16 months

Cora is 16 months old. Where has the time gone? Here she is at her checkup last week (for her 15-month, officially - I was a little late scheduling it). She was 20 pounds 6 ounces, which drops her down to the 14th percentile (meaning she's smaller than 86% of baby girls her age). Her length/height was 30 3/4 inches, still in the 60th percentile, and her head circumference remains in the 80th percentile. Dr. Brockett said her walking looks just fine, so her ankle problem in April has apparently had no lasting effect.

Hurricane Harbor, here we come

We've decided to take full advantage of Hurricane Harbor this season, and bought season passes this weekend. On Sunday, after church and nap, we headed over for a few hours and had a great time.
Here's Cora in her swim diaper, sun-shielding rash guard shirt, water hat (which didn't last long) and sandals (which didn't work well - we'll have to get some true water shoes for her).
Cora was excited to be at the park, pointing to everything and smiling from the moment we walked in. She wanted to be close to Daddy, especially in the beginning, but grew more and more comfortable with the water.
After a bit of playing, time for a drink. Cora also was very happy to practice her walking around the perimeter of the wet playground.
Time to go home - Cora didn't want to leave, so we had to take her out like this. Well, not exactly. But putting her in the bag did get her to stop screaming after Stace picked her up when it was time to go. She didn't want to be picked up, as she was very happy to walk at her own pace, and she was more than happy to let us know her feelings.

Fearless

Cora now spends her time around the house playing with Somer or wandering. She is really enjoying her new walking ability, and I find her just walking around. She also will carry things around, something she struggled to do while on all fours.
Here you see her in the chair Nan and Pop got her; she can now get in and out by herself and we've found her a few times recently sitting down reading to herself. Today, I had a pile of clean diapers on her floor and was preparing to put them away when I noticed she was busy with them. She was taking them, one by one pretty much, over to her chair and making a new, neat pile. When she had finished, I couldn't bear to undo her work, so on the chair they have stayed. It helped out, as I was about to vacuum her room. One thing about Cora, she is not frightened of anything. The vacuum, my hair dryer, the blender - I sometimes expect her to be scared, but she never is.
Cora also likes to get out her books and read them. As soon as you put them all away, she has them out again. If I'm sitting by the computer, or on the floor with the laundry, she'll often bring me a book to read her and then settle into my lap.
A new problem with her better standing ability - she is now able to get into the trash can. We keep two trash cans in our pantry, one for trash and one for recycling. The other day I found her taking trash out of the trash can and putting it in the recycling bin. She really enjoys sorting things!
Cora likes to give kisses these days. Her version of a kiss is to say "muuuh" and put her mouth up close to the object of affection. Somer is still her main object of affection,but she also has been kissing her toys a lot. Sometimes she even kisses us, or the phone if she hears a voice she recognizes and loves. She also likes to lie next to (or on) Somer on the floor and pet her while she gives her kisses.
It's been a pretty normal week so far. Stroller Strides, playing at the park, etc. On Friday Cora has her 15-month well check appointment with the doctor, a bit late as she's almost 16 months.

Cancer Walk - and we ALL walked

On Saturday we participated in the Santa Clarita Valley Relay for Life, which raised about $500,000 for the American Cancer Society. Many organizations and companies set up booths, including Stacey's work, and there was food and live music. Above are our "luminaria" for our beloved grandparents who passed away from the disease. (They had tiny candles and sand in them, and in the evening the candles all were lit. You can see a photo here.)
Cora took the opportunity to practice her walking, and she improved by leaps and bounds in a single afternoon. In the videos that follow, you can see her practicing by pushing her stroller; practicing and getting back up on her own; and finally, cooling off after a warm afternoon and sharing with her Daddy.





In the past two days, she's improved in her walking even more. She now toddles around the house, taking 7 or 8 steps, falling, standing up on her own without any help, and toddling off again. It's a great milestone, and it certainly is time for her to be walking, but we can't help but be a bit ... hmmm ... wistful, I guess, that she is truly not an infant anymore. She's been a toddler for the past few months in many other ways, but now it's official.

Day at the Farm

On Thursday, Elissa and I took Harvey and Cora to Underwood Family Farms in Moorpark for a day of picking fruit and vegetables, playing, and seeing the animals. I think we'll be going back to this fantastic place many times in the coming years. For just $3, you can pick many types of fruit, vegetables and flowers; admire and pet various farm animals; have a picnic lunch under the trees on a grassy playground with play equipment and a sandbox; and even ride on a hay wagon, little train or ponies. We paid an additional $3 for the strawberries, raspberries, beans and snap peas we picked.

Cora and Harvey ready to go picking, with their water bottles.

Sharing blackberries

Cora spotted a raspberry, and picked and ate it herself

Yummy strawberries

First Steps!!!

At 15 1/2 months, Cora took her first steps. On Sunday we were playing at the mall's playground, and Cora was walking with Stace. He stopped, steadied her and withdrew his hand, and she took about four steps into his arms. She did the same thing twice more before we left. Hooray!
We took this video on Monday while we played at the park.

Catching up

So, the days just before our computer died were hot as Hades, over 100 degrees. We went to the beach and played in the pool to stay cool. Also, Cora had her first smoothie, which she really liked. She drank just about the whole thing over the course of an hour. She's getting good at drinking out of a straw now, and I've bought her two kiddie cups with flexible silicone straws instead of spouts. They look a lot more grownup, though she still uses her spout cups too.
For Christmas, Cora's Nanny got her an animal train. This is the little wagon the train pulls along. Cora has taken to using it as a walker toy, even though it's very low to the ground. She also likes to push around boxes of all sizes, our corner table and her high chair. All this practice will hopefully be paying off in a few weeks, when Cora has been asked to serve as flower girl in my cousin Elizabeth's wedding!
Cora continues to love playing with Somer. She likes to share her toys and books with the cat, showing them to her by hitting the cat on the head with whatever toy/book she is playing with. Yesterday I caught Cora tapping her animal cracker into Somer's head. In the above photo, she is emptying her small box of little toys onto Somer, and then picking the toys up and putting them back in the box, before returning them to the chair. This is what I found her doing when I realized the house was too quiet.
And in another instance when we found the house too quiet, Stace found Cora rearranging our pantry. She had managed to crawl in behind the trash can, and obviously doesn't seem too happy about being found.
Cora definitely has her own mind these days. She is not above throwing fits when we don't go along with what she wants to do. Over the weekend we went to visit our friends David and Melanie, and Cora was playing with my cell phone. As I was awaiting a call from a realtor who was taking clients to look at our condo the next day, I took the phone away from her. Whoa!!! What a fit, her worst yet. Always nice to share those moments with your (as yet) childless friends! She also has been pinching my arms when I'm changing her diaper. Lovely! On the other hand, she also can be very affectionate, and likes to sit in my lap for stories. She brings books for me to read and then settles in. She gives hugs and kisses, and has recently been kissing the phone when she speaks to Nan and Nanny in England.

New Computer

Here is the new setup, with our Toshiba laptop up where the monitor used to be. This will be the daily-use setup, with the old mouse and keyboard still in action. They're both a lot easier to use than the laptop's mouse and keyboard. But, as soon as we get the router working, we will be able to work out in the living room when Cora is sleeping. I plan to make use of the new computer today - our congressman is having a press conference in town, and I'm going to cover it for my old newspaper. I'll take the laptop and get the story written "on the road" while my mom has Cora, so when we both come home I will be ready to file.
Our old computer lasted 4 1/2 years, not bad for a $350 package deal that included a printer! This computer, WITH getting the stuff off our (dead) old hard drive installed, cost about twice that. We were very tempted to go Mac, but that would have been another grand. We want to be conservative since we hope to be buying a house this year and probably will then have lots of things to spend money on!

The horror!

Bad news - our computer has died. 

More updates will come when we are online (at home) again!

Hot, hot, hot!

Summer has arrived in Southern California. While it was in the 60s and cloudy on Monday, on Thursday it was nearly 100! Today and this weekend promise more of the same. That means hanging out at the pool, which Cora and I will be doing Friday afternoon, and playing at the mall's indoor playground.
Cora has played there several times in the last week, including this trip with Daddy last week. We also met a friend there Thursday morning with her two-year-old daughter. Cora gets excited and points when she sees the play area coming into view.
This week, we had our last MOPS meeting of the semester. Today we're having a lunch date with the moms and kids from our table at one of the mom's homes. She has a pool, perfect for today's heat. Cora is going to have a great time. She really loves the water, and points and gets excited whenever shes sees a pool. Earlier in the week, we went to Grandma and Grandpa's house for dinner to celebrate Mother's Day, and Cora played in the spa. She loved that.
Cora has been very affectionate with me the last couple of days. She climbs in my lap and gives me kisses and hugs. She also is very affectionate with Somer. We just wish she'd show more love to her daddy. She loves playing with him, but at this point, obviously sees Stace as the parent she can be more rough-and-tumble with. He doesn't really get kisses. More like, scratches and face-yanking. Not very nice.
In other news, our househunt has been put on hold. The person who was going to buy our condo has pulled out because she couldn't get her financing together. We're back on the market, and having to keep the place tidy in case a prospective buyer wants to come through.

Mother's Day

For Mother's Day, we spent the afternoon together at Bridgeport. We played at the park, walked around the lake and then crossed the street to check out the progress on the new Bridgeport Marketplace shopping center. It was a very nice day.

We saw ducklings and goslings.

The new shopping center is looking beautiful, with lots of water - a small lake, waterfalls and fountains, with artsy sculptures in the lake. One business is already open, a frozen yogurt place that gave out free yogurt to moms. It was yummy! We'll have to go back Saturday for their official grand opening (and more free yogurt).
In the clip below, you can see how Cora's walking is progressing. She now will walk while holding only one of our hands. Listen for her panting at the end.

Special treat

Cora is 15 months old!
She is enjoying the park in these photos, taken Friday morning after Stroller Strides. Shelly, our Stroller Strides leader, had a pre-Mother's Day celebration for all of us after class, so most of the moms stayed for the fun and the little ones played together on the playground and in the grass.
Shelly gave us all roses, which Cora enjoyed smelling (and then trying to eat).
The last photo shows Shelly setting out the breakfast she brought for us, and our surprise - free massages! In the photo, Elissa is getting her massage.
We also celebrated some new pregnancies at Stroller Strides today. It's a definite baby boom. My friend Sarah, Thomas's mom, is due in mid-November; Jill is due in early December; and Jamie is due in late December. Thomas turned one in April, Jill's daughter Mary will be two in July, and Jamie's daughter Gabriella is a week younger than Cora.
Sarah is the second of my new "mommy friends" to become pregnant again; Christy, William's mom, is due in October. Mother's Day this weekend will be even more special for these mothers!

I'm trying to be a good mommy and let Cora feed herself more often. She really enjoys it, and lately has been balking at being fed by us.

Here she is eating her yogurt, dipping the spoon into the bowl.

In the mouth! (And around the mouth...)

And sometimes, it's just easier to use your hands.

Housing news

Sorry for the sporadic updates now that we're home from England. While unpacking and recovering from jet lag, we've also been busy looking at houses. With prices falling so much around here, it seems possible for us to get into a house. We put our condo up on the market while we were overseas, and it's now in escrow. We've looked at a few houses we like and have made offers on two. One is now a "no" because of some bad stuff we found out in the mandatory disclosures, and we haven't heard back on the other one yet.
So many things to be thinking about, discussing, and praying about!

Kitties and Rabbits

We are home and slowly getting back to normal. Cora has been waking up at 5 the last three days, so beyond the jet lag fatigue it's tiring being up so early each day. I think today, Wednesday, I will try to get a nap in.
Our flight home went fairly well. Cora wasn't as good as she was on the way over, but she was better than she was for our flights at Christmas.
Cora is very happy to see her best friend Somer again, and Somer seems to like having Cora back home, too. This morning I found Cora invading Somer's space again. This was the first time I've seen Cora in Somer's bed, though in England she did get in the dog's bed at Uncle Pete and Aunt Doreen's house.
Somer resigned herself to bed-sharing, though she refused to show interest in the Virgin Atlantic wet wipes that Cora found so fascinating.
A couple of shots from Saturday, when we had a barbecue at Dean and Jenny's house (Dean is Stace's brother). The weather was great, maybe even breaking the 60s, and sunny.
Cora enjoyed petting the rabbit, though she then grabbed its ear and yanked. No wonder the rabbit kept hopping away from Cora (see video).

Cast free!

Cora is back to toddling around (with help) and pulling herself up to standing. She had her cast removed Friday morning, and a specialist felt around her ankle and gave her a clean bill of health. She began bearing weight on it in the doctor's office, and he said she looks good to go. We have a copy of the doctor's notes and her x-rays to show her pediatrician in Santa Clarita on her next visit.
On Friday afternoon, we went to the Willow and Wetlands museum, which gives a great overview of the environment and ecology of the Somerset Levels and the willow trade. The levels are low-lying areas subject to flooding, which have only become suitable for farming and commercial/residential building since channels and pumping stations were built in the last couple of hundred years. The photo of Sue and Gord with Cora is from a walk we took out on the levels a couple of nights ago. Decades ago, 9,000 acres of the levels were used for growing willows, or withies, which were harvested and processed for making baskets and furniture. Gord spent a number of years working in this cottage industry when he was younger. The museum was really interesting, and we enjoyed hearing Gord tell us about the work.
On Friday night, Cora stayed with Sue and Gord and Stace and I went out to a very nice Italian meal in Yeovil with Dean and Jenny. This afternoon, we'll go to their home for a barbecue for Gord's birthday today. We're also getting ready for our trip to Heathrow on Sunday, when we fly back to Santa Clarita.
The last photo is from our visit the other evening with Jane and Matthew Gould. Cora had fun crawling around their home, and impressed us by saying "Thank you" when Jane handed her a remote control. On the speaking front, Gord has taught Cora to say "Ta" when he hands her something; that's English shorthand for "thank you."She's also started saying "What's that?" when pointing to things. Lastly, Sue has taught her to raise her glass when we all say "Cheers!"

What we've been up to...

Here are a few shots from recent days...
We met Charlie, the beautiful new daughter of our friends Dunc and Lindsey. Not surprisingly, Cora was more interested in playing with Chelsea, their older daughter, who is nearly exactly one year older than Cora.
On Sunday, we had a nice family meal at the Crown and Victoria pub, where Cora gave a "Cheers!" to Nanny by lifting her cup.
Later on Sunday, we went for a long walk up Ham Hill with Nan, Pop, Dean and Jenny.
The last photo shows Gord reading to Cora and Ben, the son of Stace's cousin Karen and her husband Martin. Next to Gord is Auntie Doreen, Gord's sister. We visited with them on Saturday night.

On Tuesday, we had our best-weather day of our trip, and so we went to the park so Cora could play. Nan, Nanny and JT went along and we all had a great time. I didn't have our camera with us, as Stace had taken it to capture his golf game with Andy.