random photo monday: a series of chai-tastic events

langley at six and seven months

january 14, 2010

dear little boognish,

you might have noticed that mama did not do a letter for you at six months. the first reason is, oy, do we ever have far too much going on around here. the second, crazier, reason is that there has been some debate over when your monthly “birthdays” actually are. your daddy and i have been counting up the weeks and, every four weeks, we call that a month. your gran wants us to count the 14th of each month as your birthday because it makes more sense then when you turn one year old. my only concern with choosing any particular method is that i refuse to be one of those people who says their child is 37 months old or 142 weeks old or any of that nonsense. so here’s the deal: we will, from now on, say that you’ve turned another month older on the 14th of each month and call it good.

all that aside, you have had a spectacular couple of months, little lady. you’re becoming a real little person, and it’s absolutely incredible. recently, we got you a walker, and then gran got you one for her house too, and you love scooting around and playing with all the toys. you actually “drive” the jeep walker - hands at 10 and 2 and everything.

you almost never want to lie down anymore, and naps are mostly out of the question unless you’re treefrogging on me or daddy. all you want to do is stand up, which you can now do with very little help from us. you hold onto our hands, but you’re basically balancing and doing everything on your own. you have also started sitting up without our help for really long periods of time without toppling over. it’s amazing how much happier you are with some independence. you’re so stinkin’ proud of yourself, and i love it.

the dogs are all your best buds, and you’re checking them out almost as much as they check you out now. one day a couple of weeks ago, you were at the tail-end of a two-hour fuss that no silly mama face or noise could break you out of, and bronson came over and started nosing around at you and licking your face, and you just busted out laughing. malichai came over to join in, and you were completely cheered up. you love those damn dogs. you’ve been petting them a lot more and grabbing clumps of their fur and pulling their ears, and luckily they’ve been very understanding of these new developments. i think they’re just happy to have another human to pay attention to them since all mama and daddy do is neglect and abuse them, of course.

about a week ago, we took you to phoenix, and you took an awesome nap the whole way down, and then woke up just in time to go completely apeshit in the hotel room. you were a huge fan of all the new sights. you sat for an hour just rubbing your feet on the comforter because you liked the sound it made, and you got all wide-eyed looking out from our 16th floor windows. you went with us to a fancy dinner in a revolving restaurant, and even though everyone around us looked pretty worried that you were going to ruin their lovely evening, you did an amazing job of not fussing...even if it meant constantly being on either my or daddy’s lap, which made trying to cut our steaks really fun. when we got back to our hotel, we stopped at the bar to buy a bottle of wine, which we placed in the cup holder of your stroller, instantly making you a huge hit in the lobby. everybody saw our little alcoholic baby and laughed their asses off. we took off running before somebody called CPS.

you’re eating real foods these days, and mama’s giving the baby food maker a good workout. you’ve tried peas, carrots, squash, sweet potatoes, bananas and prunes, and guess what? you’re a foodie. you don’t care what color it is or what it smells like. if it is food, you probably really really really love it. daddy hates to feed you because you’re a giant catastrophe, always putting your fingers in your mouth and flinging food everywhere. i’m not a huge fan of that either, but you look so damn happy the whole time that i forgive you.

in two weeks, we’ll be heading to colorado to see your un-cle daaaaave in boulder and go to my friend jo’s wedding in denver. it will be your first plane ride and your first trip of more than one night, and i’m quite terrified. be nice to mama and daddy, okay? don’t decide that you hate your hotel crib like you did in phoenix, because i am not sleeping with a punching-and-kicking baby for five nights!

love,

mamadog

things i love wednesday: winks

seriously? who taught her this??

random photo monday: overstimulated

random photo monday: christmas is overwhelming

i'm calling this LP's "holy shit, it's christmas" look.

random photo monday: impromptu nap

bryan took this short video when i fell asleep on the couch yesterday. i had no idea the cat had decided to join me.

random photo monday: baby it's cold outside

when the weather turns chilly, aiko refuses to go outdoors and just wraps up in blankets near the fire.

random photo monday: stranglebath

so, bryan took photos of LP getting a bath one day, and they all turned out like this:

why does it have to look like i'm strangling my baby? i swear i'm not! that's just the only way to take care of the spoiled milk neck!

overheard in the whitney house: baby paraphernalia

in the category of "things you never thought you'd hear a man say:"

bryan: ugh, i hate these nipples! it's too hard to tell what kind they are!

for those who are offended

i received this comment on one of my posts a couple of weeks ago, and it took me until today to decide to publish it and then to respond to it.

Gently, because I know you mean absolutely no harm: you may want to reconsider your header, before a parent of a baby with cerebral palsy or another crawling-limiting motor condition sees it.

okay, so i can completely appreciate that someone is looking out for the parents of those with debilitating infirmities, and it makes me strangely proud to see that someone outside my group of immediate family and friends is paying any attention to this little site, but come on!

here's the deal: i live in a house that is under 2000 square feet with four dogs, a kittendogdisaster, a husband and 8000 pieces of technogeek equipment. none of these things are babyproofed, nor do i think they are necessarily capable of being babyproofed, particularly bronson. the last time a child ran through our house, bryan and i looked on in horror as we realized our house was full of fire pokers and sharp corners and quicksand and godknowswhat. these things are what make me terrified of the concept of langley learning to crawl and why i am savoring these days of immobility. because very, very soon i will have to envelop that child in bubble wrap and hope for the best. with any luck, she'll make it through her toddlerhood covered only in dog spit and not scars from cracking her head open on the concrete floors.

i hope this addresses any concerns that i might be trying to poke fun or that i might not be sensitive to the plights of others. sometimes a cigar is just a cigar, folks.

random photo monday: flying baby

coming in for a landing on crazy papadog.

there is nothing sadder...

...than a baby with a cold. except, maybe, a mother with a nasty cold trying to take care of a baby with a cold. at least she's still able to smile and laugh at all my stupid tricks. hopefully posting will pick up after everybody in the house is feeling better.

random photo monday: cutest. hat. ever.

i think i'm going to make her wear this hat until she goes off to college. and she will like it. or else.

langley at five months

november 10, 2009

dear little boognish,

so, you might have noticed i’m a little late with your five-month letter. yeah, well, i told daddy he should do it this month, but then he had no time because we have a five-month-old baby. and then i had no time because we have a five-month-old baby. and do you know what five-month-old babies do? they refuse to nap. ever. i can barely get through the day without naps but you seem perfectly happy to play and laugh and wiggle and squinch all day long, stopping only occasionally to rub your eyes and beg for sleep and then refuse it when it’s offered to you.

in the past month, you’ve become much more aware of the zoo in which we live. you pull on malichai’s fur and ears, and at least once you punched him in the eye. he didn’t even get mad, which is incredible. i think he knows you’re his third pack leader.

you also got a doorway jumper, and you’re a pretty big fan. you get those little legs swinging around underneath you, and you twist yourself around in circles for nearly a half hour at a time, which is like a lifetime to such a little kid. then you look straight at us like you’re about to do something magnificent and throw your face onto the side of the seat and suck on it until the thing is soaking wet. teething is awesome!

basically, our biggest role in your life these days is providing fingers for you to chomp on all day. you do it to gran too, to the point that her fingers hurt at the end of a day of hanging out with you. it’s quite mean, really. we should talk about that.

your uncle dave came to visit again, and you were a huge fan. you showed off all your tricks - laughing until you gave yourself the hiccups, sleeping through the night, the butt cannon (not the farting kind, but the wiggling kind with the sound effects - you know what i’m talking about). the only thing you didn’t show him was your poop face, which mama had promised him he’d get to witness. every day, you waited until he had left the house before you would do it, and it’s just not fair. everyone should get to witness the poop face. i keep trying to get it on video, and i swear i’ll be victorious one day, so watch out, future boyfriends! i might have some superb footage to embarrass my daughter with in front of you someday!

love,

mamadog

overheard in the whitney house: injuries

me: the first time she falls or hits something and gets a little scar, i’m going to be so upset.

bryan: it’ll be just like the first time i dropped my iphone.