Then there were five

Nope, not expecting twins.

At UCSD freshman orientation, I met Emily. We wound up in a few of the same classes and became fast friends. She brought Jessica, her suite-mate, to a few of those classes, and then the three of us were friends. Then, winter quarter, I met a gal named Natalie in ballet class, and it turned out she was in MMW with Jess and me. So, the four of us became friends, thanks in no small part to the El Nino. That alone is another story, but let's just say it was the middle of the night and our jeans were soaked to our thighs.

So we were four, living together in various permutations, and generally having a blast in the way you do when you're a young woman who can spend hours giggling over such things as Rousseau, the giant waffle in the sky. With diamonds.

Of course, after college, we scattered. Knowing that we'd likely never all live in the same place again, we made a pact to get together once a year for a girls trip, but that eventually it might become a family trip so our kids would know each other and could invent their own ways to distinguish Rousseau from Hobbes and Locke. We've managed some sort of gathering nearly every year since college and we've been to Sedona, Savannah (oh my stars you have to go there, but read Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil first), DC, NYC, and Boston... and what am I forgetting? Anyway, being such rad ladies, they planned to visit me this year knowing how hard it would be for me to travel and so they could meet Grace!

These are "the girls"

In Georgia in spring 2004 (can't remember what island it was - do you guys?)

And they're coming this weekend to meet the fifth girl.

Bookshelf: The No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency

Just finished The No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency by Alexander McCall. What a fun, quick read! I've had this on my shelf forever, along with another in the series, and for some reason I just couldn't get into them. Why was it different this time? No idea, but I'm so glad I read it. The main character, Precious Ramotswe, is wonderful and the subtle stories of life and modern day Africa that are told through her adventures are delightful and thought provoking in a gentle, truthful way. I've already started the other one.

Blogaversary

This was a year ago. How life has changed. I should spend some time thinking about it and then ramble about it for you here. But, time to write has been eluding me lately (tho much is written in my head - it's getting the words out that's the problem). Instead, here are a bunch of photos. I know you really come for Gracie anyway.

Fall in Cambridge.

Family time by the river.

Mid-giggle.

She really put them on his ear.

Playing with Dad's pager.

Playdate with Eli.

The picture of innocence.

Bath toys in tupperware is the hottest new game. Didn't you know?

Pastry brush/toothbrush.

Yep, I would be the cutest.

And here are more pictures.

Haircut

Polling (here and elsewhere) suggested that a haircut was in order. And so right you were, my friends! Gracie's hair looks so much better. I don' t know why we didn't do it sooner.

Getting started

What are you doing to my gorgeous locks?

Hold still, Gracie!

Stylin' pixie

Bookshelf: The Scientist in the Crib

This was a fascinating book. It looks at how infants and very young children learn, how they take the vast input they receive and order it into meaningful information, language, relationships, etc. It was a little hard to get through because I was only reading a few pages at a time and like a lot of nonfiction, the more you can read in a chunk, the more you want to read. And like some books written by academics for a lay audience, it was a times a bit gimicky and pejorative. Nevertheless, I really enjoyed it, especially the parts on language acquisition. Did you know that babies are born able to hear all the different sounds of all languages, but in the first six or so months of life they become able to only distinguish the sounds of the language(s) spoken around them? For example, Japanese adults do not distinguish between the r and l sounds of English. Japanese babies can hear the difference as newborns, but lose that ability rather quickly. There are many other examples of English-learning babies' limitations as well as how language relates to the way children learn about other aspects of their world.

Hair

When Grace was born, her hair was probably her most distinctive feature. It was dark brown, there was a lot of it, and it often curled into a little mohawk. There's still a lot of it, but it's getting lighter. The notable thing now is that it's wild! She has two cowlicks that go in opposite directions like her father (my hair stylist said that means she'll need to go for more feminine styles) and serious mullet. It curls a little when wet but, like mine, once it dries the curls become more like crazy fuzz than anything else. A few exhibits...




There is debate between her parents over whether or not the mullet should be trimmed. She actually has two mullets - one that is her newborn hair and darker, and a second that is just starting to become a bit of a party from new hair. One parent thinks she would appear a little more dignified if the longest part of the mullet was cut. The other parent doesn't disagree, but also realizes she's a baby and it doesn't matter and besides, who can cut off newborn hair, she's already growing so fast?!

What do you think? Is it time for Gracie's first haircut?

And, a few new photos.

Stunt baby

Apparently, Grace popped one too many wheelies and broke her stroller. No idea how it happened and I didn't notice until Steve pointed it out at home, but it could have been the black cat that crossed our path during our walk on Monday.

Imagine the catastrophe! We pretty much never drive and rely entirely on the stroller to tote Gracie, tons of her and my junk, plus groceries, library books, packages to mail, etc. It hadn't dawned on me that we could be without a stroller. Today was supposed to be errand day! Fortunately, UppaBaby customer service rocks and we're supposed to receive a new frame today. And my smart husband thought to strip the old frame for parts so we can make a mint on the stroller parts black market and Gracie can go to college. However, Grace and I have stuff to do before the new frame arrives. Good thing she has finally decided to tolerate the Ergo carrier. Wish us luck. We've got a big hill to climb this morning and a lot of food to buy. Lesson: city people need back up strollers.

It's supposed to be fall!

We were looking at the weather to decide if we should take a walk this afternoon, but the real feel temp outside was 27 degrees. And then, I was sitting contentedly, feeding Grace, when I looked outside to see snow. Falling. In October. The middle of October! I am very worried about the next, well, the whole rest of the time that we'll be living here.

Yesterday, it was beautiful, though. Here are a few snaps of the Esplanade. There should be more of Grace, obviously, but she was mostly snoozing in her "carriage" as they say here.

And here she is on Friday with her playmates Thomas and Lily.

Correction

Apparently I didn't see a flock of turkeys. I saw a "rafter" of turkeys.

Thanks, Dad. While you're at it, would you please explain why they are turkeys and not turkies?

Finer moments in parenting

I was holding Grace on my hip this morning when I took a butter knife out of the drawer. She immediately grabbed for it so as I moved it out of reach, I reached for something else from the same drawer. I pulled out the U of Michigan bottle opener that plays "Hail to the Victors", playing the song as I handed it to her. No, Grace, we don't play with knives - we play with bottle openers instead.

File this under the classy approach to child rearing. And of course, Go Blue.

Thanksgiving

Of course I saw a flock of wild turkeys on my way to work this morning. Didn't you?

She hardly needs us

It took everything I had not to title this post "sitting pretty". But look at Grace, all fancy sitting on her own. She's been getting steadier and steadier, moving from the tripod sit to real sitting over the last few days. When Steve picked her up from daycare this afternoon, they said she had been sitting really well. And it looks to be true. Notice she doesn't even need to flash that smile at us anymore. Now that she can sit on her own, there are important toys to concentrate on instead.





P.S. It is supposed to be 31 degrees Wednesday night. Horrors. It's not even the middle of October.

Fall fun

Well, the weekend didn't start very fun... Grace's cold returned and she was miserable on Friday with a temperature of 100.2 and serious congestion. She was a whiny, sad baby, just resting her head on our shoulders while she whimpered. We laid low on Saturday since Steve had to work anyway, and by Sunday morning she seemed to be herself again so we tried to find some good fall colors nearby. It's not quite peak color yet, but we had a lovely visit to the Minuteman National Historic Park (battle of Lexington and Concord/"shot heard round the world"). There's a lovely trail so we had a picnic and wandered around a bit. However, it's getting cold here! Into the thirties tonight. Gasp.

Some shots from our day:

And a random one of sick Gracie playing in her bouncer once she started to perk up.

Celebrity gawking

And we weren't the ones gawking. Tom Cruise is in town shooting a new film so there's been a lot of buzz about him and sightings of Katie and Suri. We were walking at the river last night when a woman came onto the path from the playground and exclaimed "Oh, look at the baby." I looked up and stared at her, baffled as I realized it was Katie. I turned around as they walked the other direction, and sure enough there was a little girl that looked like Suri. And it was definitely Katie Holmes' voice. I thought it was so weird that she would say something to draw attention to herself. But Grace is just that darling.

Five months old

Five is almost six, and six is halfway through infancy. I don't know where the time is going. It's overwhelming.

Gracie is so full of smiles and giggles these days. She's delighted by people and exploring. She has really started trying to move toward her toys or other interesting things, trying to find a way to get her hands on them, though she's not really interested in rolling but seems to find it amusing when we help her roll. Actually, I almost forgot - she rolled over last Friday, but I was really teasing her with a toy so I'm not sure if it counts. When she's practicing sitting, she'll topple over reaching for things. And she howls in frustration when she can't get something she wants or move a toy the way she wants to. It's pretty cute. She's also babbling more and more, saying "ah-ba-da-baaa" or similar variations. We should probably get the video camera out again soon.

A few examples of the princess of cute:

Child abandonment update

So, daycare was... a success! I only cried a little when we left Gracie, but the rest of the day was fine. It helped that the director sent me an email saying Grace was doing great. When I picked her up, they said she'd had a very good first day and is a really easygoing baby. She even napped and leaked out of her diaper so apparently she felt very comfortable. And she was giggly and happy the rest of the afternoon. She did an art project, too - a leaf cut out with her handprint. I really wanted to bring it home, but they were all hanging over the cribs so I felt I should leave it. Here's hoping day two (longer) will also go well, and then we'll be into a good pattern.

Work was good as well, although it turns out pumping will be a bit more of a challenge than I thought. Lots of paraphernalia and no good place to pump at work except my office. That's my office with the giant window in the door and that I share with a male colleague. Fortunately, he's super cool and since his wife is nursing as well, he gets it and offered to just step out when I need to pump. We now just have to figure out how to cover the door/window. I think we may end up with a hodgepodge of mid-eighties band posters and Jeff's son's artwork (until Gracie has enough that I can take it to work).

Whew.

New toy

Well, we finally got a highchair. After one successful rice cereal feeding in which I had to keep refilling the bowl, Grace has decided that was a joke and is back to spitting it out and looking at us like we're crazy. The highchair, however, is a big hit. It's great that she can sit in the kitchen while we cook. And she seems to have fun!

Tupperware is pretty cool.

And it's fun to drop things.

Yea, so really this whole post was an excuse to post these cute pictures.

A few other new pix here (trying to get back into the swing of posting photos regularly).

The precipice

Last summer, when we went to Acadia in Maine, Steve and I hiked a trail called the Precipice. Hike isn't really the right word, it's actually a "non-technical" climbing route that ascends a rock face for about a 1000 feet straight up. What you can't tell is that the signs said people have died falling. The picture below shows the trail (there's a tiny person near the top, too). It was fantastic and a bit scary.
Daycare starts this week and I feel like I'm at the edge of a precipice. Grace and I went for a visit last week to make sure the center had all the necessary paperwork and to figure out the drill for drop off, what stuff we need to bring, etc. It actually made me feel much better. I got to see all the other kids that looked happy and well cared for. I saw Grace look interested in the other kids and the toys. And best of all, I saw how easily she went to the different people that worked there and how relaxed she seemed.

We chose the daycare based on the recommendation of friends and have since met another family whose son attends. He is close to Grace's age so they may be in the same room at least part of the year. The place is licensed by the state and I can review video tapes any time I want. I know that daycare will help Grace's socialization and give her confidence that Steve and I will return when we leave and say we'll be back. I know, too, that she'll get more entertainment there than she does with me (they do art projects with infants! We're not doing any finger painting at home).

Nevertheless, I am positively dreading dropping her off on Tuesday and walking away. One of the other mothers told me she cried till noon the first day and she's one of those cool as a cucumber seemingly not antsy types. I know it will be ok. I just need my rational side to override the part that is saying it's crazy to leave my baby (tho, it is, right?). I won't put my make up on till after I get on the train. And fortunately my office mate has kids, one two months older than Gracie, and he's been warned to be nice (at least he's been warned that I'll be drying my pump on my desk). So, Tuesday is a big day.

Really, could you leave the cutest, sweetest, funniest baby in the world?