little black journal

It’s getaway season!  The Schnell clan hit the road again last Friday, loading up the car for a weekend on Whidbey Island with the gang.  It was raining cats and dogs when we pulled up to our waterfront rental – waves roared and crashed just 50 feet from the living room windows while Nico and Jules pounded on the sliding glass door and shouted “Wa-wa!  Wa-wa!”.  But just as I cranked up the heat and poured myself a hot cup of tea, the clouds parted and the sun shone – suddenly it was rock-throwing weather!

Isaiah was particularly excited to dip his toes in the water.

We wolfed down a couple of pizzas for dinner and then whisked all of the kiddos upstairs for bedtime.  La Verne and I caught an amazing sunset together while Jack and Shane got the little ones to sleep.  The sound of the smooth, polished rocks clicking against each other as the waves receded was the stuff of dreams.

Juliette heard the ocean calling her name at 6:30 the next morning – Shane took her out on our bedroom’s deck to enjoy the dawn while I took my time crawling out from under the covers.

We ate a leisurely breakfast while the kids colored, stacked Legos, and played trains.

But the mid-morning stir-crazies inevitably set in, so we headed into Coupeville to check out the (tiny) farmer’s market and walk the pier.

We went back to the house around lunchtime, where Nico and Jules each waged epic naptime battles against La Verne and me.  Once all was quiet upstairs, I poured myself a cup of coffee and went outside to happily recline in one of the porch’s Adirondacks.

Shane used his “quiet time” to build a tide marker with the boys.  Thick as thieves, these three.

And Jason went for a spin in the kayak that was propped against the side of the house.  I, on the other hand, sat some more.

Juliette sensed there was fun being had without her and only slept an hour – she was eager to get out on the rocks with Gryff.

Such mutual adoration!

My Mother Goose moment:

This sweet kid can’t resist jumping into a family photo (even if it’s not his family!).

Jules and I sat on the rocks together for a solid thirty minutes, looking for birds and watching the boys play while we chatted and snuggled.  I forgive you for those pre-nap hysterics, baby.

We eventually made our way to the porch for snacktime and happy hour.

Juliette compared her grapes with Nico’s and ultimately decided his were more desirable, though they came from the same bag.  Figures.

CHEERS.

We drank champagne, munched on steamed mussels, and caught the day’s final rays before throwing the kids in the tub and tucking them into bed.

Jack made his famous spaghetti alle vongole for dinner and then we stayed up late, drinking and talking and asking increasingly personal questions as the night wore on.  Felt good to really get real with these folks, without the distraction of kids under foot.  It had been too long.

Gryffin’s first comment when we all stumbled downstairs on Sunday morning was, “Oh.  Looks like you haven’t had time to brush Baby Jules’ hair!”  ‘Fraid not.

Jason took Isaiah out for a spin on the kayak while Nance baked breakfast scones.  Shane put our favorite praise playlist on the speakers and as I sipped my coffee and looked out at the incredible view, I took a deep breath, filling my heart with the smells and sounds and sights of all God’s goodness.  I missed being part of our church’s Easter service, but in that moment, I was still so acutely aware that He Is Risen.

“Hey kids!  Smile for the camera!”  Nailed it.

Once the scones had been devoured and the eggs had been found and the cars had been loaded, it was time to hang up the ol’ kayak and say Sayonara to our beachfront abode.

But first, one last hug!

We drove through Skagit Valley tulip country on the way home and when we heard that the flowers were in full bloom, we decided to brave the crowds and take a peek.  Gryffin and Isaiah showed Jules the way.

And ho-ly tulips, Batman!  It was gorgeous.

I’m not sure where Juliette picked up the concept of flower-sniffing, but she couldn’t help herself.

A final good-bye to our friends and we were back on the road.  It had been an atypical Easter Sunday, but no less joyous than any year past.  Thanks be to God.

A few weeks ago at one of my Friday morning mama/baby play dates, we started talking about how fun it would be to all get away for a weekend together.  I know – two days in one house with fourteen adults and seven toddlers?  Could be fun.  Could also be complete mayhem…  But Adrienne found us some huge kid-friendly digs in Port Townsend and everyone else jumped at the idea, so Shane and I decided we were up for the adventure.

And while I’d hardly call the weekend relaxing, it was indeed full of laughter and play and lots good food.  As we all sat down for dinner on Friday, I was struck by how incredibly blessed I feel to be part of this crew.

Once the kids were all tucked into bed that night, the grown-ups headed out for s’mores and stories at the backyard firepit, huddling together until the rain drove us inside.

We were up bright and much too early on Saturday, but it was nice to look out at the early morning fog with a cup of coffee in hand.

Once we’d all eaten and properly caffeinated, we drove over to Fort Warden State Park to hang out on the beach.  The kids contentedly played in the sand for nearly an hour – such focus!

And when all that scooping lost its charm, there were rocks to be thrown.

We went back to the house for lunch and a little pre-nap storytime with La Verne.

And while the kiddos slept, we assembled three big pans of lasagna for dinner – cooking for 21 is no joke!

When everyone was back up and at ’em, we herded the little ones out back for an Easter egg hunt.  On your marks, get set…

Go!

Juliette made quick work of filling up her basket.

And then emptying her basket, putting all of her eggs into N’s little bunny.  We were so proud of her for sharing!  Until she reached over and tried to yank N’s whole basket out of his hands.  I’m afraid her generosity only comes in quickly-fleeting bursts.

Oh, Jules!

Once the last egg had been found, we worked out the last of those afternoon wiggles in the house’s ball-filled garage…

And the crazy upstairs playroom, which was piled with giant foam blocks.

photo by Adrienne

The house was equipped for plenty of toys for the grown-ups, too!  Seriously, it was like an 8-bedroom amusement park.

photo by Adrienne

We chowed down on our lasagna, did the bath-time/bed-time circus, and the house was quiet by 8 pm.  Amanda popped popcorn, the last few beers were pulled from the fridge, and we all sat down to cap off the day with a rousing game of True Colors.

Everyone slept soundly that night (a minor miracle!) and then we gathered in the kitchen for Sunday breakfast as our weekend in toddler town wound down.  Juliette and N pounded out a few tunes on the piano while Shane and I packed up our things.

There were times when the house crazily rang with sounds of thuds and laughter and cries and squeals, and there were times when a kid or two went temporarily missing, but really, the weekend couldn’t have gone better.  We partied hard, pigged out, played and played and played.  No doubt, we’re a fun, wild bunch.

Eighteen months!  The past few weeks have brought new words (tutt-le for turtle, elmo for TV, and an enthusiastic A-MEH! after we say our pre-dinner prayer), new favorite foods (hummus, frozen raspberries, and hamburgers), and…duh-duh-duh-duhhhh…the beginning of disciplinary time outs, usually for fits that involve hitting or hair-pulling.  That girl is a mixed bag, as always.

Add paint to that list of favorite foods!  Hmmmmmmph.  I often feel like a broken record: “Not for eating.  Not for eating, please.  NOT FOR EATING!”

Dress-up is still a favorite pastime – she loves to accessorize.  Pants are optional.

And, I can’t resist…the track suit that Aunt Tiff gave her for Christmas in 2013 finally fits!

She’s taken a real interest in “helping” me out around the house, unloading the dishwasher or dusting the furniture or throwing things away in the trash can (hopefully garbage, though I’ve found a couple of rogue toys or kitchen utensils in there).  The other night I tasked her with cleaning up the food she’d thrown on the floor – she picked up all the bits of sweet potatoes and threw them away, then took the dish towel I’d handed her to wipe up the milk spatters.  This felt like real progress!  Minus the throwing-food part.

She’s been spending lots of time with her little buddy N, particularly since she joined his class at daycare.  They’re so silly together, cracking each other up over jokes that no one else gets.  Well, usually they’re both smiling.  Have a little sympathy, Jules!

Much better…

N and S came over for donuts on Saturday morning, and after all the books had been read and the puzzles had been played with and the legos had been stacked, the rainy day antsies set in and our house erupted with the sound of stomping feet and squeals of laughter.

Friday mornings are still spent with my mama friends and Juliette’s best boy pals.  We hit Mount Baker Beach this past Friday – a far cry from Santa Monica, but there was still sand to sit in and digging to be done!

G has a couple of years on these other guys but is just as great a playmate, singing “Baby Jules, Baby Jules, Baby Jules” as he shows her the big-kid ropes on the playground.

And then, there’s Dad.  Nobody draws forth a smile like Dad.

Speaking of whom, Dad has introduced her to the fine art of rock-throwing.  She’s a fan.

Oh, and this past month also brought her first big boo-boo – she took a tumble at the daycare playground last week and scraped up her face.  I suppose this is the price you pay for playing so hard.  I also suppose Juliette would tell you it’s worth it.  Girl looooves to run.

Happy 1.5 years, baby!  (For the love of God, not for eating, Juliette…)

Saturday brought more sun and temps approaching 80 degrees, so we grabbed our beach towel and sunscreen and headed out to grab some rays.  But first, breakfast at M Street Kitchen.

(Please, Mama, can I have pancakes and syrup, light on the pancakes, heavy on the syrup?)

We spent the rest of the morning at Annenberg Beach House, melting into our lounge chairs while Juliette ran wild in the splash park.  Dude, this girl loves water.

I went for a run while Shane put a tuckered-out Jules down for a nap and then hydrated with a bottle of bubbly on our house’s patio.  Perfecto.

Juliette woke up pink-cheeked and crazy-haired and came out to join me.  Those arms!  I’ve missed seeing them these past few months.

We packed up our things and then spent an hour strolling down the 3rd Street promenade, stopping every few minutes to watch the street performers and share a fro-yo.  Since we were so close to Tongva Park, and since Juliette had such a blast there the day before, we popped over for another go at the playground.

Soon it was beach:30, so we made our way to the sand, armed with pail and shovel, and settled in for another sunset.

She makes me so damn happy.  I love to be able to return the favor.

A breeze kicked up as the sun went down and Juliette wanted nothing more than to crawl into papa’s lap and snuggle.  It took about 37 laps up and down the shore, but we had finally worn this girl out!

I sighed as we watched the sun drop behind the horizon, sad to see our final evening in Santa Monica come to a close.  Shane consoled me by volunteering to go pick up burgers and shakes from In-N-Out for dinner while I put Juliette to bed.  Yes, please!  We wolfed down our takeout and then I fell asleep on the couch at 8:00, exhausted in the most satisfying way.

We didn’t need to head to the airport until late morning on Sunday, so we swung by the Santa Monica Farmer’s Market for awhile to eat breakfast and let Jules get her pre-flight wiggles out.  She was a big fan of the folk band that was playing there, knee-slapping and hand-clapping along with the beat.

And then, too soon, it was time to head to LAX and make the trek back to Seattle.  Juliette did alright on the flight, squirming a bit through the first half, but eventually passing out in my arms.  And then, we were home.  Home sweet home, where we don’t have to worry about getting a sunburn or dumping the sand out of our shoes (I’m doing my best to look on the bright side here).

Thanks, Santa Monica, for treating us right!  See you next winter.

March is that time of year in Seattle when I really start getting antsy, when I start itching to shed my coat and my sweater so that I can feel the sun on my shoulders.  It’s the time of year when I’d give anything to just be warm, to wear sandals rather than wool socks and boots.  I remarked last month that this winter was feeling particularly long, with all the sniffles and the stir-craziness, so Shane worked his travel-planning magic and booked us cheap flights and a sweet little cottage in Santa Monica for a long weekend.  Juliette has recently become fascinated by airplanes, pointing to the sky and exclaiming “errrrr-pay!” each time one flies overhead, so she was most certainly up for the adventure.

We set out Thursday morning and made it to the gate with plenty of time to spare – I sipped my coffee while Jules ran circles around us, stopping every couple of minutes to bang on the windows and watch the planes take off.

We had armed ourselves with a bag full of treats and distractions for the plane ride and decided that any ground rules about screen time or snacks are just that – ground rules.  The air is an anything-goes zone, where there’s no shame in letting your toddler load up on sugar or play with your gadgets.  Juliette spent the first half of the flight munching on cookies and cheddar bunnies while pretending to chat on my phone.

We played one round of the Peekaboo-Barn app we’d put on the iPad and then, somewhere around Oregon, she crashed, waking just as we pulled up to the gate.  Whew!

We picked up our rental car without much fuss and made to it Santa Monica in time for a late lunch at True Foods Kitchen.  I bought these silly sunglasses on clearance last fall, and finally!  An excuse to wear them!  Too cool for school, that kid.

We spent the rest of the afternoon relaxing at the house and then headed to the nearby beach to catch the sunset.  Juliette was a little tentative when I first set her down on the sand, not sure what to make of the way her feet sunk and squished, but once I handed her a shovel and her bucket, she was content to sit and scoop away.

And then I took her down to the water’s edge so that the waves could lap at her toes, expecting her to be a little nervous at her first encounter with the ocean.

Nervous, schmervous!  She went nuts, squealing with joy and chasing after the waves as they receded.  Shane and I spent the next half hour running after her, trying (unsuccessfully) to direct her along the water’s edge rather than straight into it.  She face-planted a couple of times in the cold wet sand, but was up and at it again before we could even brush her off.  We’ve got a beach-baby on our hands!

The beach in Santa Monica is amazing, nearly deserted on a Thursday night and stretching on for miles in either direction.  We stuck around long enough to wave bye-bye to the sun, and then jetted back to the house for bath and bedtime.  Juliette fell asleep about 25 seconds after I turned off her light and Shane and I enjoyed a couple of hours of quiet time, sharing a pizza and a bottle of wine before conking out ourselves.

We were up bright and early on Friday, eager to see what else Santa Monica had up its sleeve.  We started with breakfast at Huckleberry, for mimosas and monster egg sandwiches.

Then we drove over to Abbot Kinney to peek in the windows of the hip restaurants and trendy shops.

Juliette didn’t want anything to do with her stroller that day, so we booked it over to Venice Beach to look for a place to let her loose.

We found a great little playground right on the beach and she went up and down the slide a few times before settling down on the sand with a few other kids to do some more scooping.

I jogged back to the house from Venice and met Shane and Jules there just in time to help get her down for her nap.  Once she woke, we were back out the door, in search of a late lunch.  La Verne had recommended ramen from Tsujita, where we snagged a sidewalk table and slurped our bowls of noodles and rich, flavorful broth.

For dessert, we walked around the corner for green tea shaved ice from Blockheads.  So good.  So, so good.  My only complaint is that I couldn’t keep Juliette away from it – get your spoon away my mochi, kid!

Bellies full, we played for awhile at Tongva Park, climbing on rocks and bumping down the roller slide.

We weren’t far from the beach, so we headed over to stake out a perfect patch of sand near the pier to catch another sunset.  But first, more running!  This video sums it up so clearly – I look away for a mere second, and she’s gone.  Her pants were soaked faster that I could say “STOP!”.

Keeping this girl from getting swept out to sea was exhausting, but oh, her unbridled joy!  Completely worth it.

We finally coaxed her up onto the towel to scoop, pat, dump and demolish.  Sand castles don’t stand a chance with this little one.

One last jog, before heading out…

This might be an appropriate time for me to apologize to Los Angeles – I’d always fiercely claimed that I am not an LA person, that the city is all sprawl and traffic and too-tan women in too-high heels, but I take it back.  That evening, as the waves murmured and the sky blazed orange and Juliette excitedly pointed to the seagulls flying overhead, I wouldn’t have wanted to be anywhere else.

Stay tuned for days 3 and 4!

Remember this post?  Remember how January was all coughing and sore throats and runny noses?  Remember how thankful I was for the dawn of a new, healthy month?  Scratch that.  I’m afraid Chez Schnell is still sick central.  Shane has felt like he’s had his head in a fishbowl for the last four weeks, with a head cold he can’t quite shake.  I’ve had three colds myself, one case of pinkeye, and am currently ailing from a wheezy, rattling cough that makes me sound like I need to lay off the smokes.  Juliette continues to leave a lovely trail of snot in her wake, like some kind of two-legged (all be it adorable) slug.

And yesterday, just as I resolved that March would be our month to kick all these viruses to the curb, Juliette came down with a brand new fever.  We put her to bed early and then I hit the sack at 8:00, praying that the cough suppressant that the Urgent Care doctor had prescribed would allow me to get a decent night’s sleep.  I woke to the sound of Juliette wailing around 9:00, and after Shane’s unsuccessful attempt to soothe her, I got up to give it a go.  Halfway to her room, I started feeling woozy and spent the next ten minutes hunched over the toilet while my poor, feverish girl screamed from the next room.  Add stomach bug my list of woes.

On that note, I’m so glad we got 2015’s low point out of the way this early in the year!  I have to believe things will look up from here – I didn’t puke at all today, and Juliette’s fever seems to have passed, so rather than wallowing among our discarded Kleenex, I’m cautiously optimistic that we’re on the upswing.  And, I’m so thankful my mom has been here the past few days to help us through this.  Though I would have loved for her visit to have occurred under better circumstances, it was so nice to have her here to nurse us toward health with homemade bone broth and an extra hand with Jules.

And before we hit our wall on Sunday night, we did manage a fun little outing to Seward Park to go for a stroll and throw rocks.

I’m going to play the fool and say it again:  cheers to the dawn of a bright and shining new month.

I’ve started this blog post a couple of times – a few days ago I drafted an intro about how grand life is at the moment, how we’ve fallen into such a good rhythm and how Juliette and I are enjoying each other’s company more than ever.  And then came Friday, when Juliette woke up super-early and wailed because I gave her the wrong spoon to eat her yogurt and whacked me in the face each time I carried her upstairs to change her diaper and shrieked like a banshee when I told her she couldn’t play in the shower.  Forget grand.  Some days, parenthood sucks the life right out of you.  We’re back on the upswing now, so I figure I should get this post published while I still have mostly nice things to say about my daughter.  Here goes:

Most significantly, she started at a new school last week!  When Juliette moved to a noon-time nap schedule and I stopped visiting her during my lunch hour, Shane and I started to feel like having her downtown, close to our offices, probably wasn’t worth the big cost premium.  We put our names on a waitlist at a daycare a little closer to home and found out in January that they had an opening.  It was harder than we expected to say good-bye to her teachers and buddies at her old classroom – I didn’t realize how much they had come to mean to her (and to me) until we were faced with the fact that those people won’t really be a part of our lives anymore.  Our farewells left me feeling incredibly sad.  I felt like I was tearing Juliette away from people she loved without being able to make her understand why.  Add to my sadness and guilt a case of extreme anxiety over the fact that she is in the midst of some serious separation anxiety, crying uncontrollably when I move out of her sight for more than a second, fiercely protesting when we try to leave her at Sunday school or with friends.  And now we were going to dump her in a brand new school with a bunch of strangers?  I tossed and turned the night before her first day, wondering if we’d made a monumental mistake, and…oh man, that first day.  The moment we stepped into her new classroom, she turned to me and clung tightly to my legs, begging me not to leave.  We read a few books together and I put on my most excited face about all her new buddies and toys, but she was hip to my tricks – she eyed everyone and everything warily, refusing to move from the safe space of my lap.  I had no choice but to cut and run.  I kissed her, told her I’d see her that evening, and walked out as she began to cry and my own eyes welled up with tears.  Shane held her for awhile longer as she sobbed into his chest, but we both knew no amount of lingering was going to make this any easier.  He passed her off to her teacher and made his exit, his eyes also swimming in sadness.  That walk down the hall to the front door, the sound of Juliette’s screaming ringing in our ears, were some of the hardest steps we’ve ever taken.  Our poor baby!  How would she ever make it through the day?!  The director of the daycare called me later that morning and I braced myself for bad news when I saw her number pop up on my phone.  But PRAISE THE LORD, Juliette was having an “amazing” morning!  She had settled down pretty quickly, enjoyed an outing to the playground, and was contentedly eating lunch as we spoke.  I thanked the director profusely and breathed a huge sigh of relief, feeling my doubt and worry melt away.  The drop-offs were progressively easier on Tuesday and Wednesday and I could see that Jules was already starting to bond with her teachers.  She surprisingly adaptable, that girl.  That said, Wednesday evening couldn’t come fast enough – it felt so good to walk out of there with her in my arms and assure her that she had a few solid days of mama-time ahead of her!

In other exciting developments, after several weeks of smacking me in the face and giggling every time I asked for a kiss, she’s finally got a proper pucker down, complete with the sweetest little lip smack.

In general, she’s seemed more affectionate lately – she was quick to give this abandoned Ironman action figure a hug and a few pat-pats when we visited the coffee shop last week.

Why use a table when papa’s belly is the perfect surface for typing or coloring or playing the drums?

She’s learned a host of new words this month:  ow-shy? (outside?); mo-mo-mo! (more!); show-ah (shower); show-ah (flower, too); and sorr-rry (but only when I tell her to say it…).  She’s also way into animal sounds – her birdy impersonation is classic.

She loves to have her belly kissed, laughing hysterically as I nuzzle into her tummy.

She also loooooves shoes, perpetually pulling my boots out of my closet when we’re upstairs and struggling to sink her feet into them.

Yes, I’m aware that it might be time to retire that “dress” that used to come down to her knees!

When living room fashion shows lose their charm, we look for new places to pass the rainy wintertime afternoons.  We visited Seattle Gymnastics a couple of weeks ago and let Juliette run wild on the floor mats and balance beam and runway trampoline.  She had a blast.

We also discovered the toddler gym at Garfield Community center – tricycles and scooters galore!

The Columbia City Library is a new favorite – we pop in for the Saturday morning storytime or swing by on our way to the bakery to pick up a couple of books.

And then there are the days when, rain be danged, we just have to get outside, so Jules sports her yellow boots and we walk around the block to get the wiggles out.

We’ve been making good on my resolution to do a new art project each week – we made play-dough one Friday afternoon and did a little sculpting.  I made a worm, a hot dog, and a snake.  And then Juliette tried to eat them.

Before you declare me super-mom, with our storytime and homemade play-dough, know that this has also been the month that Juliette discovered Sesame Street.  Some days, I can’t help but call on Elmo to give me a break…

And thank heavens for her continued love of books.

Shane and I took Juliette out for her first round of frisbee golf on Friday.  She needs to work on her form a little bit, but she wins major points for style!

Oh, the way that girl struts her stuff!  Kills me.

Happy 17 months, goofball!

Valentines Day!  A day for lovers, for romance, for chocolates and wine and ooh-la-la.  Or…a day for chasing after your toddler, finding joy in pink-frosted donuts and a longer-than-normal nap and an afternoon at the park.  C’est la parenthood.

We spent the morning at the Rusts – the kiddos exchanged Valentines (turns out Jules has mad watercolor skills!) and the grown-ups sipped mimosas and munched on Nance’s heart-shaped coffee cake.

Jules enjoyed a little snuggle session with her buddy S in the playroom hammock.  I don’t know where that girl’s pants went.

We made it home for naptime and Juliette crashed hard, snoozing for a solid hour and a half (this is an improvement over recent sub-hour naps!).  Find me something sweeter than a baby sleeping with her butt up in the air like so.  I dare you.

Juliette woke up in great spirits and laid with us on the couch for a bit, then tore into the magna-doodle I bought her for V-Day.

Once the new toy magic wore off (which took all of…15 minutes?  damn it.), we all got a little antsy and decided to drive over to Luther Burbank Park to enjoy the sun.  We hit that playground hard.  Too hard, as evidenced by my sore butt.  That turbo-boosted roller slide has an unexpected kick to it!

Once we had explored every slide, swing, and teeter-totter, we made our way toward the water, stopping for a few minutes to check out the pups at the dog park.  Jules was completely mesmerized, woof-woofing at each dog that ran past her.  Forget the zoo – this is apparently where it’s at!

Once we pried Juliette away from the furballs, we walked down to the waterfront to throw rocks and see how close we could get to the water’s edge without actually getting our feet soaked (her game, not ours).

I asked for a kiss and…wow.  This girl doesn’t hold back.

A chill set in as the sun went down, so we trekked back to the car, deciding we should ride this good-spirited wave and go grab a bite somewhere.  I was in the mood for a burger but raised my eyebrows as Shane threw out the names of a couple of trendy, probably-crowded Capitol Hill burger joints.  Let’s not press our luck.  I wanted to go someplace easy and close-by, someplace we knew would have high chairs and crayons.  And that’s the story of how the Schnells ended up at the Factoria Mall Red Robin for Valentines Day dinner.

Shane and I reminisced over our bottomless fries about the Valentines meal we ate at Windows on the Water in Morro Bay when I was in college, where we ordered our first-ever bottle of wine (a lovely White Zinfandel) and sipped it while the sounds of quietly murmuring couples and piano music filled the dimly lit dining room.  That was fun.  But RED ROBIN.  Red Robin has balloons.

Happy Valentines Day, folks – may you all find happiness in the most unexpected of places.

Miss Juliette hit the sixteen-month mark on Wednesday – at some point in the past few weeks I stopped referring to her as a baby and started calling her a toddler.  She’s increasingly curious, increasingly communicative, increasingly funny and sweet and, let’s be honest, increasingly maddening as she has recently perfected the arched-back, rigid-as-a-board, screaming-bloody-murder temper tantrum.  But we’ll save my tantrum woes for another day, because there really is so much good stuff to report:

She’s added a host of new words to her vocabulary – there’s a bit of translation required, but she’s slowly making herself understood.  Favorite words are wa-wa (water), nana (banana), UPUPUPPP?! (put me up on the bed or couch, please), shucks (socks), and sheeeeesh (shoes), often muttered as I hear the crackle of velcro being undone in the backseat.  No matter how short our car ride, I always find her barefoot by the time we arrive at our destination.

Favorite toys are her wooden puzzles, anything with a lid that can be snapped or screwed on and off, and her ever-trusty Mega-Bloks.  She’s put together some pretty impressive towers – they’re not necessarily structurally sound, but gosh, they’re tall!

We still while away the evenings with a stack of books…

And when the rain puts a damper on our park plans, we dance! I will watch this video each time she has one of those afore-mentioned tantrums and I need a reminder of what a joy she really is.

Dress-up is a new fun pastime – she loves to rummage around in our entryway baskets and pull out my scarves and hats.

Oven mitts are another favorite accessory.

Blue steel?

Other hobbies include pulling every single bottle and tube and q-tip out of the bathroom drawers, turning the TV on and off and on and off, and lifting up her dad’s shirt and sticking her finger in his belly button as hard as she can.

We also started swim lessons a couple of weeks ago and spend our Thursday mornings doing laps at the nearby pool.  Juliette likes the water, but it was a little unfortunate to pull out the 18-24 month swimsuit I had picked up in the fall and find that she had already outgrown it – she was like a sausage, stuffed into that thing!

The 2T tankini I bought as a replacement was hardly much better.  That belly!  Good for buoyancy, though, right?

And can we talk about her hair for a minute?  Oy vey.

If you had told me two years ago that I’d have a little girl with red-golden curls, this isn’t quite what I would have had in mind.  She often looks like a hobbit when we pull her out of bed in the morning, bare-footed and mop-topped.

But we’re rolling with it.  It goes so well with her happy-go-lucky demeanor!

We call this her Pantene audition video…

Happy sixteen months, giggle-pants.  You’re a regular laugh a minute.

We set out for Portland on Christmas Eve, our trunk loaded with presents and wine and assorted goodies.  Juliette napped about half the way and then patiently chilled in the backseat for the last eighty miles – dare I hope that we’re making a road-tripper out of this kid?

We rolled up to Mitch’s house around 4:00, kicked off our shoes, and poured ourselves a couple of home-brewed beers from his kegerator.  Let the festivities begin!  It took Juliette about five minutes to warm up to her cousins, and then she was off to the races, following them from room to room, screeching with joy when they turned to chase her.  She settled down in her pack n play without a peep after dinner – a couple of hours of keeping up with the big kids had plumb tuckered her out.

We were up and at ’em early the next morning – the girls were thrilled to see that Santa had indeed stopped by in the night to fill stockings and leave a few extra gifts under the tree.

The adults sipped coffee and politely exchanged a few presents while the kids delightfully tore into their loot – Juliette quickly got the hang of unwrapping and made quick work of lining up her new books and puzzles.

Morgan and Jules were thick as thieves during our visit, hardly leaving each other’s sides.  Whenever Juliette fussed a bit, resisting a diaper change or reaching for something she couldn’t have, Morgan would come extra-close to her, murmuring “hiiiiii Juliette, it’s okaaayyy…” while gently touching her cheek.  It only had about a 25% success rate of doing any actual soothing, but damn, it was sweet.

Once we’d opened all the presents and eaten our bacon and coffee cake, we set out for Mt. Tabor park to let the kids burn off any left over Christmas morning antsies.

We made it home just in time for naps and then spent a quiet afternoon at the house, reading and doing puzzles and drinking hot chocolate.

I took Juliette out for a short walk around the neighborhood after she woke up…

And we found Santa!  Hey, if the kid doesn’t know any different, no sense in standing in that line at Nordstrom for two hours!

We headed in when the sun started to set and Elise offered to keep Juliette entertained while the finishing touches were put on dinner.

We shared a big Christmas meal and then all three girls piled into the tub for bathtime.  They streaked through the house when they were done, laughing hysterically as they left their towels in a pile on the floor and clamored upstairs to find their pajamas.  The sight of Juliette running behind Morgan and Elise with such glee, her dimpled bottom jiggling as she shouted and giggled – what a gift.

Friday was another day, another park – we spent the morning at Columbia Park, teeter-tottering and swinging and sliding.

Shane and Juliette took marathon naps in the afternoon while I played Disney Frozen Bingo and Frozen Memory and Frozen Matching with the girls.  Elise got a microscope for Christmas and we spent a little while “doing experiments”.  That face!  She’s so grown up these days, but such a wonderful goofball at the same time.

We went out for dinner at a local brewpub and then everyone grabbed a few last snuggles with Juliette before it was time for us to hit the road back to Seattle.

I’m telling you, the 7:30 pm departure is money – Juliette fell asleep a few miles into the ride, we made record time in the absence of any traffic, and then she easily settled into her crib when we got home.  Shane and I played a couple of rounds of Mario Kart before heading to bed ourselves, thankful for a chance to veg after a busy couple of days.

I woke up a little blue on Saturday, already missing my family and feeling the funk of post-holiday letdown, so Shane suggested that we get out and do something special.  We decided to head downtown to take a whirl on the carousel in Westlake Plaza.  Juliette was a little skeptical when we first got on – she gave the pole a shake, found out the horse didn’t spring back and forth like the one at the playground, and promptly decided she wanted to get off.  But oh, the look on her face when the carousel started spinning and her horse started galloping up and down, she dug it.  She smiled like mad, exclaiming “whoooaaa, whoooaaa, whoooaaa!” over and over and over.  Add this to our list of Christmas traditions!

From Westlake, we walked over to the Sheraton to check out the annual gingerbread house display.  I can’t believe the time (and sugar!) that must go into some of these!

Juliette was mildly impressed by the gingerbread village – she was more excited about being allowed to run free in the lobby after just four short blocks in her stroller.  There’s no stopping this kid.

We walked by the Fairmont Olympic Hotel on our way back to the car and decided to pop into their cozy lobby to say hi to Santa and check out the tree.

Cheers to a holiday filled with very little naughty and SO MUCH NICE.