Good Eats

Although Alton Brown acts a tad bit kooky on his show, Rocket Man and I enjoy watching it on occasion, hence the theft of title.

Last night we had quite the family dinner. Rocket Man had training yesterday, which means that he was able to get home earlier than usual. In fact, he arrived just before Little Miss Itty Bitty and I returned from the playground.


Our meal consisted of spaghetti and asparagus. LMIB ate some of all of it.


This means that she had whole wheat noodles, onion, garlic, red peppers, mushrooms, beef, tomato sauce, and asparagus.

We also made her some of her own food which was green beans and rice.


As you can see, she rather enjoyed eating all of it. The ground beef gave her cause for concern the first time she put it in her mouth, but once she was aware of the texture she was good to go!

The main thing, aside from the fact that she ate all of those different foods, is that she really enjoys eating with us. She is oh so aware that she is eating what we are eating at the same time that we are eating it. For this and other reasons, she really enjoys going out to eat.

That is the best of both worlds as not only does she get to eat at the table like Mom and Dad, but she gets to see another new place, which is always high on her list of things to do.

It certainly makes 'going out' much more fun for us!

Hopefully we can keep up the good eater habits for a few years...but the picky ones are yet to come...

Just thought some of you would like an update!

I'm out.

Twelve Months

Señorita Clementina,


Today you are one year old.

Twelve months.

No longer zero.

This month, more than any in particular, has been full of...everything. Movement, personality, travel, boot-camp, solid food, and my personal favorite: separation anxiety.

Let's get to it, shall we?

We started this month off right with a two week trip to Virginia where we stayed at your Guga's and Papa Jim's house. They were not at all excited to have you there. Nor were you to see them. The attention? You'd rather eat dirt.


Oh, wait. You might actually rather eat dirt, depending on the situation. Yes, you still put all sorts of strange things in your mouth, including dirt. Mmm.

You were so very happy to see your Papa Jim when we arrived. We celebrated by going to Sam's club, which made you feel right at home. Whoopee! I am quite certain that you looked up at the ceiling while we were there, found the lights and wheezed in delight.

Wheezy: not just a nickname for older folks with respiratory problems. Nope, my child? She wheezes. In. Not out. With delight. In fact, Little Miss Itty Bitty, you laugh this way as well. A short little laugh out followed by a long, loud wheeze in. I have literally never heard anyone laugh that way...until you. People always tell you that your kids will teach you things, I just never really thought it would be something quite like this.


You have really developed a sense of play this month. What I mean by that is that while you still spend a large amount of time exploring your toys and anything else you can get your hands on, you also are capable of playing games with people. You love to play peek-a-boo. We usually play such one of us is covered with a blanket and then you have to uncover them. One of my favorites is that I can simply put my hands in front of my face and start calling "Where are you?" and you'll drop whatever you're doing to rush over and "uncover" your whereabouts by moving my hands. Oh, how much fun that is.

You are beginning to understand that items can be hidden under other objects. I can cover a small toy with a larger one or place something in a container and you'll immediately go and recover it. You're not too picky, however. While at Guga's house, the two of you would play in the hallway. Guga would stand at one end and lean over to hide her face behind a door frame...and you'd squeal, wheeze and race off down the hall to "find" her, the two of you playing peek-a-boo the whole time.


Apparently you're a multi-tasker.

Speaking of which, you now enjoy holding onto a toy with your hand while you make your way around. Sometimes one toy, sometimes two...and occasionally you hold one in your mouth if it is too tough to handle with your hand.

I blame that on the dog; who else would you have learned that from?


Cooper loves you and desperately wants to protect you. In fact, when you're around he is super doggy Chompy-lones. When you are nowhere to be found, he acts like normal dogs. As in he even likes other dogs. Amazing, I know, but true. We think you two will one day be fast friends. He already share all of his toys with you, he lets you explore his food...when I don't catch you in time to tell you no way, and the other day? He...thought?...you were sharing your toy with him, and he chewed it up.

Awesome, right? He's already doing what he can to teach you to put your toys away. Excellent indeed.

Physically, you've come along quickly in the last month or so. You crawled on your hands and knees towards the end of last month, and now you can stand up on your own. You'll stand up on the sidewalk, the carpet, and even our bed. You are constantly practicing your ups and downs and you've learned to let yourself down gently as opposed to plopping on your tuckus all the time.


You've learned to do pat-a-cake quite well. You do the clapping sections on your own and I've caught you practicing the rolling movement the last two days.


You also like to take someone else's hands and make them play pat-a-cake. We visited your Great Grandma when we were in Virginia, and you sat with her and made her pat-a-cake with you.

I must say that you still appear to love people. You especially like them if they have glasses like your Daddy, but you just like them in general. You went right to your Great Granny when we were home and the two of you had a grand old time.


You've also started waving this month. The very first time was to say good-bye to some of your Papa Jim's colleagues. We'd had a very busy day full of new places and people and I think you weren't sure you were going to get to go home with just me, so you started waving them all good-bye.

It is a nice concept, I must say.

Now you are more likely to wave hello. You wave at yourself in the mirror, you wave at Cooper, you wave at your toys and you wave at Whoopi Goldberg. Yeah. On the television. You love her for some reason and you clap for her and wave at her whenever she is on.

All of our time in Virginia exacerbated whatever separation anxiety you had developed prior to our trip. We were gone for a long time, and you went from sleeping the first two nights to waking at least twice a night unless you slept with me by the time we came home. So, we did a boot-camp.

Oh, yes. We are so mean. When you are a teenager, you will totally hold this against us.

Basically, after trying every other option we had regarding getting you to stay asleep (you go to bed fine, you just don't stay there very well), we decided we would put you to bed and not get you up until the morning. It was great fun the first few nights, but you are now doing well with it. There is still a little fussing, but I think that will soon be a thing of the past. Thank goodness. Maybe I'll finally start to get some sleep.

Daytime naps are currently a mystery, but we'll get that worked out eventually as well.

Of course, if you continue to fling yourself out of the crib during your nap, then we may very well not work anything out at all.

Oh, yes. You flopped out of the crib during one of your rants one afternoon. By the time I got upstairs, you were smacking at the door to get out of that room.

Needless to say, we lowered the mattress again that evening before we put you to bed.

So far, so good.

Aside from the movement and playfulness this month, the other really big development is your eating solid foods. It all started with Mum-Mum crackers. The first few times I'd say about ninety percent of it ended up on you rather than in you, but you've long since mastered that.


I attempted banana and avocado last month, but all you wanted to do was mash them in your hand and then look at me like "What IS this MESS?!?" while refusing to put any of it in your mouth. This go 'round you've not only mastered picking up and eating banana and avocado (no easy task, people, those things are slimy), but you also eat chicken, bread, goldfish and cheerios. Your Dad and I were even able to go out to eat with you a week or so ago and order you some chicken to eat while we had our dinner. It was oh so nice to have you engaged the whole meal.

You had a rather interesting approach to the chicken and bread we set out for you. Apparently you believed that it would go away as quickly as it came because as soon as you saw a new piece on the table, you spit whatever was in your mouth out and put the new pieces in. We put everything in your lap back on the table and you had much better luck the second time through.

I plan to give you more of the food we eat in the coming months so that we can continue eating together. Tomorrow we're having a small cake for you, and I can't wait to see how that goes. You tried some cake at Guga's house and, well...the photo speaks volumes:


My letter is quite long this month, and all I can say is you changed a lot. One thing that has not changed is that you are a very determined little girl. Really, this is just a nice way of saying that you can be pretty stubborn when you are focused on something. When you want something, you do everything you can to get it, no matter who or what is in your way.


As you can see, this is sometimes very funny. What remains to be seen is whether or not your Dad and I will be able to teach you how to use this...focus...to your advantage before you drive us bonkers with it.

One area in particular in which you are determined is with anything technological. You want to touch the computer, the phone, the remote, the video game consoles, the DVR, the list goes on and on.

And thanks to our cousin Britn, you now think you should have access to your Dad's blackberry:


Fabulous.

If the number of things you've learned in your first twelve months is any indicator, then we are bound to be amazed by what you will be able to do, with technology as well as in every other aspect of your life.

I, for one, am excited to see who you will become.

Love,
Mom

Eleven Months

Señorita Clementina,

On April 29th, you turned eleven months old.


I love the look on your face in this photo. You appear to be a tad bit concerned about your whereabouts...which is to be expected when they are brand new. You are ever the serious girl when encountering new things and plant life most definitely falls on that list this go 'round.


A good example would be the Easter Egg Hunt held in our neighborhood. Your Dad managed to capture this very sweet photo of you holding the egg in my hand before you became enthralled with - what else? - plants. Mostly the plants are weeds and other things growing randomly on the swamp land that is Houston, but to you, they were and still are the most fascinating playthings ever invented.

That makes it: nature - 1, men - 0 when it comes to keeping you enthralled if anyone is keeping track at home.

I kid, I kid...sort of.


This was not your first foray in the land of, well, land, but it was the first time you'd been anywhere but our yard or the playground. While the grass in our yard was ho-hum, the playground is full of tiny pebbles, and man are those grand. So fabulous, in fact, that it was the only place you would crawl on your hands and knees for the longest time. In the house? Tummy-crawling rules! At the playground? We must keep up appearances for our friends lest they begin to think we are unrefined.

This from someone who makes every attempt to eat the ground she crawls upon.


Your Grammie and Pop Pop came to visit us for Easter weekend, and boy did we all have fun. We traveled up to Independence, Texas and took in the bluebonnets. You were uncertain about them at first, but you soon began to enjoy inspecting them. Your initial concern may have been due to the fact that you had ants in your pants. Literally. Well, an ant in your pant, but still. That little guy was quite upset about being in your pant leg and he made his feelings known. Not that I really think it had any effect on your expression, but we can always blame the furrowed brow on the poor insect, now can't we?


Dying eggs was something I loved to do growing up, and I really hope that you will enjoy this tradition. We decked you out in one of your Dad's old t-shirts and let you watch while he wrote on the first egg. You really wanted to help, or so we thought, until the following occurred:


Mmm - hard boiled egg in a shell. That was it; you tasted the egg and then you were very done. Oh, well - there's always next year. The four of us had a nice time dying eggs "for you" anyway.

Towards the end of Grammie's and Pop Pop's visit, I could tell you were feeling under the weather. Sure enough, you got a virus of some sort that had no symptoms other than really fussy baby. Excellent indeed. A few days later, you got the normal teething cold and three more teeth showed up. Yup, you're still going against the grain and refusing to grow them in pairs. You do at least now have the four across top which means that you shall soon not be quite so fang-a-licious.

Soon after the teeth put in an appearance, you began crawling on your hands and knees all the time. The military style is out and slappy-hands are in. You smack them down onto the ground as you move along, which makes it very easy to know where you are and which direction you are taking. This shall soon change, I am sure, but for now I make use of the added warning.

Within about a week, you stood up at the sofa, then creeped along on your wobbly legs while holding on for dear life and finally you just side-stepped along from one end to another like you'd always been doing that. You tend to wait to attempt these types of skills, and then wham! you just up and do them.


You've really started communicating with the baby in the mirror this month. While you liked her previously, you thought she only existed in your toy mirror. Now you see her in all mirrors or shiny objects and you talk/squeal/laugh with her and try to touch her.


Here you are again, inspecting the ground, only this time you are in San Diego, California. Your Dad gave me a trip for my birthday, and this is where we decided to go. The grass was tiny and very soft and boy did you like it. We could have sat here all day long and you would have felt it and pulled it and probably tried to taste it.

We were able to see some really interesting things in San Diego, and overall traveling with you was just fine. Granted, our days of seeing anything and everything are completely over, but we enjoyed exposing you to new things and it was nice to have a different pace to our travels.

One thing that was not nice, in San Diego or at home this month, was your ability not to sleep.


Yup. See those eyes? Once again, the "I need sleep" look. And yet, if we put you down or even go down with you, no sleeping occurs.

I know I've mentioned the sleep issue before, but usually it has just been that you wake up a lot at night. This month, you would wake up and then not go back to sleep for hours. Hours, little miss. Hours. To say that we are tired of being tired is such the understatement.


At least you cheer up a bit when you get into the water. Oh, how you enjoyed the pool at the hotel. It was warm and very echo-y and you just talked and talked about how great it was to be there. You kicked, you splashed, you tried to drink the water. Good times indeed.


Not so great times were the days when it was rather chilly in San Diego. We came from 80-degree weather to 60-degree weather and man did it feel cold. It didn't help that we were so close to the water. This is you in your stroller about a minute from having a meltdown because the breeze, it was freezing!


One thing that can be said about Houston: It is not freezing. Ever. While this fact usually makes me a bit sad, for days like the one in the photo above, I am grateful. That sky? You don't find something like that just anywhere. It is special and different and greatly appreciated, just like you.

Love,
Mom

Ten Months

Señorita Clementina,


On March 29th, you turned ten months old.

You still absolutely love your finger; it is a great soother to you any old time, even when you are busy eating as in the photo above. This habit makes for a rather messy experience in the highchair, but there's no stopping you.


Your Guga came to visit this month and we took you to the Rodeo. You got to check out the petting zoo, where you stared at most of the animals as if they are from another planet. I guess for an itty bitty girl, everything new seems like it is out of this world.

You were not very certain about petting the pot-bellied pig as his hair was very coarse. You quite enjoyed the llama, however because you could grab hold of his hair quite easily. BU! would be very proud of you for your llama interest.


Guga bought you a cowgirl hat at the rodeo and the above photo was the best I could get in the 2.2 seconds that you allowed it to remain on your head. Had you not been in the jumperoo, I imagine the hat wouldn't even have lasted that long.

A friend of ours loaned us the jumperoo, and boy do you enjoy it. I place you in there and you investigate the toys on it for a bit and then, with a prompting "Jump!" from someone, you go to town! You squeal and you cackle and you express your delight while seemingly attempting to dislodge the seat from the bars.

You certainly like to jump.


Another new experience this month was the swing at the playground. I waited until a day when your Dad had a workshop and could get home early enough to assist you. Initially, you liked it just because you could sit in it much like you do in your Bjorn. Just that was enough to make you expect good things out of it. Then we began to let you sway back and forth, and oh how the legs began to kick! You especially enjoy swinging if we get down low so that you can "get" us on your way back and forth.


Your Dad had a conference in the city this month, so the three of us went to the hotel to stay for a couple of days. Apparently your teeth were giving you a tad bit of grief as you kept your tongue in your bottom lip like this for much of our time there. It is not very becoming, so hopefully with subsequent teeth you'll go for another look.

I managed to get you into the pool when we were at the hotel, and boy do you love water. I knew you enjoyed it from your bath; you always open your mouth when I rinse you off with the hose as if that simple act will ensure that some of it gets into your mouth.

In the pool, however, you came to the realization that you could do much more to impact the water. You could splash with your hands and lean over to literally drink it if you so choose. While I was able to prevent this for the most part, it did have some carry-over to your bath afterward.

It was the first time I had given you a bath in an actual bathtub and with the combined knowledge of your experience in the pool and your ability to move, you were quite a handful. You wanted to crawl from one end of the tub to the other and do as much to the water as possible. Unfortunately, you were very unaware of the slippery nature of bathtubs filled with water, and your efforts were mostly in vain.


You may have become mobile last month, but this month you have taken it to the max. Before I get into the details, I have to point out that in the above photo, and any time you are making a similar look, you look so very much like your Daddy. Most of the time you resemble me, but when you look at us this way, your Dad appears.

Getting back to the mobility: you are an explorer extraordinaire. Not so much in that you explore things, but rather you explore your movement. While Cooper was very interesting to you last month due to his entertaining nature, you could really care less this go around. You still investigate him a bit, but you are quickly done with him and are moving on to...moving on.


You have this special route you take in the living room. You begin with Cooper's bed (above). You insist on crawling over/through it, which is not easy considering you are still on your belly. I love how you manage to get your monkey toes onto his ball while attempting to take over his bed.


While the move over the bed forces you to push up onto your hands somewhat, you still refuse to do so permanently.


This particular section of your trek is extremely tiring, and you always have to take a short break before continuing on.


Once you've rested for all of about five seconds, you set your sights on your exersaucer. Oh, yes, it is a fabulous place to be.


Your goal is to get under the thing. You are usually distracted by the bells and whistles, in the form of tags and seats.


You occasionally stick your tongue out in concentration, a habit which your uncle and I can attest comes directly from your Guga.


Once you are done with your exersaucer, you concentrate on moving out of it to whatever goodies you can see. This time, it was your little seat.


Then, of course, you noticed me and the camera, and you lost your footing a bit. Not that it slowed you down; you are quite hard-headed in more ways than one.


A very good example of that is the way in which you wrestle with your toys. You pick up the piano and roll over with it. More than once you have managed to drop it right on your noggin and it doesn't even begin to phase you.


You very much enjoy the rough stuff, which is a good thing. You love it when your Dad throws you in the air. Not so much when you land on his glasses.

You've been sitting in the highchairs at the restaurants and in the basket at the grocery store. You enjoy this new vantage point, and when you get tired you lean your head all the way back and wheeze at the ceiling in delight.

We took you to Pei Wei for the first time this month and you managed to chew on the table. Yeah. Apparently it made you very happy. At this point, you have three teeth still, but the only one we occasionally see is the one on top. We'll just have to call you fang for awhile.


You're still a good eater in that you will eat anything I give you. You also enjoy it when I give you the spoon to chew on when you are finished. It is the only time you make the face seen above.

I imagine we will be seeing many new faces in the future because I think you'll be developing new skills very soon. I say this because it was on your ten month birthday that you decided to crawl on your hands and knees. For reals. In our bathroom. Apparently the tile floor is best for crawling. Backwards, but crawling is crawling.

Love,
Mom

Family Photo

Here is the clothing I managed to find.

One shot with the flash:


And one without:


Let me know what you think!

Well, That Makes Sense

So...

After another night of oh so little sleep, I made the executive decision on Saturday that the little one needed to see a doctor.

We call and of course he'll see her.

Have I told you that I chose the best Doctor ever?

We go and I told the admitting nurse that I was hoping that they would find something wrong with her.

How awful is that, people?

But twas true.

They check everything - her throat, her lungs, her ears, her eyes, her body...

and...

nada.

At which point the Doc tells me he wants to put a urine bag on her for a sample and he wants to take some blood.

Woot.

We do both, all the while I should mention, Little Miss Itty Bitty is tired, cranky, and kinda impossible. I mean, usually she watches the doctor and pulls on him and smiles at him, but this time? Not gonna happen. Crying galore is on the menu, folks and she hates to disappoint.

After a while, we get some urine, and the tests show nothing wrong there.

They take the blood, and might I add that they are way more proficient in doing so than the lab tech who did her nine month blood work. Jeepers creepers, man, learn to take blood from babies.

The blood shows that she is fighting a virus.

Yup, no symptoms, but a virus indeed.

No wonder she was not sleeping and was fussy and the works.

We are told to do the benadryl/tylenol regimen and that if any symptoms develop, to call him day or night and let him take some of the responsibility for making her well.

What a nice Doctor.

We comply and things have been better. Sleep was achieved and a happy baby has emerged.

Thank goodness for that.

Yesterday LMIB crawled into our closet and grabbed my running shoe to gnaw on the laces (or whichever part she could get in her mouth) and Rocket Man declared that THAT IS WHY SHE HAS A VIRUS.

Uh huh.

That must be it.

May I include that the WOMAN, SO WHY DON'T YOU KEEP HER FROM DOING IT part of that declaration was left off, but clearly received.

To which I would just like to respond:

Hahahahahahahahahahahahaha!

and:

Let's see you try, Mister.

I mean, this is the man who used to escape the house with his brother when they were children and run down to the goose-poop infested pond and "swim". We all know that they ingested some of the water. And most likely they put it in their mouths and spit it at one another amongst other things that brothers do to one another while swimming.

This goose-poop pond? The water would turn their little white undies a fine shade of black.

Oh, yes, but keep the running shoes away!

I mean, when she goes to the playground and comes home with feet that look like this:








Really, what's the point?

Aye, mi hija...

My child, whom I would love nothing more than to refer to her (when speaking with my husband) as YOUR DAUGHTER...but then that really isn't fair as we all know whatever difficult-ness she exhibits comes directly from yours truly, is currently in her swing, both hands behind her head, snoozing and snoring away.

Nice, huh?

Not so much.

You see, yesterday's sleep consisted of a mere 25 minutes in the stroller during Cooper's morning stroll.

Last night's sleep consisted of a mere 5 hours. Oh, yes. She "went to bed" at about 6:45 pm, but she woke up about a bazillion times between then and 11, when I went up AGAIN to help her get to sleep.

It took over an hour.

Then a little after 5 am, she woke to eat, then blabbered in her bed a bit, then rolled/crawled/slobbered over me when Rocket Man moved her to our bed while he got ready for work.

Just what I wanted, let me tell you.

Oh, and she head-butted the headboard like a champ.

I don't think THAT is why they call it a headboard, but try telling HER that.

Some good news is that she has another tooth - this time the center one up top, so no more vampire in the family. Also, the snotty nose/cough/irritable cold that comes with the teething appears to be diminishing.

Yesterday she crawled all over the place downstairs, as in real crawling, not army crawling, during her marathon do-everything-I-can-to-stay-awake session also known as the entire afternoon.

More fun was the way she played with her Chompy-lones, and he with her. She crawls to him, tries to touch him, he grumbles and shoots away, which makes her belly-laugh in delight. Other laugh-worthy doggy activities include: "chasing" him, watching him fetch his toys, touching his tongue when he's all worn out and panting, and bullying him out of his bed.

When she learns to walk and run, he is in for a world of hurt.

A good kind of hurt, but still - he's going to be so worn out!

All I'll be able to say is welcome to the club.

Nine Months

Señorita Clementina,


Sometime between 11:59:59 pm on February 28th and 12:00:00 am on March 1st, you turned nine months old.

We began the month with a few excursions; the photo above was taken at the arboretum. As you can see, you found it to be a very relaxing place to visit. You are not sweet at all when you are sleeping. Nope, not one bit.

Our second outing was a bit of a drive; we traveled to Galveston to see the aquarium at Moody Gardens. You definitely enjoy seeing the fish swim around. Your favorite animals were the penguins. You loved watching them dive and swirl through the water and their bright colors really captured your attention:



This month was the month of mobility. Granted, you were scootching and rolling last month, but this go 'round you learned to get from one spot to another with some speed. In a very short while you went from scootching to pushing on your belly to an all-out army crawl that all began with your sudden ability to sit up.


That look you're giving me right there? That would be a "Whaaaat?" because that toy? It is so not yours. Little klepto in the making - excellent.

Back to the sitting up. I said sudden because one day, you could just do it. A couple days prior I would sit you up and you'd begin a slooooow tilt and fall to the side. Then, ta-da, you didn't. No real practice, just accomplishment. This was very quickly followed by a need to go forward from that position and then, the army crawl. If you ever show a desire to join up, there is one thing they will not need to teach you, that is for sure.

This new-found ability used up your energy very rapidly, but you soon discovered another way to entertain yourself while resting:


Oh, yes. As much as this month was about mobility it was also about Cooper. You love your doggy, and now you know how to get him to come and entertain see you. All it requires is a few kicks of the feet and bam! there he is...whether you want him or not. Considering that he has desperately wanted to play with you from day one, to say that you have made his year is absolutely the understatement. He is mostly gentle with you, for fear of you being taken away by my estimate, and only "pretends" to chomp you. This includes some head-butting in your belly, which makes you cackle in delight.

He is still way faster than you and does not want you touching him (grabbing his hair). Very rarely you get a handful of it in your grubby paws...and then, of course, you pull and pull. He obviously knows your intentions because he simply freezes and looks at me as if to say "I am not doing anything. Nada, woman, look." while he waits for you to let go.

Your Cooperchewlones made you crawl. Rather, I should say, he gave you the desire. You maneuver through the landscape on your belly and forearms with either him or his toys in your sights. Why we bought baby toys for you is beyond me. All we needed was to let you go after his things! I believe this is partly because you know you will get interaction from him if you get near him or his toys, but still.

Our hopes are that you and he will become fast friends...if we can all get through the toddler years in one piece. So far, so good; here you two are looking out over your domain together:


Aside from investigating all things doggy related, you've been using your monkey toes and the legs attached to them to explore your surroundings as well. These days your preferred method is that of kicking. Anything. Everything. The list includes the sofa, me, your Dad, the walls and, my favorite, your crib.


That's right, your crib. When we put you down for your afternoon nap, you spend the first bit yammering and squealing and then, inevitably, you kick the crib. You then fall asleep, so I'm no dummy, I'm not intervening.

Another new thing this month is your interest in babies, or rather, the image of a baby you see in the mirror. Up until now, you never really cared about your image in the mirror. I've been taking you to the playground twice a week where you get to watch other children, a couple of whom are around your age, play. We also had a friend visit; oh how amazed you were to see someone your size on the floor with you playing with your toys. Together these made you interested in the baby in the mirror.


You pat the baby's face, you talk to the baby, and most entertainingly, you try to kiss the baby. Speaking of kisses, let's show everyone what we mean. Here is your go-to kiss position:


Yup, the open slobbery mouth. Excellent.

Here is how you use it to "kiss" people:


Um, yeah. Right now kissing and biting are barely discernible. We'll have to work on that one.

Your discovery of the baby in the mirror should not overshadow your other discoveries this month. One of the strangest has to be that your Daddy, he has hair. On his legs. Oh, my...what is this stuff? I must investigate. Let me get closer. Nope, still can't figure it out. Maybe if I lean over and taste it...


Girl, all I can say is ew.

Also, when is the hair on your head going to grow? I mean, your Dad's legs are totally winning the battle right now.

Regarding new tastes (Still, ew.), there are a few more foods on your list this month. You have eaten all of the meats that we can get our hands on. You love veal and beef. Chicken and turkey are okay and the ham? Um, it made you gag. We'll have to try that one again later. As far as food goes, you're pretty good about trying anything and you like everything (sans ham). You consume the veggies as easily as the fruits and the meat seems to be going well also.

It may have taken you a while to warm up to the idea of eating, but now that you've got it, you're a champeen eater.

Towards the end of the month, you began making some new faces. The funniest has to do with your teeth:


Apparently you'd love to hop right into the aquarium with the fish.

Then there's what you attempt to do at the stairs:


Really, that can't possibly be good for you.

Oh, and then there's the frustration face:


You just can't seem to get the elusive handle into your mouth for chewing, no matter how hard you try!

Finally, the face you make when you are enjoying yourself, especially when you are experiencing something new:


This is your face at the aquarium when you were watching those penguins. You obviously enjoyed them.

There is one last thing I must mention for this month; a new sound. While you have been expanding your "talking" for a while now, this one...it is silly. You take your hand up to your mouth and move your fingers as one, back and forth over your loose lips while you make noises.

It is very much like Porky Pig when he says "Aba-dee-aba-dee-aba-dee-that's all folks!"

Love,
Mom

poor girl

Rootin' Tootin' Cowgirl mastered the lie-down, sit-up, fight, fight, fight! motion two days ago.

Unfortunately for her, this means she must follow that well-known tenet: practice makes perfect.

Unfortunately for me, this means that I will be soothing a rather upset little girl multiple times in the wee hours.

Little Miss Itty Bitty will be completely asleep, doing what all of us do: breathing, stretching, snoring (oh, yes, you do), and rolling over...when her body, in an attempt to perfect its newly gained mobility, will go the rogue route and instead of rolling to her other side for more snoozing, it will sit her right up in bed.

We walk in to see a mostly asleep, crying and confused child sitting in her bed in the middle of the night when we all know that she should be asleep.

It is a sad sight indeed.

Poor little girl.

And Again

I read another Harlan Coben book today. Definitely fast reads, but entertaining for a few hours, which is greatly appreciated.

Whatever shall I do with myself now?

Oh, yes.

I have an infant.

Never mind.

*sigh*

Of contentment.

Although short-lived, at least it occurred.

Last night I finished reading Killer Heat by Linda Fairstein. Her books are very good and perfect because I can put them down to deal with LMIB if the need arrives.

Tonight I finished reading Deal Breaker by Harlan Coben. Mom left a couple of his books here when she visited at the beginning of the month. She told me they are easy reads and boy are they ever. 343 pages and done in less than half a day. I started reading at about 1 pm, and my afternoon and evening were filled with the usual: baby, poopy diaper, baby, wet diaper, dog, cooking soup for dinner, baby bedtime, eating, etc.

I enjoyed it; the main character is silly witty and it is a nice change from the books I usually read...although I mostly read suspense/detective type books...which this was...so never mind.

Regardless, I read two books this week.

Fun for me.

More later, I hope.

Hasta luego...

Meme 2

1. WERE YOU NAMED AFTER ANYONE?
My grandfather - Mom's Dad.

2. WHEN WAS THE LAST TIME YOU CRIED?
Um, I am pretty sure it was out of frustration sometime last week.

3. DO YOU LIKE YOUR HANDWRITING?
When I'm not tired or rushed, yes. So lately, no.

4. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE LUNCH MEAT?
It varies. I like turkey, ham and roast beef.

5. DO YOU HAVE KIDS?
No. Kid, yes.

6. IF YOU WERE ANOTHER PERSON, WOULD YOU BE FRIENDS WITH YOU?
I don't know. Hopefully, since I need some friends.

7. DO YOU USE SARCASM?
Yup.

8.DO YOU STILL HAVE YOUR TONSILS?
Nope.

9. WOULD YOU BUNGEE?
Pre-kid, yes. Post-kid, neither of us are allowed, thanks.

10. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE CEREAL?
Frosted Mini-Wheats (original flavor) and Honey-Nut Cheerios.

11. DO YOU UNTIE YOUR SHOES WHEN YOU TAKE THEM OFF?
Sometimes.

13. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE ICE CREAM?
Vanilla, Strawberry, or Chocolate w/ Peanut-Butter

14. WHAT IS THE FIRST THING YOU NOTICE ABOUT PEOPLE?
I have no idea.

15. RED OR PINK?
Both.

16. WHAT IS YOUR LEAST FAVORITE THING ABOUT YOURSELF?
Right now there's a lot, most of which centers around getting nothing done and lacking motivation for anything at all.

17. WHO DO YOU MISS THE MOST?
My husband.

18. DO YOU WANT EVERYONE TO COMPLETE THIS LIST?
Silly question.

19. WHAT COLOR PANTS AND SHOES ARE YOU WEARING?
No shoes. Multi-colored polka-dotted pajama pants. Yup, polka dots.

21. WHAT ARE YOU LISTENING TO RIGHT NOW?
My kid blabbering while she plays.

22. IF YOU WERE A CRAYON, WHAT COLOR WOULD YOU BE?
No way I can choose.

23. FAVORITE SMELLS?
Lately, all of the grilled items other people are working on as I walk the dog and kid through the neighborhood.

24. WHO WAS THE LAST PERSON YOU TALKED TO ON THE PHONE?
My husband.

25. DO YOU LIKE THE PERSON WHO SENT THIS TO YOU?
Once again, I am borrowing this from Kim, whom I've never met.

26. FAVORITE SPORTS TO WATCH?
College Football.

27. HAIR COLOR?
Brown.

28. EYE COLOR?
Blue.

29. DO YOU WEAR CONTACTS?
No.

30. FAVORITE FOOD?
I don't know.

31. SCARY MOVIES OR HAPPY ENDINGS?
Any movie at all would be nice these days.

32. LAST MOVIE YOU WATCHED?
The Bucket List (at home)

33. WHAT COLOR SHIRT ARE YOU WEARING?
Grey. Yeah, I know. Doesn't match the pants, but it's for sleeping, so who cares?

34. SUMMER OR WINTER?
Here in Houston? Winter by far, but I wouldn't call it winter. I miss having seasons, so if we ever move somewhere that actually has them, I'll take them all.

35. HUGS OR KISSES?
Hugs from Rocket Man, kisses from Little Miss Itty Bitty (although they are kinda slobbery).

37. MOST LIKELY TO RESPOND?
No one; I'm not the tagging type.

38. LEAST LIKELY TO RESPOND?
Really? No answer. See above.

39. WHAT BOOK ARE YOU READING NOW?
Holy smokes, I actually started a book yesterday. The first book I've read in a looooooooonnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnng time. Killer Heat by Linda Fairstein.

40. WHAT IS ON YOUR MOUSE PAD?
Nada - laptop.

41. WHAT DID YOU WATCH ON TV LAST NIGHT?
A recorded episode of Jon and Kate +8.

42. FAVORITE SOUND(S).
Cooper drinking water.

43. ROLLING STONES OR BEATLES?
Either.

44. WHAT IS THE FARTHEST YOU HAVE BEEN FROM HOME?
Europe; I think Salzburg, Austria was the farthest, technically.

45. DO YOU HAVE A SPECIAL TALENT?
Nope.

46. WHERE WERE YOU BORN?
Virginia, USA

12 of 12 March

Amazed, aren't you?

Yeah, me too.

Thanks goes to Chad for the idea. Head on over there to see what other people did today; I am sure it was way more fun than what I did.

All photos were taken in Houston, Texas.

Here you go:

8:42 - coffee


8:44 - good morning!


9:01 - 67? Seriously? Two days ago it was in the high 80s!


9:46 - bad blogger I've been. Faked a post (will be up tomorrow).


10:22 - cry. baby. cry.


11:36 - walmart.


12:51 - 45? Jeepers.

<----------------------->
We had a melt-down upon our return from walmart. As in, crying for a couple of hours. Followed by not sleeping. Followed, finally, by a short nap. Then, since it was cold and rainy, we went to Hobby Lobby. Upon our return...
<----------------------->


18:53 - and...


18:54 - jump!


18:56 - BC painted this fabulous flamenco lady. It just so happens to be one of my favorite colors, too. Ooh, la, la.


18:56 - Mom painted our home in Spain. Love the tiles. Makes me miss it even more.


18:57 - Yarn. On sale. Enough said.

That is it. Hopefully you all were cry baby free. Check back tomorrow for an almost post.

I'm out.

Eight Months

Señorita Clementina,

On January 29th, you turned eight months old. Yup, I'm late again. Welcome to life; things are never perfect.

You spent the first eighteen days of January being sick. One would think this means that I don't have very much to write about this go around, but boy is that far from the truth. You change too much in these early months for me to ever have only a little bit to write about. Plus, I want to remember all of the little things you do from month to month, which makes for a rather long list.

One good result of your illness, besides the fact that you now have some immune defenses built up, is that you became a napper. No worries about that, my dear as you have already begun to worm yourself away from it, but for the month or so that you did it, boy was it great. You would get up in the morning and wear yourself out playing and then into the swing you'd go to have a quick chat with your fishes and a short snooze-a-roo. Then you'd be up for a bite to eat and some more action. Around 1:00 you'd go back down for a longer nap, wake up and eat, then go for a walk with your chompy-lones in the early evening, eat some more, and go to bed!

What's that? A schedule!

As I said, you are quickly ridding yourself of such things, but hey - that's life too I suppose.

You didn't eat too much the first part of the month. I don't blame you; who has time to eat when they are busy trying to breathe? You began to eat more the last part of the month. You quite enjoy the peas and you inhale bananas. Your mouth is open for both before I can get the food up there. This is very encouraging since you took quite awhile warming up to the food-eating process.


We have spoken before about the fact that you were taking your sweet time on the tooth front, and this month you have finally broken through. I mentioned that your teeth were playing the drama queen and were waiting for a special event to reveal themselves; this event just happened to be the Presidential Inauguration. Oh, yes. The day after was your day to shine! You got the bottom center left tooth first, followed one week later by the bottom center right tooth. Two days after that you got an upper right tooth.

We can already tell that you are a non-conformist as that top right tooth is not the center one, but one to the right of that. Oh, yes. And you only have three thus far; so much for teeth coming in pairs.

In order to soothe your gum you chewed on your exer-saucer quite a bit. Usually you chose the apple in the photo above, but occasionally the platform on the bottom was good enough although apparently you do not want to be caught doing so:


Another major development this month is that you reach for things all the time. You finally figured out how to grab the dangling toys on your exer-saucer, you are constantly reaching for and grabbing faces, and then there's your favorite thing to reach for:


That's right, you love your doggy. You haven't quite figured out how to play with him yet, but his movements absolutely delight you:


Speaking of delight, you are a pretty happy little girl. You only fuss when things are wrong these days, and you are starting to entertain yourself, which is a relief for me.


You are becoming more mobile by way of rolling and scooting. The scoot is normally about half a scoot and then you roll. It takes you absolutely forever to get to most things, but you set your sights on them and are a determined little one; you always figure out a way to get there.

You have also begun a new sound this month, that of happy squealing. It isn't very loud, and definitely nowhere near a screech, but a little high-pitched squeal it is. You are so very funny when you get excited and make these noises because you are obviously very happy about it:


You began the month with a new face. You would stick your tongue out and curve it up towards your nose and talk. You did it almost exclusively for a couple of weeks, and then you were done.

One activity you are not done with is that of sucking your fingers. You suck them when you are hungry, bored, tired, or just need soothing.


You discovered textures this month. You roll/scoot over to things and proceed to touch them, smack at them, grab them, pull them, and basically see what you can make them do. This includes things like your hat:


You love all of the pieces on the floor of your play mat that flap and crinkle and move. Included in this list is the tag on the play mat and any other toy you can get your hands on. You chew on the tags every chance you get. Also? The straps on your car seat and stroller. Oh, yes. Tags and straps. Who knew?


I started teaching you to drum on things this month, mostly the desk where we talk on the web cam. I am hoping you will soon transfer this to the drum you received at Christmas. You love it when we help you drum the table as quickly as we can. Way fun indeed.

You still put your hands together and squeeze. You've done this since you were born (you came out doing it, in fact) and you delight in it. You do it when you eat, when you're falling asleep, when you wake up and when you're happy.


Basically you'll do it any old time and it is definitely one of my favorites.

Love,
Mom

This Week Just Went from Bad to Worse

Those of you who know Rocket Man are well aware of his athletic...um...shortcomings. Most notable is his lack of coordination when it comes to throwing objects to a desired location. Luckily, these objects are usually Cooperchewlones toys.

Unluckily, for the Cowboy Chicken, this means he gets a rather up-close and personal experience with a unique tanning bed for cowboy chickens:


Just in case you aren't aware, the location of this lovely lamp is quite a dangerous one:


All in all, this makes for a rather crazed Lones:


Fortunately for all involved, things ended well. I was able to use my depleted baby brains to come up with a way to get that thing outta there.

A golf club.

Hey, at least they finally got some use!