Neglected no more

Wow! Sorry, Anna, I really meant to write more between April and June. Since then, Anna's produced new teeth, learned to crawl, learned to say, "Ducky", "Hi", "Daddy", and something like "Birdy". She's a happy, bright, beautiful girl. We've got a doll.

In May we had fun celebrating Mother's Day. Mom got a huge 18x24 picture of Anna framed and a lovely handbag. I treated the girls to blueberry waffles and we had fun at Gene and Sue's playing with cousins, although, at that point, Anna didn't yet crawl. She got a little frustrated watching Rowan zoom around on the grass on that beautiful day.

Something she could and did do, however, was swing, and she did plenty of that.

Among other memorable moments since last I wrote was that after an afternoon at Sue and Gene's, Lisa and Sue gave Anna some dinner, but somehow forgot to notice that Anna wasn't buckled in her high chair. She took a hard fall on the wood floor and bloodied her nose and puffed up her lip. When Lisa came in the door crying, I didn't immediately understand what happened, but Anna was also crying hard. My first thought was that she fell out of the car seat. Anyway, we got Anna calm and, after double checking with the on-call nurse, Lisa gave her a bath and we put her to bed, although we did take the precaution of checking on her, since we were worried about the little goose egg on her head.

Since we've been looking for a different house, we've taken her to a lot of open houses and showings. She likes it less than we do, but not a lot less. Anyway, we put a bid in and are waiting to hear if they counter, accept, or blow it off.

We have read a lot of books together, taken a lot of walks together, giggled and laughed, and have all done at least a bit of crying. Babies give and receive, and some days are harder than others.

Anna and I joined a play group at First Unitarian and most of the time other kids have showed up, and it's great to give her more kid to kid time. Yesterday, she was saying "Hi" to the other babies as she poked or whacked them in the face. I guess it will be a little longer before she's as socially graceful as her mother. Right now Anna and I are about equal, knowledge-wise, although her smile puts her light years ahead.

Here are pics from Mother's Day and times before and after.

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.