them and are very squirmy when sitting on anyone's lap. I think about when they started rolling over for the first time (eleven months ago) and how much effort it would take for them to simply roll from their bellies to their backs. Now they are climbing ladders, getting into the bathtub by themselves, and opening drawers and cabinets in the kitchen -- such a huge change relative to only a year ago!

Here is a visual chronicle of Estella's and Cordelia's first fifteen months:

This is one of the first pictures of Estella (on the left) and Cordelia (on the right), when they were one day old. Estella weighed 7 lb, 3 oz and Cordelia weighed 6 lb, 13 oz when they were born. They were good-sized babies, but small enough to fit in a single bassinet together!

These are pictures we had taken of the girls when they were just a few days old. Cordelia is on the left and Estella is on the right. They used to curl up just like this to sleep on my chest!

Cordelia (on the left) and Estella (on the right) at one month old.

Cordelia (on the left) and Estella (on the right) at two months old. This is when I remember life just starting to calm down after the chaos of have two infants.

Cordelia (on the left) and Estella (on the right) at three months -- the girls were really becoming aware of their surroundings and interacting with us more. Such a fun age!

Cordelia (on the left) and Estella (on the right) at four months.

Five-month-old babies are no longer particularly fragile or delicate, and actually spend time awake and not nursing. At this age, Adelaida discovered that her sisters were fun to play with and she wanted to play with them all the time! Fortunately, Cordelia (on the left) and Estella (on the right) loved to watch Adelaida play and didn't mind Adelaida touching, hugging, and playing with them. Adelaida loved to give the girls toys and to put blankets on them. She took such good care of her little sisters then, and still does!

Six-month-old Cordelia (on the left) and Estella (on the right).

Cordelia (on the left) and Estella (on the right) at seven months old.

By eight months old, both Cordelia (on the left) and Estella (on the right) were crawlers, although Estella had had considerably more practice crawling then Cordelia. They had been so frustrated before they learned to crawl, and suddenly had so much freedom to crawl around the room to get the toy they wanted.

By nine months old, Cordelia (on the left) and Estella (on the right) were eating lots of solids and both loved meals. Estella would investigate her food -- pick it up, look at it, smash it between her fingers, see what it felt like in her hair, and sometimes even taste it. Food was definitely a toy for Estella rather than a source of nourishment! Cordelia was much more deliberate with her food. When something was placed on her tray, she would either pick it up and put it neatly in her mouth to eat it, or decide that it didn't belong on her tray and pick it up and drop it on the floor.

Cordelia (on the left) and Estella (on the right) at ten months.

Eleven-month-old Cordelia (on the left) and Estella (on the right) loved to climb on everything. They were always happy babies and loved to smile and laugh.

On their first birthday, Cordelia (on the left) and Estella (on the right) were both cruising around furniture and getting ready to walk. Independent steps came in the weeks after their first birthday, and by thirteen months both girls were walking more than they were crawling.

Now they are fifteen months old and love to play. Estella likes to figure things out, doing the same thing over and over and over. Cordelia loves to be chased and to laugh at silly things. They are both so much fun right now and we spend less time doing things for the girls and more time doing fun things with them. They like to put blocks in boxes, and to gather up toys into a bucket and carry the bucket around the room. Both girls love to play with Adelaida, and their big sister enjoys playing with them (most of the time).

Help from Nonna, Poppa, and GG

In August, my employment status changed from "part-time, limited term, as many hours as I wanted to work each week" to "full-time, regular employee, 40 hours per week." I knew the transition was going to be difficult so invited family to come out to visit (and clean the house, cook us dinners, watch the kids on the days that they couldn't go to school, help get them ready in the mornings on the days they did go to school, and otherwise earn their keep). Fortunately, the "40 hours per week" part of the job was short-term: I had to work full time for only two weeks before I was able to transition back down to a very comfortable 60% time (24 hours per week). Even more fortunately, I have wonderful family members who were willing to put their own lives on hold for two weeks to help my family get through this difficult time.

My mom came out first, and stayed for a full two weeks. She cooked two dinners for us every night: one to eat that night, and one to put in the freezer to eat later (and we've been burning through that stockpile over the past two months!). She had dinner on the table every night when we came home from work, and did dishes and cleaned up after three messy kids every evening after dinner. That alone was worth an extra half-hour of sleep for me every night!

And more importantly than all the cooking and cleaning she did, my mom spent two weeks loving on my kids, playing with them, reading them books,  and listening to their stories. Here is Estella sitting on her Nonna's lap.


For the second week of my full-time job, my mom was joined by my step-dad and grandma. This was especially good timing because the kids couldn't go to school on Tuesday that week, and keeping all three kids at the same time is stressful. I'm their mom, and even I am exhausted by spending an entire day with them! So, I'm glad that my mom and grandma were both here to keep the kids that day.

Adelaida was pretty pleased to have her Nonna and Poppa here!


This is a precious photo that captures just how much GG loves to love on her great-grandchildren. Estella just pressed her little head into GG's shoulder and she was enveloped in a comforting "Grandma Betty hug." Estella was going through a particularly bad case of stranger anxiety in August but within a day of Grandma arriving, Estella was asking for GG to pick her up and hold her.


Nonna, Poppa, and GG: thank you, thank you, thank you!

A long roadtrip, part 5

We had spent a week traveling, visiting with friends and family in Tulsa and in Indiana while Dale had been in St. Louis, and finally it was time to drive west. We left Owen County in the evening, drove to St. Louis for the night, then a (relatively) short drive to Tulsa found us visiting the Oklahoma Parkes clan again. Charlotte was visiting in Tulsa as well, so we were able to have a little family reunion while we were there. We were eager to get back home, sleep in our own beds, return to our normal lives, so we spent only one afternoon and evening in Tulsa, then drove back to Albuquerque the following day. Here are some of the pictures I took during our half-day in Tulsa:

Mamaw reads a book to Sarah, Adelaida, and Elizabeth


Dale reads to Benjamin and Adelaida. I love that our kids love to read!


This picture has Mamaw with all six of her grandchildren: Cordelia on the left; Benjamin rolling on the floor; Sarah, Adelaida, and Elizabeth listening to the story; and Estella in the back standing up.


Finally, we drove back to Albuquerque -- with several stops at parks along the way -- and made it back home. It was a fun vacation, but we were eager to resume our more normal lives!

A long roadtrip, part 4

We spent our last day in Indiana in Owen County, hanging out at the farm in the morning and visiting with extended family in the afternoon. Here are some pictures from that day:

Annabelle and Adelaida read books together. Annabelle was so adorable helping with Adelaida, and Adelaida was happy to follow Annabelle everywhere she went!


Soon Annabelle decided to dip her feet in the kiddie pool. Adelaida followed and soon we'd stripped her and put her in the pool. It feels so refreshing on a hot, humid summer day!


Eventually Simon woke up and was ready to jump into the pool, clothes and all! Fortunately we were able to undress him before he jumped in, and he and Adelaida played together in the kiddie pool for about an hour.


In the afternoon, we went to Fred and Carol's lake house for a family gathering. Between the rafts, the leisure boat, swimming in the lake, the lake surfboards, and the plentiful food, there was more than enough to keep everyone occupied. Here are some of the pictures I took that afternoon.

We borrowed a life jacket for Adelaida and she was happy to go out on the raft with some of the big girls. For a normally timid child, Adelaida was very adventurous at the lake!


Grandpa, Cordelia, Grandma, and Estella watch the big kids play in the lake.


Owen and a dog stop by the blanket to say hi to Estella and Cordelia.


Adelaida jumped off the boat dock into Michael's arms. For weeks she talked about going swimming with Uncle Michael. She loved it!




After their swim, Uncle Michael and Adelaida relaxed together in a raft. They both look so happy and content!


Estella helps Cordelia finish her lunch.


The next photo is, in my opinion, the most impressive one of the entire trip. 19 kids (ages 10 months to 18) plus 9 dogs sitting together for a picture, all smiling (or at least not crying), all looking at (or at least near) the camera. Wow! This picture has 19 of my grandparents' 24 great-grandchildren (the other five weren't at the party that day). Simon is in the back left, Estella is in the front left, Adelaida is in the front middle next to Annabelle, and Cordelia is in the back right.


Just imagine all those kids, plus a couple dozen adults, running around at the lake house that afternoon, swimming, taking boat rides, relaxing on the rafts, eating at the picnic tables. It was really a wonderful gathering and we so enjoyed spending time with our extended family who we just don't get to see often enough!