Weather and Parenting

Today was, by far, the nicest weather I've had as a stay at home papa. Certainly logged some stroller miles by marching up and down State Street, all for the grand purpose of getting Anna some rubber duckies for her bathtime. Sure, I could have just strolled down the street, but I much prefer to have a destination and a purpose.

While I was downtown I stopped in to say hello to Lori Bessler and her Tuesday crew, but I missed connecting with the 'old guy' volunteers. Fortunately, Lori was there to gush over Anna, so the visit was worthwhile.

The whole day with Anna was a lot of fun, except for much of the last hour. By that time, we're both a little worn out. Her new thing is leaning into me while she's engaged in play, as if to share the experience, which is great. She's quite the schmoozer. Normally my instinct would have been to return her to her stroller to get her to settle down, but she'd already spent a lot time there today, and Lisa wanted to walk with her after work.

After Lisa got home, she did go out and I got a chance to get on the Colnago for a half hour. Looking forward to pulling Anna behind the bike later this summer. In the meantime, it's stroll, stroll, stroll.

Entertainment Factor

This week in the Science Times, the section that comes in Tuesday's NY Times, there was an article that tried to explain current research into why we humans evolved to parent cooperatively. One of the factors that we can relate to right now, especially, is the entertainment factor. The idea is that before the age of TV & movies, babies served as early evening entertainment for couples.

This entertainment is especially welcome, I would argue, to sleep deprived parents, which is most newer ones.

It's certainly hard to remain grumpy, whether it's rational or not, at a 7 month old when she grins and giggles at Daddy. This afternoon, after our long walk in the early spring-like weather, and after some yummy carrots, we played on the floor together for about an hour. Might be the best full hour we've had together, at least just the two of us. The highlight came when I dangled a piece of ribbon above her and snatched away, just as her hands closed upon it to grab it. She giggled each time I did so.

The Times piece argued that babies are socially gifted to provide plenty of reinforcement for caregivers. I would suggest that it's probably even more powerful that, seemingly, the positive coos, smiles and giggles are somewhat random, providing that all-addictive random positive reinforcement that draws in gamblers and, apparently, daddies, all too well. Just ten minutes before our impromptu playdate, she was crying because I wouldn't let her play with the spoon that was delivering her carrots.

Here's another photo from our trip!

Great Weather, Lousy Sleep

Anna turns out to be a good traveler. She handled herself quite nicely on the plane. We were even delayed overnight in Minneapolis on the way home, and although she was extra tired, she didn't seem out of sorts, particularly.

We had great weather, Lisa liked her conference (after switching tracks), and Dad got to push the stroller in some warm sunshine. The only real downside to our trip was that Anna's sleep, and therefore ours, was pretty lousy.

She loved the swimming pool, slept great when strolled along the shore, and really got on a roll (watch video!). Today she played a good chunk of her time while sitting up!

She also turned 7 months on our trip, plus one of her teeth broke through the gum line. She's growing up right in front of us.

One sixth month journey down...

Ok, ok, I've been paying too much attention to Flickr, and not enough here. Guilty!

Tomorrow we travel to Marco Island, FL, our first flight with Anna. It'll be too many firsts for her to list, and most are obvious - ocean (Gulf), beach, plane, airport, Home Land Security...

All evening, which is Valentine's Day, I tried to appear calm - Lisa was more outwardly anxious, but inside, I've got a few butterflies about a long day of travel. Chances are good she'll do fine.

Too tired to write much. I'll just wish us a good trip and include a fun photo from this afternoon.

Bon Voyage!

Happy Baby

I think we have ourselves a little girl with a pretty happy disposition. Sure, she can get grunty and fuss. She cries when she's tired or when it seems the day has gotten too long without her mother around. Mostly, however, she's generous with her little smiles and toothless grins.

Tonight she went along to the tax guy's to see about our return. She did take a substantial am nap at Sally's, but had taken none in the afternoon. It was clear she was pretty tired, but that didn't keep her from grinning most of the appointment. She was likewise smiley at bedtime.

Lisa said she thought that Anna was a brave soul to come out into the world. She certainly forces us to reexamine just what's important and how little we should need to be content. If she can grab it and stuff it in her mouth, she's pretty pleased.

Lately she seems to hug us and sometimes she'll plant one on us. Sometimes that kiss turns into sucking on our cheekbone. She did that to me during our appointment this evening, and when I got a look at the single-minded determination in her eyes, I couldn't help but laugh.

It was a little cold when we heard about the dependent deductions we have coming. Then again, it was also disheartening when I saw how much diapers, wipes, and changing pads came to at Target today.

As hard as her day to day care and well-being has been over the past 6 months, it will likely be harder to teach her about what really counts and to allow her to learn for herself, too.

Crying it Out

Last weekend was horrible. Anna's sleep was frequently interrupted and we were very tired as a result. We shared this with one of the doctors wives at Lisa's work Christmas party (in January), and she began lecturing us on letting her cry it out, that we need to teach her to fall asleep on her own.

As you might imagine, I was in no mood to hear that we were doing the wrong thing as parents. We have tried some of the 'let her cry' in the past, and with some success. With Anna's congestion, however, she's woken more frequently, and has had to have saline shot up her nostrils.

In the process of getting over her cold, she unlearned some of her good sleep habits, although we had never got to the point of having her fall asleep on her own.

This weekend Lisa has been determined to change that.

Friday night, we let her cry, off and on, with periodic reassurance, for over an hour. Saturday night it was down to about 40 minutes. Today we tried to do the same with naps and has success early, but our attempts to get her to sleep on her own failed each time we tried, until we had to leave for Brittany's graduation party.

At the party, she was a perfect baby - no fussing, very little screaming, and she enjoyed all who held her.

She slept some each way in the car, of course, which meant she wasn't completely wiped out by the end of the day.

She had a great time during tubby time, Lisa rocked her for a bit, and she fell asleep inside of five minutes after Lisa put her down.

We hope the good work continues, but in the meantime, here's Lisa, Anna, and Lisa's grandmother Hattie during the party today.

Now that I know that at least Kay is reading...

Ok, ok, I know I'm supposed to be writing this for Anna. Trouble is, it's hard to get motivated for that since she doesn't even know what a letter is. Fortunately, Lisa's Aunt Kay said she tunes in from time to time. It's nice to know there's an audience.

Anna and Lisa are down for a nap after a morning in Janesville nixing our new auto's extended warranty. We took her to her first restaurant in a couple of months, since it's generally easier to get take out. The two previous restaurant adventures, an Indian buffet and Sala Thai, became a bit stressful when she began to fuss. No such trouble today.

Sleep has been much improved in the past few weeks, although she still likes to play the wake up game a couple of times in the evening before settling in. Last night, however, we battled her stuffy nose with saline spray a couple of times during the night and dealt with the crying and sniffling afterward. By 4:30, Lisa had had enough and Anna and I retired to the recliner so that mom could rest properly. Turns out Anna and I did pretty well for ourselves out there, too, as she slept till 8:15. That was when she turned big ol' eyes upward toward Dad, as if to say, "Oh, you've been my mattress for the evening? Now what have you got for me?"

What we had for her was a second attempt at cereal. This time she did pretty well and swallowed the majority of it. I still think the spoon is the main attraction, but so long as she gets a little iron, she can play with the spoon a bit.

Here's photographic evidence (actually, this is from the first attempt on Christmas day - had a video, but it wouldn't post!)