smiley eyes

This is what Eden looked like when we got home yesterday afternoon and after a two and a half hour nap in the car! Yes, that's right. We must have timed it perfectly because she was asleep before we made it to Byram and didn't wake up for real until we were on our street in our neighborhood - unbelievable.

You can tell her hair is a little sweaty from being in the car seat and of course she still has her paci because she just woke up. But, the part of the picture I love is her smiley eyes ... she was looking back at her daddy at the car when I took this. I'm lucky that she makes these eyes quite often and often at me, too.

I hear her waking up (and Graham is asleep on the couch after not making his 5:30 workout this morning) and I do have to make it to the office in a bit, so I'll go now.

Hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving.

ashley

Thanksgiving Travels

We are leaving this morning on our way out of town for Thanksgiving. We'll be posting again soon. Until then ...

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daddy has a playdate

On Thursday, I got an email from a professor in Agricultural Engineering who is an active member of the LSU Christian Faculty Network. I've been trying to go to the book club meetings, but they have not been at good times with my schedule this semester. So, he suggested we get together to meet. He had four kids, and Eden got to meet three of them on Friday.

We met at the College Town park - close to the South gates of LSU - and had a great time. His kids are all over the age of 2, so Eden had fun trying to keep up with them. Of course, she had to do everything they did - swing on the big kid swings, slide down the big kid slides, climb on the park benches, run down the big hill. She also played in sand for the second time {a milestone in and of itself}.

Overall, a successful daddy playdate.

Oh yeah ... no Ashley, so no pictures :)

today at the park

we still have to stop and watch the dogs ...

and of course spend time in the swing ...

what a big girl {especially when you compare to just 8 months ago} ...

we also had to spend time playing in the mulch ...

playing and dropping the mulch piece by piece while watching people on the swings ...

taking in a catch football game {one of the little boys brought the ball over to Eden so she could throw it}  ...

proving that I was actually at the park ...

and deciding if she's ready to get in her seat {the answer to which is usually no}

Man, it was a good afternoon. 70 degrees and sunny and with the cutest girl in the world. Doesn't get much better.

she's definitely listening

A few weeks ago, as I was rocking Eden and singing to her, I realized I needed to change the words to the song.

I was singing Rock-a-bye Baby and had included the new last verse Graham and I had thought up ...

when the bough breaks the cradle will fall,
and Daddy will catch you, Eden and all.

We know it's not perfect, but better than a baby falling to the ground. The only problem was that each time I'd sing Daddy she'd sit up, point out of the room, and say da-da. So, I had to start singing "Mommy will catch you ..."

Saturday night, Eden was having trouble falling asleep so it occurred to me, "Why not tell her what she should do while I'm singing?" Couldn't hurt to try, right?

So, I was singing Lullaby (don't know any of the other words), and I just went with it ...

Lullaby, and good night
Go to sleep little Eden.
Close your eyes, say night-night ...

Then, I heard a tired little voice whimpering through her paci -- ni', ni'

Really?

So, I kept going. And, this time I craned my head around a bit to see her face while I sang. Yep, the next time I got to "close your eyes, say night-night" I saw her sqeeze her eyes tight and she let out a little ni'-ni'. In the rest of the song, I decide to tell her that Mommy and Daddy loved her and that Teddy and Lucy were waiting for her in her bed.

Tonight, she rested her head on my shoulder again as I started to sing Lullaby, and again she let out a little "ni-ni" each time I got to that part of the song. So adorable. Of course, I only go to sing it twice tonight before she sat up and started dancing and saying na-na-na-na -- her cue for "Please sing Elmo's song, Mommy," her new favorite.

This has reinforced my desire to sing good things to her and to keep telling her *secrets* -- my latest kick of telling her sweet things about herself by whispering them in her ear. I just have to keep remembering to do it because she's definitely listening.

Eden's Mommy

separation anxiety update

A few weeks ago we posted about Eden's new phase - separation anxiety. We wanted to post an update about the strategies we have tried and what is going on now.

The strategy that worked quite well for me initially was to walk with Eden while she held my hand. Once we got to her room at PDO and she started to wine a bit, I would lean down and tell her that she did not have to go in if she did not want to. I would go into the room, and she would stay outside for about 5 seconds. Then, she would come waddling in with a bit of a sad face. I would say bye, and she would hug me (reluctantly), and I would leave.

That lasted for about 3 days. Then she caught on, I suppose, because she would cling to my leg when I tried to leave.

So, I then tried a second strategy. I would get Eden out of the car then tell her to sit down on the sidewalk while "Daddy gets your bags ready." {Don't worry I was watching her the whole time and already had the bags ready.} We then waited for Eden's friend Josie to arrive. As soon as she saw David, her eyes got big, and she started saying "Josie." Then, Eden and Josie would walk into PDO together, holding hands. Once Eden said hello to Ms. Marie and Ms. Delores (her teachers from last year to whom she always has to say hello), she would wave bye-bye to Josie on her way into Waddling Ducks. I would say bye, Eden would say bye, and that was that.

Well, that lasted about a week or so. Then, one day Eden inexplicitly decided she did not want to hold Josie's hand - perhaps because the inevitable going to her room, who knows. So the next strategy was distraction. We would go into her room (at this point with me holding her because she won't walk into the room at all or up the stairs leading to the main building for that matter), and I would say "Hey, Eden. Want to play with some balls?" Her eyes got big, and she went right to Ms. Michelle. They would play with balls, and Eden waved bye-bye to Daddy.

Somewhere around this point, we talked about what we had been doing, and Ashley took a trip to the public library {on suggestion of Eden's Great Aunt Beverly}. We liked The Kissing Hand, and so did Eden. She had us kissing her hand long after we read the book. We're not sure if it worked yet, but we have that one in our arsenal and will continue to try.

The other nursery we use is the one at our church. On one particular Sunday during this phase, we pulled into the parking space, Eden saw the familiar playground, and she started to cry ... "No. No. No. No."
"Eden, do you not want to go to the nursery?" "No!"
"Okay, do you want to go to church and listen to the music with Mama." "Ses."
"Okay. You don't have to go to the nursery if you don't want to."

So, Ashley took Eden to church, and I went to Sunday School. Ashley reports that they made it through the entire service up until the sermon without Eden really making any noise. This after crying the minute we pulled into the parking lot. The next Sunday, when we pulled up Eden seemed a little nervous. "Eden, you don't have to go if you don't want to. It's okay. You can go to church." That seemed to calm her down. As we walked to the nursery, we kept playing it off like it was no big deal - like she did not have to go and that we did not care either way. When we got to the room, everyone was outside on the playground. We introduced her to the girl who was in charge and told Eden if she wanted to swing she would have to go to her. Eden hestitated for about 3 seconds, stretcher her arms out, and told us good-bye.

We've been out of town for a while, so it may not be as easy this time. As for PDO ... it had gotten a little better until Ashley and I went to Chicago. When we came back, Ashley took her on Tuesday (we did not even try Monday) and had a hard time of it. Wednesday wasn't any better. When Ms. Jennifer (she doesn't seem to like her anymore, but that's another story) tried to pick her up, Eden started violently kicking her feet and arching her back. I got a hug and a kiss and she calmed down enough to not kick, but she was not happy. Although she did not kick on Thursday, she did have tears in her eyes when I left.

Of course, now it is Thanksgiving. She is off all next week. We're not too optimistic about the week after Thanksgiving, but perhaps there are other strategies we have yet to think about that we'll attempt then.

For now, we're treating the goodbyes just like we would with any other real person ... telling her the fun she's about the have, making sure we introduce her to the person she's about to go to, giving her her Georgia right before we leave, telling her we'll be back after a bit, handing her over with hopefully some toys as distraction, then kissing and saying bye-bye. We'll just keep working on it for now.

more milestones

For about a month, Eden has been categorizing men and women ... all men are dada and all women are mama

Last week, she started throwing in some daddy's, and this week has started saying mom-meeeeee for Ashley, thought we didn't teach her that.

She is also beginning to notice ownership of items ... She'll bring us our cups if we leave them sitting out, gets very interesting if we forget and leave out a cup with something in it.

three more molars

Holy cow! Poor Miss Eden had three more molars pushing through her gums yesterday. That makes 4 total - one on each side, upper and lower. We can only imagine how that must hurt.

eden's vacation in fannin

We left Baton Rouge on Tuesday afternoon around 3:00 on our way to Jackson to leave Eden with her Grandmommy and Granddaddy while we went to NCA. Wednesday morning began around 6:30 like normal with Eden eating oatmeal, me drinking coffee, and Ashley finishing the packing. We loaded the luggage into Chip's truck and said good-bye with very little drama. It was as if she was saying, "Okay Momma and Daddy. I'm going to miss you, but I'll be fine. These folks are good people."

The reports we got during our conference were varied and fun to talk about. The first night she was there, Christy took her to a surprise party. Eden did not like that too much - probably because the lights were all out, everyone was quiet, and then everyone screamed really loud for no apparent reason (a trifecta of non-fun for a 20 month old).

The next night Chip put her to bed. They sat on the bed like normal and started reading books. After a half hour (and a 300+ page Curious George book - The Complete Adventures), Chip said, "Okay Eden. If you want to read more books you're going to have to give me your paci." thinking that he would trick her and subliminaly convince her to go to bed. Withough much hesitation, Eden looked at her Granddaddy, took out her paci, and placed it in his hand then leaned back and patted the pillow for him to snuggle up for some more storytime. Another half hour later, Chip was still reading. He did finally put her to bed (and perhaps learned his lesson about bargaining with Eden).

[Note: *Ashley cheated with these photos. As you can tell, they were actually taken at our house when Eden's Granmommy and Granddaddy came down for the night to watch Eden the Friday before we left for NCA. Again, Ashley had a photo "mishap" and somehow did not get a picture of Eden with her Granmommy and Granddaddy when we got to Jackson or when we picked E up.]

Other things that happened included:

• Going to the Wildlife Museum with her Grandmommy
• Going to the church nursery staffed by people who watched Ashley grow up
• Going out to eat with her Grandaddy, Grandmommy, and great-Grandmama
• Being fully spoiled and planning how to reak havic on her parents when she got back home (okay, so she has not been bad, but we can tell that she was away from us for 5 days)

So the big question is ... did we miss her? Why would you even need to ask that? We were, however, quite comforted knowing she was being well loved and enjoying herself immensely.

nca and babies

Just like everything else in life, NCA has changed. Although Ashley and I are still super busy, there are small moments of great joy when we get to see friends ... and, now, their babies!

The first babies we saw were Vivian and Gavin Rosier - who belong to Jennie and Wesley.

They were hanging out in our hotel room. As soon as friends found out the twins were there, everyone's face got a little brighter ... and their legs moved a little faster ...

On Saturday afternoon, everything we had planned to do conference-wise was over. We had made plans to visit some friends we met in Lafayette, Kristal and James Arnold. Their new addition is Gabriella ...

... they also have a new (and very cool) house ...

 On Saturday night we did what has become a tradition in Chicago - visiting with our friends Maura and John and their new addition, Maeve.

She liked me best :)

Of course the fact we came 15 minutes before her nomal bedtime probably helped that ...

So, although things have changed they have done so for the better. Seeing friends and their new families sure breaks up the monotony of the conference and eases the stress that can come along with trying to do too many things in a short amount of time. Ashley was qutie disappointed in herself when she realized she had only taken pictures of babies while we were at NCA and did not get photos with some of the people she spent the most time with {Elizabeth, Suzy, and Rebecca}. She vows not to let this happen again. Despite the photo mishap, we loved seeing everyone, and we especially loved getting more acquainted with the newest additions to our group of special people.

sand is fun!

Well, it seems that Miss Eden just needed a little bit of peer-encouragement to get over her dislike of sand.

You'll remember that when we were actually at the beach with beautiful white sand, she wanted nothing to do with the stuff. Her exact word, "Yuck!" This afternoon, however, while we were at the park on a playdate with Keegan and his mommy Marie (friends from PDO), Eden went into the sandbox after Keegan and entertained herself there a good 10 minutes after he left.

I didn't even hear her mutter "yuck" under her breath. She hesitated for the first minute, but once I showed her how to use the shovels to fill other things up with sand she was hooked.

Here are the little munchkins a few weeks ago at the Baton Rouge Science Museum ...

I'm really enjoying getting to meet some new friends and having people to actually do stuff with. Even more fun when the kiddos can parallel-play together so well!

- ashley

We have a molar

Miss Eden's first molar popped through her gums today. We knew she was very upset yesterday and a bit quicker to cry the past few days. And, it seemed she had been chewing for at least a week now. Tonight, we noticed a nice, big, pointy molar had popped through on her lower left gums. No wonder she's been hurting!

to ease the withdrawal

Yes, it is taking us a few days to get back in the swing of things. But, since I'll do anything for my sister, and she needs some new pics of Eden to ease her withdrawal, here you go. meant to put this post up weeks ago but never did. Now, I have to get to work.

- ashley

........................................

Here's what Eden did in the span of about a minute this morning as I asked her to do things ...

we're back

We made it back from Chicago (via a lay-over in Dallas and an Eden-pick-up in Jackson). It was a wonderful and exhausting trip, and the report is that Eden had a super-fun time with her Granmommy and Granddaddy while we were gone. While we were on our way home from Chicago, we got the following voice-mail from my Daddy during or lay-over in Dallas:

"Hello sweetheart, this is your Daddy. I'm sitting here eating lunch with Granmommy and Eden and we decided just to leave y'all's car since y'all are going to be here in two weeks, and we'll just trade off Eden then. So, your car will just be outside in the parking lot. Thank you, bye."

Thankfully, they decided to let us bring her home today instead of in two weeks :).

Not much more time to blog now, so this old video from September will have to do for the time being. We have no idea why Graham decided to say this or why it amused Eden so much, but it did. So, he kept going. Isn't that what parents do?

- ashley

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going on a trip ...

... we'll be back soon.

Any of this looking familiar?

Ashley {and her Daddy} circa 1978/1979 ...

Fast forward 30 years ...

Hmmm, think this next one is a glimpse of the past and of the future? {Notice the book is the Little Golden Book that was in a post last week.}

Probably so.

part of the morning routine ...

I had to consciously start sitting down to brush my teeth in the morning so that Eden would learn to stand still while she brushed. Can't have her wandering around picking things up while she's brushing her teeth like her Momma does.

{ajb}

today ... matchy, matchy

I realized as we were heading to church this morning that I did it again. I, without intending to, had completely matched my outfit and Eden's. Oh well, that just means it's a great photo-op. Isn't she a cute little subject? Oh, and that's pupp-E dog (E's puppy). More about him to come later.

ashley

fingers are amazing

As we were driving home from church this past Sunday, I was sitting in the back seat of the car next to Eden giving her some snacks. After her waffle and before the raisins, she decided to have some freeze-dried apple pieces (yes, they're actually really good and great for travel). Anyhow, I handed her one small piece. She grabbed it with her index finger and thumb.

But, then, in the blink of an eye it seemed, she decided she also wanted the other small piece still in my hand so she folded the piece she already had down into her bottom three fingers and grabbed the second piece with her newly freed-up index finger and thumb. Whew, that was a long sentence. But, really people, that takes some skill. I sat there and thought, "Woah, that was amazing. She really just did that." Of course, I had to tell Graham, and he agreed that yes that must be some major milestone of development.

Go ahead, try it now. Put something in your first two fingers and then quickly move it down to make room for something else. I'm sure she's done this before, but I just happened to see it right next to me that day. I mean, really, fingers are just amazing.

ashley

Lost and Found

This morning Ashley yelled from the bathroom, "Where's the toothpaste?" "I have no idea," I responded. We laughed then Ashley commented, "And where is the remote?" Again, I had no idea.

After Ashley had left, I went to brush my teeth. Eden followed. I used the new toothpaste Ashley had opened since the already opened tube was nowhere to be found. A few seconds later here comes Eden, toothpaste in hand. "Dada." "Thanks baby."

We still have not found the remote.

who knew?

It always amazes me that if you had talked to me in high school or even in college I would never have been able to guess that someday I'd know someone named Eden Bodie. But, here she is. Her name has even found a new home in some of my old books. Who knew that someday I'd see this photo ...

{ajb}