Watching the Blues Brothers
30-Oct-08
A few nights ago we were watching the Blues Brothers 2000. Towards the end of the movie, Esther started watching too. She really enjoyed watching the cars pile up. Check it out.
Download high quality video.Treinen Farm: Esther and the Goats
19-Oct-08
As part of our visit to Treinen Farm, Esther got some extended play time with the young goats. She had an absolute blast. This is Esther at her most typical: yelling, running, petting — above all, intensely curious.
Esther’s Breakfast
12-Sep-08
Esther’s growing up and quickly and no where is that more evident than breakfast. She can feed herself now and is pretty sure about what she wants.
So, I taped a typical morning breakfast. If you’re not family you may want to skip this one. There’s nothing super exciting here. Just a toddler eating her breakfast.
Enjoy!
It’s Getting Harder…
09-Jul-08
It’s getting harder and harder to take pictures and videos of Esther. She’s recently discovered the camera. Not “discovered” in the sense that she wants to get it down and play with it. No, she’s discovered that there are pictures on the back of it. She’s discovered that when she sees someone using the camera, she can run up and look at the pictures on the back. More and more of our pictures and videos just show a girl running towards the viewer.
Take yesterday, for example. Over the weekend, I brought up a large box from the basement. Esther decided that it was a great toy, so we left it upstairs for her. Yesterday, she was playing in it and I wanted to snap a few photos. Far easier said than done.
She noticed that I was using the camera and she quickly got up and ran towards me to see what the display on the back was showing.
I put the camera away and we both tried to distract her and get her interested in the box again. I was hoping to snap some pictures while she wasn’t paying attention. Alas, it wasn’t to be.
She ran into the box, hit the back wall, turned around and noticed the camera. Then she came charging right back out to see what was going on.
Esther Knows Bedtime
29-Jun-08
As she gets older, Esther is getting better and better about knowing when she needs to sleep.
This morning, she woke up around and 6:30a and wanted to eat some yogurt. I carried her to her booster seat, got her a cup of yogurt and watched her eat. After she finished, I lifted her down from the table. She immediately walked down the hall to her bedroom and stood next to her crib. I lifted her into her crib and she curled up and went right to sleep.
She slept for about 45 minutes, then came out and played in the living room for another 45 minutes. Then, she grabbed a Nuk and her blanket and walked back to her room. This time, she turned on her CD player and stood next to the rocking chair. I rocked her for about 10 minutes and then she went to sleep in her crib again.
Something similar happened last Monday. Christine had already left for an early morning appointment. I was in the shower and Esther was playing in the living room. As I finished up my shower, I could hear her whimpering somewhere. After getting out and getting dressed, I went to find her.
To my surprise, she was in her room, standing next to her crib. She had pulled one her blankets out of the crib and was holding it in one hand. She pushed her other hand between the bars of the crib and was resting her arm on the crib mattress. She’d been standing there, waiting for me to get out of the shower and help her get into her crib. As soon as I lifted her in, she went right to sleep.
Because she’s getting so good about bedtime, we’re thinking about setting up a real bed for her and retiring the crib until her new baby REDACTED comes along. I think the only thing she would miss is the ability to hold onto the sides of the crib and jump up and down.
An Exciting Day at the Zoo
21-Jun-08
We went to the zoo today. Madison’s zoo, The Henry Vilas Zoo, is fairly small — it only takes about an hour to walk through the whole thing. It has two redeeming characteristics: it’s free and it’s small enough that young children can see the entire zoo without getting too tired or cranky.
We walked through the entire zoo with Esther. She enjoyed watching the chimpanzees climb around their cage. The zoo staff setup an indoor habitat and covered it with climbing ropes and nets. Esther enjoyed watching the chimps climb around the ropes.
She was starting to look tired by the time we reached the goat pen. As soon as she saw the other kids feeding the goats, she wanted to have a go of it. She climbed out of her stroller and started reaching up towards the goats. We helped her find some food that the other kids had dropped and she tried to figure out how to give it to the goats. Her idea was to just hold it between her finger and thumb and put it into the goat’s mouth. We helped her lay it on her hand, for the goats to eat out of, so she didn’t accidentally lose a finger.
After the zoo, we went out to dinner at Broux-Nellie’s. We ordered macaroni and cheese for Esther. Before her dinner came, she amused herself by eating most of a cup of ice and watching everyone else in the diner. Once her dinner came, she ate most of it herself. It was so much fun to see her scooping up bite after bite herself, using her spoon like an old pro.
Feeding Myself Yogurt
15-Jun-08
This week I past a major milestone — I can now feed myself an entire container of yogurt. Watch me eat.
Esther is 16 Month’s Old
15-Jun-08
Esther at 16 months:
She has grown up fast.
Fun in the Living Room
14-Jun-08
In this action packed movie, Esther first figures out her mother’s new water bottle, then rocks on her rocking horse while watching a tobyMac concert. Next she dances on the couch while enjoying more of the concert. She finally finishes up by emptying out her toy bin, from her lofty perch on the couch.
Playing at the Park
13-Jun-08
With this classic home movie you can relive one of Esther’s first trips to the park again and again. Enjoy her sliding down a slide, climbing up a slide, crawling through a tube, swinging in a swing, and much, much more. All of this can be yours for just 3 easy payments of $19.99.