Saturday morning brunch

I made plans to go up to Keystone with Kevin, but the traffic on I70 was terrible. After being on the road for 2 hours and only getting halfway, we decided to turn around and go for breakfast. On the way back down, we called the wives to see if they'd like to meet us for food at this creole restaurant called Lucile's. It was a pretty good place with large serving sizes, which was a plus for me. We had our camera so we took some videos of Elizabeth as she chowed down on some creole food and played. - T

Elizabeth is licking some jam off her fingers. The jam was made at the restaurant and it was really good.

The restaurant gave away bead necklaces. Elizabeth got a few of them and really liked playing with them.

Activity Time

Daily, we have music time and art time. She loves playing the piano, but I didn't get a shot of her doing that, instead, got one of her climbing down from the piano chair. For art time, we do finger painting, coloring with markers and crayons, and sticker time. She has this "Happy Feet" coloring book that she really likes with hundreds of penguin stickers, and we peel the stickers and put them in different landscapes then color around them. She especially likes playing with the stickers and putting them on her fingers. -S

Bath time

Elizabeth really likes her bath time. When I go to draw up water for her bath, she comes running (or what is like running for her since she can't really run) to the bathroom as soon as she hears the water turn on. Usually I sit on the tub edge as I check the water temp and she comes over and wants me to pick her up. She looks into the tub and motions that she wants to go in. If I'm not by the tub, she'll look over the edge and try to get in herself. The hard part sometimes is getting her undressed to put her in the tub. She wants to get in so bad that it can be a struggle.

She's got a lot of floating animal toys to play with and she just recently figured out that if water gets inside, you can squeeze it to squirt the water out. One time, she had one of her bigger ducks and it had filled with water. She started squeezing the water out and spraying herself. This was obviously entertaining because she was cracking up. It was fun to watch. -T

Trying on her hanboks

Sana's aunts in Korea sent Elizabeth a bunch of traditional Korean clothes and accessories for her birthday. Here she is trying them on. She will wear one in Maryland for her dol party. -S

Baby's sleep

We went on a church retreat this past weekend up to Estes Park, CO. Elizabeth went as well. She slept a good chunk of the 2 hr car ride up there. That was nice. Friday night, towards the end of the service time, she fell asleep. We didn't take her back to the room because she rolls around a lot in her sleep, so we didn't want her to fall off the bed. She slept as hard as a rock with all the noise from people laughing and playing games and just having a good time. Other people were holding her too and she just kept on sleeping. A bit later, Sana took Elizabeth to the room. When I went back, she started squirming. I offered to sleep with her on the bottom bunk while Sana slept on the top one. That was rough. Elizabeth normally doesn't have a problem sleeping through the night. But that night, she didn't seem to be able to or want to. Maybe it was too quiet after having all that noise around. Anyway, I didn't sleep much.

The thing that amazes me is that the baby can sleep in a noisy room like that, but can't seem to fall asleep in a restaurant after being awake for 5 hrs since her last nap. Also, she'll be asleep in her room and startle when I sneeze in the living room. Oh well. I just need to not sneeze then. -T

Auntie Ji Un hold Elizabeth at retreat

Separation Anxiety

We noticed before that Elizabeth did have a bit of separation anxiety. She had to be held by someone she knew well, especially her parents. This is pretty normal. However, now it's to a point where it has to be Sana. Even if I'm sitting next to Sana while holding the baby, Elizabeth struggles to go to her mom. I read that there is nothing you can do about separation anxiety other than tough it out. Also, I read that it gets bad between 12-18 months. She's 11 months right now. So according to my source, we're in for a treat. Well, I guess it'll be a different story in a few years when she doesn't want to be seen with us. Sigh... -T

Denver Children's Museum

We went to the Denver Children's Museum near downtown today to preview the venue for Elizabeth's first birthday party. While we were there, we also explored the museum a bit. They have activities for babies as young as 3 months old, but most of the museum is set up for kids 3-10 years of age. Elizabeth spent most of her time in the toddler rooms playing in the make-believe outdoor sets. Since she can walk now, she just goes from place to place exploring as she wishes. We contemplated getting a one year membership, but we'll wait until she's a little older and can enjoy the whole museum. -S

please let me out of this treehouse jail...

Baby's snack

I always heard that babies like to explore and get to know their surroundings. In a way, they are supposed to go through all the drawers and cabinets, the piles of folded laundry, the food we (her parents) are eating, and have the freedom to pull things out, throw things around, and push things off tables (like our dinner). That's how the little monsters learn about boundaries and what is OK to do and what isn't. Plus, they get to see how everything tastes. Well, add eating cat food to the list of exploratory things. It's hard for me to say exactly how many times Elizabeth has "tried" cat food, since I'm at work during the day, but she seems to gravitate more and more to the two little bowls set out for the cats. The kibbles can't taste that good even though the bag says it's chicken or fish flavored. I should know...I tried one out of curiosity. It smells too. Maybe this is her way of saying she's hungry or that she wants to eat something else. Who knows. I'm not a baby whisperer. Sometimes I wish I were. -T

A bit of fun

Ever since Elizabeth could crawl, there is one thing she likes to do. That is bonking her head with somebody else. Not hard or anything, but in a somewhat gentle manner. We even gave it a word...쿵 (which is basically, bang). I think this is a way for her to show her affection toward somebody. If she's in a good mood and you say the word, she'll tilt her head as she leans in to make contact with her forehead. Usually she'll aim for the other person's forehead, but she has gone for the cheek or eye at times. Sometimes, you don't even have to say anything and before you know it her forehead is touching you. I must admit that I rather enjoy this small thing she does. I'm sure I'll miss it once she thinks it's dumb and stops 쿵ing me.

The funny thing that happened today was that she did it to herself...actually a reflection of herself. Normally, when she sees herself in the mirror, she smiles or giggles and pats the mirror. Today though, Sana was holding her close enough to the mirror that she bonked her forehead against he mirror. It was pretty funny. I guess it means she likes herself. -T

Walking, walking, walking

Elizabeth prefers to walk over crawling now. If she starts out crawling, she will stop, stand up and walk the rest of the way. She's gotten so good at walking already and it's only been two weeks since she started. -S