"Wow"

After returning from our camping trip to the North Cascades, we found Eliana stacking blocks. It was so cute because each time she got so excited....Nate and I started to look at each other and ask if that's what we say when she stacks them? Anyway, couldn't help but share this one since it shows how proud she is of her hard work. And, we love the excited intonations in her voice.

Talking up a storm...

Yesterday, Elle Belle started saying, "Katherine." It's so cute because Katherine Newman, 6 months older, has called her "Nanna" for a while and now she's able to return the favor. She was so proud of herself when it came out yesterday. Then, she just kept repeating it over and over; practice makes perfect! She also started saying, "Dada" which really sounds like "Gaga." She stands at the stairs when she hears Nate come home and says, "Gaga." What an explosion!

Fearless Water Baby

After a few swim lesson sessions, Eliana decided to crawl out of the pool by herself, walk up to the kiddie slide, snake slide her way up the stairs and launch herself tummy/head-first down the slide. She did this over and over until I could distract her enough from it. It was either a) I get out of the pool with her to help her up the stairs and risk her quickly getting up and sliding down without me in the pool or b) me wait in the water, hoping she can safely crawl up the slippery stairs. I opted for option b. Not very good options, but it all worked out. She is completely fearless and loves the water. (see video below)

This summer, we've been going to swim lessons twice/week and whenever we can during night swim, taking advantage of the fact that by living in Magnolia, we live close to only one of two outdoor pools in Seattle. The Seattle summer is not always hot, so they "warm pool" they have, at a balmy 95 degrees, is perfect on those early June swim days; but makes for a not-so-refreshing summer dip in mid-August. Either way, it's a joy to watch Eliana in the water, going off kiddie and big slides and splashing about.


One of the first sessions in June...still gray skies out.



Possibly one of our favorite pictures of Elle Belle - just hanging out with snacks in tow prior to class.



Family swim night after work - not a better way to end the day!



Daddy, hair stylist extraordinaire

Words

Eliana has had an explosion of talking lately. Last week she picked up 3 new words, "hat" (sounds like 'ha'), "hi" and "bye". "Hi" and "bye" are most likely associated with meeting a dog; she feels very inspired to go, "ruff ruff" and say "bye bye" to any dog she meets. Her animal noises now include "quack," "ruff ruff", "roar", and "ba." So cute! The lion one is the best as she usually increases volume, too! As mentioned before, her first true word was "boat" inspired by our camping trip at Baker Lake a couple weeks ago. So fun to watch her develop and communicate.