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9/1/05

Today Cara and I did some quick errands in the morning; I bought new shelves for our closet, but I also got a neat glass bottle for olive oil, and Cara held it for me in her stroller. She was very helpful. Then, her grandparents came! It's good that they could, because I go back to work next week and this was our last day like this.

Cara hadn't seen them in about three weeks! She was mostly very friendly, though. They said she is definitely paying more attention to things around her, in addition, of course, to being bigger, etc. We had a bottle, had a lot of fun playing with all of Cara's friends, and took a nice walk. On the way back, though, Cara decided once again that the stroller was not for her. However, it's much easier to carry the baby when there are three of you than when you're all by yourself! We took turns sweating on her. She was perfectly happy, because she could see.

Around three she got cranky, so they hit the road and I went to take a nap in the glider with the baby. She would have none of it. We had to play for an hour instead and didn't get to our nap until four. It was a hot, sticky nap, because I had turned the fan off and, I later discovered, had not opened any windows on the upper floor of the house when I turned off the air conditioner this morning. Steve got home a little bit after six, tiptoed into the room, and I whispered to him not "hello," or "how was your day," but "turn on the fan!"

This evening, around eight, we decided Cara was hungry. We made her a small bottle, because we figured we'd try some banana and anyway she'd get her bedtime feeding soon, and she took the whole thing. She then voiced her urgent need for more, more, more! I ran into the kitchen, tossed some tap water and powder into the bottle, and shook it up. Thank goodness! That was much better.

Somehow, it was no go on the bananas tonight. I am reminded of some old commercials for Almond Joy and Mounds, two candy bars I never liked (can't say that for many of them!). Sometimes you feel like a nut, sometimes you don't.

A quick addition from Daddy: we've noticed today that Cara is sticking her tongue out a lot more often of late. We're not sure why, but it looks very silly. I have a theory that she grew accustomed to messing with her tongue while we were spooning bananas into her. Also, I would like to add that I very much like Mounds candy bars. And that baby very much enjoyed it when I sang the Steely Dan song "Bad Sneakers" at her--twice in a row.

9/2/05

I'd like to point out that Daddy never sings songs to me twice in a row; in fact, he's quite strict about it. The tongue sticking-out is continuing at full force, and everyone is enjoying it.

Poor baby is unhappy. She doesn't like bananas. It makes Mommy unhappy, which doesn't help. I don't really know what to do.

Today Cara and I took a nice walk to the farmer's market in the morning and bought some nice veggies. Then we played and napped until Daddy got home (early, because it's the beginning of Labor Day weekend). After Daddy mowed the lawn, we all went shopping and baby was very helpful. She carries things.

Now, it's nine o'clock and baby doesn't like her bananas at all. She didn't like them yesterday, either. She didn't like the rice cereal a couple of weeks ago, either. She just seems not to like food on spoons. I'm very unhappy, but I do know that no one grows all the way up still drinking from bottles, etc. Still, I'd love to see progress.

One wonderful thing happened today while Steve was changing Cara. She took her popper from her mouth with one hand and seemingly deliberately inserted poor old Leroy with the other! We thing it may have been all on purpose, but of course it may just have been a coincidence.

9/4/05

It's Grandpa Jim's birthday! We went and celebrated with him yesterday, but then the Internet was down and I couldn't post my entry, so I didn't write one. We gave Grandpa Jim two gifts, both of which involve voice recording. I wanted to record the baby, but it's really too chancy! The second you start recording, she's sure to stop babbling. However, there are recordings of her on this site that he can listen to. Grandma Janet made some amazing cheesecake, which Steve and I just finished. (I drew a line down the middle so that each would get a fair share.) Cara was mostly good yesterday, although she did get very very upset in the car on the way down. It may have been because we had her in her big-girl car seat, and she's not used to it. She also may have been uncomfortable in her pretty white dress--we took some really cute pictures, though, which you can see on page 13, I think. Grandma Janet gave Cara some really cool blocks. They're clear plastic with things inside them that make noise. Each one is different and they are all cool and colorful. In a month or so, Cara will really love them. For now, Steve and I are having a great time.

Today we went to my Aunt Theresa's house and went in the pool. Cara did not go in the pool, that is, but both of her parents got to. Cara was upset while my mother was holding her, probably because her grandma had never been so wet and clammy before! After that, though, her great-grandma played with her. Cara sat in her lap for quite a while, then Emily put her in her carrier and rocked her. Cara is getting very good at pulling out her popper and putting either it or something else into her mouth. It really does look deliberate.

Poor Max, Theresa's dog, is like a really big (very, very big) teddy bear. He's really a very good dog, but it turns out that he barks loudly when children cry. I had thought that he and Cara could coexist peacefully, but they really couldn't! She started to cry when we brought her in to change her, and that made him bark. That made her cry. That made him bark. It wasn't good. Max had to spend the rest of the day outside. I felt bad. I hope things are better when she's older. I've never really seen Max around any kids, though.

Cara has rolled over three times, I think, in the past 24 hours, from her tummy to her back. She's not as ecstatic about it as she ought to be when it happens, since she isn't so crazy about being on her tummy. I have to admit that one of the times was a cheat, sort of, since I shook her rattle and moved it up above her in such a way as to make her tilt her head to watch it and put her off balance, sort of making her roll over like a trained animal. She is starting to play with her toys during tummy time, and I have decided to change my methods a little. I keep a blanket on the floor for Cara to lie on and play, because I think that carpet is rather rough. She always pulls on it with her hands, and it finally dawned on me that those motions are probably the rudimentary starts of motions that will lead her toward creeping and crawling. From now on, she'll be spending more time on the carpet!

9/5/05

It's Labor Day, so school starts tomorrow. If Cara follows her usual schedule and wakes up around eight, she won't see me until after three in the afternoon! I've never been apart from her for so long. I don't know yet how it will feel.

Today, to get ready, I cleaned the house. I figure that I want it to be nice for my dad and I also don't want to come home every day and worry about it. Cara was pretty good today. She had a lot of tummy time and rolled over a few times. It's very cute. Aunt Claire and I took Cara for a walk, and she was good for most of it. I carried her for a while, but then we put her back in her stroller with her popper and she was fine.

This evening we put Cara in her play yard. I like to prop her up in the corner, but she falls over. Sometimes she goes forwards, and sometimes she goes to the side. Either way, she seems to wind up on her tummy and get upset. I suppose I can see why. She does seem to be getting better at sitting up, though. She balances better and looks around when I pull her up.

Steve has pointed out that Cara is keeping better track of objects. When they roll away, she follows them. That's good, because that's one of those steps babies are supposed to take.

As you may be able to tell, I have very little experience with babies. From what I had seen and heard, I knew that babies liked rattles. The thing is, I thought that they would naturally rattle them themselves. How naive! I've now spent hours upon hours shaking rattles for Cara. She's just about five months old now, and it's really cool to put a rattle in her hand and see her start to realize that she can shake it herself and make it rattle.

I can't believe I'm leaving her tomorrow!

9/6/05

Last night, when I put Cara down and went off to bed, I felt like I was betraying her. There was a good possibility that I wouldn't see her again until four the next afternoon! However, that baby wasn't hoodwinked. She woke up in the morning around the time when I was showered and dressed, a little before six. I hoped she would eat and then go back to sleep, so I kept the lights dim and put her sleepy CD back on. She nursed and fell asleep in my arms. When I put her down, though, she woke right up, bright eyed and bushy tailed. She was very polite about my attempts to put her back to sleep, popping her popper delicately as soon as I put it in and kicking off her blanket. I gave up and brought her downstairs.

She sat awfully nicely in the kitchen in her glider with her toys. She smiled and played by herself while I ate cereal and packed my lunch and while her daddy did the same. Because it's the first day, I was still there when Grandpa George arrived. Cara sat pretty well for his breakfast, too!

I got home around four. Dad said it had been a fairly good day. He's taking it easy this week, with no ambitious trips to parks or anything. I think that's wise. He agrees with us that while she is very eager to grab her bottle, it is purely coincidence if she puts it into her mouth at any time. One wonderful thing is that that good girl took a three-hour nap! She may have been making up for having woken up two hours early.

After he left, I got to play with Cara. I put her down on my bed, and we had a great time. First I left her alone with her feet and let her look around while I read the newspaper a little--actually, I admit that I had to do a puzzle. When I finished it I felt much better and could play with the baby. I grabbed her arms as if I were going to sit her up, but instead I rolled her back and forth from side to side. It was very very funny. It was also very funny when I played with her feet and laughed loudly in her face. In retrospect, I can't really figure that one out.

Soon enough, her mood changed. I tried her in her playpen and her saucer, and each worked a little bit but then paled and she was unhappy. After a little bit, I got an idea about what might be wrong. I sat down with her in the glider, gave her a popper, and snuggled her up. Her little eyes closed right away. She slept for a few hours, and Stave and I basically woke her up around eight.

Tonight is bath night, which should be fun. I think it will be good to make a habit of doing that in the evening, because then there'll be someone around to help with the towel!

9/7/05

I'm so awfully tired! It took a while to get Cara to sleep last night, and she stayed asleep until I was already at work. I had a long, tough day, and got home after four. Dad says he had a fairly good day with Cara. He's working on techniques for getting her into her crib without waking her up after she falls asleep in the glider. He found that walking around with her before putting her down may have helped. That goes along with my theory about the temperature change; it means she gradually gets transferred from warm arms to cold sheets. He also took her to the little park a few blocks away and put her in the baby swings for the first time. I personally assumed that she was a little bit too little for them, but it sounds like she had a good time! She was only in the swing for a few minutes, but that's still pretty cool.

Cara was asleep when I got home, and I got set up to make dinner before she woke up at five and I fed her. When Steve got home he took her and I cooked. While we ate, Cara sat in her bouncer. She really got her money's worth, so to speak. She bounced hard. I couldn't really see her from my seat, but there was clearly quite a bit of hard-core kicking going on.

I fed her again around 8:30, and I got up to try to put her down a little bit after nine. Of course, she woke up. Now she's in her crib in her sack, she's taken her vitamins, it's dim, and she has her popper and her daddy. I'm doing my chores, and then I'll go back and feed her to sleep if she needs it. I have to get to school early tomorrow, so I really hope she sleeps through!

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