the ahrens adventures: age milestones

Showing posts with label age milestones. Show all posts

18 August, 2010

seneca's 14-mo!

It is getting MUCH harder to catch her in "pause" mode!

I took this pic at daycare when I came to pick her up. She loves hanging out at Bunny Patch (her daycare) and I have to coax her out of there each day now! I can't decide which is more heartbreaking, watching her cry as you leave or having to persuade her to go home with you... : )

Sent on the Sprint® Now Network from my BlackBerry®

18 March, 2010

seneca's 9-mo!

chillin' on the lawn at UCLA

It was a beautiful spring day and Aunt Mimi was in town visiting. We spent the day hanging out on a blanket after a nice, long walk to the UCLA campus.

Major event of note: Seneca learned to drink out of a straw during this field trip - woohoo!

Sent on the Sprint® Now Network from my BlackBerry®

18 November, 2009

5-MO!

18 November, 2009

Ladies and Gentlemen,

We have a jumper! Daddy took the day off today after a long, hard 4 1/2 months of work on a competition (he started it 2 weeks after Seneca was born). The first order of business was to install Seneca's latest activity: the Jolly Jumper - a super fantastic hand-me-down from the Van Glabeeks!! It is a huge understatement to say that she REALLY, REALLY likes it.

These photos and movie were taken just a few minutes after we put her in it the first time. It only took her a few seconds to figure out what to do. And, away she goes . . .

ps. while these photos do not speak highly of my photography skills (I was just using our little point and shoot and no flash) - I liked them for their sense of movement, anyway.

pss. so far, her longest jumping session has been over 34 minutes - now, that is a work-out!

psss. I know, the camera has to be HORIZONTAL for movies. It is hard to teach my photography brain new tricks.

By the way, happy 5 months to Seneca!

26 September, 2009

her name

We get a lot of questions about Seneca's name: "How did we choose it?", "What does it mean?", etc. In honor of her 100th day, we thought it appropriate to give a little background.

We had the name Seneca in our head for awhile, at least a couple of years. We were in Seattle one weekend with some friends of Chandler's from his office. We were walking down the street when Chandler spotted a street signed with the name "Seneca Ave." One of his friends, Natalia, from Gibraltar, mentioned that in spanish, "Seneca" means "Wise One". We thought that was nice. From that day on, we kept coming back to the name and it stuck with us.

Fast forward to fall of 2008 and we found out that I was pregnant! We immediately thought of the name "Seneca" and knew we wanted to use it. I think we would have used it if the baby was a boy or a girl. If you do your research on the name "Seneca" you will find that it dates back to an ancient Roman philosopher (click the link). The etymology of the name actually lists it as being male gendered. But, we like the sound of it for a girl anyway.

It just so happens that Seneca is the name for some other notable things in our world:

- the Seneca Nation of Indians

- Seneca Falls in New York, the site of the Seneca Falls Convention for Women's Rights in 1848

- the Dodge Seneca, a super cool car from the 60's commonly used for police cars!

Seneca's middle name, Caroline, is after her great-grandmother (on Joelle's mother's side). We wanted a family name for her middle name and loved the name Caroline as well as the wonderful woman she would be named after. Great Grandma Sax is a spunky, independent, fun, clever and a loving human being. We couldn't think of a better namesake!

100th Day

Over the years, we have learned a lot about chinese culture in preparation for the adoption. One of my favorite traditions from the chinese is their celebration of the "100th day" of a new child. Long ago, new babies were kept quarantined at home and away from most visitors until this day in fear that they were too young to be exposed. By the 100th day, the proud parents would introduce the child to family and friends and the child would be formally named. Traditionally, this day is celebrated in the form of a "Red Egg and Ginger" Party. Guests are given dyed red eggs and pieces of ginger as good luck, prosperity and fertility.

We had a quiet day at home to mark Seneca's 100th day, but took some photos of her in a cute little shirt that was cousin Ella's during her 100th day and Red Egg and Ginger celebration.

Seneca, you are the true good fortune of your family!