In the past week, K has had both her first earthquake, but also her first hurricane (Irene). I'm claiming it, even if it got downgraded just before hitting CT. Sydney still took things seriously, and didn't want to go out to do her business, at all.
This is across town.
We didn't have power for 30 hours. Many people are having it much worse. After the storm was over, we had to go to Pop and Grandma's to shower, and get something hot. On our way home, the state highway had power all along it, but when we turned off it, a quarter mile from our house, it was pitch black.
Today, K ran her first ever race. So, after some limbering up, and some yoga, pre-race, K went for a run. It was supposed to only be 50 yards. But, when we go there, the powers-that-be decided to only have a quarter-mile, and a mile race (there was a half-mile discussed, but never run). K did great. Both Daddy and Nana also had races of their own. Everyone did their best, and everyone got medals. Most importantly, K had a blast!
The SnoPocalypse hit on Wednesday. It took 3 hours to truly dig out after the second storm of 2011. Two in less than a week occurred, and this one dumped more than 2 feet on us. Because of that, Daddy had an extra day off. So, Thursday, K and Dad went out for some exploration and adventure. In the best sledding tradition of Daddy's youth, K did her first OUT OF BOUNDS sledding...
K had her first "solo" swim lesson. She had to pretend to be 3. A few more weeks, and she'll be legit. This video was the first taken with the new camera. The camera work is so-so. The music, however, makes this video EPIC.
Today, K did her business on the potty. She's been doing one type of business since May, but today, she brought her talents to South Beach*. Or, as she'd tell you, she "made two big ones!" Sorry, Aunto, you're out $100.
Another interesting thing developed, as well. K was watching Clifford the Big Red Dog, it ended, and she was able to start it over on the DVR on her own. She can't read the commands. We've never shown her how to do this.
K uses the potty and the remote...THAT'S DADDY'S GIRL!!!
*In 2010, after LeBron James' debacle "The Decision" special, where he announced he would join the Miami Heat with the phrase, "I'll be bringing my talents to South Beach." Which Bill Simmons, ESPN's SportsGuy, immediately made a euphemism for going to the bathroom, ala dropping the Cosby kids off at the pool. If it doesn't hold up as well, at least it was in many 15-40 year old male's terminology at this moment.
Tonight, K read me When Dinosaurs Came with Everything. The book was a birthday present, after Mama and Daddy saw it. Definitely a great story, because K likes to hear it often, and Mama and Daddy don't mind it after 5 months.
K did an excellent job, and I was a very impressed and proud Daddy.
Tonight, doing his best Mama impression, Daddy convinced her that she wanted to bake chocolate chip cookies, the way she used to trick her sisters into making brownies. K helped to prepare the batter and bake. Like her Mama, K loves to be in the kitchen. But what she REALLY loved, was licking the beaters when everything was done. Daddy loved it, too.
Last night, we took K to see "Walking with Dinosaurs." She's a big dinosaur fan, which is cool by Daddy. The show promised live action, real-life dinosaurs*. We knew going in, K would either love it, or poop her pants (there was actually a good chance of both). The first few seconds, K was a little worried. But, as the dinos started to emerge, she was roaring along with the show, while cheering and applauding with the crowd. It was a great night.
On the way out, they were giving away $1 Bluefish Tickets, for the end of the game. We caught an inning, and K went to her first game, too!
Today, K and I made a trip to the library. We picked up "Old School" Sesame Street ('74-'79). Mama and I were watching it with her through the credits. We saw a lot of things we don't get on today's Sesame Street (there was a Guy Smiley sighting!). It was nice to see some old friends, especially Mr. Hooper. He passed when we were K's age. Try explaining this "new" character to a two year old without explaining that he died, and it was a vaguely sad thing from your childhood. I think I settled on saying he got to old too run his store, and had to hire Alan and Chris (two current characters) to work there, because he had to retire.
I digress...the point of posting...the biggest blast from the past was this:
After hearing it, the two of us looked at each other, nodded, and just said "OH YEAH." It's amazing how hearing something can spark a memory...
By the way, the people on the show were SO young...and boy could they sing. Gordon also looked like a power forward.
I can't update fast enough! There was father's day. K's got another cousin. BIG THINGS! This weekend was sort of a long weekend. Mama and Daddy had their birthdays, a wedding, and threw a bbq. All this meant a big, long weekend for K!
Thursday-K went to the Festa at Grandma and Pop's church...Daddy wanted Lemon Ices, but
there weren't any. Still, K got a balloon, and met a friendly chihuahua.
Friday-Mama's birthday party at Nana and Oji's...with Bobbi too. K clearly loved her icecream.
Saturday-Mama and Daddy went to a wedding, so K spent the night at Grandma and Pop's. She went to an amusement park, road the carousel and the train. That night, more icecream at a local farm, where K saw live cows...WOW!
Sunday-The BBQ...look at patriotic K and her monkey, "Monkey."
Monday-Back at Grandma and Pop's...K ate corn and icecream. Then, since K got messy, and took a bath with her cousin, N. K made sure to point out N's belly, among other things.
K's talking up a storm. She can sing the ABC song (along with Twinkle, Twinkle and Baa Baa Black Sheep [same tune]), and count to 10. She runs around like a firebolt, and regularly jumps on her pup (she now calls the pup Sydney [sounds like Ssss...ITNEY]). K can even pull herself up onto the couch.
This weekend, K went to track practice with Daddy. She was amazed by high jump, and clapped and cheered for finishers as they did their laps and 200s during practice. It didn't matter what rep they were on, she cheered just like she cheered for the runners last week while Daddy ran the Iron Horse Half Marathon. Especially fun for K was trying to pick up the shot put, and jumping on the high jump mats while she was at practice.
K also visited Nana and Oji's because Auntie Niff was in town. She played with Aunto and Auntie Niff, and chased Cammy and Sydney. After dinner, K enjoyed a grape popsicle.
Finally, K got a new chair that's just her size. It's for the patio, but is currently in the living room. Maybe it will keep her from jumping on the pup...but I doubt it!
I found myself up late last night, dumbfounded. This is not a rare occurrence, however this time it was something more than that coffee at 8 pm, whether or not I'm going to get in trouble for my word choice when explaining to a student why he/she is disrupting class, pondering if dolphins truly are the 2nd most intelligent species on the planet (see here* ), or wondering what the question to the answer to life, the universe, and everything (the answer to life, the universe, and everything is, of course, 42...but we are not aware of the question**). Our little girl, K, was going to be a year old in the morning. Her birthday was hours away. Then, I really had a melt down...2008 was a leap year, so she was ALREADY 365 days old! S agreed with me, that she was growing so fast, and we both kind of were bummed and happy at the same time.
When I arrived at work today, it was sort of surreal. We had already sung happy birthday when we woke her up. Pictures were taken. But work was different. I had the usual conversation for a Monday, starting with, "How was your weekend?" When I spoke with John, I mentioned the birthday party (of course). He said, "She's a year old already. Wow. How are you handling that?" I told him how freaked out I was last night. And he said, "Yeah, I was the same way. Worse, my daughter is going to be 5 tomorrow. That's NUTS! I was bad at 1, and I'm really bummed she's 5 already. It is so fast!" I'm only assuming that 2, 3, and 4 were okay. Could be wrong. But it sure helped to know I wasn't the only one to have been a little shaken up by the first birthday. That made it a lot easier to digest. Plus, how can you not enjoy this video of the baby.
*For further information regarding the source of So Long, and Thanks for all the Fish, see here or here for a more thorough explanation. Trust me, it may come in handy if Vogons come to destroy Earth to make way for an inter-stellar bypass.**For further information regarding this, see here. Read the complete plot summary.
Fun times at Nana and Ojii's tonight. K even did a bit of psuedo-walking with Daddy. Auntie Niff did the video with Nana's camera. Sydney makes a cameo... Also, I stole some pictures from Nana's camera of K over the past few months. They've been posted to Snapfish.
Yesterday, K had her first "swim lesson." We went to the community pool, just Daddy and the munchkin. Things were good. K kicked a little, more so when she was on her back. She still didn't put her face in, but that's okay. Instead, there was some motorboat, she played with rubber ducks, and "jumped" off the side of the pool to Daddy.
Back from Hiatus~K and I got to stay home today. There was no daycare. The provider was not available, and that's fine with me, because I got to use my last personal day. Not bad to spend a day playing Daddy.
Today has been a pretty big day already, and it is only 11:30. For instance, this morning, K, Sydney, and I went on some errands around 9 am. K and I first got the pup a new license, and then got a recycling bin from the public works department. All the people at town hall thought she was SO cute (typical).
Afterwards, we went to get the pool water tested. While this is pretty boring, it was more fun because K kept looking at all the toys and colored bottles and jars at the store. That was pretty fun. Plus, I got a free cookie, and it had M&Ms in it. K missed out, not having teeth and all.
When we got home, it wasn't quite time for K to eat. So, I tried something. Sesame Street was on, and I popped her in front of it, while I folded her clothes. This turned out to be a good choice. On today's episode, Cookie Monster sang C is for Cookie, and Ernie sang Rubber Ducky. Daddy got to sing for K, and knew the words, so she was pretty amazed...or just happy. Plus, to top it off, there was a Super Grover appearance, which K kept laughing at (Though, I'm more and more concerned why Miss Piggy and Grover have the exact same voice).
After K ate, she was a crank pot. So, we tried some different things out. Played for a while. Danced a bit. Then, finally, I sat down for a while because we were tiring Sydney (and I) out by moving all around the house. Within seconds of sitting down, K's head was buried in my arm, and she was asleep.
A couple days ago, Mama asked me if I could babysit K while she was at an appointment, and of course, I jumped at the chance. Cause really, Diesel sleeps all day when I spend the day with her, so I could use a little entertainment.
K and I have been hanging out for the last couple of hours. We snoozed (ok, she snoozed), we ate, we changed her diaper, we played, took some pictures together, and she's snoozing again right now. It's possible we may have cried, too, but I'm pretending like we didn't. I found out that she really likes to listen to Gavin DeGraw's "Chariot" album (we've listened to it twice now, from start to finish, with the exception of "Chemical Party" cause really, I don't think a baby should listen to that, and also, I don't like that song cause I don't think a grown-up Auntie S should listen to it either). It's good that she likes it since it's the only one of my CDs that I have in the house, instead of my car. She really likes when I look straight at her, smile, and sing along. She seemed amazed that I could make the same noise as the music with my mouth. And of course, the amazement on her face seemed to amaze me, so all were easily amused if the Pags house this morning.
Grandma and I can't seem to get over how pretty she is. (I called Grandma to ask where the formula was and her first response was, "Oh, K's so pretty!", to which I responded, "Yes, she is, now where's the formula?") I'll try to post some of the pictures I took later, when I'm not on my work computer.
I had forgotten what a full night's sleep felt like! K went to bed a little before 11 and woke up just before 8am. She even greeted me with a huge smile this morning! Who knows what will happen tonight since she got her shots today. She was a very brave girl. She is now 11 lbs. 1 oz, and 23 inches in length, putting her in the 75th percentile for height! Where did she get that from?? However, she has a little peanut head, only the 15th percentile. She definitely gets that from me!
Well, it wasn't exactly how I had hoped, but not too bad. Here's the short and long of it (not really sure what that phrase means but it seems to go). 2:50am - K wakes up. Her eyes are closed as she cries. I think, hmm. Maybe she's still tired. I re-swaddle her (she is constantly breaking free, that little Houdini). I ESP to her "You don't need a bottle. You went eight hours last night without a bottle. No bottle for you." She appears to understand. I bounce her for a little bit. She appears to be asleep. I put her down. Eyes open. 3:00am - Attempt number 2. The glider. I rock her for a few minutes. I'm quite surprised that she hasn't screamed at me for a bottle yet. I continue my ESP. "No bottle. You aren't hungry." I'm pleased that I did not go through the bottle warming process. She appears to be asleep. I put her down. She struggles a little. Then, eyes open. Hmm. At this point I'm thinking, I could have just given her the bottle by now. But, I'm trying to prove a point here. No bottle needed at 3am. 3:10ish - Attempt number 3. Bounce, walk, rock. She likes this combination. I think about building some sort of contraption that would do all these things at once. Or possibly grow about 3 extra arms. A few minutes later, she is snoring. Snoring does not always indicate sleeping. However, when I put her down again, she cranes her neck a little (she does this quite well), and then relaxes. Finally, asleep. 3:18- Back in bed. Wondering when she will wake up for real. 4:15- Crying. I think, let's try the same trick. Maybe something startled her. But no, she has broken her hands free from the swaddle and started gnawing on them. And we all know what gnawing on hands means: I'm hungry. So, she did approximately 6 hours without a bottle. It's not exactly progress but it could have been worse. I could have given her the bottle at 3am. I still have hope for tonight.
Last night, we took K to see "Walking with Dinosaurs." She's a big dinosaur fan, which is cool by Daddy. The show promised live action, real-life dinosaurs*. We knew going in, K would either love it, or poop her pants (there was actually a good chance of both). The first few seconds, K was a little worried. But, as the dinos started to emerge, she was roaring along with the show, while cheering and applauding with the crowd. It was a great night.
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