The big kid's park...

February 28th, 2008

MIA

I guess I dropped the ball for a bit.

It's a gorgeous spring like day here and our active little 11 month old was itching to distract herself from yet more teeth. Jim and I took her out to a cafe then followed a line of strollers around the Folsom Zoo. Jim had never been and was as impressed as I am with the up-close experience and their rescue philosophy. With the brisk, clear weather every beast was out of their cubby.

At home it's hard to keep up with miss busy body--she's into everything thing and all over the house for hours on end. Just when I think it's nap/bed time, she surprises us with a second, third, and forth wind. She puts her head down, quietly sucks on her fingers...then bam, she's leaning back, bouncing up & down, looking at me with a big toothy grin on her face. She loves to chatter and is pretty good at declaring uh-oh both before and after she tosses something to the ground. For awhile I thought she was muttering "ow" a lot, but then I realized she's often mimicking our ultra-talkative cat, it's just a form of "meow." So, she speaks cat too. Excellent.

The worst part of the day is getting her dressed. I should really watch old episodes of Crocodile Hunter for technique in handling her rolling and writhing. There have been bets made around that task, like "I'll take out the garbage and clean the litter for the next month if you dress her this one time..." I think she's always hated changing but it's just more difficult as she gets stronger and bigger.

A new talent is dance. Toys that play music, the car radio, music on the overhead at stores and restaurants...she almost never misses the opportunity to shrug her shoulders and bob her head up and down to the beat. I love it and hope it's a sign of more rhythm than I ever had. Along with playing, to stay busy indoors I just picked out a new crawl tunnel at Ikea. It happens to be turquoise and fits into her bedroom perfectly. She loves seeing one of us peaking in the other end as incentive for her screaming little, frantic body to race through...the best $15 dollars I've spent.

Next, we're very excited to see what she thinks of the personal cake and frosting coming up in just 25 days! My mom has been working with her to hold up one finger and learn to blow out a candle for the big day.

Here's Jim, procrastinating the difficult jammies on process.

Discriminating Diet

It was bound to happen...after all those months of food being yet another, new & exciting texture to cram in her mouth, Fiona's bored with meals. Here she is avoiding my a bite, hiding behind the high chair toy. Once she rips orange elephant out and slams him to the floor("uh oh...") she uses her best head turning and lip clenching techniques to ward off a heaping spoon of plums & apples granola puree. I was a little concerned at first since her picky appetitie corresponded with the leaf incident, but she doesn't seem uncomfortable and gobbles when the urge strikes (i.e. when Yo Baby yogurt is involved). She must being getting what she needs somehow because toting her little body around leaves my neck & back perpetually sore.

Closing in on year 1...

Maybe I'm jumping the gun but time passes so quickly. It's both like yesterday and years away that I was hobbling around work , itching for maternity leave and to meet our new addition. At first she was super fussy and a lanky little lady, always in the 90th+ percentile long and 60th for weight. She was sensitive to formula or my diet and she rarely slept. Nothing seemed to sooth her. I have to write everything down because for the sake of future offspring I've managed to forget some of the horrors. Last week our friend Courtney asked if Fiona had been awake as much as their newborn...I actually had to think about it. Jim was quick to ask if I were crazy or senile. It's been a hazier memory lately because all that fuss & muss transitioned into such a fun, chatty little girl, inquisitive about every speck, and full of playful energy. She still calls upon her best tantrum skills getting dressed in the morning or when she's "not ready" to go to sleep, but no where near her former self. I'll measure her on the 29th, at her 9-10 mo check-up, but I suspect she's slowed down as she looks so petite crawling off across the floor. Now she tries eating everything, loves baby yogurt, barley cookies, Cheerios, fruits, and some vegetables, mainly the gold ones. She's not keen on meats, greens, and some others but by camouflaging behind a little yogurt, I can usually get them in- she does study the spoon more and more each bite however. At Christmas I got a Magic Bullet Blender so when appropriate I try pureeing up our dinner items for her. She drinks a bottle, but less formula overall, and we've been introducing a sippy cup at lunch and snacks. Some nights she simply wants to hang out with us a little longer, usually just to sit on my lap and watch TV quietly, but most of the time by 700-730PM she lands in her crib, rolls over with her two fingers in mouth and sleeps until about 730-8AM the next morning. What a relief! I think the most tiring part now is her energy level--she is at every cord, cabinet, pet bowl, dirty shoe...in seconds flat! She'll take a nap or two but when her wake switch flips she's up, screaming to get out and scrambling to take off. She navigates the staircase, the furniture, mirrors, windows... I looked into those fence/pens for toddlers but after I read the sizes I realized I'd need several together to keep her content. My whole house would be a pen. For now I chase, take her places, and hope she tires at some point...

She loves clapping and is easily encouraged by our cheers, "Yeah Fiona!", and she's quick to reciprocate "motorboat" noises. Unfortunately she's also into the "Uh oh," I dropped that, "Uh oh," I dropped it again, and again... phase. I think I can record "uh oh" as her first purposeful word/phrase.. I'm trying not to make it too fun of a game-the same goes for her continued biting habit and eardrum rupturing "happy" screams. For those painful little habits we try a firm "no" and a brief sit-out in the Pack'N'Play but I'm not quite Super Nanny qualified yet. Does she visit for just one kid?

Rescue 911

You may have heard last week NorCal was slammed by rain and wind. Just when we opened our big mouths to comment on how so many fences were down, how we were surprised ours hadn't toppled-as that kind of stuff happens to us -we heard the Titanic like creaking of our ancient oak tree. Down it came, right onto our house. Clearly not something the home staging experts recommend when selling a house...We're in process with insurance to clear it out into some nice firewood and repair that side of our roof. No leaks but we have some broken rafters, a squashed vent, and mangled gutters. Poor old tree was probably 50 years old and was Joey's favorite place to see squirrels from the kitchen window.

Not the end of the drama though, oh no. With all that oak tree in the yard we ended up with oak leaves tracking into the house-those sharp, rigid ones that pierce garden gloves and stab bare feet. Just perfect for a wee crawling baby to sweep up with little fingers and slip into her mouth. On Tuesday while I was at work and Jim and my mom were at home watching Fi, she managed to sneak one of those sharp little pieces of shrapnel and in no time was coughing and gagging, spluttering up a little blood, and looking distressed. Not sure if it was lodged and in seconds she'd turn blue or something Jim called 911 while he continued to try to get it out. She quickly threw it up but that didn't stop the sirens, fleet of rescue vehicles, and crew of paramedics. In no time Fi was bashfully smiling at the guys in uniform and was given a clear bill of health. Scary! Luckily I didn't call home to check in until all of this was settled as I have enough drama with patients at work. So now I'm looking into an infant/child CPR/rescue class Jim can take, maybe with my brother.