2 years, 1 month (Dec-Jan)

This was a good month for young Lena - Christmas, lots of attention from family and friends, and yes, Disneyland. Needless to say she was a little overwhelmed on her first exploration of the Magic Kingdom. This month she also upgraded to a toddler bed and if we forget to shut the hallway door we awake to sounds of the kitchen cabinets opening and closing. Who isn't hungry in the morning? With the upgrade came a price, no pacifier. This was not exactly embraced by young Lena but after a two weeks of restless nights, few naps, and delirious screaming fits, she has kicked the habit. (whew!) On the language front her "V"s and "C"s are starting to come in and the cute toddler language is fleeting. (ex. "Mooshi" is now "Movie") On the flip side its so fun to hear her speak her own mind and not just respond to our queries. Upon entering a room of people she often says, "Hello Everybody." And daily we hear "Come on kids" or "What's happening kids?" And "Come on fishies" is popular however we have no idea what it means. She also picked up "Dude!" from Nemo and "That's so cool!" which is her new version of "Wow." One additional mention is her insistence upon being called "LeNA" and not "Leenie," her own invention. She continues to use her imagination and make midday runs to the airport or the store to pick up one of the grandparents and then lovingly pretends to hand them over to me as if they were perched in her arms. And... after months of tireless trying she can now climb up a six-foot slide at the local park.

Lena and Papa.

2 years old (Nov-Dec)

On the 18th of Nov Lena turned 2. And with it came music. For some reason she is now a singing machine - in the car, playing outside, watching movies, and every once in a while, before an audience. Old favorites like "The Wheels on the Bus" and "ABCs" constantly compete with "Jesus Loves Me" and "Spoonful of Sugar." And don't think these are without hand motions. One morning I found her marching around the livingroom, throwing one arm up and down, singing "Sister Suffragette." Could it be her obsession with Mary Poppins? Lena's birthday gifts have quickly become her favorite activities, especially her tea set from Aunt Lindsay and Uncle John. She sets up and pours out to Baby Clara, Mr. Pogan (a giant Penguin from Miller), my two old, plush Care Bears, and whoever happens to be in the room.

Lena has lengthy, pretend phone conversations and is very interested in celebrating everyone's "Happy to you" after celebrating her own. This month we decided to let her get acquainted with using the potty. Oh yes, it's that time. Clearly she prefers it as a snuggly book-reading chair. Although not a complete hit, she is tempted by getting to rip off toilet paper. A couple of her most used phrases are "I no do bed," "I love you too daddy" (melt) and "te-licious!" She has recognized that she amuses us and responds with, "Lena too funny!" The winner this month however, was one of many hysterical mispronunciations. It's all about Baby Jesus and his parents, Mary and "Dufus."

23 months old (Oct-Nov)

This month Lena traded in the title "baby" and stepped into the role of "big sister." All of a sudden she doesn't seem so little anymore. Her hands seem big, her feet are bigger, and her blonde locks trail down her back. This new found maturity has her calling us by our first names instead of mom and dad. Cute, yes, however this behavior was quickly nipped in the bud. Lena is Miss Helpful with "Baby Tara" (Clara) and finds enjoyment in other domestic duties - dusting, vacuuming with the extra attachments, and "brooming." She has been learning to do headstands, somersaults and other cool stunt moves using her future toddler bed mattress. Jason has been known to do 10 somersaults in a row to her rousing approval. Jumping from the ottoman to the couch and back also proves to be endless entertainment. This month she also had extra time with both Grandmas who came to stay with us. She thoroughly enjoyed the special attention, including crawling around like a kitty with Gram Beth and hiding under blankets with Grandma Rossayn & her tiny orange light.
Lena continues to devour books. In the mornings we give her a huge stack to read in bed. Thankfully it keeps her busy long enough for us to snooze a little longer before starting the day. Her Bible knowledge is growing too. This month she explained to us that Daniel went to "the zoo" to see the lions. It's incredibly fun seeing life from her perspective!

  

Lena wraps up in her new quilt from Aunt Mary. Lena meets Clara.

22 months old (Sept-Oct)

Endearing and sweet, Lena is also approaching two and testing all our rules. (If you ask her she will tell you she's "almost two.") She's getting more physical, climbing and jumping off anything she deems stable. We have to be careful with our requests because she will now scale furniture to reach or search for the desired object. Two of her favorite phrases are "watch me" & "find me." She often hides in curtains, closets, or pillows and quietly waits for us. From time to time, without warning, she disappears. Once we realize "hey, we have a child - where did she go?" and do a quick search of the house, imagining her in trouble or hurt, we eventually remember to search the closets only to find her full of smiles and giggles.
On the downside Lena is into shouting "NO!" and throwing whatever happens to be in her hands when frustrated. Most of the time it's not breakable or something fun to clean like spaghetti. She has decided to make the destinction between grandpa's by giving them surnames. We don't think Papa Beard or Papa Airplane are offended in the least. This month she learned to pretend to sleep by snoring, proudly fits into her very own flip-flops (top left) and likes reading I Can Do It Myself , a Bert & Ernie book. Also in rotation is her Bible which colorfully displays Jesus taking a "bubble bath" in the River Jordan!

21 months (Aug-Sept)

Lena is running, singing, drawing, and showing more and more personality with each passing day. She is continually hopping and galloping around the house and climbing the furniture. Her favorites at the moment include the color purple, "do-bee-do-bee-do" (the Jungle Book), and two books from the Mancusos, Who Hops? and Twelve Hats for Lena. She is quite attentive with her dolls and likes diapering them and reading them books. They also get an occassional car ride or nap. Lena is a good eater and likes spicy mexican and indian dishes. Lately she's been telling us elaborate stories. We ask her what she dreamed the previous night and she will launch into half-recognizable chatter that often ends with hand gestures and "fireworks, boom, boom." (a reference to Downtown Disney to watch the fireworks with Grandpa and Grandma!) She also likes pie or maybe just the word "pie," a notion reinforced by dessert at Fresco with Katie. She's quite the waitress and serves us pretend pies on coasters and tells us all about the exotic ingredients, mostly kitties and fish.
Lena-bop, as we call her, is enamored with older kids and learning to share toys with the younger ones. She's pretty good at singing "ABC's" and daddy is teaching her where to find the matching keys on the piano. I often hear her plunking away at random keys saying, "C,C,C."
Most of what Lena communicates is clear but we have been quite amused deciphering the other 25% of her toddler language. On the freeway she requests "botox" which we constantly tell her she doesn't need and eventually discovered meant "blue trucks." Plus there's only a slight pronunciation difference between "mooshi" (movie) and "moshie" (milk) which she corrects when we mimick her. And objects such as "pool," "pull," "pooh," and "pillow" all frighteningly sound the same. One of the most endearing things about Lena right now is her concern for others. She is surprisingly perceptive and likes to put a hand on our back or shoulder and ask, "o-tay mama?" or "o-tay dada?" especially when one of us looks hurt or frustrated. She's also applying her knowledge of language. One morning soon after Jason left for work she came running over to me. After pulling me into the kitchen she pointed at Jason's intentionally left behind briefcase & insisted, "Oh no... Daddy purse!"
Ahhh... bless.

20 months (July-Aug)

This month Lena made her first habitation relocation. With toys, blankets, and pacifier in tote it didn't seem to phase her. Before the move we enjoyed final walks along the coastline and Devereux slough and said bye-bye to the resident snowy plovers. She shared lots of playdates with Santa Barbara friends from church and special buddies Brayden, Carter, and the Hayden boys. Best of all, according to mom, we said farewell to the steep stairs at our apartment. Lena now enjoys single story living and a big backyard. She has broken into the world of chalk drawings and coloring pages. We are getting wildly proficient at drawing animals, stars, and various scenes for her amusement. At our new home a nearby park and river attract a noisy group of ducks & geese and has provided us with a new topic of conversation and walking destination. Lena's keen sense of hearing and vision is becoming more apparent. She's constantly pointing out trains, helicopters, airplanes, and siren sounds and demanding we acknowlege the moon, stars, and other flying objects. Sometimes she can spot the smallest specs in the sky. Lena enjoys doing modified sit-ups, push-ups, and headstands with daddy, saying "bless you" after hearing a sneeze, and discovered that empty boxes make great hiding places, not to mention high speed cars when pulled around by dad. She quite chatty & gives kisses on the phone, constantly requests to hear "medicine down" ("Spoonful of Sugar") by Mary Poppins and to our surprise, latched on to Kim's old Cabbage Patch Kid or "baby" when Gram delivered a few of Kim's old toys.

Lena and her new baby!

19 months (June-July)

This month Lena has danced up a storm. (video forthcoming!) We put together an itunes playlist just for her, however, she politely demands "ABBA" every time. Four of her molars are in and she's a chewing maniac. Her hair is getting long and can easily be pulled back into a ponytail if I remember to catch her while she's distracted & in her high chair. Otherwise it's a losing game of cat and mouse. Her favorite book is I'm a Big Sister and she sweetly gives mama's expanding belly a kiss or pat and says, "Hi Baby." We've looked at drawings of a growing baby together and she is quite certain she's wants one, however she is still rather clueless. She has just started to sing ABCs and count numbers. "A, B, C, mumble mumble, H..." - you get the idea. If you ask her "how many" of anything her reply is "six." One of the cutest things she does right now is saying, "oh, sorry" when she bumps into someone or something. Even if she trips on her own feet or runs into the couch she says, "sorry" and gives the object a couple pats. This has caught more than one person by surprise. Agreeably, this phase of learning to communicate and using words appropriately is incredibly endearing. The other night she jumped the gun and started to eat dinner before we prayed. Not a huge issue, but when we discovered her full mouth Jason said, "Lena we didn't pray yet." She just looked at us and replied, "Amen!"

18 months (May-June)

Miss Jo is quickly becoming a bookworm. She likes to pile stacks of books on a chair and happily go through each one and then chuck them on the floor. When we tell her to pick one book to read she staggers over with ten. She has also become a chatterbox on the phone. Jason and I can hardly get in a word before she chimes in with her babbling opinion, esp talking to the grandparents. (It's fun for now but this kid is not getting a cell phone until she has a job!) We counted up her words and found she's got an arsenal of approx. 50. Her favorites at the moment are "baby" and "dats, dats." Translation "dance, dance" and said while pointing at the computer, demanding music for her personal dance party. Lena learned to jump, walk on tippy toes, and is finally proficient at making the kissing noise when giving us a smooch. She likes being pulled around the backyard in the red wagon, sliding, kicking balls, telling secrets, and pretending to bring us food and drink on little coasters. Her annoying obsession is closing doors. She can reach most knobs and likes to make sure all the doors are closed before descending the stairs.

And finally, our new alarm clock sounds something like this, "Mama, mama (silence) dada, (silence) dada, up, play, bottle, (silence) mama, play, up!"
Thank goodness she still sleeps until 9am.

17 months (Apr-May)

This month we reached a major milestone with the skinny monkey. She is now a forward facing monkey with a complete view of the open road AND the car stereo controls. She rocks out to the sweet beat and likes to clap along. LJ likes to show off her new big kid shoes, her first princess clothing item (thank you Grandpa Tresser) and eight teeth. She's a great conversationalist when it comes to politics and tax law and likes giving her opinion, mainly "yes" "no" and well timed "hmms." We joined a class through City College called Growing Times and she enjoys singing songs, riding the Little Tykes roller coasters, gliding through the trees in an airplane swing and, of course, the parachute! There are a ton of kids in the class so she is learning the balance between standing up for yourself and sharing. At home Lena has entered the world of receiving "Time Out." She now understands that its a punishment although often still chooses to land herself in the chair. Other random tidbits this month - Lena got to ride on a train for the first time, learned to click her tongue, started playing make-believe with us, and has melted everyone with her "cuteness."

16 months (Mar-Apr)

This month Lena experienced her first night away from both mom & dad. She had a wonderful time with Gram Triplat. She also experienced her first Easter egg hunt, pirate show, and discovered a love for popcorn. She now has the ability to blow bubbles, buckle buckles, make animal noises (sheep, owl and cow seem to be favorites), and gently read non-board books without distroying the pages. Her vocabulary is increasing and she's trying hard to repeat words we say. Things like "bubble" "milk" and "sea squirts." She spends time every day on the patio with mom watering the plants and sliding down the slide. She has a nice mullet forming and we desperately try to sweep her bangs out of her face for meals and such. For months we have tried barrettes without any longevity however recently she decided to leave them in her hair which made for cute Easter pigtails. On the downside we daily deal with fits when Lena is reminded she's not in control. For the most part they can be cured with food, a nap or a thorough explanation on the dangers of eating plants.

15 months (Feb-Mar)

Lena is enjoying the backyard. She likes to redistribute rocks among the pots and sprinkling potting soil on the ground. Then she tries her best to push & pull a full-size broom around the patio to tidy up. She likes flowers and it's a constant battle to teach her to "pat" instead of pick them! We spend lots of time watching birds and airplanes. Living in a swamp and next to an airport slightly increases the frequency of both. Lena got to spend time with her friend Laurel who lives near Santa Cruz and also her counsins, Jax and Jaythen. She was ushered into the wide world of bouncehouses and Cozy Coupes at the Triplats. There are so many coupes in our complex that I have to quickly scan and divert her attention when I spot one on the way to the parking lot. She also said good-bye to her good friend, Iain, who now lives in Montana. We all miss Iain and his lovely parents.

14 months (Jan-Feb)

This month Lena is sporting 6 teeth. That's two more than last month for anyone counting. And she is finally sleeping through the night with only a few sporatic fits requiring assistance to find her pacifier. Polite communication is on the rise as Aunt Lindsay taught her signs for both "please" and "thank you." She quickly learned that we melt when she says "please." She is also expanding her understanding of vocabulary. When told "No" she likes to respond with, "Yes, Yes, Yes" and head nods. We dance to Abba, walk to the co-op gardens, and play "Where's the frog" where we take turns hiding a small, plastic frog around the house. We took her first trip to the pet store and she delighted in the "ffshhh", "kit-ties", and a random chicken wandering around the store. One of the my highlights this month was breaking into the artistic world of crayons. Lena made a birthday card for daddy and only injested a small bit of waxy color.

Lena likes choosing her meals!

13 months (Dec-Jan)

Lena is in control. Or wants to be. That's the name of her game this month. She came home from the holidays with a new vigor to do things herself. She adamantly says "Yes" and "No" and shakes her head while choosing meals, playing, dressing, diapering, and best of all helping. Lena found a small foam insert from a gift box (left) and happily uses it to dust surfaces & clean floors. When she refuses to be cleaned after a meal you can hand her the cloth and she does it herself. In no way will we thwart these activities. She helps unpack groceries, get the mail, put her toys away, and scatter laundry. She's fond of feeding her new piggy banks, showing off her belly b, and playing hide and seek by nesting objects. While waiting to be freed from her crib we sometimes hear her exclaiming, "Where is it?" and "There it is" as she hides her bink under her blankets and laughs. We are working on learning her body parts and by far "tongue" is her favorite. She suffered through the stomach flu in early January and quickly bounced back after passing it on to the rest of us. Any evening you can find her building with legos, reading books, stealing things off the table, and dispensing zerberts... all while learning to appreciate Jim & AJ Croce.

12 months (Nov-Dec)

The toys are getting larger. Lena scored big on her birthday - including this 2007 Pooh-nanza airplane from Grandma/pa Triplat. For some reason it's hilarious to see her push it around. (Akin to a munchkin walker.) Lena started signing "more" this month - coincidentally two days before Thanksgiving. Then she followed it up with the words "thank you" while the family was here! The polite Lena makes the foot-stomping Lena easier to bear. Her personality is starting to ooze out in facial expressions. It's hard not to laugh when she squints her eyes, purses her lips, and turns her head away from us in disagreement. Only one step away from eye-rolling. On the food front Lena enjoys moo-milk, heafty meals, and occassional hits of flavored yogurt. She gets a kick out of playing hide and seek with toys, stacking blocks, mounting her rocking horse unassisted, giving hugs and kisses, and is becoming surprisingly good at the shell game. Maybe her innocent look and sweet skills can score some Hamilton's for us in shady alleys of Santa Barbara.

11 months

Lena is tough. She inherited mom's frown. This month she added a third word to her repetoire, "Uh-Oh," however we believe it's the first one she uses properly. We have been attending a park play class this semester and Lena's learning to swing, slide, climb, share toys, and beg for food. At home we taught her to kick a ball and she amuses us by playing hide and seek with toys. She has a great memory! She now boasts four teeth and frequently tests them on skin. Ahhh, welcome to the world of discipline. She likes books, sorters, stackers, pull-toys, songs, and giving us "5". She even started doing simple hand motions to "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star." She's getting proficient at walking and ends up in funny places like sqeezing under endtables or climbing inside her toy box. She survived being dressed up for Halloween, her first cold, and whatever she's eaten off the kitchen floor.

10 months

Lena has a new crib! We made the upgrade and she's sleeping like a baby. Lena is the total frankenstein walker. Her new found freedom puts quite a smile on her face, especially now that she can reach the DVD player and push open the patio screen door. In the beginning of Oct. she also became an ambiturner. This month has been dominated by "the wave." Jason said it best - "Lena is on parade." Supermarket aisles are her dominion, and she's the queen. She's also started saying "Maam" or "Maaaaaam" or "MaaaMaaa." She has no idea what it means other than it gets rousing applause from one particular caretaker. After months of pulling toys out of her box she now likes to put them back in the box. and out. and in. and out. One of the highlights was Lena initiating a giggle game where she giggles and you are to repeat after her. once then twice, etc. Communication is getting better and we can watch her process questions and try to follow and answer back. And finally - Lena received her first tooth. It's white and sharp.

9 months old

Don't mess with Camping-fun Lena or you might get a stick up your nose.
Our sweet girl traded the fluffy bunnies for sticks and rocks this month.

Lena is your typical cruiser spending a good portion of the day hanging on furniture. She likes standing unassisted and toning her baby thighs with power squats. She took her first steps this month and now fully pronounces "dada." Lena had a great time on our camping trip to Yosemite. Among other things she learned to clap, eat & fall in love with cheerios, and had a few lessons from friends on dirt facials. We have discovered that her hair is long enough for mini-tails, she's ticklish under her arms, she likes the taste of Jason's swiss chard smoothies, and enjoys covering herself to play hide and seek. Fortunately she is becoming more discerning in her taste for nature and rarely eats leaves and grass... although sometimes they prove to be too tempting and she falls off the wagon.

8 months

Lena swapped her Bebe Pod for a new booster chair. She's now a table diner with the family. Even better, Lena no longer needs food at night and is learning to self-soothe. (It's about time. Hooray!!) Lena continues to babble and experiment with sounds. She is quite close to articulating "dadadadaaa," although has no clue why we are happy about it. Slowly our spare bedroom has been Lena-fied. We knew a quiet napping space was inevitable and finally moved the computer out of "her" room. Oddly enough, Lena can still wear a few 0-3 month onesies and most 3-6 month clothing. We guess she is 15 lbs which means the Skinny Monkey has almost doubled her birth weight. Miss Jo shows no sign of pearly whites but happily munches down on fruits veggies, grains & whatever she finds on the floor. (today she ate part of a post-it, yum.) Oh - almost forgot. Jason taught Lena to climb stairs. Awesome.

6 & 7 months

This is a typical scene when we retrieve Lena after a nap. Makes us giggle every time. Lena is a crawler, stander, and solid food eater! She's quite proud of all three. Lena began crawling in early June. She went to summer camp rolling and came home crawling. We went to camp and returned to a non-baby-proofed home! Almost immediately she discovered crawling is a quick means to find furniture and pull herself to a standing postition. Two gates, a few locks, some plant rearranging and we're golden. Lena likes listening to the piano. She stands at the bench drumming along and bouncing to the beat. She also went swimming for the first time in June. She was a natural which was no surprise. Her feet rarely stop moving. Lastly, Lena continues to be a social butterfly but it's now obvious she prefers our embrace to that of another.

Out & About - 5 Months Old

Like most babies Lena likes being outdoors and continues to thrive in social scenes. She had her first tent camping experience this month and other than a little crying (due to some pearly white spots on her gums) she was a natural. She's totally interested in textures & sounds. She likes raking her hands back and forth on different surfaces. Watching her learn is one of the most satisfying and precious experiences. (listening to rain drops pelt the car windsheild - gently playing with my hair, sliding it back and forth through her fingers - babeling to herself in the car - watching shadows dance across the sheer curtains in our bedroom) During these times I feel like time has stopped and we are hovering somewhere between earth and heaven. They are magical.
Lena's more obvious growths include fitting into the smaller side of 3-6 month-old clothing, being on the verge of sitting unassisted, table dancing (her feet never stop moving), and unexpectedly grabbing plates of food - and drinks (ask jason!)

In the actor's studio with Lena Jo

Lena is 4 months old. She's mastered rolling over onto her tummy & is slowly learning that she can roll back after some crying. She likes to stand up, assisted of course, and has figured out how to flop out of her rocking chair if not buckled tight. She digs toys and likes gripping things. (i.e. death grip on hair, necklaces) She giggles, laughs and babels often. This month she's learning to fall asleep on her own! We have finally figured out that the routine should be feed, play and then sleep. Not feed, sleep & play. Wow what a difference! We take walks every day and have been introducing her to new things, namely the garden, the piano, reading books, and the occasional StrongBad email.

Lena Josephine Tresser
Born November 18, 2006

At 3 months old Lena Jo is fond of sleeping, giggling, and intrigued by the red light on the camera. She's doing her best to sleep through the night - however, screaming spells sometime get in the way. In the last month she has discovered toys. She likes pulling on rings and gnawing on her fingers.