Current Goings-on

Last week we were teased with some delightful weather. I believe it was Tuesday, Sean called me at work, said that he was grabbing Lauren early, and to meet him at home, stat. I knew what was about to happen, people. A walk. Outside. I shut down my computer, dashed home, ran upstairs to change, threw a hat on Lauren, we put her in the stroller, grabbed Miller's leash (and Miller) headed outdoors, and aaaahhhh...bliss. It smelled like spring. It was still a little cold, but people: IT SMELLED LIKE SPRING. In foolish celebration that evening I put away all of our winter coats. The next morning, I sheepishly pulled them back out. Damn you, warm weather teaser. Oh well, Lauren didn't seem that thrilled anyway.

So things they have a-changed at the Power House. Lauren is very mobile. She crawls everywhere: away from us, towards us, towards electrical outlets, towards random foreign objects strewn about our floor that she decides belong in her mouth...it's really fun. And terrifying (see electrical outlets and random foreign objects). Like all babies of the modern era, she loves to play in the dishwasher when it's open.

We cleaned off the bottom shelf of our kitchen island of all breakables and it's now filled with Lauren-friendly objects like spatulas, whisks, colanders and bowls.

Another new favorite: crawling to the window to look out at that great big exciting world all around her. We're thankful for our low-to-the-ground windows. Miller often joins. Lauren squeals and claps in delight, Miller barks at any dog within a 20 mile radius.

This is a really fun stage. Lauren eats a lot of what we're eating, which is fun, and let's be honest, easier. We didn't have a date night babysitter this weekend, so we said what the hell, we'll have a date night and take Lauren with us. So we went out to eat on Friday night and she was a pretty good companion. A little squeal-y for the candlelight atmosphere, perhaps, but she was enjoying herself so that's OK. In case anyone is wondering, she had hummus and pita as an appetizer, and green curry for an entree. Oh, and Cheerios for dessert. I'm not kidding, she really had curry and hummus. And loved it. Last night she had roast chicken, pureed parsnips, and roasted garlic for dinner. Again, not kidding. And again, she loved it all. While it might be inevitable that we enter the chicken nugget stage at some point (please no, please no, please no), right now she's our little international eater. A baby foodie, if you will.

More Crawling Video

Apologies again for my videography; this time I blame a light that's out in the hallway. You see, with a mobile 10 month old, things like light bulb changing take a backseat. But we wouldn't have it any other way. In this video, Lauren displays two endearing characteristics: the pitter patter of her hands as she crawls, holding a baby doll like a real baby, and snot shoelaces. But wait Alison, you said two endearing characteristics but then listed three. Let's get real people, the snot shoelaces aren't endearing. OK, they kind of are. They may be snot shoelaces, but they're my daughter's snot shoelaces. I stand corrected. Three endearing characteristics.

Please note that we did not buy Lauren the baby doll playing a supporting role in this video. In fact, we had our minds set to not encourage such traditionally gender-specific play things. But, much to my chagrin, at a play group Lauren latched on to this thing and held on for dear life. Read: screamed bloody murder every time I tried to release the poor doll from her grasp. So much so that our play group hostess insisted that we take it with us. She explained that they had bought it for their two little boys when their third little boy was on the way, to teach them how to hold a baby, but now they didn't need it anymore. My gender-specific play thing fears were confirmed. I hid my horror at Lauren's attachment, graciously thanked our hostess, and exited with said baby doll. I am learning that these are the things you accept as a parent. I am also learning that Lauren is who she is. She likes to hold babies. I like to hold babies, I can't blame her. And besides, I have to admit it's cute when she picks her up and pats her back just like I do to Lauren. Next up: a princess canopy bed with pink lace. God help us.

Lauren Crawls

Lauren turned 10 months old on Thursday, and she is on the move. She has been crawling for a little while now, but in the past couple days it has moved from crawling on occasion to crawling everywhere. I had the flu yesterday and was the videographer here, so I apologize for the bad camera angle, but I was on the couch and I wasn't moving. You'll see at the end of the video that she pulls herself up on the couch. She isn't "cruising" yet (walking from piece of furniture to piece of furniture while holding on), but I'm sure it's not far behind.

A Picture to Tide You Over

Lauren and I went to a play date on Friday for downtown moms while they were moving my office at work, and one of the other moms posted this photo on Facebook, so I thought I would share since our home computer is still down for the count. We had quite a weekend; Sean and I had the stomach flu and Lauren's ears became so infected that it caused the doctor (when Sean took her in on Saturday) to exclaim "her eardrum's going to burst!" Not sure if it did or not, we haven't seen any fluid, but poor Lauren has been in a lot of pain. Aunt Arie was called in for backup. She called it "Arie's Day of Giving" (she'd been volunteering in Ottawa, KS when I made the frantic call for help).

The problem/beautiful thing about Lauren is that she's not a complainer. Unfortunately, that means she sometimes doesn't start complaining until her eardrum is about to burst vs. when she first gets the infection. But she's on antibiotics now and we're crossing our fingers that they'll work (sometimes they don't). This is ear infection number 7 or 8 for her...I've lost track. When other parents say that their kid has a "double" ear infection like it's some kind of big deal I'm like really? Is there anything but a double ear infection? Lauren likes to go all the way. No single ear infections for her.

Also: she crawled with her butt up this weekend! Like the real crawl that you think of when someone says their baby is crawling, vs. what Lauren was doing, which Sean liked to explain this way: "Imagine you were in a car accident and broke both of your legs. But you have to get away from the car because it's on fire and might explode. That's how Lauren crawls." But no more! Now she crawls like a big girl! OK, OK, she still car accident crawls sometimes. But she's getting there.

Daycare Update

The new daycare may not have video cameras over the cribs, but they do occasionally email us a photo of Lauren. Here she is napping in the swing, which she loves to do at daycare but won't do at home. Go figure. Big news from last night: Lauren crawled! She was so proud of herself, but not as proud as we were. You would have thought she'd ended world hunger. We use the term crawling loosely, it was not exactly textbook, but she got herself from one end of the couch to the other, and was very happy about it. We'll take video soon.

By the way, we continue to love the new daycare. Lauren is taking nice, long naps both in the morning and afternoon and is a happy girl when we pick her up in the evening. That makes nighttime a lot more fun for us, although it means we're sad to put her to bed because she's so much fun.