- Sep 5, 2013 — Parents learn they're expecting; nickname "Capybara" established
- Oct 24, 2013 — First ultrasound, heartbeat seen
- Dec 9, 2013 — Gender reveal: it's a girl! Name brainstorming begins
- Nov-Dec 2013 — Family buys house at 205 Spring Ave to prepare for baby
- May 23, 2014 — BORN! "CAPYBARA! Celeste is born!"
- May 25 — Came home from hospital
- Jun 12 — Can hold pacifier by herself (Dad's birthday)
- Jul 8 — First contradance (outdoor, Copley Square)
- Jul 24 — First immunizations
- Aug 5 — First day at daycare (Bright Horizons)
- Aug 16 — Making vowel sounds — "gluuuu"
- Sep 6 — Deliberately grabbing toys; recognized cat vs. cat icon on mobile
- Sep 19-22 — Trip to Ithaca, met Great-Grandma Adrienne
- Oct 12 — First solid food (avocado, pomegranate juice); slept through HONK! parade tubas
- Nov 27 — First Thanksgiving (ate sweet potato)
- Dec 15 — Sleep training works: slept 8 hours straight
- Dec 21 — Mastered backwards crawling
- Jan 19 — First time on a swing
- Feb 16 — First volitional request: grabbed shoes and handed them to Dad pointedly
- Mar 3 — First day at TCC daycare (went remarkably well)
- Mar 28 — Standing on her own for ~10 seconds
- May 13 — Took 5-6 steps on her own!
- May 23 — 1st birthday!
- Aug 10 — First sign language: "diaper"
- Aug 21 — Got her passport
- Aug 23 — First haircut
- Aug 24 — 15-month checkup; doctor wants 20 words by next visit
- Sep 8 — Started new Arlington daycare
- Oct 10 — Vocabulary documented: ~14 words/signs at 16 months
- Oct 19 — First sentence: "shoes off"
- Nov 7 — First Mandarin class
- Dec 19 — Pretend play milestone: insisted Bear needed a diaper, said Bear pooped
- Feb 22 — First injury: dropped a can on her foot
- Feb 26 — Counted to five!
- Feb 27 — Using two-word sentences and multi-syllable words like "capybara"
- Mar 25-Apr 1 — First airplane ride / family trip to St. Croix
- May 23 — 2nd birthday!
- Jun 4 — Saw real capybaras at the zoo for the first time
- Jun 22 — Walked all the way to the park and back by herself
- Jul 1 — Got up on her own for the first time
- Sep 23 — Parents got positive pregnancy test (sibling on the way!)
- Sep 28 — Composed her first song: "The potty in the bathroom goes / all round the butt"
- Dec 10-17 — Family trip to San Francisco (zoo, Exploratorium, trolleys)
- Dec 28 — Retold the entire story of Blueberries for Sal from memory
- Jan 15 — Car seat turned front-facing
- Mar 11 — Potty training begins
- May 3 — Balance bike assembled
- May 19 — First poop on the potty at school! Pizza celebration
- May 23 — 3rd birthday! Birthday ring at school
- Jun 10-11 — Baby sister Sabina born!
- Jun 18 — First swim class
- Jul 11 — Dentist visit — "roundly complimented"
- Aug 12-18 — Maine vacation; "Don't tell mama" = theory of mind milestone
- Sep 5 — First day back at school in matching dresses with Sabina
- Oct 22 — Transitioned from potties to big toilet
- Oct 31 — Halloween in bear suit (no interest in trick-or-treating, just played with kitchen)
- Dec 10 — First ice skating!
- Jan 5-12 — Family trip to Florida and Eleuthera, Bahamas
- Jan 27 — Back to swim class after 6 months; didn't cry at all
- Feb 4 — First ice skating attempt — got 1/4 around the rink
- Apr 27 — Learning to type; knows where most letters are
- May 23 — 4th birthday!
- Jun 7 — Hearing test at Children's Hospital (mild impairment, later cleared)
- Jul 14 — Deep conversation about death: "Does she have a snuggling camel now?"
- Jul 15 — Boston Duck Tour; got to drive the duck boat!
- Sep 1 — Flower girl at Aunt Pan's wedding!
- Sep 4 — First day of Pre-K
- Oct 31 — Halloween as a zucchini
- Jan 5-8 — Father-daughter trip to Florida (zoo, mini golf, beach)
- Feb 2 — Graduated Junior 2 swim level
- Apr 29 — First night without training underwear
- May 23 — 5th birthday!
- Jun 23 — First piano lesson
- Jul 18-21 — Family trip to NYC by Amtrak (Met, Guggenheim, AMNH, Brooklyn Children's Museum)
- Sep 4 — Dad put her to bed "for the very last time as a preschooler"
- Sep 6 — First day of kindergarten at Dallin!
- Nov 27 — Kindergarten concert
- Dec 11 — Started ScratchJr (programming)
- Jan 20 — Ice skating described as "proficient and fearless"
- Feb 6 — Read all of Babybug magazine by herself (reading milestone!)
- Mar 13 — First day of no school (COVID shutdown)
- Apr 12-20 — Learned to ride a bike (progressed from balancing to riding to Lexington)
- May 1 — Read a whole chapter of Magic Treehouse by herself
- May 23 — 6th birthday! (in lockdown)
- May 30 — Watched SpaceX DEMO-2 launch; Dad explained orbital mechanics
- Jun 19 — End-of-kindergarten slideshow
- Jun 29 — First day of summer camp (NARA)
- Sep 21 — First day of 1st grade (hybrid/remote)
- Oct 15 — Started Hebrew lessons
- Nov 8 — Can really swing now!
- Jan 23 — Watched first Harry Potter movie, entranced like never before
- Feb 2 — Dad accidentally cut 6 inches off one side of her hair (Mom fixed it)
- Mar 4 — First real eye exam (on track for myopia)
- Apr 5 — First day back at in-person school
- May 23 — 7th birthday! Went geocaching
- Jun 24 — Finished 1st grade — now a 2nd grader!
- Jun 26-Jul 2 — Family trip to Philadelphia (Please Touch Museum, Reading Terminal Market)
- Aug 1-6 — Road trip: MassMoCA, Herkimer Diamond mining, Ithaca
- Aug 19 — Learned 5-6 ukulele chords, playing from Rise Up Singing
- Sep 4 — Set things on fire with magnifying glass; planespotting with FlightRadar24
- Sep 9 — First day of 2nd grade
- Nov 6 — Got first COVID vaccine (did beautifully)
- Nov 7 — Finished hat she'd been making on circular loom
- Dec 1 — Oculus Quest 2 arrived; loves VR Street View
- Dec 4 — Second COVID vaccine
- Jan 19 — First "Young Inventors Squad" class; made her first circuit
- Feb 21-28 — Family trip to Puerto Rico (El Yunque, kayaking, jet ski, saw a manatee!)
- Mar 8 — Signed up for Girl Scouts
- Mar 17 — Got new glasses ("extremely cute")
- Apr 2-3 — Disney trip with Dad (Magic Kingdom & EPCOT) — first time going to the bathroom alone in a crowded public space
- May 21 — Birthday party with slip-n-slide
- May 23 — 8th birthday!
- May 31 — First dance class
- Jun 10 — Lost other front tooth; Field Day
- Jun 14 — Myopia clinic; decided she wants cello, not violin
- Jun 25 — Piano recital
- Jul 2-7 — Burlington VT / Montreal trip (got stuck on advanced ropes course, had to be rescued)
- Jul 10 — Tested positive for COVID
- Aug 7 — Gone from "I NEVER WANTED SWIM" to "WHY CAN'T I HAVE SWIM EVERY DAY"
- Sep 6 — First day of 3rd grade
- Sep 8 — Got her cello!
- Nov 9 — Said goodbye to Ada-mew (family cat passed away)
- Nov 25 — Playing cello beautifully by ear
- Dec 28-31 — Puerto Rico resort trip with zipline adventure (half-mile zipline!)
- Jan 1-4 — Puerto Rico vacation
- Feb 7 — Loose tooth finally came out
- Feb 10 — Made first stop-motion animation
- Feb 24 — Family got kittens Emmeline and Lucy!
- Mar 11 — School concert — right in front
- Apr 18-19 — Mystic Seaport & Aquarium trip
- Apr 21 — Got a new bike (Specialized Jett 24)
- Apr 24 — Third-grade museum exhibit; afternoon tea in Boston with Mama
- May 23 — 9th birthday! (turned 9)
- May 25 — Spoke at Mock Town Meeting "well and clearly and loudly enough"
- Jun 8 — Walked home from school by herself for the first time
- Jun 22 — Last day of 3rd grade
- Jul 1-5 — Road trip: Rochester, Niagara Falls, Toronto (ROM, High Park capybaras!)
- Jul 15-21 — Pinewoods Family Week (longsword, Morris, paddled canoe across lake)
- Jul 24 — Dentist recommended orthodontist visit
- Sep 5 — First day of 4th grade
- Sep 24 — Astounded family with musical ear (sang a tune well enough for Google to identify it)
- Oct 4 — Orthodontist recommended palate widener
- Oct 11 — Started playing Phantom of the Opera by ear on cello
- Dec 26-29 — NYC trip (Math Museum, Color Factory, Met, Tenement Museum)
- Feb 21-29 — Family trip to Cancun/Xcaret (zip lines, underwater diving bell walk, kayaking)
- Mar 9 — Watched Star Wars for the first time
- Apr 6-8 — Disney trip #2 with Dad (Animal Kingdom, Hollywood Studios, EPCOT, Magic Kingdom; hated Tron)
- Apr 18 — Made "Breaking News! Baby cousin!" sign when Aunt Pan announced pregnancy
- May 20 — Orthodontist: 3D scanned, spacers put in
- May 23 — 10th birthday!
- Jun 9 — Dance performance (Danse Macabre)
- Jun 14-16 — Pinewoods (English country dancing, played cello in ensemble)
- Jun 25 — Braces put on
- Jun 26-Jul 1 — Family trip to Chicago (Field Museum, MSI, Blue Man Group, Maggie Daley playground)
- Jul 12 — Checkup: TDAP booster
- Jul 13-20 — Pinewoods week-long (swimming, parade, described as "sometimes a surly teenager, sometimes wants to be spun around")
- Aug 16 — Braces installed
- Sep 4 — First day of 5th grade
- Sep 15 — Went horseback riding with Girl Scouts and LOVED it
- Oct 22-24 — Nature's Classroom trip
- Oct 29 — Started AoPS (Art of Problem Solving) math class
- Nov 6 — Taken to migraine clinic; prescribed sumatriptan
- Nov 14 — FaceTimed with newborn cousin Mortimer!
- Dec 8 — Saw musical SIX with Mama
- Dec 14 — Saw Wicked movie with Dad
- Dec 22-30 — Philadelphia & NYC trip (Cat Cafe, Transit Museum, circus show)
- Jan 7 — Got braces off!
- Jan 10 — Cello recital (15 cellos!)
- Jan 24 — Won Henry Bear's gift card at math game night; danced at Bulgarian Night
- Jan 27-31 — Family COVID (recovered well)
- Feb 12-19 — Family trip to San Francisco (Exploratorium Tactile Dome, Musee Mechanique, banana slugs on redwood hike)
- Feb 21 — First HPV shot
- Mar 16 — Got new glasses
- Apr 9 — Got an Apple Watch!
- Apr 18-23 — Philadelphia trip (Visionary Art Museum, Penn Museum, Longwood Gardens)
- Apr 26-27 — NEFFA folk festival
- May 10 — Passed the deep end test at Y pool
- May 23 — 11th birthday!
- Jun 6 — Music day concert
- Jun 8 — Dance performance
- Jun 14 — Performed at String Fest on her own
- Jun 16 — 5th grade graduation ceremony!
- Jun 23 — Clap-out day from elementary school
- Jul 12-19 — Pinewoods Centennial (passed swim test, camper band "Pond Tossers," thrown in the lake, secret 10-12 party)
- Jul 30 — Physical: meningitis and HPV shots
- Aug 9-15 — Western MA vacation (Tanglewood, Dr. Seuss Museum, lake house)
- Aug 19 — First day at Gibbs Middle School intro!
- Sep 2 — First day of middle school (6th grade)
- Sep 22 — Dropped AoPS math class (made a pros/cons list)
- Sep 27 — Zoe Keating cello concert with Dad
- Oct 22-24 — Nature's Classroom trip (wished it were longer)
- Oct 31 — Halloween as Sabriel (yarn shop people blown away by costume)
- Nov 15 — "Let's just do King Lear, we know it well enough" (to Platy)
- Dec 10 — Cello recital (Boccherini)
- Dec 25-30 — NYC trip — saw The Magic Flute at the Met Opera! (grinning the whole time, especially during Queen of the Night)
- Jan 19 — Snurggiemas celebration, playing Queen of the Night in gold outfit
- Jan 23 — Volunteered to make dinner: one-pot pasta with tomato sauce
- Jan 29 — Winter concert at Ottoson
- Feb 4 — Allergy testing at Children's Hospital
- Feb 15 — Got figure skates; ice skating
- Feb 18-25 — Family trip to Xcaret/Cancun (cenotes, zip lines, electric snorkel scooters, trap-door water slide)
- Mar 8 — Practiced cello without being prompted, productively, without humphing (!)
- Mar 12 — Walked Dad through her entire school day on the way to school