It's the Little Things She Does (part II)

The Kisses
     Perhaps my current favorite 'behavior' is the kisses.  She likes to kiss things, and distance is no object.  We might be on a walk and a dog is across the street going the other direction.  She'll stop pushing her doll in her stroller, turn and walk to the edge of the sidewalk, take out her Nuk, squat down and lean forward, (and I hear more often than actually see) and *kiss*.  (And how does one write the sound of a kiss?)  One of her favorite kiss targets is the AATA busses.  She'll typically wave and yammer at the bus when it's nearby, but when it's about to go out of sight, the same elaborate ritual (with variation depending on whether she's in her stroller, her bike seat, or on her feet).
     She kisses pets walking by outside the house while she's inside.  She waved at a jumbo jet the other day, then planted a kiss into the sky.  The recycling truck got one yesterday.  And any number of cashiers in check-out lanes, friendly passers-by, squirrels, and, most especially, birds.  She seems to particularly like robins.

Sharing the Nuk
     No, she doesn't actually share her Nuk with others, much like she doesn't actually kiss all those busses and birds, but she will hold her Nuk out to something -- a dog down the street, a squirrel outside the window, or any of her many dolls -- and mimic the sound with her tongue.  (Sounds a more like imitation chewing than Maggie Simpson.)  This seems to especially happen when she perceives the animal, &tc. has suffered some misfortune, and could use a little security.  Do I project compassion onto a 19 month old?  Perhaps, but I only share what I see...

More to come, including pictures, in this partial post.  The girl awakens...

Fairie Doors in Ann Arbor

     Several weeks ago, I stumbled upon a list on FourSquare for Fairy Doors in Ann Arbor.  It had seven locations listed, and knowing a little of the history of these Fairy Doors, I wanted to take Esme on a tour of them.  As it's winter out, and many of these doors are outside, Esme may not be wearing the most appropriate fairy door explorer gear, but it's Michigan.



     Our first stop was the door outside of a local art gallery.  This was the first door I'd discovered years ago, so it seemed fitting to have Esme start the downtown portion of our tour there, too.  I didn't fully realize this when we started, but, from that point, there are (at least) seven fairy doors within three blocks.  And we hit them all, even finding an extra two at the only local bookstore that was willing to stock my first book, The Rapscallions.

Our first stop of the day, Liberty St, outside of Selo/Shevel Gallery

     Esme was a trooper throughout, and seemed to really enjoy these little doors that I pointed out to her, or perhaps she was just mimicking my pointing.  In any case, we had great fun exploring our city and noting the varying styles and positions of the doors.  Several doors were at ground level, which made sense.  But other doors are at toddler eye level, or even above the mantle of a fireplace.  I was at first puzzled by these heights until I realized that fairies, by nature, have wings, so their doors can be anywhere.  And so they are!  Anywhere and everywhere.


     Our second stop of the day was Peaceable Kingdom on Main St.  A friend of mine later sent me a photo that showed the interior of this particular domicile.









     Our third stop was a fluke.  It wasn't on the list, but I wandered in to Crazy Wisdom bookstore and asked about fairie doors.  The woman at the register pointed out the cabinet-like fairy apartment that Esme is squatting next to in the photo, as well as the smaller fairie door by the elevator.  (Sorry for the blurry face shot there, but Esme was jumping up and down at the time.)

     Next we walked over to a place that seems to help the fairies take the best care of their doors of any of the places we saw this first day.

     This is a close-up of the door at Sweetwater's coffee shop.  (It's the same one in the first picture on this post.)  Here you can see the coins, buttons, and other trinkets people leave for the fairies.  I later learned, by checking out an urban fairie website, that this is often donated, as the fairies have little use for money.

     This fourth stop for us of the day was listed on FourSquare as Red Shoes Thrift Store.  The door pictured was the one Esme is pointing to, though it was red with blue trim at the time.  The store has since become a boutique and I suppose the fairies are just keeping up with the times, changing to a pink door that matches the rest of the building.

     Knowing full well that the Ark, Ann Arbor's premier live music venue, was closed during the day, we stopped by anyway, just to see if the door happened to be on the outside.  Sure enough, there it was on the bottom of a door I have walked through no fewer than a dozen times in the past 15 years.  I never saw it before.

     That was the end of our fairie door tour for day one.  We were not, however, done with the FourSquare list.  There was still a library branch and a bookstore on the outskirts of town.  A couple of days later, we headed up to the library listed, but were told by the librarians that it was the downtown branch that held the fairie door, fittingly enough in the children's section that Esme and I had been several times.  (Again, these little things in life are sometimes hard to see when you're not looking for them.)     We headed out to the bookstore next, and found the door without assistance at Nicola's.  It was made a bit easier by the placement of three books about fairies and a poster we ended up buying that showed a list of about 27 fairie doors in the Ann Arbor & Dexter areas.  So the day we thought we were hitting the last two, we discovered we may have just gotten started.

     From Nicola's, we headed back down town to find the door at the main branch of the library.  I looked all around, but finally had to give in and ask a librarian for assistance.  And even walking around looking for it, I had walked right past it.  This, like the one at Peaceable Kingdom, was visible from multiple directions, allowing the viewer to see the little fairie apartment, complete with furniture and little lamps.

      Seen this close up, it's hard to miss the little windows on these books, but sitting across the room, you literally don't notice -- even looking at them intently.
     This concluded our first round of fairie discovery, but again, we now possess a fairie door poster as well as a paper that tells where each of the doors on the poster is located.  (Though three of them are 'in the Wright's house, which again, is better explained by the Urban Fairie website.)
     We did make one trip out to Dexter to see if we could find one of the doors there, but I had failed to bring our paper with us and couldn't get a consistent internet connection to be able to look things up while parked in town.  Plus, Esme fell asleep in the car right before we drove into town, so even if I'd known exactly where to go, I'm not sure I would have chosen to awaken her.

     I'll post more on these later, as we have had subsequent adventures and sightings, both in expected places (from our poster) and in completely unexpected places, like a tree in our neighborhood.  Stay tuned for more Adventures with Esme!

Outings

I started this post back in November, to show some special trips Esme went on around town.  Now it's March, so I thought I'd come back and finish it off.

'The Cube' is near the Michigan Union.  Her stroller is under the corner of The Cube for scale.
It's mounted on a vertical axel, so the whole thing spins like a top if you push it.

At one of our favorite newer restaurants in town.  Esme is getting much more proficient with a glass.

Over Christmas, we visited Grandma in Lansing.  Esme received a toy bottle set where the liquid disappears as you tilt the bottle upside-down.  Literally overnight I noticed her playing change.  She now feeds her baby, or the dog, or her Cheshire Cat, or Tina or me.  Imagination is a part of her world now!

She was also able to play outside in the snow several times this winter.
She loves to get outside every day.

 We had several visits to the Ann Arbor Hands On Museum this winter.  Tina and I have taken her individually, we have gone as a whole family, and we've met friends there to enjoy the child-friendly environment.  Esme loves the water table, though she always ends up much wetter than one would think possible.  (Yes, I know you would think a lot is possible.  Not far enough...)

You can't see my skis in this self-portrait, but that is Esme asleep on my back.
I look forward to more 'backpacking' outings as winter eases into spring.

Esme at the playspace in the mall.  I don't really do malls,
but this play area is cushioned and has neat things to climb on.

Esme loves the Main Branch of the Library downtown.  There's one table with a rotating toy selection that she loves, in addition to the incredible chess set.  (I always have to be on close guard if there's a game going on -- Esme's libel to walk off with a queen or a knight just when it's most needed.)
Though they do have the Infant/Toddler hour here on Monday mornings, I've found it's a great place to go with Esme anytime.  Toys to play with, people to watch, stairs to climb, plus it's not a quiet library type of kids room.  It sounds more like the hum of learning in an active classroom than a library.

Finally for today's post, I bring you Mardi Gras in Ann Arbor.  There are paczki all around, and one can find an occasional King Cake, but this is not Coastal Mississippi, so the celebrations are mild.  Esme did get into the spirit while sharing one of our three paczki with me and helping to decorate the pub.  They even gave her beads to bring home, which she's been playing with for the intervening weeks.

Thanks for reading and sharing the journey!

It's the Little Things She Does (part I)

Esme tries to get into the Hundred Acre Wood at our local Barnes & Noble

     So it's been a while since I've posted here for a variety of reasons.  Perhaps the main one is the gap between what I wanted this blog to be and what my viewers seem to want.  I wanted this to be primarily a writing blog (I'm a writer at heart), while the requests I get are always for more pictures and video.  There's also the fact that I thought this could be a format for me to discuss the realities of parenting and discussing some of the challenges that arise in frank and honest ways.  However, I've discovered a serious aversion to airing dirty laundry in public, which makes many of my potential posts difficult to write and publish.  I wish I was courageous enough to get into the nitty gritty of daily life of arguments and challenges, but I'm not.  I don't want to upset people or alienate people.  So I keep many of the juiciest bits to myself and only post the cute glory that is Esme.  If you want to read some of my inspirations for that type of blogging, you could look at some of these:

Rage Against the Minivan
and

Parenting from Scratch
and especially

Controlling Chaos

     Since I'm not as gutsy as some of these bloggers, I'll take a different tack.  I'm going to share things that I'd like Esme to know about herself later.  (I know that I have greater control of the information on this blog than I do of the information on Facebook or Google+.  For instance, I can download my entire blog and save it to my hard drive, photos, videos, writings, etc., and put them together for her to peruse on her own time when she's of an age to want to know more about her childhood.)

     So here are some written snapshots of Esme these days, with photos that may not fit each of the exact ideas, but they're pretty close:

     "I want your hand"
     Anyone who has been around Esme for any length of time lately knows that she is very clear about wanting help or wanting someone to join her on a walk.  When she visits Grandma Brenda in Lansing, she'll wait at the top of the stairs, holding up her hand, until someone comes over, takes her hand, and helps her down the steps.  (At least, she would do this until she started being able to navigate stairs on her own.)  She still does this at home when she wants to go down into the basement to play on the mat or explore.

     She also does something like this from the backyard at home when she wants me (or whoever's around) to go with her.  She'll walk up to me holding up her hand and, once she's holding my finger, she'll turn and start walking away.  Sometimes she keeps holding on, but more frequently, she'll pretty immediately let go once she knows she's being followed.  Then she'll lead me to the gate, wait for me to undo the latch, then head down the driveway to the sidewalk, occasionally looking back to make sure I'm still following.  She does the same type of thing inside the house when she wants me to accompany her to another room.  It's a wonderful way she's chosen to communicate, and it melts my heart just about every time.  (Who doesn't want to be wanted and needed in this world?)

     "That way"
     When Esme wants something that she knows she can't get for herself, she'll walk up to me, hold up her arms and wait to be picked up.  Once she's snuggled into my arms, she simply points.  Sometimes I have to ask, "What do you want?" or, "Where do you want to go?" and she'll hold out her arm in the general direction she wants to go.  Sometimes it's a toy she sees on the upper shelves of her closet.  Sometimes it's specific food or drink.  Lately, it's the fact that she saw or heard the cat at the door and wants her to be let in or out.  (What the cats are paying her for this service, we're not quite sure yet, but there's got to be some sort of payoff.  The cats have never had it so good!)

     "Mo" and "All Done"

If she didn't still have food, and the finger pointed
to her mouth, this would be 'more'

     Like many parents, we've experimented with teaching Esme a few simple words in sign language.  As I don't know sign language, I'm not absolutely certain we have the 'right' words, but as long as we're consistent using the same sign for whatever word, she picks up on them pretty quickly.  Two of the most common ones she uses these days are 'more' and 'all done.'

Half of 'all done'

     For more, she points to her mouth and says, "Mo."  This is most frequent when she's finished a bottle (or gotten close to the end of it) and wants to continue drinking.  She'll then slither out of our laps and either lead or follow us to the kitchen where we'll pour more milk into her bottle.  She also uses it when she's in her high chair and wants more of the specific item (usually fruit) that she's been eating.
     When she's done eating, we can usually tell because she starts to squirm around in her seat and seems to try to get up (which isn't possible for her with the tray in place).  She'll shake both of her hands while looking directly into our eyes and the message is clear.

     Comprehension of Language
     It is absolutely clear to me that Esme has a large set of words and phrases that she knows.  If we ask if she wants to eat or wants food (and she does) she'll walk right over to her high chair.  (And with this as well as most of the others that I'm about to mention, I've checked myself to make sure I'm not giving any visual cues.  It is definitely the words that she knows.)  If we ask if she wants to go outside, she'll go grab her boots.  (And on that vein, we can ask her to get her boots -- she'll grab the boots.  We can ask her to get her shoes -- she grabs the shoes.)

     Lately, I've been giving her choices.  "Which hat do you want?" while holding out two or three of her hats.  She'll look them all over, then make her choice and grab that one, and it's not always the same hat.  Yesterday, I knew we needed to go get more milk, but I smelled a malodorous gift in her diaper.  I tried to get her to walk down to her room with me to change, but she seemed resistant.  So I asked her if she wanted to change her diaper or go to the store in the car.  Without hesitation, she pointed to the door and grabbed her hat.  So we went to the store and came home before the diaper change.

Speaking of communication,
Esme loves 'talking on the phone'

     There are lots of other illustrations of her grasp of language.  It the evening, Tina can ask if Esme's ready for a bath and Esme will take off towards the bathroom, frequently getting there first and tapping on the door until Tina catches up to her.  When it's time for bed, Tina carries Esme over to me and asks her to give me a kiss.  Esme immediately leans towards me.  I usually have to ask her to take out her Nuk, which she does before leaning in further for a kiss.  Then Tina says, "Say goodnight to daddy."  Esme waves at me and gives a sing-song, "Nn-nnnn", mimicking the sound of Tina's 'goodnight' before they walk down the hall.  Again, it's heart-melting goodness and love.

As always, there are so many more events and photos to add, as well as (and I'm not making this up) 73 videos of Esme I have taken with my iPod, from very early on.  This is a very well documented 17 month old.  You're welcome to come visit us if you want to watch all the videos on my computer, but I suspect you'd get distracted by the girl herself.  I always do...

Weekly activities

November & December 2012

     We've been busy this past month and a half since I last posted.  Our main excitement has been making our weekly rounds.  Esme and I have several specific things we do every week -- 

going to the local library branch's Toddler Hour on Tuesday mornings, 

going grocery shopping once or twice, and stopping by the pub for snacks before or a, 

walking up and down the sidewalk in the neighborhood, 

and now that it's gotten colder, we've added trips to the Ann Arbor Hands On Museum.

     

On a cold day in early November, Esme went to her first presidential election.  (It was actually her fourth time at the polls, so she knew the drill.  We weren't really prepared for the lines, though, so a really nice mother and daughter pair pushed our stroller forward holding our place in line so Esme could run around inside and outside for most of the time.  So many things to vote for this time, and it was hard to juggle with her still wanting to roam.)

Mornings are sometimes slow around here, with a sleepy Esme eating breakfast, or sitting in her chair at the base of the tree of life.

 Esme has started trying on several hats lately.  She never liked to wear hats, so this is a welcome development as Michigan's winter will be upon us soon.  (Theoretically)

 

 We enjoy naps together sometimes, though I usually take her nap time to get other things done.  (Today I cleaned the bathroom, and I'm writing in this blog.  I like a sense of accomplishment.)

 As I mentioned, we've been going to all the AADL's Toddler Hours.  (Not every one every week, but we've made it to all of them as of this morning's trip to the Downtown Main Branch.)

Downtown:  Mondays

Mallett's Creek:  Tuesdays

Pittsfield:  Wednesdays

Traverwood:  Fridays

Our local Mallett's Creek Branch...

The Traverwood Branch on the north side of town...

And also at Traverwood, where she first started pulling a wagon.

And the day after the Traverwood wagon, she started pulling Jim's old wagon around the porch.
(Quick learner, that girl.)

      When we're not out and about, we tend to hang out in the living room and play with various toys.  She's been pretty happy knocking down any block towers I build, but lately she's starting to build a little of her own.  She also likes to 'share', which means she tries to give you something.  But with Esme, you'd better take it or she can get more than a little bent out of shape.  (I like to called it 'forced sharing.')  Though I was talking with a parent of an 18 month old who's just turned the corner into the world of 'mine.'  Ahh, the things we have to look forward to!

We play games at home for most of the day.

When Mom gets home, it's time to play a whole new set of games!

And perhaps my favorite new activity:  Cheers, when we're eating
the same food item.  (And it only happens then -- no other food toasting allowed.)

So these are the ways we fill our days.  I've got several videos and many more pictures of various activities, but this is already a long enough post.  And I can hear the little one stirring in her room down the hall.  Thanks for reading and sharing in the joy that is Esme!