clove's corner: family portrait & miscellany

Oh, the last ten days have been a little nutty. The Capitol Christmas Tree eclipsed my last post, so here are some homefront details that were neglected:

:: Juniper is walking. Yep. And I didn't get to see it, but my man did which was even better. Her first "walk" was five steps to get at an apple my man was eating. She was so concentrated on the apple, and him on eating it, that I don't think either one of them realized what she was doing at first. Now, she'll take one to five steps several times throughout the day. Yesterday, she took five steps towards Osa, sat down, and made the sign for "dog." (She signs "dog" all the time--when she sees a dog, hears a dog, when I say "dog" or "Osa," when Osa walks past her, when Osa sneezes, when Osa paws at the door....)

Also, J bugs has learned to clap. Like walking, she just figured it out on her own (we never did set a good example in our house--I guess we hardly ever clap, but she learned anyway). She even wakes up for some 2:00 am applause. But mostly, she claps strictly for the half-crazed response she elicits from me. And I have been taking advantage of it: so when she starts to get fussy on her changing table, I just start wildly clapping and throw on a huge grin and then she starts clapping and laughing and it's all good.

I am continually blown away by how much she understands. And maybe I shouldn't be so shocked and impressed that my daughter is smarter than my dog, but I am. I totally am. My slow, adult brain is still trying to catch up with the fact that my 8 pound newborn is a human being. Yesterday, I said, Juniper, are you ready for dinner? And she crawled to her highchair. Today, I said, Juniper, let's put a diaper on you. And she crawled to her changing table and grabbed a diaper. Holy cow. Are we ready for this?

:: Before my man left, we finally made the family portrait we'd been planning for months. Months, as in, we bought the art supplies before we even left Montana. We kept saying we needed to get 'er done while Juniper's hands were still small-ish and, more importantly, while Osa was still alive and kicking. Behold, the same trip that gave us Juniper's name, also gave us our family portrait:

Besides the newborn footprints and smearing yogurt around her highchair tray, this was Juniper's first official mark-making and she was smitten. Ah, the look on her face when she saw that blue paint on her hand leave a blue handprint on that canvas (we got video).

:: We also did some then-and-now photo re-makes.

Three weeks old, and a year and three weeks old:

These photos were not easy to replicate, what with a squirming j bug and all. We kept saying, Juniper, give mama a hug!

^Ten days old, and one year later.^

I've posted these first two before: 12 days old, 6 months and 12 days old, and finally one year and 12 days old (see how she's all cranky about being on the changing table in that last one?):

The lesson to be learned: babies grow.

Oh, and for the bean counters out there: at J bug's 12-month check up, she weighed 23lbs 2oz (75%) and measured 30 1/3" (80%) and her head circumference has always been even keel at 50%.

:: In other news, we've had some of this...

Which has led to a lot of this...

Juniper loves watching the fire. My constant refrain: Juniper, that's a fire. Fires are HOT. And she gets all excited and bounces up and down.

Oh, and she's really into pointing.

:: June bug is in the "emptying phase" and this is what she leaves in her wake (and what I get to pick up every night):

:: Bundled for a walk along the road behind our house. With the cooler weather, Osa is able to not only keep up, but also wander off and look for elk legs (which isn't too difficult since this road seems to be popular for hunters leaving carcasses in the barrow ditch).