10 months of Scarlet

Our sweet little girl turned ten months this week. There's so much she's doing...here are the highlights.

Vocabulary
Scarlet continues to da-da-da-da to just about everything she sees. Including Daddy! The only time I get a ma-ma-ma is when she's in tears and reaching for me. But I'll take it. She has lots of chatter that sound like near sentences. I'm pretty sure the other day when Jessica said she was cold, Scarlet responded with "then go inside." She very clearly says "Hot-ta" in response to items she should not touch. Another recent addition is "Uh-oh." She has a huge fluctuation in her tone. Sometimes a very deep voice, which reminds me of a lot of both the Flowers and Lineberger women. Other times, she hits ultrasonic when she's chattering. She wants so badly to communicate, and in a lot of ways is. She and Emerson have full on shouting matches at the dinner table. And usually crack each other up in the process.

Nicknames
She has such personality, that it's only fitting she'd have many nicknames. Yiddle Biddle, Scarzaboni, ScarBar, Sista Baby, Scarley Brown, and Scar Louie are some of our favorites. And when Emerson is frustrated with her grabbing toys from him, it often comes out as "Scar-LIT!"

Physicality
I included that as the title of this paragraph, only because Jason gets annoyed with sports commentators when they use it. It's not a word. But if it was, it would describe Scarlet's major movement in the last month. She started actively crawling just a few weeks ago, and is now a pro at crawling, pulling herself to standing on anything and everything, and cruising around furniture. She'll stand independently for long periods of time now, and took a single step this past week while we were on vacation.

Snaggletooth
Little girl is working on all kinds of teeth. Her bottom two have been in for quite a while. And are quite long. Picture an upside down beaver. She popped all four top teeth this past month. Speaking of teeth, Scarlet had her first daycare bite. She was the recipient, not the giver. I've been taking bite impressions of every child in her class, and should know who the culprit is soon.

Menu
Scarlet tries every night to eat Kramer's cat food. I wonder if I should let her try it to help her figure out she doesn't like it. But what if she does like it? My plan will have backfired. Of course we'd never let her eat it, but it sure is funny to give her a stern "no" and watch her react with a fake cry. She keeps eating everything I give her, including cherry tomatoes, avocado, and everything else that crosses our plates. Her current favorites are blueberries, mandarin oranges and clementines, and all things yogurt. I have to introduce items strategically, because if she catches sight of mandarins, you'd better just throw away that chicken, because she will not be eating it. And that's that.

I always say this, but we really do have the happiest little girl. These very recent pics epitomize her personality.

Enjoying al fresco dining at Pincher's.

This is her other side. Sweet, and a little salty.

It's amazing how many pictures I have of her like this. She thinks...and knows...she's funny.

See previous caption.

Love those cheeks. Love this girl.

That's going to be us one day...

It was an eventful mother's day weekend for the Zielinskis. We started Saturday morning with a soccer game, attended by Poppy, Jeeka, and Uncle Jared. Emerson had a great game. But I'm pretty sure we must be coming up on a full moon, because they were all wild boys out there on the field.

Scarlet, cuddled up in 50 degree "spring" weather, taking a nap on Poppy's warm belly.

Emerson and Will, moving the ball down the field!

After the game, we headed back to the house for a short time with everyone, then packed up and went to Lancaster to see GG. We met GG at her temporary home for a visit, with Cristy's pizza! We often default to Pizza Crossing when we're in Lancaster, but this switch reminded me how sinfully delicious Cristy's cheese bread is. After lunch, we kissed GG goodbye, and made an unplanned pit stop at St. Mary Cemetery to check in on Mia.

We don't go to the cemetery often. For one thing, it's in Lancaster, and we're just not down there all that much. Also, I don't feel like that's where I connect with my Mom. I connect with her in church, on random drives home from work, and when I wake up at 3am and can't go back to sleep. The cemetery is symbolic though, and it felt good to stop by. Scarlet missed this part of the day, since she was napping in the car. GG wore her out!

"Hi, Mia."

I wish I could tell you he wished for Mia to be alive. Or for me to have a happy mother's day. But his wish on this dandelion was for hot dogs to fall from the sky.

In addition to Mia, we checked in on Grandpa Flowers, and a few other friends and loved ones. Emerson was fascinated with the old tombstones dating back to the early 1800s. He was very respectful while we were walking around. And had a lot of questions. When we were leaving, Jessica was wiping her watery eyes from the wind. And here's the conversation that went down in the third row as we were pulling out...

Emerson - "Jeeka, are you crying?"
Jessica - "No, my eyes are just watery from being outside."
Emerson "Are you upset about all the dead people?"
Jessica - "No, Em, my eyes really are just watery from the wind."
Emerson - "You know that's going to be us one day."

He said this plain as day. And he's not wrong. It's just a little surprising to hear his "old soul" coming through.

And just for the sake of balance...here is the goofball popping up from the basement to see what I was doing, yesterday.

As fresh as the month of May...

We love May, yes, we do! We love May, how 'bout you!?!?! No, seriously. We love May. It's full of outings to the parks, walks after dinner, soccer games on the weekends, and fun in the sun. What more do you need out of life in suburbia?!?! Also, May brings our semi-annual trip to Naples. This will be Scarlet's first, and Emerson's sixth (I think)! It's amazing how much sanity it brings to the work week, to look ahead on calendars and see a week of no traffic, no meetings, and no drop-offs to school.

We're only 10 days in to May, and whew! Lots behind, and lots ahead. We recently celebrated niece (and Jason's Goddaughter) Macy's first communion. Which meant for a Spring weekend in Toledo with family and friends.

Four generations of Zielinski men (and boy). Jason is the only grandson/son, and Emerson is the only great grandson to carry on the Zielinski name.

Just too much fun for this little girl.

Proudly wearing (almost the whole way home) cousin Spencer's hand-me-down baseball glove!

Jason took these next two. This sums up Scarlet. Sweet and happy. These were both taken in the morning before we left for school. She greets the day with cheer, EVERY day!

 

Emerson had a mid-week soccer game, right after the rain. For this four-year-old, it's the perfect condition for the field. And you can bet your bottom dollar that he was the dirtiest one in the park. Before the game even started.

Organized chaos.

Watering the Emerson.

Muddy bottom boy.

 

Love this pic. Love him.

And these next two pictures were taken sequential nights. Scarlet has a really hard time staying awake past 6:50pm.

 

Other random goings on...

I believe my boy's curls have returned! At least for one humid evening.

She's starting to stand independently for a few seconds, and cruises furniture like she's been doing it for ages.

This is mid- controlled drop. I love watching her plan her descent when she wants to return to crawling. Thank goodness there's plenty of padding back there.

Easter the Sequel...EAQUEL 2013!

We have an annual tradition with my family, in celebrating Easter a little late, along with an outing to a Clippers game! Easter the Sequel, has become Eaquel. The Lineberger form of Festivus, I suppose.

Four years ago, Emerson was in front row seats at the Clippers first ever game at Huntington Park during our Eaquel celebration. Love this tradition. And although Spring hadn't really sprung in Ohio yet this year, we ended up with a sunny, beautiful day in the ball park.

A very excited boy!

A girl and her Poppy.

Trying on Poppy's hat.

Take one...

Take two. Need to merge these pics!

Taking a break in the shade.

On our way home with goodies...a foul ball from an usher, a red balloon, and a belly full of hot pretzel and hot dog!

Eaquel 2013...total success.

Emersonisms - May Edition

I seriously couldn't make this stuff up...

Emerson recently asked Jason on the way to school, "Do buses have to stop at railroad crossings when there are no kids on the bus?" Jason and I both realized we have never thought of that scenario. Sometimes, we don't have answers. Like when he asks, "What happens when rainbows mix with raindrops?"

Emerson loves to create elaborate names for everything. He received a stuffed dinosaur from Auntie Jess that now has the name Rico Bonjour Rex Forte. Rico for short. And when I asked him if he even knew what forte meant, he replied with "it means you're good at something." Well played, Emerson.

He also recently decided that instead of Emerson he would like to be referred to as Mr. Colorado Black Widow Dude Bro. Colorado for short.

He's smart. And I love that he analyzes the world. His smarty-pants attitude I can do without, though. Emerson loves greeting our neighbor across the street, Mr. Tom. The other day, when he yelled over, "Hi, Tom!" I corrected him and asked him to call him either Mr. Tom, or Mr. Z. He responded with, "Ok, Janice."