I am sorry for not getting these pictures up sooner. I have no excuse.

Oh! Wait! I do.

This week we have received our newest model Claire Helen style baby. It can pull up to standing by itself, and particularly enjoys doing so in its crib. Unfortunately, when you are ordering your model 8.5m Claire Helen stander upper, the standard package does not come with the necessary accessory part, the "return to sitting" program. It's like when you are trying to order a digital camera online, and see it really cheap on this one site, and can't figure out why, but figure, hey? Cheap camera! I'm seven months pregnant and need a camera so I can post pictures online for distant relatives to see- what could go wrong? And then the camera comes and it doesn't have a lens or a battery or any memory, and is basically a button that you push that would result in a camera taking a picture if you happened to own the other ninety percent of the camera. Not that this has happened to me.

So anyhoo. She can't sit back down on her own,* but can get to standing up from lying down pretty quickly, so when I put her down for a nap, she says "Look! Crib rails! Those are perfect for pulling up on!" So she pulls up to standing, and hangs out babbling for a minute, before becoming incensed that I have not returned to sit her back down, entirely missing the point of my putting her in the crib, which was for a nap, as we may recall from the beginning of this very long sentence.

There has not been whole lot of sleeping going on around here. My compatriots tell me this will not last long. I hope they are right.

She has also been talking a little more, although she is still not a command performance kind of gal, as countless grocery store clerks who have tried to get her to laugh or wave will tell you. But she will point out the kitty on occasion (ah KEE, because whenever we point out a cat, we say "Look, Claire Helen! A kitty." So she thinks the word is "a kitty." Pretty sweet, huh?), and responds to "Hi" about 30 percent of the time (with "iii" and a floppy wristed wave).

* Without hurting herself at least, which the scratch on the side of her head can attest to. All the baby books say that this is not true, that they will just tumble into an innocuous heap, but apparently those things were not written by people who have ever seen actual babies.

But before all the standing and talking, grandma H was here. Here are some pictures! We had a nice time. Happy Easter, by the way! I hope the Easter bunny leaves you all lots of goodies. I have been taking my Easter Bunny status very seriously, and could feed all of Gambia pretty easily, if Gambians were willing to subsist entirely on candy coated chocolate eggs.

The morning before grandma got here, she made a fort out of her playmat, and was pretty proud of herself. 

Taking a break from consuming Cheerios. I think she would eat all the Cheerios in the world, one Cheerio at a time, if we would only give them to her. 

Yogurt. 

That Olivia, she's crazy, isn't she? 

Every morning our little early birdie went to hand out with grandma so the parents could sleep. Actually, everybody looks a little tired here. 

Grandma and the forsythia 

 

The "Is Daddy Edible?" series 

Ahh 

Yum. 

Cute Cubed

A) I am teaching my daughter to wave at me and say "mama." Her wave is limp wristed, so you have to imagine a posh, WASP-y baby, who actually says "mama" with a sort of French accent, with the accent on the second syllable. Cute!

B) She is right this very second trying so very very very hard to climb into Betty's dog crate to get the rawhide I took away from her. I'm letting her try, and if she gets in, I'm taking a picture. Adorable!

C) The bathroom upstairs has an echo, so she likes to wriggle up to the doorway, and yell in "AAAA! AAaaa! AAA! AAAAA! AAAAaa!" to hear it. More cute!

There is so much cuteness at my house it is liable to implode and become a cuteness black hole, sucking adorable kitties and puppies from miles around into its event horizon.

Last night we got a last minute babysitter (pregnant friend Bre) and saw a very neat play- The Secret in the Wings. Two thumbs up from Claire Helen's culture starved parents. We went out spontaneously! I thought the day would never come.

Happy St. Patrick's Day! Erin go bragh. We're having people over and drinking Guiness. I couldn't bring myself to make a cabbage oriented food. Longer, picture filled, grandma-H-was-here update coming, but I wanted to check in quickly with internet land on this holy holiday. Hope all is well.

Less Talk More Rock, right?

The 8 month photo shoot. Unbelievable! 8 months!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We had registration this morning. There were about 200 people there, for 150 spots. I got called first! The very first number! So we got into my favorite pre-preschool, which only had 5 spots open. I'd assumed we'd be on the waitlist.

I hadn't filled out the forms (you're not supposed to until you get to their table), but some of the people behind me had gotten copies of the form from their friends (!) and tried to hand their forms in over my head and cut ahead. Lordy. Thank goodness the parent coordinator saw through their machinations and held my place.

But we are in the co-op. I am sure you were all concerned. You can rest easy now.

Cheap pre-school! Cheap, good quality pre-school! Wheee!

Speechifying

Yesterday I was laying on the ground in the nursery, next to the baby, reading her The Runaway Bunny. We got to the part where the mama becomes a gardener to find the crocus baby bunny.

I pointed out the baby bunny, because he's always hidden.

And then Claire Helen turned to me, pointed at my nose, and said mmma-MA.

Mama! She called me mama!!

Later, on the changing table, she explained again that I am mmma-MA. She grabbed my nose in the doctor's office* possessively, and scolded the doctor that this was HER mmma-MA. At lunch today, she pointed out to Mat that she has a mmmma-MA over there, across the table.

This is talking! It's always hard to tell at first, with baby milestones, but this is it! Talking!

*We were there for my toe, which I appear to have sprained. Nuts. I wanted to run a half marathon in a couple weeks. Nuts. We'll see.

Glorious sleep

Last night, both S and I enjoyed 7 and two-thirds uninterrupted, consecutive, and concurrent hours of sleep. I woke up not knowing my name or who this wonderful woman next to me was. It was very refreshing and very unusual-- though hopefully a sign of things to come.

- M