Or, at least, close enough.

My name has always been rough on little kids. Erika is just not easy to pronounce. Karen and Jessi both had trouble with it. Hell, I had trouble with it back when I couldn't do 'r' sounds.

So, in keeping with that, I told everyone when Allie was born that I'd be Aunt E, it'd be easier on the kid that way. The funny thing is that Allie's other aunts are all 'Auntie' whatever. Auntie Bear or Auntie Jess. I'm just Aunt E.

She knows who people are. She knows Mommy and Daddy, of course, and says both of those. She doesn't say Granny but she knows exactly who that is. The other day at dinner when Chris and Lauren came over, Chris' daughter Sarah was there, too, as per usual and Allie, instead of saying 'Hiya!' said 'Hi sa-ah.' And then followed Sarah around saying it.

I've been working with her to say 'Aunt E' or something close to it. She's managed an 'Aa Ee' sound together which I considered progress and would encourage her to say it by pointing to myself and saying 'Aunt E.'

So, it got to the point where someone would say 'Aunt E' and she'd point to herself like I did... but if I leaned close to her she'd point at me. So she knew who I was she was just a little confused as to what I was trying to teach her.

The corner has been turned, though. She'd get my attention by tugging on my sleeve and saying 'Aa Ee!' This morning she came into the office and ran across the room to me, shouting 'Aa Ee! Aa Ee! Aa Ee!' until she ran into my arms.

I'm verklempt.

It's just so freaking cute!!

...is that she's so used to playing with the various electronic equipment that she doesn't really get the concept of having her picture taken.

You either have to do it on the sly or distract her, neither of which are easy because she's smart as a whip and has some kind of technology sense.

These days, she likes to take a purse, put it over her arm, take the keys and my sweater jacket and make like she's going somewhere. She's really quite the mimic so she sees us grabbing our purses or putting the sweater on or getting the keys to go. That's what she does, then she says 'Bye bye' to everyone and tries to put the key in the door.

She really likes to wear my sweater jacket. Funny thing is that it's brown and when she's all wrapped up in it she looks like a little Jedi.

But then you try to take her picture and she sees the phone or the camera and wants to play with that instead. She's been fascinated by technology since she became aware of her environment really. She's always at the office so she's surrounded by computers and printers and what not. She likes to push buttons, she loved going to fetch paper off the coper (until we shut the door because she liked getting paper off the printer the wrong way.) I take her with me to make copies and fax things because she loves to push the buttons.

She's very good at pushing what ever button I tell her to push and then we high-five after the job's done. She also likes to sit on my lap and play with my keyboard. She uses both hands the way she sees everyone else do and likes to play with the mouse, too.

With my phone she's a wiz. She knows exactly how to turn it on and to get to where the music is. I don't have any Clash on my phone but I do have Franz Ferdinand and she loves them. She's a particular fan of 'Take Me Out.' I've managed to capture her on video and she's also a big fan of watching herself. She hasn't quite figured out how to get where the videos are but it's only a matter of time.

She does, however, know exactly which buttons to push to make the picture bigger and to replay.

It's just tough sometimes. She does all these really cute things and if you try to record them for posterity she's more interested in having the technology rather than having herself recorded (though she does like seeing the end product... she's a Leo rising, it's in there.)

I've only just started to get her interested in drawing. She always holds the pen the wrong way but when she does make marks on the page (holding the pencil or pen at the very very opposite end) she's pretty pleased with herself.

Her favorite thing, however, is to play on the spare keyboard we have set up on my desk and shuffling through papers so she can look at them, mutter and point and then straighten the pile and put them back on the desk.

She pays a lot of attention to what we do in the office. Most of the time I think all we do is shuffle through papers, mutter and point.

Oh yeah... and she's one and a half.

And her birthday party was on Saturday which prompted Jessi and I to make all the Friends jokes we could muster about how it was a 'good thing she's only one and has no idea when her birthday actually is.'

So we had a big party at the park and various family members came for the shindig and lots of local friends did as well and all the people that Matt and Deanna know who either have brand new babies or are expecting them soon were there. Jessi told me that it was funny to see your friends with kids and start thinking yourself 'I can do that.'

I told her that none of the friends that I grew up with or the ones I'm very close to now are married or with children. It's actually strange to think about that. My two oldest friends in the world are both single (well, one has a steady boyfriend of several years but no marriage or even engagement as of yet.) Most of the people I know from online are still single, too.

Jessi just shrugged and remarked that I somehow managed to grow up in a singles group.

Allie once again made out like a bandit and I said as much to her in the video Jess made. She went around to everyone to get them to say something because, in her opinion, the video was boring thus far... which it pretty much was. So, yeah, I said something about 'Once again, Allie, you have more crap than you'll ever know what to do with. And you'll outgrow them all before you even realize what they are. Happy Birthday!'

Mom got her a pair of Disney crocs. They are Donald Duck colors... which is important. Donald was Dad's favorite character. So awhile back I got her this big Donald plushie thing and I call it 'Grampa.' It has stuck. Mom got the crocs and as Deanna was opening them she asked 'Are they Grampa?' Of course.

She got lots of clothes and stuff, too. I got her the 'Stride and Ride Lion' which is supposed to be helpful for the cruising age (when they stand up and use furniture and stuff to help them walk) into the toddler age as well. It took her about two minutes to realize that when you press the nose of the lion it laughs and plays music. She's pretty much right there when it comes to walking. She likes holding onto people but she barely does it, I think it's a confidence thing. The lion ought to help her out with that.

But she's a year old today. She was born at 3:33am. I know because I was there. She was a wee small hours of the morning baby.

Can't believe it's been a year.

Okay, let's see if THIS works...


( Jeg Elske Deg means I love you in NorwegianCollapse )

One thing to note, everything I painted is free hand. The 'Jeg Elske Deg' is made of puffy stick on letters that Mom got but my stuff is my stuff. I didn't trace anything out. I didn't really plan anything out either, save that I knew it was going to be a jungle.

The most frightening thing I did was paint the first swooping vine. I had to just throw the fear away and go for it because there really was no going back once I put the paint to the wall. It's a little coarse but I wasn't going for realism. I just wanted something bright and vibrant and kinetic that would be fun for a little kid.

So, that's the nursery then.

Let's see if I get this figured out.

( Puppies and babiesCollapse )