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10/3/05

Steve: We're back online! Yay!

The computer just came home in my car and has been quickly hooked up, and after a quick e-mail check I have gone right to work on the baby journal. Baby has had an eventful few days, which I'm not sure I can fully detail (and I'm not sure you'd want to read all that anyway). She has gotten lots of new products, including a bigger bottle, more clothes from various people (including her parents), and a bouncy airplane type of toy that she sits in and it hangs from a doorway and she can kick off the air (maybe we'll get a picture of her in it so I don't have to try so hard to describe it)--this was given to us by our neighbors who had an extra one (their boy, PJ, is only about a month older than Cara). Cara has widened her solid food interests to include squash, pears, peaches, and possibly even other things that I can't think of now. She is progressing very well in sitting up and can now for very short periods and with a very small amount of propping kind of sit up by herself! Note all the qualifiers, but things are going along nicely--she is also spending lots of time on her belly.

Recently, weather has gotten colder and baby is being dressed in heavier clothing, with long sleeves and long legs. She is getting much more active and very soon we will have to stop using her infant seat carrier--we have purchased a kind of cloth seat that can fit in a grocery cart, which will be replacing her infant seat on trips to the supermarket. She reaches out to grab things and (possibly?) to be picked up. She babbles a lot, perhaps a bit more than PJ next door. We have decided not to go out to a restaurant with her for a little while, because we just took her out to one recently and had to take turns holding her, rocking her, and otherwise placating her the whole time. She is a very good girl, but lately she has been giving George a little bit of a hard time, and this may or may not mean she has a small cold. Evie has just been sick, so it may be that Cara is a bit sick. Right now Evie is trying desperately to get Cara to go to sleep. Perhaps I will try to take over and see if she wants to add anything to this entry!

Evelyn:

Now, I wasn't desperate, it's just that the baby was cranky and it seemed like she might be tired or hungry or something. In any case, now she's in a better mood and is playing with her daddy, who hasn't seen her all day except for a few minutes earlier. I think Steve did a good job getting us updated, and I hope that Cara is not traumatized by having lived undocumented for about ten days.

I had a really good time taking Cara over to PJ's house yesterday; he's six weeks older than Cara, and he's crawling and everything! He's also got a full head of hair. The babies had never really met anyone their own age before, so it was cool for them to see each other and for us parents to get to watch and compare--we're not competitive, or anything, it's just good to see what other babies are doing. Strangely, Cara is larger than PJ! Her feet reach the ground when she sits in toys of his in which his don't. It's good to hear his babbling, because I'd been reading things that said that babies her age ought to be producing syllables. I'm not sure, but what Cara's doing doesn't sound like syllables to me. PJ isn't doing any better, though, so I'm reassured. He's really doing lots of stuff that books say they'll do; he rocks back and forth on all fours and he pulls himself up on things.

The airplane thing Steve was trying to describe is a doorway jumper. It's a seat suspended on a large spring that attaches to the top of a doorway. Baby sits in it and can jump and bounce around. PJ loves his; ours is his spare from the garage. Cara is skeptical, so far, but she may get the hang of it. She stood around in it for about ten minutes today, watching Shelby, and she enjoyed it very much when I bounced her.

10/4/05

I had today off from school, so baby and I had a nice day together. Cara has really gotten good at standing up; she just needs a little bit of support and a lot of balance, and she loves it! I think she's confused by the different perspective and the distance that she gains from her toys on the floor. This morning was a very important morning. Cara was on her tummy playing with her blocks, and she tried to grab the string that is attached to the little wagon that the blocks come from. I put it near her, and she drew the wagon over and started messing with the blocks left inside it. She scrambled them around well and took several out. I'm very proud, but I also think that this may have happened just because I recently figured out how to put the blocks in to make a pretty pattern.

We went to the park and Cara had a great time swinging. The most exciting part for me was when she turned sideways in the seat to watch some teenage boys walk by and started sucking on the metal plate of the swing.

I can't remember what else was really exciting today. Cara's been in her bouncer and her jumper and her saucer and her play yard and her stroller and on her back and on her tummy. She and Shelby BOTH got to help me grade some papers. (Buster is the only good one--except that I know that she would steal my paper clips if I had any on those papers!) Oh, the other thing I wanted to mention is Cara's feet. For a month or so, she's been messing with them. She grabs them and plays with them, but over the past few days she's realized that it would be really, really cool to put them in her mouth. Occasionally, she'll just grab one and start pulling. So far, it's going very well for her. I hope to get a picture. I also hope to get a picture of her with both thumbs in her mouth; I haven't caught her yet, but I've gotten some other shots. Steve will probably post them soon.

10/5/05

I had today off, too, and Cara and I took a trip. First Cara slept late and I got some schoolwork done. This morning Cara and I took a walk using that sling thing I bought months ago. It works pretty well; Cara can look around and it's easy to get her into and out of it. Around noon Cara and I hit the road and headed down to Middletown, where we visited grandma at my alma mater. Cara was a very very good girl. She got passed around to people and smiled at (almost) everyone. She also looked very cute in her little overalls.

Cara impressed both of her grandparents with her ability to stand and support her own weight. Grandpa George had a nice busman's holiday; he and I took Cara to the park and put her in the baby swings, which she of course enjoyed immensely. Cara got to watch the cat and her friends the fishies, whose tank she has now left her little handprints all over. She got cranky and had a nice nap in her swing, and then we came home.

I took Cara down the street to see the neighbors, who have a little boy who is about two. Cara got to see little babies who know what to do with their legs, and the neighbors got to see a nice little girl. I also accepted a hand-me-down swing, which Cara seems to like very much. I think that this could wind up changing our lifestyle, if we have something that we can put her in that will calm her down and keep her happy for a while.

Around six I gave Cara a bottle, which she only took half of. She seemed hungry, so I just fed her some baby food. She tried sweet potatoes for the first time; I mixed them up with a little bit of leftover formula and some rice cereal, and Cara wolfed them down! She really seemed to be crying with eagerness and kept grabbing the spoon. I had to make a second batch, of which she ate about half. Overall, it was a good, messy time.

I go back to school tomorrow, and Grandpa George is back on duty. I hope he likes the swing; it might make his life easier. I also hope he gives the jumper a shot, since she may possibly be getting the hang of it!

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