I know I am behind on blogging. I’ve got a whole lot of photos and stuff to share, and long update post that is mostly written, but I am so busy I don’t have a lot of time to finish. However, I will share one video from tonight, from Fiona’s first trick or treating adventure.
Happy Halloween!
At some point in the recent past, Fiona learned to shake her head in a “no” motion. I don’t know when she learned it because I saw it for the first time on Friday, but my mother told me she was doing it before.
Other developments:
Fiona discovered a paperback book and carried it around the kitchen for a little while:
She started trying to put on her shoes, and John reports that she put on a hat when he asked her to, indicating she understands when we ask her to put her hat on:
John also reports, and I can bear witness, that Fiona helps him unload the dishwasher. What a cute sight (no pictures of it though) of Fiona handing plates and silverware to him to be put away.
She had a climbing wall experience:
She tried to climb up the slide. When she didn’t get very far, she attempted to get a running start:
Her pants at the end of the day looked like this:
Thank goodness for OxyClean. Then again, I don’t expect anything white is going to stay that way in this house.
A tiny little baby snail appeared in the house:
Not even a shell yet! I took it outside so that it can grow into a large snail, and then become a garden pest.
My mom bought Fiona a little candy bucket for Halloween:
She chased me around the kitchen with it, then we out a diaper in it, a bear, and some books. It’s really cute, made of felt, and has Woodstock the bird on it, dressed like a witch and riding broom. Which is interesting because I always assumed Woodstock was a male bird, and I don’t think males wear witch’s hats or ride brooms. But I digress. It’s a really cute bucket and perfect for Fiona and I can’t wait for her to use it.
Last, she cut two teeth this week. Both broke through last night sometime. She has been really whiney and clinging, hasn’t had much of an appetite, and has not been sleeping well. We suspected teeth, and we were right. Bottom canines are in at last! I think it only took about two months from when they first started pushing. (That last sentence is said in a sarcastic tone. Fiona is a really slow teether and we have been waiting for these teeth to break through for long time. I even thought they did about a month ago and was wrong. But this time, they really are here.)
I am swamped with work and should really get back to it now.
Happy second half of October to everyone!
It was 75 degrees when I left for work this morning. It reached about 90 in the afternoon. Yuck! As result, Fiona has been spending some time running around in just a diaper (and a cute pair of undies):
She had fun playing with a bowl:
Last, here is a video of her walking to the bath...naked! I think this one will work really well in her wedding video montage:
I just checked the answering machine and there was a nice message from my brother-in-law Ron. The family was together eating dinner in honor of Canadian Thanksgiving. It’s a lot like Thanksgiving here in the U.S. except it’s in the wrong month and the turkeys say “gobble gobble eh?” instead of just “gobble gobble.” Just kidding, the Turkeys don’t really talk like that. ;-)
But seriously, I wish they all lived around the corner so we can see them more often. Fiona is much more social now, although still not what I’d call a social butterfly. I think she would really like John’s side of the family if she got to spend more time with them than they brief time she saw them in July. Everyone could take turns reading to her or passing a ball around.
Speaking of reading, yesterday we bought a bunch of new books for Fiona because we are getting tired of reading the same books over and over again. There are just so many times in one day, in one hour, that a person can read “Ten Little Rubber Ducks”, “You Are My Little Cupcake”, or “This Is Not My Cat” before one starts to wonder if maybe that really is my cat after all. We bought six books but decided to take one back. It’s called “Going on a Bear Hunt” and it’s about a dad and three kids going through rivers and fields and forests to find a bear, only to be chased back home. John read it at my cousins’ house and 5 year old Lindsey said it was kind of a scary story. John doesn’t like that there is no mommy in the story, and I don’t like how the bear is made to be a scary thing. So it is going to be returned.
Today we went to lunch and Fiona charmed the staff at the restaurant we went to by showing everyone her belly and walking around (in an out of the way corner). She ate a grilled cheese sandwich by picking it up like a big person. It was very amusing. After, we went to a park and played with a ball and went on the slide and the swings. I have no photos of the park.
When we returned home, we played more, Fiona pretended to drink out of a play cup in her picnic basket, and then she took a nap. I went for a much needed run. I signed up for a half marathon at the end of January and I really need to start running in earnest.
Oh, and today she very clearly said “banana” although from her it sounds more like “anana” but she said it in reference to a banana. My mother reported same on Friday. And she says “dada” when John comes into the room. No “mama” yet, but lots of “mumumum” and “dododo”.
Here are photos from the restaurant:
Happy Canadian Thanksgiving on Monday!
Well, I am exhausted to put it mildly. Classes started at UCSB. I go Mondays and Tuesdays. It makes for a very long week. By Wednesday, I’m ready to collapse. It’s hard on Fiona too and she is expressing her displeasure at missing me two evenings in a row by waking up in the middle of the night and not going back to sleep. I don’t blame her. I dropped her off at my friend Nicole’s on Tuesday afternoon at three, and didn’t really see her again until about 12 noon on Wednesday. She is fighting her naps as well. It’s been hard to say the least.
I’m overwhelmed with work and school, and I spend almost every evening (including weekends) grading papers and planning my classes, and then occasionally reading a little bit for my classes at UCSB. I haven’t read anything for my own research, nor did I complete the research internship that I am supposed to do during the first year. The only good thing about all that is that I changed my mind about what I want to focus on, so I didn’t waste any time with material that will be irrelevant later.
On the positive side of things, Fiona doesn’t seem to be having any teething symptoms lately (I am probably jinxing myself as I type) and she is walking everywhere (still looks like a little zombie) and babbling like it’s going out of style. Yes, she is getting even cuter. Here are some photos from the week:
Reading in the car:
We went for a walk and saw a lizard on the sidewalk. Fiona fell asleep in the Ergo:
Fiona helped with some community service last Sunday by posing next to a tree:
Her hair is long enough to put in a little pig tail:
She enjoyed making a mess at Nicole’s:
She did not actually ride this tricycle:
The bear is bigger than I am:
It rained this week and after, Fiona had fun playing with saucers of water that were left in the yard.
We went to my cousins’ house again tonight, this time for Yom Kippur Break Fast. Fiona fell over backward in her chair and started crying. As soon as I put her in my lap, she stopped instantly. Other things she did this week are putting away all the pot lids that she took out (all by herself without any help or even being asked to do it), wiped a plate with the cloth in her picnic basket, hid the cell phone and found it again (yes, she hides it for herself and then finds it), feds herself yogurt (we put it on the spoon and then she puts it in her mouth), tried to put her shoes on, took her shoes and socks off, put two different hats on her head successfully (at different times of course), chose a pair of pants to wear, and carried my lunch box from the bench in the entry hall out to the curb.
And of course, she spent some time sleeping in our bed with us. These photos are really grainy because they were taken at 4000 ISO with very low light so that I would not need to use flash and wake her up.
The cutest thing she does lately is something my mom taught her. I really want to get a video of her doing this. We ask her, “Fiona, where is your belly?” and she lifts up her shirt and pinches her bellybutton and smiles. It’s cuter than when I hide my head under a box and she lifts it and gets inside the box with me or when she put a pair of pants on her head and waited for John to “find” her. So next time you see her, ask her where her belly is. She’ll be happy to show you.
