Little Cindy Lou Who

We didn’t think it was possible, but somehow Stella has figured out how to walk in her sleeping bag. Taking smaller steps than kimono wrapped geisha she shuffles along the floor. Put a barrette in her hair and you’ve got the spitting image of Cindy Lou Who from the Grinch Who Stole Christmas (the original cartoon version).

You may have noticed that there have been fewer pictures lately. Part of it is because it gets dark at 4pm and we’re not out and about as much lately. Part of it is that we’ve been really busy. But another is a new character trait that has recently surfaced. Stella would rather be behind the camera directing. Wanting to make some movies I pulled out the tripod for the little camera. As soon as that comes out, Stella runs behind the camera to see who is on the screen and push buttons. One time she set my white balance to underwater. Luckily I caught it before I started filming but it has since been a challenge to get her on screen. Do we have a director in the workings? You know she’ll have her own camera before long. ;-)

Stella’s cognitive and motor skills are really showing an advancement this past few days. As if overnight, we’ll it was overnight, she grabbed her Legos and started pulling them apart and then attempting to stack them on the big “house” we had built. Then she started taking them off the house and attaching them in a long tower. These are the little square pieces. She’s not 100% but I’d say 70% of the time she can get the pieces on herself now, no problem.

She’s also “using” more and more words. She can say Oma (mmmmMa) and Opa (ohPA). She wants lights turned “on”, things opened (auf), closed (zu but sounds like two). Stella uses the German slang word “Heia” (hiya) to signal that she wants to go into her bed or that someone or something is sleeping. She’ll take her stuffed animals, say Heia while laying the animal down and then tuck it in with a blanket. Ya Ya is Stella.

“Holly” (hoyya) although sounding very similar to Heija is very clear that Holly is meant. And lastly, “Oya” is telephone. We’re not sure where this comes from. There is nothing in German or English that sounds like this for telephone or cell phone but Stella is clear that her little toy phone is meant. And Auto, well is auto. Anything with wheels is an auto and Stella makes sure to point it out to you.

Surprisingly she is also using the German word “Doch” There’s no direct translation but its meaning is similar to actually, or really. For example, no I don’t want something, oh yes I really do. I thought I misheard her the other day. I held out my arms and said, “Come to daddy”. She shook her head saying no and a half a second later she said “doch” and came running into my arms. Since then she has pulled this trick several times. Talk about being able to grasp complex meanings before you can formulate full sentences.


Do you remember the old stick doll toys? There’s an up-side-down cone with a stick through it. On the other end is usually a clown and with the stick you can make the clown dance or hide in the cup. Stella loves to take this toy and pull the clown down into the cone, acting surprised that it’s gone saying “oh”. Then after looking around, she’ll pop the clown up screaming “DA” (there) and laughing wildly, then repeating.

She’ll also hide herself in a corner or behind a door and then jump out and yell “DA” (there).
Stella has become a jumping fiend. She wants to jump everywhere. Especially when she is in her crib she’ll grab the ledge and start jumping manically, working herself up into a fever where she’ll then let go, spin around, stumble and drop only to get up and repeat. And as if a caged animal, she’ll run from one end of the crib to the other back and forth, back and forth building up steam to stop and then jump again.

And yesterday, she jumped (without spring help from the couch or bed) for the first time. Standing in the middle of the living room she jumped and booth feet left the ground. She landed solidly with a big grin on her face.

Stella has learned that water comes out of a faucet and that we use the water to wash dishes. The last two days she has helped or played at the sink.
I really hope that Stella’s molars come in soon. Besides having her fingers (sometimes fist) inside her mouth the last week, she has been having major problems sleeping. So much to the point that she won’t go down easily like she used to. Her gums are as thick as marbles and I think the pressure is sometimes unbearable. Two nights ago she would only lie on her stomach with pressure on her face. Last night was extremely bad. She would lay quietly in your arms but as soon as you would move to put her in her crib, she would scream terribly and crawl up you as if the boogie man was waiting in the crib to get her. After an hour with maja and then an hour with me she finally fell asleep…on the floor. She had to have physical contact and well daddy doesn’t quite fit in the crib. So I pulled her out of the crib and we laid down on the floor. First on my belly and then on the side. When ever I moved she would stick her head up to make sure I was still there and then bury her head under my arm. Slowly I inched my way to detach ourselves and finally I was able to leave the room. I covered her with a blanket and then left the room. Later when we went to bed we checked on her. I was so afraid that we’d wake her but
Maja and I quietly lifted her into bed. Of course she didn’t sleep in and shortly after 7 we were up and ready to start the day.

So that’s our tale for today.
Wishing you all a merry Christmas and we’ll post again soon.
Maja, Jeremy, Stella and Holly.