First Hike and Other Firsts

Ellie went with me to the "M" on her first hike Saturday. She was awesome. When we arrived at the trail head, she was tired, hungry, and cranky. After I strapped her into the backpack, I leaned it up against the car while I got my things together. In her grumpiness, she threw herself forward, tipping the backpack over. I caught it just before her face hit the pavement. She was then unhappier, but after a bit of a bottle and a bit of hiking she brightened up. As we went, she became happier and started "giggling." As we'd pass people on the trail, I'd ask them to check on her, as I couldn't turn my head far enough to see her. She was happy as a could be, they said, although in need of a tissue. When we neared the homestretch to the "M", she fell quiet, so I figured the little girl, who'd awakened that morning poorly rested and with a runny nose, was napping. I hurried on to the top, were I took off the backpack and roused her by stuffing a bottle into her mouth. She let out a whimper and then proceeded to down most of the bottle. Because Ellie's extremities were showing evidence of the evening's cooling, I took the shortcut down. At the car, I noticed that I hadn't configured something with the backpack correctly; when I'd put her in the pack, her head was well above the top of the pack; at the end of the hike, she'd slipped so low, she was essentially enveloped by the pack. Whoops. Well, I'm pretty sure she was having a good time hiking because she didn't complain on the way down, even though she couldn't see out. After I finally extricated her, I praised her mightily for being a great little hiker.

We visited Stephanie and her new day-old daughter Kathleen in the hospital Friday. When we entered the room, Ellie proceeded to bust out her first wave for a non-family member. Since then she's been waving frequently, particularly at me when I'm in the kitchen with both hands busy. Poor unrequited wave.

Ellie's become much more dexterous with her tongue lately. This ability coincides with increased self-feeding of graham and animal crackers, which, due to her soaking, rather than chewing, approach to consumption, end up in a mush on her face. Amazingly, she manages to clean up these morsels. It's noteworthy that she similarly resolves her need for a tissue.

Ellie's been trying to take steps on her own more recently. When we hold out a toy in front of her, she'll try to take a step of her own volition without holding onto something. So far, she just tips over at that point. We also noticed that she was able to move from crawling to kneeling to standing while unloading toys her basket of tricks.