I'm baaaaaack! Maybe.

So I've been thinking that I should start this up again. Natalie has a little sister now, and the antics are sure to be entertaining. Well, at least to me.

What's new? Well, Elizabeth arrived on December 30, just in time to count for a tax deduction! I mean....just in time for the new year! Natalie has been absolutely wonderful as a big sister, and overall, things are going pretty smoothly.

The tone of this blog might change a bit. Not really sure yet, so we'll just have to see how it goes. Basically, I just wanted to make sure I'm recording all the fun parts of being a parent. And the not-so-fun parts, so if/when I think I want to add a 3rd child to the mix, I can look back and get a reality check.

Mobile Baby = diminished blog posts. Obviously.

(To be sung to the tune of “Morning Has Broken”)

The Child is mobile,
Gone is my freedom.
Off and exploring,
Kitties and birds,
Tupperware cupboards,
Trash cans and wires,
And her most favorite,
Underwear drawers.

Kitchen explosion,
With every meal-time.
Favorite food is,
Avocado.
Practicing throwing,
sippy cups flying,
Clean kitchen floor is
Out the window.

Like Giving a Dog Peanut Butter

Recently, we started giving The Child finger food. We started with those little star shaped puffs that Gerber makes. They melt away in your mouth really quickly, and apparently are just the right size and shape for little fingers to pick up. We're probably a little late in introducing them, but I'm paranoid, and needed the official "ok" from the pediatrician to start.

Anyways, we gave a few to The Child. She picked one up and tried to put it in her mouth. But although she got it there just fine, she didn't know what to do with it after that, and just kind of slobbered on it in her hand. Being a "fast dissolving" food, it started dissolving in her hand. Except instead of dissolving, it just got sticky, and stuck to her fingers. This presented a dilemma for her, and the hand began to open, close, open close, open close...each time moving the cereal puff to a different part of her hand. Transferring it to the other hand did not solve the problem, and trying to put it in her mouth only made it more sticky.

And so, Husband and I stood there, laughing at The Child as she tried to 1) eat the puff, and 2) figure out how to get it off her hand. She's getting better, but whenever I need a few minutes of entertainment, I give her some puffs to...um..."let her practice feeding herself," but really, for some comic relief.

Lessons Learned:

So now that The Child is mobile, I have had to re-assess where she plays, and what all is lying around when she's exploring the floor. I figured a basket of laundry was relatively benign, and posed no threat. I was right. What I didn't count on was her pulling up on said basket of folded laundry, and, piece by piece, throwing everything out of the basket while I spaced out for 30 seconds and checked my email. Point: Baby.

Lesson learned: although the basement play zone is baby friendly (except for the entertainment center....not sure what to do about that), folded laundry in that zone will not stay folded for long.

Is "South Park" holding auditions?

Lets just get this over with: No, I don't regularly watch South Park. Yes, I know they are offensive. But at least they're equal opportunity offenders. No one is immune from their parody/ridicule. Moving on...

The Child has been experimenting with different sounds. Mostly, its "aaah," or some sort of garbled drooly babble. A few weeks ago, she learned how to blow kisses. But only the sound, not with hand motions yet. So that has been one of her favorite sounds to make. Today she learned how to click her tongue. And she decided to combine that with her kisses/lip smacking noise . Sounds something like this "kiss kiss, click, kiss, click, click. Kiss, click." Basically, she does a dead-on impression of South Park's Starvin' Marvin, the "Ethernopian."

Reason #2 why The Child (or I) will need therapy:

I am with her all day, every day (and maybe this should be reason #3), so I see her small little developmental steps all the time. For a few weeks, she has been getting ready to crawl. At first she would just lunge at things. Then she figured out how to roll across the room. About a week ago, she learned how to sit herself up from laying down. Most recently, she's been rocking back and forth on her knees, and frequently straightening her legs...which looks like she's doing her own version of yoga's Downward Dog. But no actual crawling, unless you count a few scoots with her legs on her tummy.

Tonight, I got to go out to a baby shower for a friend. Sans baby. Wonderful husband watched The Child for about 4 hours while I was gone. 4 hours, which started with her slamming her head into the coffee table shortly after Husband took over playing with her so that I could get ready to go. Drama ensued, but having survived that, and being after distracted by a fun new book, she continued to play. So off I went to have some grown-up time with my friends. However, while I was gone, she crawled. And I missed it. Thankfully, Husband grabbed the video camera and got her to crawl a few more times while he recorded it. After I got done crying, I watched her crawl around the living room. It's comical, to say the least, because she does it with one leg bent (knee on the ground), and the other leg up (knee up, foot on the ground).

So when she's older, I'll have to tell her that I missed a major milestone because I was out at a party. A very fun, and much needed "break from the baby" party, but the guilt is still there. I guess this will be something for the "bring your parent to therapy" session.

The Child Does Democracy

Yesterday, I took The Child to vote. Well, she herself did not vote, but I took her with me. And not just because I had to (because I have no babysitter/no where else to send her). Despite the fact that she's only 8 months old, I wanted to expose her to the democratic process, and the importance of voting.

So we took our time getting ready in the morning. I had every intention of voting, but absolutely zero intention of trying to entertain her in a voting line for 3 hours. Around 10:30, we were ready to go, and off we went. After waiting for only 10 minutes, I was in the voting booth (basically a glorified mini-folding table with a 3-sided cardboard box on top of it), filling in my ballot. Natalie was parked next to me in her stroller, sucking on...well...anything she could get her hands on.

At that point, she decided to voice her opinion of the electoral process and candidates. She began her morning poo, loud and clear, with toots and grunts, in the middle of the tense, dead-silent voting room. Charming. But I guess she made her opinion known!