Selah was walking sideways to her right, while looking at me to her left. I told her to "watch out or you'll bonk again." So she stopped and walked around the chair to where she bonked yesterday, and softly whacked her head in the same spot and pointed and laughed. Also for anyone who, like me, thinks that she doesn't eat enough, we took inventory today: she had a couple ounces of milk at 6:30, a few corn flakes at 7:00, a full bowl of oatmeal with raspberries and applesauce at 8:00, with two cups of diluted orange juice, another 4 oz. milk bottle at 9:30, the biggest bowl of spinach pasta blended up that you've ever seen (because you probably haven't ever seen it in any size) for lunch with water, another 4 oz. bottle at 3:00, and then about 60 raisins and a cracker at 4:00, then a bowl of egg, chicken, cheese and tomatoes for dinner at 5:30, washed down with no less than three sippy cups full of water, followed by several crackers, then an entire adult-sized chocolate chip cookie and a cracker at 7:00, and another 6 oz. bottle of milk at 7:15. It's pretty much more than I ate all day, and she definitely has me beat on liquid intake. I made up my extra needed calories with cookie dough though about 5 minutes ago, so I'm good. Casson made homemade cookies yesterday and they were way too good. Suddenly last night he realized that he had used twice as much butter as the recipe called for.

I lost my camera for real and for good last week, so I'm using our webcam to take some low quality videos for all of us who are going through video withdrawal. Selah is starting to jump and to attempt running. She walks up and down small hills or inclines and over cracks and across dirt lots. She'd rather be walking around than doing anything else other than eating. This morning was the first morning in months that she slept past 7, so we got to sleep in on Labor Day.

Language Sample 13.5 months

Selah hanging out in Kachina Wilderness near Flagstaff.

Learning to walk in her new shoes.

We took our first long bike ride with Selah, fifty miles and about 2500 feet elevation change down and back up. The loop went from Sunset Crater National Monument down towards the Painted Desert, through Wupatki National Monument Ruins, and back up highway 89 towards Flagstaff. This picture was taken just before the last 15 miles, which were uphill into the wind the entire way. It was so stinking hard. The parents nearly passed out, the baby loved it, switching between chair and trailer eating cookies and drinking Gatorade the whole way. (Please humor me for a paragraph, it's my first week back to work as an SLP and I'm loving it) Selah's language development is occuring at a normal rate. I would describe Selah as being much more focused on developing receptive language rather than expressive. That is, she understands significantly more than she can produce, which is typical. At nearly 14 months, Selah is not really saying any words other than her favorite word "dada" which is used consistently for dada, mama, baby, bottle, and bye-bye. "Da" is her word for "dog." She says "uh-ah" when anything is brought low by gravity, and has made up her own signs for more and all-done, which is not much more than a double-clap accompanied by a smile (for more) or a frown and headshake (for all-done). Even though she only uses the sound "da," I would still say that cognitively she has those nine words that she produces as well as she can so far. She babbles the syllables "ga gla da ba sa la wa ya das:" usually connecting 2-3 syllables into jargony words and phrases, and with very little variation on the vowel. She imitates adult prosody, sliding between high and low pitch. She does this the most obviously when she pretends to talk on her cell phone. She communicates a little through nodding when asked if she is sleepy, needs a snack, wants lunch or dinner, and a few other daily routine things. Because we only ask her when we know that that is what she wants, her answer is always yes. She only comprehends that we are asking her a question, and she answers yes, I think because most of the time we give her something that she would want around that time of the day. She demonstrates consistent comprehension of the words fan, bottle, chair, baby-chair (highchair), lamp, car, dog, bicycle, door, spoon, bowl, apple, stacker, shoes, socks, foot, ears, head, hair, mama's nose, cookie, cup, bear, books, piano, couch, trees, banana, teeth, pillow, camera, mama, dada, baby, diaper, bath (about 36 nouns). I just tested her today, and she doesn't understand bed, blanket, fridge, oven, ceiling, carpet, ugly-mobile, shelf, wall, curtains, mirror, the rest of the items in the house, etc. When asked "where is the ..." she points, walks to an item, or picks the item up. That's how we have figured out what she does understand. She also seems to know who Robin and Rachel are when asked. She responds correctly when asked to "jump (she tries to jump, looks like trying to pick yourself up by your own collar), kick, clap." She plays pattycake. She waves to "hi, bye" She also makes the correct gesture when given certain prompts, even though we are sure that she has no concept of what we are talking about, as in the previous video.

Walking

Here is Selah walking with support on June 16.

Here she is taking a few first steps on her own on July 1. She forgot how as soon as Casson got home.

And then she mastered turning on July 2. She now claps every time she falls.

Minnesota

with Monica

with Grandma and Papa

with Grandma Judy

with Uncle Michael

with GG Lois and GG DeWayne

Lake Tahoe

Kiva Beach at Lake Tahoe

Eagle Lake

Tom and Rachel getting married

All we have are more dancing videos

We got a new bike seat. I don't know if we're going to keep it yet. Don't worry. She had a helmet while we were riding. She just HATED it. It fits but it's too bulky.

The Peavine Trail in Prescott.

Selah is "attending" VBS. I am "volunteering" which basically turns out to be me watching Selah in the nursery as there is one adult per baby. Here is Selah with her new friend Kiera.

Selah at AZ on the Rocks.

Selah with Trevor after our lunch in Prescott. Dancing is the only thing I can get her to do without following after the camera.

Southern Utah Memorial Weekend Tour

We hauled it up to Kaibab National Forest to camp on Friday night. Then we saw Zion all day Saturday and half the day Sunday. All campgrounds and motels were 100% booked so we begged leave to throw down our tent on some random earth in some random ranch/resort near the park. They let us! It was not the ideal spot considering we were on a hillside during the windiest night I've ever experienced. But it was just outside of the park, and therefore perfect. Sunday afternoon we drove up to the Kolob Canyon part of Zion and then to Cedar Breaks National Monument and Bryce Canyon. We motelled it on Sunday night in Kanab. On Monday we swooped down on downtown Kanab for some espresso, and then took a dirt road into Escalante National Monument, before heading home. But of course we stopped in Flagstaff at Macy's for even more espresso con panna. Traffic was light for us both ways. We were trying to guess if it was "this economy" that kept folks from heading up north. Selah in Zion Nat'l Park. We had to stop several tourists from throwing Doritos at her. PLEASE DO NOT FEED WILDLIFE, even pink hungry-looking bear cubs.

Pointing at the killer squirrels. If you don't feed them, they help themselves.

Selah flips out over three friendly deer grazing in Zion Nat'l Park.

Beautiful biking/walking path along the clear blue Virgin River in Zion. Considering that the park was flooded with tourists, this was kind of a rare shot.

Overlooking Zion from Dixie Nat'l Forest.

The pure green forests of Dixie Nat'l Forest near Cedar Breaks Nat'l Monument.

GIANT BABY EATS MOUNTAIN. Escalante National Monument, near the "old Pareah Townsite," if you are fans of early Mormon Settlement history, which I am becoming.

Everyday there is something new to do

Yesterday it was holding a spoon in her mouth...

Today it was walking with the stroller...

Saturday it was ringing the toy thing, and falling over gracefully...

Catalina Mountains

Only YOU can prevent forest fires. I can't. I'm too little.

A forest fire cleared the Coronado Nat'l Forest on the Catalina Mts a few years ago. But the undergrowth is coming back strong.

Biosphere II. Our friend Mike got chosen to live here for three weeks this summer and learn about science. He's a teacher, so it's for professional development.

Payson and Horton Creek

Found Camera

I found my camera. That is, a woman named Orva Aukes found it yesterday in Payson, and reported it to the police station property department, and made an announcement on the Payson local radio. Fortunately, after driving to Payson again today to see if the camera was still in the grass, I got an idea that I should have had hours earlier (to save the drive), call the police station. Mrs. Aukes is mailing it to me so that I don't have to drive up there again tomorrow. A family on top of Squaw Peak took this picture for me with their own camera and then emailed it to me. So even if I never had found my camera, at least there are people in the world who follow through on their digital promises.

Lost Camera

Until further notice, this blog is suspended. I lost my camera in Payson yesterday, after taking the best best best pictures of Selah playing in the forest at Horton Spring. Then I took pictures and videos of Casson walking her around in circles on a beautiful lawn at Green Valley Park in Payson. I just want to cry. This has been my only hobby for the last 10 months. Cameras fall out of pockets. Cameras lie in the short grass until someone else comes along and picks them up. Then they look at the photos, erase them, use the camera until the battery is used up, and throw it away because they don't have the right size battery charger available anymore. I'm so bummed. I even emailed Town Hall in case they have a lost and found. I want to drive back up there, but I know it would be a waste of my time. It was a busy park.

Ten Months Old

Be sure to watch for the lightning streak across her forehead.

Selah turned ten months today. For some reason that feels like a big kid to me. She has started acting so different just this past week. She just does not seem like a baby anymore.

Selah at the Santa Rita Mountains

Selah at the San José de Tumacácori Mission

Last weekend we went on a little spring break trip to Patagonia and Tubac, Arizona. We had planned on camping at Joshua Tree NP because my sister was just there and loved it. But Easter weekend is their busiest weekend and they didn't have any more sites to reserve. So Casson planned a super posh, last minute trip to southeast AZ instead. It turned out to be a great idea because the weather was super windy and offandon rainy. So when it was nice out, we went walking along the Santa Cruz River and Sonoita-Patagonia Creek where we saw all kinds of beautiful birds and a couple of snakes. The Santa Rita Mountains towered above to the east with their snowy tops. Then, when it was not so nice out, we stayed in our "hacienda" room that had a fireplace and couches and plenty of space for Selah to explore (if you book a room last minute, they give you a rate that is as cheap if not cheaper than any Holiday Inn).

Monday evening is $3 burger and fries night at Maizzie's down the road, so needless to say, we went there. What other restaurant could be so packed and with a wait on a Monday night? And all they do is double the price of drinks, I'm sure. In a bad economy, some people just want to think they are saving money by eating cheap, but there isn't a person that goes there on Monday nights that doesn't ring it in despite the affordable burgers.

As for Selah, she's getting her landlegs. She's got rhythm. She still wakes me up three times a night. I'm really starting to lose it, but we will soon be out of this apartment into a house (rental) hopefully, so then she'll get the cold shoulder ALL NIGHT if I can manage it. At the moment she is entertaining herself with some new books, an old music box, and a sharp table corner.

Now she has added /ba/ and /ma/ to her babbling.

Pine Creek Trail on the way to Payson, all the cactus were in bloom.