Friday, July 25, 2008

Hello/goodbye and ... THWARTED!

Fun development -- as of yesterday, she's waving bye-bye! Sometimes with one hand, sometimes with both, but either way, it's incredibly cute.

Less cute -- the fit she threw over a pat of butter I took out of her hand, enroute to her mouth just now. I thought the bag from last night's takeout was empty, but no -- as it turns out, it still had little containers of parmesan and a couple of wrapped pats of butter in it. She shook the bag around awhile, enjoying the ruckus, and then was sort of quiet for two frickin seconds. I turned to look, and there she is, preparing to eat straight butter (Aunt L., is this how you got started? heh!). And of course, when I took it from her and threw the rest of the stuff away -- ohh, tragedy! Wailing! Kicking! Good thing she's still easily distracted by a little bit of bouncing and singing. And now she's happily chewing on some paper ... ahh crap, gotta go tend to her!

Friday, July 18, 2008

Mmmmm, tasty

Oh man, she just ate a floor Cheerio.

I thought I got all the ones I dropped the other day when I was filling a packet of Cheerios for her to take to baby school, but no ... one did remain, and she sighted it, homed in on the signal, and reached and consumed the target before I could get up from my chair.

She looked at me like it was some funny game we were playing, and I couldn't help laughing. I asked her if it was tasty, and she seemed to think it was -- because she saw ANOTHER one (augh!) right next to a small piece of potato chip, halfway under the oven, and started toward it.

A small break to sweep the floor, of course, before we let her back into the kitchen ...

Oh well, a floor Cheerio or three never hurt anybody.

Wednesday, July 16, 2008

End of an era -- and ever onward!

This weekend, we retired the black-white-and-red Gymini play mat -- Annika is far too mobile to need it now, plus she's just totally over it.

But I want to say to all new and expecting parents: This is one baby gear item that has been worth its weight in gold for us -- a real All-Star. It was a safe place to park her, it taught her some hand-eye coordination (or at least the concept that her limbs, when moved, could cause actions, such as jangling the toys hanging from the arches), it got her to roll over (because she'd spy something she wanted), it was good for chewing on, it was minimal/psychological support when she started sitting unassisted, and finally it was a home base for all her toys in the living room. It is lightweight, portable, takes up very little space when folded -- it went with us in an overstuffed Prius on several trips (including to the Russian River and to Scotts Valley) and kept her little body off of many a dubious floor (like, um, our own filthy carpet). I'll be buying it as a gift at every chance in future -- I couldn't recommend it highly enough!

Current Fave Raves, according to Annika:
--strings, cords, shoelaces
--filthy things (bathroom floor, your shoes, the bit of floor at the foot of the garbage can)
--whatever is on top of a table, any table
--plums (she went nuts for the one I cut up for her yesterday)
--shrieking (sudden and heart-attacky for the grownups, pure fun for her)
--stealth crawling (fast, silent, done with clear intent)
--riding in the stroller outdoors (all four limbs extended to the sky, the wind in her hair, delight upon her face)
--gymnastics on our bed
--paper (crinkly, goes straight into her mouth)
--my hair
--bouncing to music

Friday, July 11, 2008

Standing baby!

In the last week, this baby has taught herself a new and awesome skill: Standing independently! It's so much fun to watch -- she'll pull herself up on something, or get on all fours with her hands on some object about 6 inches high, then right herself and let go with both hands. She can stand alone for up to about 20 seconds before she bobbles and either flops backward laughing like a maniac (on our bed), or slowly eases down onto her butt (anywhere else). It's pretty much all she wanted to do yesterday, while home with Dad (who was awaiting delivery of our GIGANTIC new teevee). Here's hoping the next achievement is not something super-scary like figuring out how to vault the crib railing ...

Tuesday, July 8, 2008

Grown-up baby!

Well, that's what it feels like, anyway ... today was Annika's 9-month checkup! She's been out almost as long as she was in, can you believe that?

Her stats this morning say she's 27.5 inches tall, and weighs 19 pounds, 8 ounces. We've already traded up to a new carseat, although these numbers say she can ride in the baby bucket a little bit longer if we need her to, heh! No shots today, but there will be another round at her next checkup, soon after her first birthday.

In general, the doc says she's thriving and healthy and considerably ahead of the curve on her walking & crawling & standing. Yay, baby!

Sunday, July 6, 2008

First time for everything

Some firsts are more fun than others ...

On Friday, Annika celebrated her first Fourth of July on the outside. We had some friends over (K&K and their baby Sky, Tom, Bamanda, I&K and their baby Theo, and Mark & Janice R.) and grilled in the baking-hot July sun -- oh wait, no, this is Pacifica, so actually it was foggy to the point of being wet, and it was also rather chilly. Yay summer. But bocce and badminton and foosball warmed people up a little bit at least, and we did grill and have some beers and some Pimm's Drink and Tomaszos and whatnot, plus the jerk chicken & pork brought by Mark & Janice, and naturally there were fireworks (safe 'n lame, the only kind we can have here), so a good time was had by all. Annika, being the Very Obliging Baby that she is, charmed the socks off of our guests, then went to bed at 8:00 and slept through the whole of the fireworks.

Saturday, practicing her standing and exploring skills, Annika put her hand on the media tower to the left of our TV, leaned her weight on it, lost her grip, and bonked headfirst into its door, giving herself her first actual bruise. The nickel-sized spot above her left eye swelled up a little, but dissipated when we applied the frozen washcloth and turned into the faintest purple after awhile and is barely a shadow today. Poor thing, she was so surprised (and then so pissed off!) at the fact that it hurt -- the laws of physics apparently do not cease to exist in our living room, and I guess a baby's got to learn sometime. :-( Oh well -- she's totally forgotten the incident, and continues to explore at an astonishing pace. Can't stop this baby!

In other news, she and I are going to Texas at the end of this month for her great-grandmother's 8oth birthday! Dad can't get the time off, having used it all for parental leave recently, but we are going to brave the heat and visit all the fam. Grandmother M. is coming to "sunny" CA for a visit too, so this baby's just going to be soaking up the love in the next few weeks!