First Day of School

For me that is! I’m nervous. I haven’t bee nervous about a first day for a long time. Today my alarm clock went off for the first time in over a year. I went to teacher prep day, but still don’t feel ready. My presentations are all set and I know what I’m doing, but I’m still nervous. I had to move classrooms this year and I don’t really like anything about my new location. I am in disbelief that it is really happening. And it feels weird that my students won’t know me. My favorite group graduated and I wasn’t there to make the special videos last year, so no one will know who I am. I will be like a stranger, even though I have been at the school longer than my students. I am collaborating with a new teacher, so that makes me feel good. And I might be getting a student teacher, which is even more exciting because it is what I want to do after I finish my Ph.D.; work with student teachers.

I don’t like leaving early in the morning and missing the reading and snuggle time that has become our morning ritual during the past year. I don’t like the fact that I will have to brush my teeth and be presentable before Fiona’s nap time (when I can usually do those types of things). And mostly, I am going to miss Fiona terribly.

She started taking real steps! Every day, a step or two here and there. And her vocalizations are starting to sound like words. She handed me her “Wheels on the Bus” book and said “buhbuhbuh”, then when I started singing to it, she started humming, and moved her arm when I did the “move on back” motion. I think she was trying to say  Yesterday when she was in the car, we heard some little whispering. Fiona was turning the pages of her new favorite book, Brown Bear Brown Bear, and mouthing something to herself. I think she was pretending to read the book!

John told me a cute story about something that happened the other day. Fiona was lying (on her tummy with her tush in the air, as usual) at the foot of the bed when he went to get her up for the day. When he entered the room, she sat up very quickly, turned around, then scrambled as fast as she could to the opposite corner of the bed, retrieved Panda, and handed him to John. Se crawled the whole diagonal length of the bed, lunged for Panda, and handed him to John. He said it was as though she had been waiting for him for a long time just so she could give him Panda.

We recently had a photo of Fiona in a box. Here she is in a tube:

Fiona eating and drinking out of her sippy:

 

She was very excited to get some yogurt. She really likes to drink out of my glass, so we let her sometimes, holding it for her because it is much bigger. Her theme with food and drink seems to be that it tastes much better if it belongs to mommy. She also chews on things, then takes them out of her mouth and hands them to me and has tried to feed me yogurt and cottage cheese using her hands. Lovely.

Fiona in the planter:

John said she climbed in her self. She handed us leaves and dried tangerine rinds.

I am really going to miss our mornings, even if I am only working half days. She makes it so hard to leave the house. I still can’t believe how much my love grows for her every day.

Oh, and I’m pretty sure her head and her feet grew this week. Her head barely fits through the openings of her shirts and her feet look like they belong on a larger baby.

Caught on Film!

Or on a digital camera, that is:

My mother finally got a photo of her looking through her legs. She does this all the time, but I never have a camera. Sometimes she hands me things.

I LOVE this little girl so much! I can’t believe how much she is growing up.

So, What’s New?

Well, let’s see, Fiona got her fourth molar and it looks like she’s getting another tooth on the bottom right, but she is not cranky or losing sleep at all. I am probably jinxing myself when I say this...she has been sleeping through the night and taking pretty good naps lately. It is possible that she grew a little today. Her appetite is back, and she now says “bububu”, “bwabwabwa”, and most importantly “muhmuhmuh”!

I am sorry I have not written anything in a while, I’ve been really busy. I am moving classrooms and I have been at school a lot. I’ve also been doing lots of planning for my classes and am almost finished writing all my tests and quizzes for September for one class. I’m getting more and more nervous, but also a little excited. Fiona is fine with my mom when I go to school for several hours a day, so I am not worried that she will miss me too much. A friend of mine offered to help me grade tests in exchange for mocha lattes. I told her I might take her up on the offer when I start getting overwhelmed.

I know this is late, but Happy Birthday to Grandpa Don! He is nine decades old! Hopefully we will be up there again sometime in the winter so Fiona can see him again.

Here are some videos and photos of Fiona lately. There is nothing really exciting. Mostly, they are of messes that she is making all over the house.

Playing under the lemon tree:

Eating an apple:

Emptying cabinets in the kitchen:

She also likes to pull things off the refrigerator. Everything that is accessible to her is child safe. We locked up all the sharp, pointy, breakable, or otherwise not child friendly things.

Still pulling things out of drawers:

But now she sometimes puts them back! I can’t believe the shirt she is wearing actually fits now. It was a Christmas present and she was swimming in it not too long ago.

Pulling things off the bench:

Sometimes I feel like all I do all day long is follow her around the house while she pulls everything out of drawers, cabinets, shelves, etc, and makes a big mess. Then she naps and I clean up. She wakes and the process is repeated. I used to think it was cute, now I just accept that my house will perpetually look like it was hit by a hurricane, with debris littered everywhere. Sometimes we leave the house just so I don’t have to clean up. You might be able to make out a stroller in the background. She uses it as a walker instead of her walking toy.

Here she is in a box:

She sat in it and I pulled her around, much to her delight and amusement.

She is really getting into books lately. I’m not sure if she is just bored with all of her toys or genuinely interested in reading. I read “Brown Bear, Brown Bear What Do You See?” and “Moo Bah LA LA LA” as well as many other books (“This Is Not My Cat”, “Mr. Brown Can Moo, Can You?”, for example) about ten times a day. I’ve started singing them just to break it up. I think I have most of her baby books memorized. She really like to turn the pages and play with them, so I am sticking with board books for now, but plan to introduce her to some of the books on the next shelf up.

I just did a nice purge of her drawers and closet and took out all the 6-9 month clothing that no longer fits because it is too short or too tight.

She really likes to put her head between her legs and look at the world upside down. I want to take a photo but I never have a camera in hand when she does it.

Today we went to the park and lots of fun things happened. First, I learned that Fiona really likes it when I run back and forth next to her when she is on the swing. She turns around and giggles at me. Also, HUGE grin the whole time! She loves the slide, and I can put her on it alone, laying her down so she slides on her back, and catch her at the bottom. Again, the result is a HUGE toothy smile. Then, a family with a large dachshund walked through the playground. I learned they were a grandmother and grandfather with four of their grandchildren. They were so enamored of Fiona, that they insisted on taking a photo of her with the grandkids and the dog. It was really weird, but sort of flattering. I thought the camera was digital and asked to see the photo, but alas it was a film camera and no one had a pen to write addresses so I could get a copy. I’m slightly regretting allowing it now. I’m consoling myself by telling myself that it is not all that different than having photos and video on a publicly accessible blog. After, the grandmother asked if Fiona and her friend Lyla were sisters.

Here are two videos of Fiona just being herself. She is eating grapes in the first, and yogurt in the second.

 

Well, that’s it for now. Nothing too exciting to report. Just life going on as usual.

Signing off!

MORE Teeth!

It turns out Fiona got three new teeth, not two. I was able to feel her upper gums Friday and found another one on the right side of her mouth. There is a bulge on the upper left gum, so I am sure she will get one more soon. Three teeth in one week explain why she has been acting so funny lately. Now she has a stuffy nose. We used the NoseFrida on her several times today and yesterday. I got a good look in her mouth and the teeth are definitely molars. Tiny little Fi sized molars.

She discovered the Tupperware drawer:

John spent some time today putting latches on some of the drawers and cabinets. The ones she can access have baby safe items that we don’t mind if she plays with them. The “locked” ones have things we don’t want her to play with right now. She is so fast now that it is impossible to keep her out of everything.

Thursday we went to the farmer’s market that is down the street. One of my former students works at his grandfather’s stand, so we like to stop and say hello, and buy strawberries that taste like candy. This week he was assisted by another former student of mine:

 

Fiona eating the strawberries:

 

She ate so many that she wasn’t hungry for dinner :(

Random photos of Fiona eating in general:

We received Fiona’s new car seat on Friday. She immediately started climbing all over it:

She wasn’t that happy about being strapped into it:

 

She hands us books and likes it when we read to her. On Saturday, John told her to bring him and book and she did! Later, she gave him the National Geographic and they had fun looking at it:

She had a hard time falling asleep for her nap on Saturday, so she wound up in bed with us. I cuddled her and fell asleep too:

Saturday afternoon we took a long drive down Highway 1 and saw a pod of dolphins. They were very close to shore. One dolphin was a lot smaller and was jumping and showing its tail. I love living close to the ocean!

Today we took a walk to the coffee shop. When we returned, I experimented with putting Fiona in the Ergo on my back. She liked it A LOT! She smiled and made little singing noises while I walked around and made silly noises:

By the way, those pants were not shorts a week ago.

On our walk, she wore a hat. The whole time, both directions, and did not try to take it off until we were indoors.

Fiona’s new car seat is installed in my car and we purchased a sun shade for her as well.

I am anxious about going back to work in two weeks. I’ll probably write more about that as the time gets closer.

Fiona Standing

Climbing out of the wagon:

She stood straight up from the ground again today, and took one step.

More importantly, she has two new teeth, on the bottom, one on each side of her mouth. I think they are her one year molars. I’m hoping this means a little peace and a little sleep. She ate a little more yesterday and today. I’m torn between wanting her to remain exactly as she is right now, with as few teeth as possible, and wanting her to get all of her teeth now just to get it over with. One way or another, I hope it’s not too painful for her (or us).