Elise Nearly Crawling

It seems that our little(st) girl isn’t quite so little anymore. Over the past week Elise has taken strides (pardon the pun) towards crawling. She is currently able to scoot a bit, and even crawl backwards a step or two, which means its only a matter of weeks before she’s mobile. This of course will result in some changes in our house, especially since Mom is now going to have to chase both of them around the house all day. Having the luxury of setting Elise down and knowing she’ll be there when you return is fading quickly.

In addition to mobility, Elise is showing many signs of growth. She holds her own bottle now, and has even begun forming her own baby babble, which she has been all too happy to share with everyone on some recent car rides. Ava is becoming the natural big sister we knew she would, and has taken to consoling Elise when she is upset. It’s not uncommon for Ava to say “It’s okay honey, I’m coming” when Elise gets upset. She obviously gets that from listening to Jessica and I, but its still super sweet to hear her say it. The other day Ava walked up to Elise and kissed her on the forehead while she was playing. I think its safe to say that these two are going to be incredibly close.

Jessica has recently exposed Ava to swimming, which she seems to enjoy, and to coloring, which she loves. The funny thing with Ava though is that she’ll sit down to color but gets distracted by wanting to hold every crayon or marker, and ends up getting upset because she can’t hold them all at the same time. Although you hate to see her upset, you can’t help but find the humor in the situation. Once she gets over that and actually starts coloring, she has a blast. I was happy to receive my first piece of Ava’s art in my lunch yesterday and love the idea of her doing something creative. Although we had initially thought she might be left handed, it seems safe to say that Ava is a righty, as that is the only hand she uses for coloring.

Jessica has been keeping the girls busy with all kinds of activities lately. She has several girlfriends who have similar aged children and has been able to get together for swimming, trips to the zoo, indoor jumping, sand pits, and more. It’s tough to keep Ava occupied these days but Jessica does a great job. She’s been consistently working 2-3 nights a week, which works perfectly with our schedule.

I’ve been super busy with work lately, including about 27 hours of work on Thursday and Friday to prepare a new feature for testing on Monday, only to find out today that the feature isn’t going to be tested Monday. Oh well. Been going to Jiu Jitsu consistently 3 days a week lately, which has been awesome. I’ve only been back in it for two months but I’m already seeing a significant improvement in my game, and I’m getting back into shape. It’s so nice to have a hobby again; I couldn’t imagine not doing it now.

As always with this time of year I can’t help but think of my Dad. Tomorrow will be the 19th anniversary of his passing. It’s not even a sad thing anymore, it just feels important not to forget. I got a call from my Godfather Pete tonight who said he was pouring a vodka soda with a squeeze of lime in memory of my Dad. I thought that was pretty cool.

Jessica has been off on Sundays lately, which has been great. It’s the only day we have off together as a family so I usually do my best to make sure that no work or studying needs to be done on Sunday. Tomorrow we’ll be doing our standard Sunday brunch, maybe a little later than normal since Jessica is the closing bartender at El Gaucho tonight, then getting ready for the Oscars tomorrow night. We’ve made a point to see as many Oscar-nominated movies as possible this year and are really looking forward to seeing how things turn out. I always enjoyed watching the Oscars with my Mom as a kid so I hope she’ll be doing the same thing at her place.

Time to go gather Elise, who has scooted away in her quest for mobility.

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