Cape Canaveral/Cocoa Beach

 

Jeff and I really needed a vacation.  So, we took advantage of the long Memorial Day weekend (and my Marriott rewards points!), and headed down to Cape Canaveral for a few days.  It was just what we needed, and just the right mix of tourist attractions and relaxation for us. 

 

As soon as we got settled into our hotel room, a rocket was launched; We had the perfect view off of our hotel balcony.  This is the second rocket launch I've seen, but I've never been nearly this close.  It was very cool.  I can't even imagine what a space shuttle launch would have been like.

 

We spent most of Saturday at the Kennedy Space Center.  We were fortunate enough to be able to sit in on a presentation by astronaut Barbara Morgan, where she shared her experience in space and told audience members what it was like to launch off and then actually be in space.

 

Jeff and Ellie

Barbara Morgan shares her experience with "Lift Off!"

 


Ellie and I are on a mission to Mars!


After touring the Kennedy Space Center, we thought we'd cool off in the pool.  We recently joined the community pool, so Ellie had experience with pools before.  But, the pool at the hotel was the first time she seemed to have lots of fun in the pool.  She was splashing and giggling and playing in the water.  She also had fun playing in the hotel room itself.  She spent any time that she could this weekend working on her new skill -- walking!  She would walk back and forth across the hotel room, occasionally falling, but then just picking herself right back up and trying again.  The room had a floor to ceiling mirror she had fun with too.  We left it covered with tiny hand prints and lip-prints, since she loved touching and kissing the baby in the mirror!

Ellie playing in the hotel room

 On Sunday we headed a little north of Cocoa Beach to Canaveral National Seashore.  We wanted to go to the beach, but the crazy crowds at Cocoa Beach were just a little too daunting.  Ellie has also been to the beach several times before.  But, until this visit, she wouldn't even let us sit her in the sand.  She wanted nothing to do with the sand or the ocean.  This time, though, she had a great time playing with (and eating!) the sand.  As the tide was going out we took her down to the water and she splashed around in the low tide and the tidal pools. 

 

Me and Ellie on the beach

 

Ellie playing in the sand

Ellie and her Daddy (who dug a tunnel under Ellie's seat)

 When we left Canaveral National Seashore we drove a few miles west and took a driving tour of the Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge.  The refuge is home to numerous species of birds, fish, and animals.  Interestingly, most of the drive resembled our backyard, and we didn't see anything that we don't see in our yard (heron, eagles, egrets, storks, fish, etc), but it was still fun, and really pretty.  Plus, we learned about the various habitat of the animals we see on a regular basis. 

 

Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge

 Jeff didn't put on enough sunscreen at the beach, and he got a pretty bad sunburn.  So we took it easy Sunday evening, and just went to the grocery to grab a quick dinner and watched a little TV.  On Monday we went to the world famous Ron Jon Surf Shop and poked around the huge store.  Then we had a quick lunch on the beach before heading home.  We made it home with enough time to head to our pool before the end of the day and thus ended our nice relaxing weekend playing in the pool. 

 

Hopefully, we'll be able to take more weekend getaway trips in the future.  Ellie did such a great job traveling -- she slept in the car and was awake to enjoy the attractions.  Now we're recharged and refreshed to tackle whatever comes next!

 

Playing in the hotel room -- I think this was Ellie's favorite part of the trip

10 Months

Ellie turned 10 months on Tuesday. 

She has 7 teeth (4 top, 3 bottom).  She is mostly wearing 6-9 month clothes, though she does have some 3-6 month clothes that still fit.  She is just starting to wave, loves to play pat-a-cake, and is still working on clapping.  She thinks that the dogs are hilarious, especially when Mauja is trying to get table food.  She stands for longer and longer periods of time, can go from sitting to standing without holding on, and can take 5 steps without holding on before falling.  She loves to listen to music (singing, the radio, her toys that make music, or songs on TV).  She's a great eater, and will eat anything we give her, though bananas and sweet potatoes are still her favorites.  This month we went swimming for the first time (still a little unsure of that), went on our first road trip (to Atlanta), and celebrated our first Mother's Day.  We are having so much fun watching Ellie learn and grow every day.  She continues to amaze us daily!

Play with a Purpose

Since Ellie started crawling a few months ago, she tends to bend her wrist backwards (putting the back of her hand on the floor, instead of her palm).  She corrects herself when she puts weight on it, but we mentioned it to our pediatrician anyway, just to be safe.  She said that it’s probably okay, since she corrects it, but if we were concerned we could take her for an occupational therapy consult.  We just happen to have a friend who is an OT, and who works with pediatrics!  So, last Sunday she came over and played with Ellie for a bit to give us an evaluation.

A couple pictures to show how she uses the back of her hand, instead of her palm. 

 

 

 

Meghan evaluated her fine motor skills and her visual acuity.  Since Ellie was born three weeks early, we looked at her adjusted age.  Being born early means that all of the developmental milestones that should have happened in the womb had to happen after birth, plus everything that should happen after birth anyway still has to happen.  For instance, the rooting reflex typically develops at 38 weeks gestation.  Since Ellie was born at 37 weeks gestation, she had to work on that a little harder than a baby who was born full-term (40 weeks), plus get adjusted to life outside of the womb.  That’s why many babies born early are a little bit behind in development.  Anyway, at the time of this assessment, Ellie’s adjusted age was 8 months, 3 weeks.  She scored between 8-9 months for both fine motor skills and visual acuity, right where she should be!  She’s so close to walking (standing, taking steps, has great balance), I bet she would score above her age (or at least right at her actual age) for gross motor skills.

After watching how she flips her hand over, Meghan gave us some suggestions on ways to help Ellie.  First of all, she couldn’t find a reason for her to do such a thing.  She said that maybe Ellie has loose joints, and it just naturally does it.  Secondly, she said that since she is so close to walking, it shouldn’t be an issue for too much longer, since she’ll be off of her hands and knees soon anyway.  Until then, though, we’re going to work with her.

Playing with her nesting cups

Meghan suggested we incorporate play that will require her to extend her wrists.  We got some foam bath toys to play with; When they’re wet, they stick to the tub.  There’s a window in Ellie’s play room that’s the perfect height for her, so we thought we’d try that.  But, Ellie is teething right now, and only wants to chew on her foam toys, so we’ll try that activity again in a couple of weeks.  We have another toy – and activity center with blocks and beads to play with.  We have it up on an ottoman, so she has to reach (extending her wrist) to play with it. 

Standing and reaching to spin the blocks requires wrist extension

We also got some blocks for her to play with by banging them together.  One area she’s slightly behind in is clapping, so banging the blocks together helps her bring both hands to the midline, reinforcing the clapping motion.  Fortunately, she uses both hands pretty much equally, which Meghan said was a good sign for development (we don’t develop a preference for right vs left until 3 or 4 years old).  I also got some nesting cups, which Ellie likes to bang together.  I read recently that nesting toys help babies understand that some things are larger than others, and that smaller things can fit inside bigger things.  Plus, they’re good for stacking, and when a baby knocks down a tower of toys, it helps them understand cause and effect. 

I know Ellie  probably thinks that all of these toys are just for fun, but it’s pretty amazing to me to know how much she’s growing and developing just by playing. 

Happy Mother's Day!

Boy am I lucky!  I get to be the mother of this little nut:

 

 

Happy Mother's Day to all of the mothers, everywhere.  I hope everyone else enjoyed their day with their own kids as much as I enjoyed my day with my little Peanut.

Atlanta Weekend

Uncle Allan, Aunt Gaelle, Zayde, Bubbe, Aunt Yael, Mama, Ellie, Daddy

We went to Atlanta last weekend to spend some time with Jeff's family.  His dad and step-mother live there, his little sister (Yael) was home from medical school in Dominica, and his brother and his new wife (Allan and Gaelle) were in town for the weekend too.  Ellie had never met either of her aunts or her uncle, and we had not yet met our new sister-in-law.  So, it was a fun weekend with an opportunity for all of the new editions of the family to meet.  Unfortunately, we were too late to meet Yael's fiance, as he is in the reserves and had duty and had to leave for Macon on Friday evening before we arrived in Atlanta.  We look forward to meeting Chris soon though!

We spent Saturday at the zoo.  Ellie had fun watching the animals and the people!  We also went out for a great Mexican lunch and a lovely French dinner (in Gaelle's honor, as she is French). 

Chasing Maddie around the house

Mostly, we just spent time together and had fun hanging out.  Ellie enjoyed showing everyone what she can do (standing, giving kisses and high fives), and chasing Yael's dog around the house.  It was a super quick weekend, and I wish we had more time to spend visiting.  It would be great if we could see family more often, but it's hard when everyone is so spread out.

Here are some pictures from this weekend:

Playing with Uncle Allan and Aunt Gaelle

Kisses for Aunt Gaelle

Zayde and Ellie

Ellie and Aunt Yael

Ellie, Bubbe, and Zayde