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Journal Key:

Green = Steve | George = navy | Janet = Purple | Evelyn = Black

2/23/06 (Thursday)

I had a very nice evening with Cara. She was in her walker while we ate dinner, and she had her "screamy face" on. Lots of noise tonight. Cara then had her dinner, which was a bowl of peaches followed by two bowls of yogurt. She really does like the yogurt. It's too bad we have trouble with most of the non-fruit foods--I hear she rejected her turkey/rice stuff earlier today.

For the evening, Cara and I played while I watched curling on TV. I took some movies of her which I'll have to try to get on the site one of these days. She babbled a lot and was doing this thing she does now from time to time where she'll turn her head way over to the side to look at something. She was also sticking her fingers in other people's mouths when given half the chance. I tried to show her how to climb onto her car, which she still can't quite do, though she can ride it very well. At one point she got her car totally upside down and was rolling the wheels that way. She also did some crawling on me when I laid down on the floor, which was nice.

We've been trying a few different types of drinking cups on her. She actually wants to drink from big-people glasses, but it's very messy as we've noted in earlier entries (most of what goes into her mouth falls back out again for some reason). The first sippy cup we got her didn't really work because it required her to tip her head back, which she was not willing to do. However we now have one with a straw, and that seems to really be working for her. We had tried it on her before and theorized a little juice had gotten into her. Tonight I tried it again and she definitely did drink out of it--and liked it. She has to work on picking it up for herself--it's so big she needs to use both hands at once, and as often as not she ended up grabbing it and sticking her mouth on the wrong end of the bottle--but she can drink her juice now, and that's a great step.

We went in the kitchen and played with this ball we have. Evie claims it is her ball, but I think it belongs to Cara. It's a little inflatable ball that is purple and has lots of bumps around the outside which make it roll in very unpredictable ways. Cara has figured out that the idea is to throw or roll the ball, and she kind of does that: she'll pick up the ball and then let it go, sometimes with a bit of a swing of the arm. It's tons of fun.

I have been trying pretty hard to get Cara to say "Da-da" or "Daddy" lately, with no effect. Sometimes in her babbling she does make that noise, but she never seems to say it right after I've said it--in other words, she is still not really mimicking us like I'd like her to. Ah, well. She has time.

When it got time for Cara to go upstairs and get ready for bed, her Mommy took her and they made lots of noise and giggling up in the bedroom, and then Cara wandered around upstairs blowing raspberries and flushing the toilet and looking down at me from the gate. She seemed very energetic, but fortunately this was all a mask for her extreme tiredness, since she fell asleep before even finishing her bottle. It's been a long time since I've seen her do that.

Tomorrow Cara gets to see how babies celebrate their first birthday! PJ is having a nice cupcake party.

2/24/06 (Friday)

Today PJ turned one! But let's start with Cara's day--for me, her day began at 4 pm, when I arrived at the house (having left work early). Cara slept through last night and until after I left in the morning (yay), but had napped only very lightly. In the afternoon we were hoping she would go down with her bottle, but she did not. So we wandered about with her for a while, but eventually I decided her crabbiness was tiredness and stuck her in her crib. She didn't like it at first, but after a little while it got quiet in there. We were able to eat most of our dinner in peace and I was able to lounge on the sofa with Shelby and watch some curling.

After our dinner, it was Cara's dinner time, and she had some peaches and yogurt, but then we had to rush off to PJ's party. Lots of people were there, and several other children, but none of them were as young as Cara (unless you count ones that haven't come out yet). We had some nice play time during which Cara did very well on PJ's walker toy. She was dressed up very nice for the occasion with pinstriped slacks, a nice pink top and some very fancy shoes, one of which almost immediately fell off and stayed off for the rest of the evening (we took pictures, one of which may have come out--I'll try to put them up soon). The shoes were harder than she's used to wearing, which we think helped her standing. Usually when I put her down on her feet she collapses immediately, but with the shoes on she stayed stuck there, rooted to the spot (Em and Ron described a similar effect when PJ tried out his new hightops).

The time came when PJ got his birthday song sung, and then we all had cupcakes, including Cara, who had a few chunks. She did much better than last month, when the cupcake only seemed to make her unhappy. She also had some pizza! I was eating some after the cupcakes (my order was off, I know), and Evie broke off some little tiny pieces and Cara ate them and wanted more! This, for once, is better than PJ, who apparently dislikes pizza.

Eventually it was time to say good night, so Cara went home and into her bath. She really does seem to throw her toys into the tub when Evie hands them to her. She loves her bath--in fact, I saw clear evidence this evening that Cara likes her bath even more than cats. Buster was wandering in the bathroom late in the evening, and Cara crawled purposefully right by her and went to the tub instead. Cara also did some very creative peeing, including some at the very moment after I'd taken off her diaper. She loves to stand up and sit back down again in her bath, and she loves to play with the squeegee we have by the tub.

I do believe Cara was saying "Da-da-da-da" today, but it did not seem to be in imitation of us: she just felt like making that sound. Cara is perfectly ready to hear what we have to say, she finds it interesting, but not interesting enough that she wants to repeat it--she has her own story to tell.

2/25/06 (Saturday)

Cara slept through the night and late into the morning today. At around 8:30, I was just saying to my wife something to the effect of "We should get that baby up soon" when I heard her making noises. We got up and had our bottle, puttered around for a bit and then had some bananas. Not the kind of banana George has with Cara, but the mushed-up kind that comes out of a jar. Then we put Cara into the cutest little Pooh-bear dress so that she could go to PJ's second, more complete and impressive birthday party. I tried desperately to get some good pictures of her wearing the dress, but though usually she loves the camera this time it was hard.

Anyway, there were even more children with PJ today, and one of them was even younger than Cara--and even had less hair than Cara! The babies played with toys a little but got a bit overwhelmed by the slightly older and verbal children who also liked the toys. Eventually we went upstairs and played with balloons, which are just as enjoyable. Cara also got to try some lasagna for the first time. She made repeated faces of utter disgust whenever it entered her mouth, which a nearby 9-year-old boy found incredibly funny, but she kept eating it and eventually forgot to squinch up her face.

Pretty soon we had to take off, though, because today was the day we decided to go down to my folks' house and get our taxes done!! They turned out very well (our taxes) because of our little deduction of joy. Cara had a lovely time in her pretty dress, got a little slobbered by the dog, and discovered the joy of rattling objects around inside of a tin silo toy. Every time she comes down, my parents said, she discovers a bit more about the toys and how to enjoy playing with them. She babbled a lot and was charming, which was good because after the taxes got done we (meaning Evelyn and I) left her there with her grandparents and went off to have dinner--a pseudo-date night which was enjoyable.

Just to prove that we were still thinking about baby, though, we stopped off at a Kmart and checked out their baby toys. It was interesting and we saw some cool stuff, but managed to come away without buying anything. I found that I was looking at some toys and realizing that they seemed too "young" for her. She really is maturing! Still we will probably end up getting these Peek-a-blocks, little block toys with colorful objects inside them that do various things. Cara already has some, as does PJ, and they are pretty cool. There are various noise-making and music-making things, most of which purport to encourage learning of one sort or another. We saw some of the things PJ got for his birthday, though I think we left too early to see much unwrapping of gifts, but next playdate we'll have an even better idea of what's good and what's not!

Anyway, we returned to our baby and shipped her back home. She slept in the car (as did my wife), and then had to wake up again when we got home. We hung around for a little while unpacking stuff and I gave her her juice cup with the straw, and she was very good and drank some juice out of it without my having to hold it for her at all (though she does need to learn to improve her drinking posture: a lot of the time she will bend over very far to get her mouth onto the straw). Then it was off to bed, where Evelyn has put extra amounts of formula into her since we skipped her normal solid-food dinner and we want to make sure she sleeps through the night. You'll hear about it if it doesn't work!

2/26/06 (Sunday)

It worked; baby slept until almost seven!

Many exciting things have been going on. It seems that the baby congress has met, because the rules are changing. Yesterday, Cara was eating Cheerios, and she held one out to me. After a few tries, she managed to feed me a Cheerio. Now, I admit that a few days ago I came home to find my father excitedly opening his mouth at the baby in her high chair, claiming that she had tried to offer him one. I'm not sure that I really believed him. Anyway, I believe that this is a sign of major changes. If she can feed us, she's aware that we eat, too. She wants to participate. (PJ feeds the dog. Cara feeds her mother. I'm not sure I want to see where that comparison leads.) It also shows that it is okay for things to go into other things, which contradicts a major baby rule.

At her grandparents' house on Saturday, Cara displayed further her disregard for previously all-important rules. She repeatedly crawled right by towers of stacking cups, allowing things to be on top of other things. She also enjoyed shaking the silo toy while it had other toys in it, making a lovely noise that everyone enjoyed. If she were following her usual rules, Cara would have dumped that thing right out!

The biggest ramification of this change in the rules is Cara's shape-sorting technique, which has been nonexistent until now. This morning, Cara managed to put her square into the correct home in the shape sorter in the hood of her car toy! Steve was with her; he had shown her where it would go and how to put it in. She may be trying to put the blocks through the holes, but it's really hard to orient them correctly, so she's only gotten the one so far.

Today I took Cara to the grocery store. She loves watching people, and they all smile at her; it's great. Parenthood really changes your experiences with the public. I was at the store without Cara last week, and behind me was a dad with two little kids. Another dad came up near us, and they started doing the typical parent conversation. I wondered why they weren't talking to me. I was confused for a little while until I realized that, when I had no baby with me, no one could tell that I was part of the club! I missed it.

The other day, as I was giving her a bedtime bottle, Cara turned her face to my upper arm. Often she wipes her face there, but this time she opened her mouth and I felt her little teeth. I don't think she liked my shirt particularly, because she went right back to work. This evening, Steve was holding Cara and she put her mouth on his shoulder and bit down hard enough to make him yell ouch. Later I was lying on the couch and she bit my toes as she was cruising by.

Cara is definitely developing physically. More and more often, she stands without supporting herself. She can only do it briefly, but, as we saw with PJ, this is a major step. Also, today she crawled up the stairs. This means big changes in the experience of watching her! It may also mean more gates. She crawled up a short flight of uncarpeted stairs with me right behind her as support. She's almost never even shown interest before, so we were kind of surprised. Once she got to the top, she seemed determined to head right back down the same way!

2/27/06 (Monday)

Having just spent a while finally getting some movies put on the site, I am going to make this entry short (for me, that may mean several paragraphs). Anyway, not much happened today. Evie turned the baby's crib in her room. This revealed a section of mural we haven't looked at too closely for a while, which is nice. It also may have opened up the room a bit better, and made it possible to move the lamp to a place where it might be harder for the baby to knock it on herself. This also reduced the lengths of electrical cord snaking around the room.

Cara was a bit crabby this evening, but this was probably due at least in part to the fact that we were trying to get stuff done and weren't able to pay full attention to her. We did spend a lot of time in the dining room playing with the ball popper. Cara wants to put the balls down the chute, but when the thing is on, the chute is blowing air up and she can't get them to stay in there. This doesn't make her mad, it keeps her fairly busy. We have put a pressure mounting gate in the doorway leading down the basement stairs, high enough so the kitties can slip underneath and reach their food and water. Cara is trying to slip under it as well, but fortunately so far has been unsuccessful. We have added the cats' jingle ball toys to the number of balls that get popped out by the ball popper--this probably annoys them no end.

A neat thing that happened was that Cara was busy with the ball popper and, probably without realizing it, spent quite a lot of time standing up unassisted. She has yet to go up the stairs again, though--she went over to them a few times, but then thought better of it. I'll stop there!

2/28/06 (Tuesday)

Cara is developing wonderfully well! Lately I've been working on getting her to develop some interest in things other than me. Today, we had a little bit of success--she played for about twenty minutes on the living room level, all by herself. Later, up in her room she showed me two fun games she's developed. One is to put her wooden blocks through the slats in her crib so they go into the storage area beneath. The other is to suck on the lavender rubber ball that she has and hold onto it without using her hands! What a kid.

Yes, Cara is busy developing the skill of holding an object in her mouth so that she has the use of both hands. She is also definitely standing without holding onto things, quite often, and is clearly considering trying to walk once she is in that position.

Cara woke up in the middle of the night last night. Evelyn suspects it was because her crib was in a different place, so she felt like she was in unfamiliar surroundings and couldn't get back to sleep. I think last night may have been one of the first times that I was not woken up by the baby but Evelyn was. I had a dream about the baby crying, but when I woke up there was no noise. This however was because Evelyn had already gone into the baby's room and quieted her.

This evening Cara and I had our evening together while Evie went out to see her personal trainer Charles (I'm very suspicious). I showed Cara some Wallace and Gromit movies, which for the uninitiated are wonderful short claymation movies about a bumbling British inventor and his intelligent but silent dog, Gromit. The pair are much more famous now that they've had a feature length film. Cara did her amused gasp a few times while stuck in her saucer watching them. It didn't really hold her attention, but nothing does the first time around--I have hopes. We also did some crawling around and cruising while Daddy tried to do some chores (I suppose I, too, was trying to get her to develop interest in things other than myself).

Cara has a new toy! She will get one new toy every day until her birthday--just kidding. No, Evie just got her a walker toy that's like the one she enjoys at PJ's house. It's a good idea as she clearly seems to be interested in walking and this should get her used to the idea of walking forwards instead of going sideways, crabwise, like she has the tendency to do since it's how she's forced to move when cruising along tables and couches. Her car toy (which she loves, as previous journal entries and several movies on the site will attest) can be set up to work as a walker, but it just rolls along too fast to be safe for her right now. This new walker toy goes at a good pace on the dining room carpet when Cara uses it, and is also almost unique because it does not require batteries and does not make any music or have flashing lights (sigh of relief here). Although we are perfectly happy to hear music and noises every once in a while, it's nice to have a non-battery toy for a change. It does have some clackety noise-making plastic pieces on it anyway, and it converts to a ride-on thing which is probably already a little too small for Cara to use.

Evie also got Cara some new clothes as we are desperately in need of sleepers. For some reason it's getting difficult to find them. I never really spent a lot of time shopping for Cara, I must admit, but I would have assumed that a trip to Target or Kmart would have yielded plenty of choices--it turns out no.

Anyways, eventually Mommy returned and baby got into her bath. Her courage in her ability to stand up seems to have increased, but her stability has not, and she managed to completely immerse her whole body underwater at least once tonight. It was scary for me, but she shook it off very quickly and was back chewing on a bath toy in no time. When we were undressing her for her bath I managed to undo her diaper just before she crawled away and she went on for a few moments before sitting down and looking back at us, perhaps a bit surprised that she was naked. Then Evie clapped and said "Yay!" and pretty much got Cara to clap her hands in return.

I fed baby a big bowl of yogurt tonight into which I mixed a small amount of sweet potatoes (I know, it sounds horrible, but it tasted like yogurt and the baby liked it), and I can't swear to it, but there was one moment there where I said "Daddy" and she looked at me hard and said something that sounded a lot like "Daddy" back to me. Wishful thinking?

3/1/06 (Wednesday)

Steve did not share the wonderful moment I created for him yesterday; when he came in the door after a long day at work, his daughter was walking towards him on her new toy. I thought it was awfully cute. She walks very well with it, and she talks a lot. Possibly she feels that she needs to announce where she's going.

I had a terribly easy day today. Grandma Janet came up and took care of Cara for the afternoon, and I just came home from work and kind of kept them company. I guess I provided moral support to everyone. Cara is still progressing in leaps and bounds. The landmark for today is that she has started waving. She definitely waves now, holding up her hand and opening and closing her fingers. It's the best communication we've had with her so far! Janet also reports that Cara puts toys into her shape sorter barrel (without the lid, that is) and enjoys shaking it around. This is allowable, now that the baby rules have changed.

I know I've said this before, but I'm really going to quit on baby foods that Cara doesn't like and move her on to real foods. I've had trouble because it just seems like the things I cook couldn't possibly be baby-friendly. However, tonight we gave Cara some lo mein noodles on her tray. She had a good time and ate plenty of them; I was happy with her. After that, she finished up her sweet potato yogurt. It was quite a dinner.

PJ came over this evening, and he and Cara played with the ball popper. Sometimes, they did this at the same time, and each seemed somewhat perplexed as to what the other one thought he/she was doing. Cara's sock fell off, which surprised me. I know that all mothers seem to have experienced terrible trouble keeping socks on their children, but Cara has never really seemed to have trouble with this. Steve put her sock back on, but it soon came off again. She really enjoyed playing with it. When she got bored and dropped it, I had fun putting it down the tube of the ball popper and seeing whether it would pop back out. (Eventually, with a little help, yes, it would.)

Now Steve is giving Cara her night bottle. I have just sterilized and installed two size 4 nipples for Cara's bottles. I bought the nipples yesterday, because she seems to have to work so much harder with some bottles than others, and I decided that the size 3 nipples were too small. Now all bottles should be easy and quick. The exciting thing is that I'm the only one who knows that I've done this; the men won't have any idea unless they read this. Of course, that will soon happen. It's fun anyway.

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