13 weeks old: swatting, first fire, and first beer festival

The world is coming alive for Eloise and it's so exciting to see! We're seeing less of the blank stare and more reactions in her face to things she sees. All those things dangling from the bouncy seats and the play mat, patterns on fabric, toys... there's just so much to grab her interest now. And, she's reaching out to grab and swat at them! Friends David, Michelle, and Nathan came by last week and brought Eloise a purse and she reached out and grabbed it. The other day in the kitchen Eloise was in her bouncy seat hitting the dangly things. I watched her for a while to see if it was just the usual flailing arms that happened to hit something. But no, she was focusing intently on those dangly things and reaching out to swat at them! I quickly grabbed the phone to get some video:

Last weekend we took Eloise to Evan's family's home in Black Butte Ranch for the first time. It's about a three hour drive from Portland and she slept the whole way. Once again, not true for the way home, but it went better than the drive home from Salem. Evan made a fire in the fireplace the first night and Eloise got to enjoy her very first fire. She seemed to like watching the flames. And then lost interest after a minute or two. I think she'll learn to enjoy laying in front of a fire.

First fire

That weekend we also took Eloise to her first beer festival. A rite of passage for any Oregonian. Not surprisingly, we saw several other babies at the festival. 

Fresh Hop Festival - Sisters, OR

In other news, Eloise graduated out of the sling in the big blue tub this week. There are three settings from infant to toddler and she's now in the middle position. 

Whoa, this is new!