bean bean phone home

bean loves to mimic
and apparently i talk on the phone sometimes.
today bean actually called my friend martha
twice
it was a nice conversation
this is a glimpse into what martha heard on her end.



now i am all about the videos.
they are so fun.
and bean likes to watch herself over and over
she is the only tv she gets to watch

she's a BEAN-ius

bean is a genius.
really she is.
today she was playing with an abacus.
i said "bean, can you say abacus?"
(we play that game often.
i ask her to repeat things and she holds on to one small part of the word while changing the rest of it so that it is all her own.)
she says "aba - MMMMMMWWWAAAH"
(get it...i said "aba-kiss")
i'm tellin ya...
genius!

and that's not her only trick.
check this out:

my favorite part is when she comes shooting back into the room!

it must be all the broccoli she's been eating since birth.

you should see the other kid!

doesn't bean look tough?
she got that shiner at daycare.
no...she was not in her first fight.
she fell.
these days her feet just cant take her places as quickly as she'd like them to.
she tends to get ahead of herself
or forget to navigate around things
or randomly fall over when absolutely nothing got in her way
she's still working out the kinks of this whole moving thing.
give her a break!


we went to the doctor for her 15 month check-up.
she is now in the 75th percentile for weight...
(24 pounds 14 ounces)
so though she still looks ginormous to us
she is actually less ginormous than she was
and taller
she is now in the 90th percentile for height
but her head is still crazy big.
more brains we keep telling her.
which accounts for all the studying she is doing.


always reading
and taking notes.

sometimes on the wall.
hey...when inspiration hits...


oh...and we actually took the pictures for our holiday card.
we might get them out by st patrick's day after all!

the low down

bean loves little chairs
we had an extra car seat in the house for a while
and she would back herself into it often and hang out.
she also likes to chill on her little wooden potty
(we inherited it. it used to be her dad's)
she doesn't use it as a potty yet...
though a few weeks ago she did pee on it.
she was having some diaper free time and
while sitting on her potty she decided to go.
was this part of her master plan or a coincidence?
you be the judge.
you should know that the top was down on the potty.

bean loves puppets.
she loves kermit and calls him "mimi"
she has discovered what to do with other types of puppets.
she puts them on and they dance
or kiss each other
or kiss whomever might be nearby.
there is much puppet love to be enjoyed.
finger puppets, hand puppets, bath mitts, socks, oven mitts
they all give love freely in our house.

bean says "all done"
many times she isn't actually all done...
but she says it
and does the hand motion.
we attempted to do baby sign language with her
we never got passed more and all done
she has conjunctivitis right now
we have the pleasure of trying to put drops into her eyes every 2 hours
torture
for everyone involved
it takes two people minimum
one to attempt to hold her arms and head still
the other to try to pry open her eyelids
she used to wiggle and wriggle and squirm
now she's learned that if she shuts her eyelids really tight
it makes it hard to do anything.
as soon as i put in the last drop she chants
"all done"
"all done"
"all done"
actually her latest tactic was to say "all done" after i put in the first drop
nice try.

bean can pick out some random body parts
though to her noses go "beep"
we realize now that we should have taught her the actual word "nose"
but beeping seemed so cute
when we ask her where her belly is
she grabs it with both hands and says in a deep voice
"belly belly belly"
that's my kid

snow bean

happy holidays
happy new year
anyone that knows us knows that we habitually send cards late
all cards
often they are done on time
and just sitting on the table
waiting to be addressed
waiting to be stamped
or more likely
waiting to be mailed
i dont know why it is so hard for me to get to the post office
or even to the mailbox right by our door
but it is
and holiday cards are the worst
we make ridiculous cards
with family portraits better suited to a different family
the situation gets more insane with each passing year
we hope to have this year's done by st patricks day.

anyway...
snow snow and more snow
that has been the order of the winter
we took bean out in it
she was skeptical
especially after she slipped and white-washed herself
when you put mittens on her she suddenly refuses to put her arms down
for a few minutes she treats them like puppets
but after her private show she continues to hold her arms outstretched
as if she is a robot
even when sitting in her car seat.
take the mittens off and the arms return to a neutral position.
weird.

we spent the first part of our holidays in nj

bean was spoiled and stuffed by her grandma
she got many many fabulous gifts
and a knitted hat for everyday of the month
we could seriously throw them away after wearing and
we'd still be good all winter!

then we headed down to dc where bean experienced many new things

she met kermit and jim

she rode the metro.

she tried ethiopian food.

she finally got to meet our super awesome friends.

a great time was had by all!

where've we bean?

new england craziness
the ice storm of '08 struck first
no power for 6 days
wonderful friends were nice enough to put us up
bean got to play with their son
he alternated between beating her up
and loving on her too hard
but she got back at him
by pooping in the tub
while he was in it

twice
HA!

then came the first snow storm
dumping one foot
and then another storm
dumping another foot
24 hours later
we just finished digging out

and now let the holidays begin...

it's thanksgivbean!

we went to grandma's

she made lots and lots of yumminess!

and lots and lots

the vultures attacked the leftovers as usual
and there wasnt a scrap left

bean celebrated her belated birthday

with a plethora of presents

mostly wooden or hand-me-downed

(thanks for listening family

we know we are pains!)

grandma also was a knitting fool

and made bean many new beautiful creations

including this amazing green dress

which i crazily let bean wear while she ate

and while she enjoyed her first ever cake
and i do mean enjoyed

i, of course, wanted to save the dress

for a special occasion or something

but grandma wisely said

there is no time like the present
what would i be saving the dress for anyway?

there are too many things that we only use at special occasions.

and those tend to be the prettiest things

like special dishes or glasses or silverware

and then we never ever get to enjoy them

for fear of ruining them

my friend stacy knows someone who uses her "good" china

everyday

i like that

speaking of stacy...

she took some amazing pictures of bean

it is our first 'formal' photo shoot

a birthday present

stacy is a real photographer

so they are truly special

bean is pretty lucky to be surrounded by such talented people

i hope some of it will rub off

on both of us