I'm Outsourcing

Guess what! Little One passed a milestone last week. She had Her first meal that did not come expressly from me. Solid foods here we come! J and I sat Her down and introduced Her to some rice cereal. Here is how it went:

"Hey guys! What're we doin'?" "Chewing on stuff, huh? You don't have to help me, I'm good at that!"

"...wait.....what...what's that stuff on there?"

"...gooey....sticky....a new, as yet undiscovered flavor....hmm...what is it I wonder?...."

"......pretty darn tasty is what it is!""gimme some more o' that!"

"Oh yes. That is yummy. I will now proceed to devour the whole cupful please. MMmmmMMMmmmmmmm!

"Nice work Parent People. That was my kinda fun!!"

Punk-'N

Now we've both delivered

My husband, he is awesome. He has done many really cool things, like jump in a raging river rapid to save a puppy. Like ride 20 miles on a bike and not even lose his breath. Or go to work in a giant air-filled fat suit just because why not. But last night he did one of his coolest things yet, in my opinion. He delivered his first baby! How amazing is that?!
I'm a little green. I confess that ever since EMT training I've found myself hovering around great big pregnant women in places like airplanes and secretly hoping they'll just pop and I can swoop in and catch the tyke. So far no luck.
I remind myself that although I was on the other end of the transaction, it is SO still a correct use of the verb to say that I have 'delivered' a baby, too. So there's that. But even though I'm jealous that J got to personally introduce a person into the world (wow), I'm really excited for him, too. And whoever that little girl was is a lucky, lucky one. Who wouldn't want to be welcomed into the world by this face?
Good Job, future-Dr-J!

Black Holes and Baby Universes

I told you that Little One's world changed. What I really meant was Her universe. Remember that part in The Grinch where his heart grew three sizes? And you saw it start out tiny and shriveled and then swell up and up until it bursts through the frame?? That is what happened to Little One's universe. Little One, like the Grinch, had an Epiphany That Changed Everything.
She's has been able to roll for some time now. She can roll from tummy to back, which is great for getting off tummies. She can roll from back to front, which happens by accident while trying to eat shoelaces. Only on this day, She realized that:
She can roll onto Her tummy by design. She can then choose to roll off. When She does this, She is in a new spot. A spot that is closer to Her toy. Hmmm. Let's try that again. *flipflip*. Yes! Even closer! And the Big Epiphany came- She can go places. On Her own.
And, just like that, Little One's universe rapidly expanded from being two chubby arms in diameter, to being horizontally infinite. Her life gained a whole dimension in one day!
She has not been hesitant to use this new power. She has already been on a grand adventure.
No longer content to play within the boundaries of Her blanket on the floor, She spied something shiny in the Shadows beyond. She used Her new translational abilities to boldly roll Herself into the black abyss that is the cavern beneath my bed, pull some keys out of a safe, and emerge with Her treasure. Ooooh. Pretty. Jingly, sparkly choking hazards. Nice.

There is some major baby-proofing coming on. We've entered a New Era of Little One. In which the big wide universe is Her oyster, and in which I run around like a lunatic preventing injury and cleaning up.

Slice of Heaven

I want to write it down so I don't forget. These are scenes from today,dripping with sugar and syrup, because today was one of those days I'll flash back to when I'm old and telling people about good old days...

I wake up to sun through the windows! Yesterday there was ice on the patio table, today the air is warm and thick and delicious.
Little One coos contentedly, turning pages while we cuddle and read books late into the morning. She turns suddenly and cups my chin in Her hands, looks up and me and grins. Then She buries Her face in my neck.
We're lured out of bed by smells of J's famous breakfast potato curry. Little One plays with toys and makes raspberries at the dogs, while J and I read the comics in the paper and listen to Spring creep into our neighborhood.
We go to the nursery and load up on flowers and veggies. Little One is overwhelmed with the colors of the annuals, the bustle of people satisfying cravings for Life, and the hum of bees around the forsythia. She's so in love with the red ranunculus, Her father has to buy it.
Little One rocks and stretches on a big blanket in the shade, trying to extricate Herself from a giant blue sun hat, while J and I dig and sweat and pat the earth over new roots and seeds. We can't decide where to put the kale. We find the perfect spot for the ranunculus. The yard is a life sized salad bowl. The chipmunk under the deck has found nirvana.
We all shower up and J and I are starved. We eat our favorite dinner early- injera - and Little One sleeps off the sun.
I go to our favorite local ice cream place and hope it doesn't melt in the car, and revel in the fact that it's warm enough to worry. I eat a giant sundae watching butterflies discover our new garden.
I watch the dogs shimmer yellow in the pond while I snuggle my sweet baby on the deck. She loves the splashing. She loves the bees. She loves, because She's a baby and I love that that's what babies do.
With the sun still out, the sky opens up into warm rain and Little One and I dance on the deck while she catches raindrops on Her outstretched tongue and fingers, giggling.
J bathes the furries (yay!) while I play on the floor with Little One and watch Her life change forever. More on that later.
J comes too, and we all play and babble at each other until it's time to tuck Little One into bed, and watch the sky and the pond turn pink.
I luxuriate in the warm air on my skin and the breeze through the window. J is here all night and all weekend, I have an angel sleeping upstairs, and there is still some ice cream waiting in the freezer.
Heaven.

Improvisation

Here is a helpful tip. You should keep a yellow waterproof-fabric shower curtain in your car. This is handy for protecting the car in case you want to transport muddy dogs home from the lake, or a bunch of recently watered plants home from the nursery. It's nice if you want to have a picnic but it has been raining. And, if you meet your friend to go hiking but realize that you somehow managed to forget your baby carrier, a yellow shower curtain makes a surprisingly excellent sling. Comfy for mom and comfy enough for baby to take a long nap in, it even has convenient little holes in the top for attaching toys with plastic rings. That's right! Shower curtains are both stylish and functional. And now you know. Your welcome.

I hear Earth and Nature are mothers, too.

Today, as you know, is Earth Day.
There are SOOOOooooo many reasons to take this quite seriously. Like sad little polar bears floating around on disembodied bits of polar ice. And lovely bits of human ingenuity swallowed up by swelling seas as the poles melt into big useless puddles. These are all great reasons to, among other things:

1) skip the beef - Oh the pollution! Methane from cow doody, runoff from ranches, chemicals of all sorts, other ickies...and Oh the resource sucking! Enough corn to feed oodles of people, enough water to fill bunches of swimming pools, not to mention the energy that goes into processing, packaging, and transporting your cheesburger.
2) Check out http://thewaterproject.org/ to see how you can help the MANY accross the world suffering for lack of clean water. Watch what you pour down the drain, while you're at it.
3) (pet peeve alert!) Stop throwing everything away! PEOPLE! You don't have to keep it. If you must, you can even replace it. But unless it is broken to bits or something that is rotting and decaying, don't trash it. Freecycle it. Donate it. Goodwill does pickups people! If all else fails, post it on Craigslist for free. Take it from me, someone will come and get it. No matter what it is. (I've tested this theory. Used fish tank filters? Check. Peed-on carpet? Check.) Just don't chuck it in a landfill because you wanted a newer, shinier whatever it is.

Because there is another reason that Earth Day and everything it stands for and reminds us of is important. One which makes looking out for the planet profoundly and acutely important to me now more than ever. I hope you think so, too.

Great-Grampa Birthday Trippin'

Our visit last weekend was kind of a big trip for us because for one, Her Great-Grampa was turning 75! And that is something to celebrate. But on top of that, She got to meet a lot of family for the first time. It was also our first time traveling since She has become so fond of Her familiar schedule and has become a little bit Type A, always needing to be busy and entertained. So I was interested in seeing how it would go. I'm happy to report that for the most part it turned out quite well! I don't have all the photos yet, so I may add more later, but here's a recap if the fun I've got so far, in pictures.

Despite being hauled around to various venues, Little One slept and ate like a champ, and got in a good flirt with everyone She met. She did get a bit overwhelmed at times, but a good nap and talking things out with Feet always sorted Her out.

She got to see fabulous AuntE, who dazzled Her with amazing and fascinating gifts, which are all apparently much more intriguing than the pricey toys I stuffed into my bag and lugged out there for Her. Like coffee creamer packets.

...and apples...


...and...eyes...

She got to spend quality time with many veteran and rookie fan club members.

She also finally got to meet little GQ here. GQ is a mere couple weeks younger than Little One, and the introduction has been a long time coming. GQ is ridiculously strong, almost crawling even. Which is why, perhaps, Little One felt the need to assert Her dominance by head-butting him (note the little red spot when you click on the picture). Luckily GQ is SO strong, that he didn't even notice, and as you can see they got on very well after that.

No worries, O, he's Her cousin. Well, technically he's my cousin, but for simplicity sake, we will call him cousin GQ. Mine is like a royal family, in that titles are frequently transferred, amended,or altogether made up, because it's really too much work to figure out how everyone is related to whom. Plus we think we're reeaaaly important.

Little One also got Her first experience with a swimming pool. It took Her a moment to realize that swimming pools are splashable, and then She kicked up some mini-tsunamis until a bunch of kids came along making mid-size-tsunamis. Which was so fascinating in usurped all Her kicking energies.

And of course, there was the main event. THE party.
Little One showed up with Her entourage.

She and Her date, Ducky, took a seat at the VIP table...

She took a look at the menu...

Mingled with various esteemed guests...

Got Her par-tay on and did some dancing on the table...

Hobnobbed with celebrities...

And even got to kick it with the guest of honor.

What a trip!
HAPPY 75th BIRTHDAY Little One's Great-Grampa! We love you, times 75.

Clicking Our Heels

Over the weekend Little One and I took to the skies again to join family for my grandfather's 75th birthday party. Woo hoo! We birthday partied it up so hard that this morning Little One had a paparazzi hangover. She slept right through Her morning play time, all the way until the end of Her morning nap. And then She and I had some serious snuggle time, and I mean serious. We spent an actual couple of hours laying in bed while Little One squirmed in reallllly close and listened intently to the rainstorm outside, watched the lightning on the walls, and told me lots of stories and secrets. Then She buried Her face in my shoulder, and dozed off some more.
Once we finally got the day started, She toured the house doing the gasp-grin-and-wiggle. Which went like this, with big wide eyes: "(gasp!) it's my doggies! (Grin-and-wiggle) Yay!" and "(gasp!) it's my jumperoo! (Grin-and-wiggle) Yay!" and "(gasp!) it's my elephant! (Grin-and-wiggle) Yay!" and so forth. It was a very exciting morning. Maybe She felt the need to get reacquainted after a whole 3 days apart, but She had a lot to say to all Her toys and books. Then when J got home blessedly early in the evening, She had some serious snuggle time with Daddy, who even tucked Her into bed early.
I love how Little One has such a firm idea of what is familiar and what is new. It was fun watching Her explore many new environments and experiences last weekend (which we'll share stories about soon), but it was also fun to watch Her come home and recognize objects and areas, and become so relaxed being in a place that She belongs and which belongs to Her. This is a perspective I hope Little One hangs on to as She grows up. The feeling that the Wide World is a fun and exhilarating place to go out in and experience, but that at the end of the day- there's no place like Home.

So that explains it...

A friend posted link to this article, from a very reputable and peer-reviewed journalistic publication. Having read it, I'm dismayed to have realized that Little One, I believe, may fit the symptoms of this diagnosis. See for yourself.

NEW YORK—A new study published in The Journal Of Pediatric Medicine found that a shocking 98 percent of all infants suffer from bipolar disorder. "The majority of our subjects, regardless of size, sex, or race, exhibited extreme mood swings, often crying one minute and then giggling playfully the next," the study's author Dr. Steven Gregory told reporters. "Additionally we found that most babies had trouble concentrating during the day, often struggled to sleep at night, and could not be counted on to take care of themselves—all classic symptoms of manic depression." Gregory added that nearly 100 percent of infants appear to suffer from the poor motor skills and impaired speech associated with Parkinson's disease.

Disclaimer: My amusement with this article is not meant in any way to demean those who suffer from the actual real diseases mentioned above. Which are not funny, at all. If you are in any way offended, feel free to leave a comment railing against my insensitivity and ridiculing me for my own maladies, such as the Munchausen symptoms displayed in this post.

Further disclaimer: When I said "reputable and peer-reviewed journalistic publication" I was saying it with an overly-obvious wink and a sly smile. Which you couldn't see, so I thought I'd clear things up. Sometimes I play with sarcasm and small fires start, or people's eyes get poked out. Watch yourself.

In an Eggshell

Here is my post about Easter. I have lots of thoughts about Easter and life and so forth, but it's hard for me to share all such stuff without getting overly Catholic on you. So out of respect of the diversity of faiths and faithlesnesses of you Peanuts (even though possibly the only one reading this is my mom- hey mom!) I'm going to skip it for now.
But I will share this bit of cross-wearing tradition with you: for this season of lent, I gave up the following: coffee, alcohol, over-the-counter and prescription drugs, street drugs, thalidomide, highly toxic cleansers, personal freedom, personal space, and my complete former self-identity. And I am so devout that I started early, and also plan to continue abstaining from some of these for the indefinite future. (I'll leave you guessing as to which ones.)
Now without further ado, here are some pics from J's family Easter party which, other than my horror at the tonnage of high-fructose consumption by small candy-cracked out children, was a great time. Little One got to visit Her BFF, among other VIPs, and J and I were able to graciously accept Little One's allotted Kilo of refined sugar on Her behalf, and hide it from Her in our bellies.

Happy Easter, to YOU!