9 months old!

We’ve been taking care of Aunt Jennifer this month.  Elinor has been such a joy amongst the sadness surrounding Uncle Mike’s death from glioblastoma multiforme on September 9, 2009.  I’ve learned a lot about Mike through the things that other people have said and written about him during his 16 month fight against cancer.  I didn’t know the “rock star” Mike that many people knew although I did know the Mike that made people laugh in every single conversation with him.  But really I knew the Mike that was an amazing partner to my sister.  The “family man” Mike.  The Mike that made fun of my mother (and got away with it), the Mike that participated willingly in Christmas programs and hours of the Jordan stocking tradition, the Mike that helped out behind the scenes at my wedding, the Mike that tolerated the Jordan family stuck in his house for a week in a Colorado blizzard, the Mike that loved my sister.  We will miss him terribly.

My parents, Elinor, and I spent almost two weeks in Denver, enjoying Mike and Jennifer’s backyard almost every single day.  I can definitely see why Mike liked sitting out in the yard so much during his illness.  It was a calm, quiet oasis, with lots of green grass and flowers, birds to look at, airplanes to listen to, and sunshine to soak up.  We even had a flock of geese fly over one evening at dusk.  While in Denver, it seems like Elinor really became a different baby (much to her daddy’s chagrin!).  She started crawling and pulling up and climbing in earnest and had lots of new tricks to show off to Daddy when we got back home.  In the past week, Elinor has become a pointer.  She points at everything and wants us to say the name of the item.  She can sign “ball”, “light”, and “fan”.  She loves to dance and is loving our Music Together classes which started last week.  Aunt Jennifer is here this week and Elinor is giving her lots of hugs and kisses every day, as are we all.

Click here to access a few of our favorite pictures from the past month.  We haven’t taken as many pictures lately, so yesterday I took 160 pictures of Elinor (don’t worry, I only put a few of those here!).  We’ve got the camera out to remind us to take more.  It’s just that being with Elinor is too much fun to stop to take pictures!

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