12 Months

Wow. Wouldja look at that?! A year. A year?! How did that happen so fast?! Well in any case, it's also been 12 months, and forget how much has happened in a year, lots has been going on just in the last month!
Little One can do all sorts of new things. She can push her walker-wagon around the house like a miniature geriatric patient, enjoying the view from almost two feet higher.
She can play "pat-a-cake" and "peek-a-boo" for hours on end, doing all the hand motions and holding up the tea towel Herself.
She can talk talk talk all day, singing in the crib, singing in the car. Making music for me all the time.
She has figured out how to not only seek and destroy, but to put things right again. (woo hoo!) She can put her toys back in the box, build a new block tower after smashing the old one, stack the rings on the peg after pulling each one off, smile adorably after yanking out my hair.
She is interested in how things work. She will put the cylinder block through the ring-shaped one over and over, in multiple configurations, or press a button to hear a song over and over to make sure there is really such a thing as cause and effect (a phenomenon I play an unwitting experiment version of myself throughout the day).
All this study has helped Her learn what things are for. She knows that shoes go on feet, and will try to put them on. Or eat them. She knows that daddy's glasses go on faces, and tries to get them on, too. Or eat them. She knows what forks and spoons and zippers and buckles are for, and wants to use them Herself (or eat them).
In fact helping is Little One's new favorite pastime. At bedtime, for example, I comb Her hair, and then She (with an air of utmost importance) "combs" Her hair. She can also help brush Her teeth, get dressed, put on lotion, and wash Herself. She can pick her own book to read before bed.
Which is Her other big hobby right now. Her favorite toy is books. She wants them read to Her, She wants to read them aloud to me (all the stories go "bah bah-da! Dadada mama ma!" Rrrawwwr!!!") She wants to sit alone quietly, turning the pages and lifting all the flaps. She wants, very much, to eat them.
Which gets them taken away, which ends in tears. Because Little One knows when She's in trouble. She knows it for sure, and She knows it's NOT fun. Sometimes this is good, because She really will listen if I say No, and stop before She, for example, chomps down on the vacuum cord or dog's tail. Sometimes it just means lots of noise and waterworks because She didn't want to be told no and really didn't want to have Her book taken away/ be pulled out of the dishwasher/not get to crawl on the public-bathroom floor. I totally get it. I don't like limits much, myself. But I guess I'd rather get the concept of their inevitability across now, rather than wait for Life or the police department to teach Her later.
Anyways there are lots more smiles than tears around here for all of us, and we're having a really really fun time watching our sweet little baby turn into a sweet little toddler. Which is happening terribly fast. In fact, Little One celebrated Her big One Year by completing an incredible feat on Her birthday- She took Her first step!
It all seems so amazing. J and I somehow managed to get Little One into the world and carry Her with us all the way around the sun! And here we are. Starting off on the journey again, and this time, Little One making Her way on Her own two feet.

We know you'll do great things on the way, Little One, and we can't wait to see what you'll learn and become as you go. Just remember that even when you don't need us to carry you anymore, we'll still be right behind you.
Happy Birthday.

She clapped when they brought out the lassis.

There is a little Indian restaurant near here, tucked into the corner of a strip mall, which for some strange reason is called Minerva. I love it so much that I am infamous for taking out of town guests there, for whom the experience is rather like being asked to strip naked, put on warpaint, and dance around a boiling pot of monkey brains.
Take it as a warning! If you come visit me I will drag you to Minerva, expecting you to love it. Come at your risk, and bring your own white bread. Today I did it again. I had hungry people with me, and as you now know, that is where I take hungry people. But I also went there partly as a bit of a celebration.
Because one year ago today, I went to Minerva with some friends. I was as round and fat as a gulab jamun. I asked the waiter if it was true that spicy food makes your baby come, and he said that oh yes, yes it's true. So I told him to bring me something spicy. Spicy! Spicy enough to get me looking more like a nice chappati right away. And he did. We all left, stuffed as samosas, and teasing him that his curries weren't hot enough. And then J and I fell asleep all by ourselves, for the last time.

I know I had slept restlessly for awhile, but 4am is the first time I really woke up, thinking "ow!" and looked at the clock.
About 6:30am J peeked in the shower to tell me goodbye on his way to work, and I said, "keep your phone on today."
By lunchtime I was writing down the intervals while I cleaned and gardened.
Around 3pm I had to pause every so often from staining baseboards, to put my hands on my knees and take a deep breath.
At 5 I had called J several times, leaving no message because his phone was off.
By 5:30 I was taking occasional laps around the living room, clenching and unclenching my hands.
When J finally came home at 6, he found me trying to eat a bowl of macarroni and sort of laughed when I said it was because I didn't think I'd eat again for awhile.
But by 7 or so, he knew.
8 or 9 something pm we made our first start for the hospital, called on the way, and were sent back.
11ish or so I was pacing the hall and saying, "time to go! time to go! I don't care what the nurse said time to go!!!"
And then we were going.
After midnight the doctor said we'd barely made it, and there was a flurry of nurses and needles and flying down the hall on a bed.
A bit after one in the morning J was holding my hand and I was saying, "she's never coming!" and the doctor was laughing, and then we all were. And J said, "you can do it".
And by 1:30- She was here. They held Her up, Her little arms stretching way out like She was embracing all the world already. And for a moment there, time stopped altogether.

It went on, of course, and more than 8,765 hours later my baby is about to have Her first birthday. She's almost ready to walk. She's tiny, but feisty, and determined to do things Herself. She laughs at everything. She's insatiably curious. She still curls up under my chin to listen to my heartbeat. And She love, love, loves to eat curry.

News

A quick update on Things.
Little One is doing great, trying very hard to attain vertical ambulation, and exploring all aspects of gravity with passion and dedication.
J is nearing the end of his neurosurgery rotation, otherwise known as the rotation-from-H-E-Double-Hockeysticks. He has been working from about 4am to 8pm, every day but Sunday, and studying in his "free time" (formerly known as "sleeping time"). The end of this week cannot come fast enough, and we are all feeling thankful that J has chosen to NOT be a surgeon and NOT make hockeysticks a permanent part of our future lives. Whew!
The doggies are feeling a bit neglected, and sadly taking it out on the backyard. But Little One is trying hard to make up for our inattention but cuddling E, and chasing X around the house until he whimpers and someone saves him.
I'm doing fine, partying with Great Girl and Mekdes whenever I can and packing for Little One and I to leave tomorrow on a trip to New Mexico to see some fan club VIP's and to formally introduce Little One to one of the great joys of being alive and in the world- NM green chile. Mmm.
Great Girl is working on learning advanced English vocab words in a week, in prep for her official practice test next Tuesday, so we are keeping things crossed for that. This means you!
Mekdes is on her way back to the hospital for more tests and hopefully after the weekend we'll know whether she's a candidate for surgery or not. Cross stuff for that too!
We've had some fantastic visitors, and are getting ready for a steady stream of guests over the next couple of months. And other stuff. Which means more pictures coming soon, and also that I need to get off my booty and go clean something. So there you go. If you don't know, now you know!

Search for the Great Pumpkin

Brrrr. It's fall! Little One and I are bundling up in our sweaters in the mornings. I can't say I welcome the cold weather. Cold weather and I, we do not get along. But cold weather is part of the deal in our relationship with the East. It was in the pre-nup. Fortunately, the changing of the seasons has plenty of benefits to balance it out. Like fall festivals and orangy-brown decorating palates. Little One and I got into the spirit of things and joined some friends on the search for the perfect fall pumpkins. Here's how it went(to see these pictures in their full cuteie-pie-ness, click on them):

Somewhere in there is the Perfect Pumpkin...

Childproof House

Proof...












...Proof...













...Proof...










...Proof...










...Proof...











Proof.

















Yes, the evidence is conclusive....



















There's a child in this house.

And it's not even Halloween yet

In recent Little One news, I regret to tell you that She has become a vampire.
We had the great fortune of babysitting O for awhile yesterday, and then O's mom watched Little One during The Interview today. The Interview was long. All day, really. Which is Little One's first all day away from me. Milestone!
According to O's mom, it went really well. They played nicely, everyone napped, tears were not shed. It wasn't until I came to pick Her up and was talking to O's mom while they played on the floor that the fangs came out. Literally. As I watched, Little One grabbed O's shirt, and leaned in with the big open "I'm gonna smooch ya" baby face. "Oh" I thought. "How sweet. They love each other". She smooched. And then, She bit. Hard. O screamed, and bled, and I stammered apologies and reprimands through my shock. Great. Here we go. I thought girls waited to be preteens before becoming obsessed with Twilight?!
Thanks for taking wonderful care of my Little One, O's mom. And, um, sorry about the "parting gift". Also watch out for aversions to garlic and sharp bicuspids. I hear this vampire thing can be contagious.

Crossing

Well I didn't want to jinx anything, Peanuts, so I wasn't sure if I should tell. But I think I will, because maybe it will help me obtain more finger crossing. Here's the thing. There is this girl. And she is really and truly the most incredibly amazing girl you can imagine. Like, think of Mulan crossed with Ayaan Hirsi Ali crossed with the-heroine-of-any-lifetime-movie crossed with beautiful. She is even more awesome than that. And she is smart. But not like regular smart; AP chemistry crossed with photographic memory crossed with whats-the-point-of-a-calculator smart. And that's not the half of it.
Then there's this school. It's a boarding school, and it is so fancy-schmancy that it has an indoor swimming pool and horse stables and art studios and science labs and a library. And a waterfall on the potomac. And really, really good teachers. The kind of school that Harvard says, "oooooooooh. look at thaaaaaat."
So I got to thinking. Hmmmm. Hhhmmmmmm, I thought. You know what make a lot of sense, and equals a lot of good things?! Great Girl crossed with Fancyschmancy School, Peanuts. That's what!
And so the last few weeks have been a flurry of me, Great Girl, and the AFC Orphanage director working 'round the clock on things like essays, applications, reccommendation letters, and Ethiopian records. And, because Great Girl just happens to be in the US as a sign-language interpreter for Mekdes, today we were able to have The Interview. The school headmistress herself gave this interview. It lasted two hours. In English. And Great Girl did really, really well (thanks partly to all your crossed appendages, I'm sure). We have all our toes crossed for acceptance and a scholarship, which is asking a lot of anyone's toes, even the Great Girl. But we are hopeful.
There is a big, scary, standardized test which I think it all kind of depends on, and that hasn't happened yet. Half of the test is in the subject of English, which is Great Girl's second language, or maybe third, and though the testing center assures us that most international students are allowed an interpreter to be present, Fancyschmancy school has nixed that option.
So I will ask you, if I may, to keep everything crossed the next couple of weeks while Great Girl attempts the impossible feat of shoring up her English skills and getting competitive results on a test in English, having never taken a standardized test, with American girls who have been in the Kaplan test-prep class since the 5th grade.
We think she can do it. She's that bright. But we will appreciate crossed fingers, all the same. You know, sometimes things in life just happen to be as they should be. And sometimes, to get them quite right, it takes some work. So just now I am nervous crossed with hopeful crossed with really. busy.
I will keep you updated on what happens. Because I think Great Girl is great enough that everyone should care! And because I hope that, until we find out what will happen, all of you will be keeping your fingers (and everything else) crossed for good luck.

Feet

Things are afoot, Peanuts. I'll tell you about some of them and add to the summer scrapbook pictures soon, but for now I'd just like to ask you all a favor. Which is to please, tomorrow, think your thoughts in this direction and cross you fingers. All of them. Also your toes, please, and arms and eyes, and if you can manage it also your tongue. For your pretzely services I might try to learn how to post a video. In the meantime, sorry I've been so busy. It's just that Things are afoot. And, also, as you can see, underfoot.

Nuts.

Today we got Little One's test results back from the allergist. She came back positive for everything they tested for, and "highly positive" for all but one "moderate". We are sorry to hear that we must add strawberries to the list of no-nos. And we were surprised to hear that peanuts were topping the charts, since we thought milk was the worst.
Little One has never had a peanut, Peanuts. But now we know that She must stay very, very far from them. (but not from you). Let's put it this way.
Milk got a allergy value of about 7. Little One is so allergic to milk that touching a product made with milk causes big blistering hives and swelling where She touched it. Peanuts were in the 30's.
Of course you're all wonderfully careful about what you feed the Little One when you see Her. Because you are super and that's why we love you. But peanuts apparently warrant an extra-extra careful, so here's a heads up. Perhaps this handy poster will help us all. I might make it into wallpaper for the hampster-bubble we will put Her in. Too much? Ok. I'll just nail it to the front door, then.

A Little Renovation

Look how Little One has been "helping" in the kitchen. How cute! And totally dangerous considering practically everything in there is poisonous for her!


So to distract Her, we wanted to get Little One a poison-free play-kitchen. But we found that mini-kitchens cost mini-fortunes. So imagine our delight when we found one at the thrift store on half price day! It was a... fixer-upper. But J and I are no strangers to renovating kitchens. When we moved in, ours had peeling plastic counters and mushroom decals on the light fixtures. So I spruced it up a bit. What do you think?

Before:

After:


So far its working! I cook with poison, while Little One cooks with pretend food made of pretend hypo-allergenic air. Somehow, Her dinners always turn out better than mine. Sweeter.

Presents

Since our visit with the girls, Little One has become the proud new owner of Her very own Ethiopian virus! It came as an extra in the goodie-bag with warm-fuzzies, happy thoughts, and sugar-coated memories. An added bonus! Since the day after our visit She has been investigating the various aspects of this new acquirement- fever, sniffles, coughs, various icky gooey stuff- and found it to be quite extensive in its offerings. In fact we dropped by the doctor yesterday and found that in its current permutation it even includes a "wow that's a good and nasty ear infection!"
The news must be out that She has a birthday coming soon. Because three teeth have also chosen this time to pop in, bringing a jello mold and a nice basket of inflammation and throbbing pain. The gifts just keep coming!
Thanks to this shower of generosity, Little One and I have put many miles on the rocking chair, and spent a couple of looong nights just exhausting ourselves with all the fun. Did you know that booger-goo and tears when heated by fever to just the right degree, becomes an incredibly stalwart bonding material? Well yes! It does! Little One is now welded to my body.
I'm on my third cup of coffee and I hate to see my Little One so miserable. But see, these are days of busy, exploratory independence, Peanuts. And Somewhere in our fourth hour of rocking last night, She coughed and woke and the lip popped out and the whimper made it shiver. Then She cracked Her puffy little eyes and saw me There. She took a deep, raspy breath, snuggled in reeeeaaally close, and fell back asleep, still clinging tight to my shirt. I can't make Her better, and that would be the best thing. But the power to comfort, simply by existing and caring, is a pretty incredible feeling. I might even call it a gift.

Thanks for listening...and please stay tuned

Remember my post back there asking for help bringing Mekdes to the states for her surgery? Well some of you Peanuts stepped up and I'm sending a great big e-hug out to you right now. Big. The kind where you get sorta squashed and all you can think is, "is that tide? I think that shirt crammed into my face was washed in tide. Gosh I'm glad she washed her shirt. Otherwise she might not smell so tide-y". Wanna know why you get my tide-hug?
Because last week your help combined with lots of other people's help brought Mekdes here to DC! Another girl from AFC came too, and Little One and I are SO lucky, that we got to hang out with them a little before they headed out to CT where we hope miracles happen.
Excuse me while I get a little warm-fuzzy on you, but seeing those girls- two of the best girls on the earth, Peanuts,who I really do love very big- all the way out here and holding my baby....well. It felt quite a lot like some miracles had already happened.
Here are a few pictures of three of the loveliest ladies ever to be, and one of the happiest faces you will ever see me wear. Those of you that helped make these pictures possible, Thank You.

9/11

8 years ago, I wasn't in DC. I was sitting on the couch in my sorority house with my mouth hanging open, feeling the world change.
My dad, though, he was here. He was here rushing into a burning pentagon when all common sense would have him rushing out.
For my dad, so many heroes, and all those who were lost then and since, I'm sending out some love and gratitude today.
And remembering never to take anything for granted.

11 Months

Well well well. Little One’s 11 month birthday- that’s BIRTHday- happens to fall on Labor Day. Whattaya know. I think it’s very fitting, don’t you? Of course Little One has been a good little laborer Herself, working hard day and night on this "growing up" job, staging the occasional strike or protest, and negotiating for higher broccoli payloads. Here are some more of the accomplishments my little teamster has managed this month:


Little One can now SAY these:

"NO"- by shaking Her curly head very. emphatically. That's right. Little One has the ability to object and She's not afraid to use it! Oh jeeze. Here we go.

"more", "milk", and "potty"- by signing. And She not only tells us when She needs the potty, but when we tell the dogs to "go potty", She makes the sign for them, too. In case they need encouragement.

"dada" and "mama", and "da-squeal" which means "dog".

She just about has the hang of "hi", "hello", and "all done". She's got the intonation, it's just the consonants we're still working on. She holds her play phone up to her head and says, "haaahDo-oooh!"

"La! La! Lalalaaa!!!" Which is Her artistic interpretation of the ABC song.

"RrAAAAWWWRR!!!!" As in, "Little One, what does a lion say?" "RrrAAAAWWWWRRR!!!"

She can now DO these:

Find Her foot when I ask. Also Her nose. And my nose. Which is good because you don't want to misplace feet and noses.

Play "patty cake", making the hand motions Herself. She loves "rolling" and "patting".

Patting in general is big. We pat-pat animals gently. She pats the bunny in the pat-the-bunny book. She pats the baby on the "pat and burp the baby" page of another book. She pats Her parents when She's trying to show love.

Or hugs and kisses. Sometimes if I lose her I holler, "can I have a hug?!" and She'll emerge from the cabinet/under the bed/inside the toybox and squiggle over to climb up and put Her chubby little arms around my neck. There you are, Little One!
She gives me a big wet kiss first thing every morning, and whenever She's just feeling lovey. Beware the kiss when She's excited though, it comes with teeth.

Eat with a spoon and fork (with help loading them first). Broccoli is still the #1 ammo.

Recognize differences and remember. So She can find a certain toy in the box if I ask for it, or choose Her favorite book off the shelf. ( "10 9 8" or "jazz baby").

Give me five. And high five!

'sing' and 'play piano' at the same time. PLUS shake the booty. It's quite the act.

Pretend. She very much likes to pretend to feed Her food to me. She holds it out and I pretend to take a bite, She squeals in delight and then eats it Herself. Sometimes She gets silly and stuffs it in Her mouth before my pretend-bite, then laughs hysterically with Her mouth full of lima beans, knowing She has just pulled a fast one on mama.
She also pretend-sleeps, so I will call to Her in the car seat "Little One! Oh Little One! Are you asleep?" Which starts the dominoes of sly smile, peeping through one open eye, giving up the act and laughing hysterically because She has again pulled a fast one on mom. Mom is so gullible.

Empathize? Miss? Something. Something for the dogs. She loves them. She loves them SO. So much that if they are getting kicked out because I just cleaned the floo-um...allowed out to play in the sunshine, She will wail and flail and cry real tears as the sliding glass door latches. Then dramatically heave Herself over to press Her face against the glass, pounding it with little fists and reaching to them with Shakespearean theatrics. Diva.

Remove Her diaper. It is good that She no longer likes to be in a wet diaper. It is good because we are getting more and more wet in the potty. It is bad because if I'm not paying attention and miss the wrist-flip that means "gotta go, Lady!" She will take matters into Her own hands.
J- Why is the dishwasher full of all our tupperwear?
C- Little One peed in it.
J- ALL of it?
C- Yes.
At once.

We're working on it. It will take awhile. But dirty diapers (knock wood) are a thing of the past. She even holds it when we're out, and goes when we get home. Yay for no more dirty diapers!

Put things INto other things. Instead of just taking everything OUT of everything. I reeeally hope She runs with this one.

Climb. She has figured out how to pull out each drawer just a little so they make stair-steps. She has stacked two empty toy baskets and climbed on top of them the better to scale the bookcase. She can climb the stairs. If you sit still long enough, She will climb you, too. I'm on the lookout for little flags bearing "LO" at the top of everything, as She claims the furniture for Herself. (I'm on the lookout as She climbs, too. For the Grandmas freaking out out there. Don't hide! I saw you cringing!).

Plus lots more stuff.

Whew! I told you She has been working hard. And, really Peanuts, we all have. She's quite the whirlwind to keep up with these days. Have you noticed these birthday posts are getting looooonger? Her development has hit an exponential curve. It is exhausting! And it's so so SO much fun. Physically She is doing great, eating like crazy and staying very healthy as long as we are very careful. She's still chillin' down there in the 10th percentile for height and weight, rockin' the 3-6 month outfits, but She's growing and growing and getting muscles under there. Actually...I can't believe how big she is already...but I'll save the sniffles another month.
Happy Birthday, Little One. All that hard work is paying off. You're turning into one heck of an amazing Little One, and we love you! In fact. One a scale of 1 to 10, you're an 11.

Summer Scrapbook

Do you really want to see a litany of pictures involving the same people over and over? Oh. You do, huh. Well, here you are then! Don't say I never gave you anything!

Berry Fun

National Arboretum - where Little One and O had their engagement portraits done.

Down on one knee and everything. Such a gentleman.

Corcoran Art Gallery. I did not get to see Adams and Leibowitz there this year. I did get to see some really good Eggleston inkjets, though. Which J found about as impressive as I find football. To each their own, no?

Little One is with me on the art thing, but with J on the photos. She liked the sculptures best.

We decided that the camera being stuck on this wierd setting made the photos look very, um, modern-artistic. Maybe we will lease them back to the gallery for a hefty fee.

Visits with the illustrious Miss M. Who by the way has of her own accord named her baby doll after Little One. Every time we hang out Miss M is sure to bring her Little One. "My Little One is sleepy too!!" she will say, tucking baby Little One into the stroller with big Little One. Which makes me remember when Miss M was a baby, and get all gooey and mushy.

Many a date with O. Who even gives her flowers sometimes. Charmer!

Backpacking by the river in Harper's Ferry. This was the girls trip, just us two, which followed the "mommy-wants-to-clean-the-house-all-day-without-you-lot-getting-in-the-way" trip a few days earlier, with just J, Little One, and the doggies.

Splishing at the Splash Park



"I'm a Little teapot"




C.H. Festival Petting Zoo

This camel later kissed Her on Her head. Really. And it was cute. Really.

Paying no attention whatever to the bunny hopping around under her dress.

Holding, erm, hooves, with Her new buddy.

Roaring at the sheep. Either all that wool looks like a mane, or it's just the only animal sound She has mastered. Either way, the sheep doesn't seem fooled.



Summer sailing lessons.



Family Hiking aka doggie heaven.




Mine too.