Ada et al
adventures of the notorious Yoohoo

ada is growing up. she grooves to her own singing of the ABCs and just started sleeping in her Big Girl Bed (thank god!). and for the record, today she started wearing big girl training pants instead of diapers — per her request. she’s going to be in diapers a bit longer, but we hope not long enough that we have to purchase the next size up.

click on each photo to see a short video ….

January 8: Ada gets her Big Girl Bed!!! Video on the left captures a glimpse of her excitement of the bed (really just run-of-the-mill nighttime sillies) and video on the right shows her selectivity in deciding who gets to sleep in the Big Girl Bed. Luckily she chose herself above all others.

late December: Sepia keeps a watchful eye on the ways of our child (left) and an early ada rendition of ABC (right)

While staying at her grandparents, Ada became fascinated with the clock radio beside our bed. “Music!” she said. “On. On?” So we showed her where the power button was, and she turned it on.

Some Genesis hit of the 80s came on. She paused and listened for a moment. “Music OFF!” she said firmly.

Ada wishes her aunt Carole (“Caco’) a Happy Birthday!

Last Sunday we went to the zoo and then the lantern parade with Ada-zilla where we met up with Johannes, Jaiden-the-Zebra, and Cyn & Zach. As the sign at the zoo warns, animals can bite…
(Don’t forget to click on photos for expanded views.)

this two-part video is about a month old–back when i didn’t quite get ada-speak.

i didn’t know it as the time, but it turns out that she’s saying “rocking chair” over and over again. rocking chair is her second compound word. first was “high chair” and more recent is “eye glass”

because she keeps saying, “Muad’dib!” with great excitement.

Here’s Ada swinging at the Cambridge Commons Playground after making the rounds at Honk!fest in Harvard Square. In the first video you’ll see a kid who’s very into swinging, but in the second there’s something else–a glimmer of a future sky diver, I’m afraid…

We haven’t even had time to blog in a while, what with trips to California (yes, pictures are coming!), and mamas trying to do papers (both mamas) and experiments (really, only one mama).

So we haven’t had a chance to talk about how while we were in California Ada really had an explosion in language. She regularly repeats the first consonant / syllable, or occasionally the most recognizable syllable, of nouns of interest.

But she also still does random-sounding gabble that is charming and, as far as we can tell, meaningless except as an exercise in practicing making different sounds. In practice you have to pay close attention to grok the distinction.

For instance, this morning, while I was picking up a pile of books she had taken off my shelves (there’s not enough childproofing in the world to protect my shelves of books from Ada access), I heard in the distance her tiny foot stomping around and her bellowing “tee! tee!”. Naturally I paid no attention — as long as she’s stomping and yelling, she’s safe and healthy.

But when she entered the bedroom carrying my (now half-full) mug of tea I suddenly realized those were no meaningless sounds, but exclamations of excitement.

“Tea! Tea!” Read: “Mama I have your tea! I am holding grown-up tea! Let me bring it to you!”

….

Other examples: She has some mishmash of syllables that I can’t really replicate but that are recognizably “tylenol” — a word she’s become familiar with over the last few days because of a low-grade fever which we dosed with grape-flavored infant tylenol, apparently, her most favorite thing in the world.

She still uses her old standby’s — “mo’!” and “mo–?” to tell us she wants more — more food, more singing, more spinning around the room. But now there are countless numbers of word fragments that join the 25 or so old standbys.

It seems to just get more and more exciting to be with her.

the “s” word. Which she repeated several times that day (Sunday, Sept. 13th) after a mama dropped something.

ada whistled! we’ll try to record it. she’s not reliable but she purses her little lips and blows out and makes a little whistle noise. i am particularly excited about this since it took me approximately 30 years to learn to whistle.

* the title is a whistle-related reference. feel free to click the word “comments” just below this, type in your guesses in the box, and click “submit comment”. If you get it right, you’ll get a special prize.