HEY! New poll.

Updates:
Hooray! We finally got some rain and some cool weather.

On Friday, e-baby finally decided that yes, it is OK to walk without holding onto anything. We knew she could do it for weeks now, and would catch her walking 2-3 steps at a time, but now she's ready to walk across rooms and over obstacles and such. When she falls over, she gets up and tries again.

She is up to about 20 words (spoken and/or signed) although the main ones are still dog, duck, bear and ball. Newest: airplane, more, and peas.

In the past 5 years or so we've cultivated a tradition of "food and fake sport" to celebrate birthdays with some of our friends. For example, pizza and bowling; barbecue and ice-dancing; salad and billiards; pizza and putt-putt; sandwiches and lazer-tag. Two weeks ago it was burritos and poker with one friend, and last weekend it was pizza and Wii with another friend. This weekend is my turn, so I picked fruit pie and bocce. I ordered a bunch of Hubig's pies and tomorrow some friends are coming over to help us eat them. The weather should be nice. I haven't had a Hubig's pie since I was probably 12 years old. Unfortunately, they accidentally sent me 5 pineapple pies and only 3 lemon, which is the opposite of what I ordered. We also have peach, chocolate, and coconut. I hope they're as good as I remember.

Not much else going on with me. What about you?

Watch Me Resist the Temptation to Entitle This Post Philadelphia Freedom.

So I'm teaching in Philly this week, and SNG is in New Bern with e-baby for a business trip of his own. His parents live there so it works out nicely. I'm delighted that e-baby got some 1-on-2 quality time with her Granny and Grandpa, since they usually only get small doses of e-baby. It sounds like they've been having a terrific time together. Well, SNG had a rough start, what with forgetting to pack e-baby's milk and with some logistical troubles on how to take a pee-stop on a road trip with a baby in-tow (and no stroller). Still, he'll get it all sorted out before the next time.

My own trip has been hot and cold as well. Yesterday, I dropped off e-baby at daycare and took a picture of her with my phone.

Well, I couldn't leave with that sad little face in memory, so I went back and played with her over lunch. We had a great time, and I left with a happy baby mental image (no picture this time, though).

My flight was on time, but once I got on the Avis bus, I suspected something was wrong. It was the most crowded Avis bus ever. At the 3rd airport stop, we had to leave passengers behind because there was no space for them. The driver ambled-- no, he crawled-- to the Avis location and crept at 2-3 mph through the "Preferred" lot. Most of us on the bus were "Preferred" customers. After moseying along slower than walking speed, the bus (with us still on board) LEFT THE AVIS LOT. We circled around. We window-shopped at the terminals. We went BACK to the Avis lot and circled some more. Passengers kept asking the driver what was going on but he wouldn't talk to anyone. Around that time I noticed the lines snaking out the door of the Preferred office into the parking lot, and the lines out the Peasant Avis office snaking toward the Bus Exit. We were released from the bus and queued up for our car assignment. My car, it turns out, had already been assigned and we had passed it, contract on the dashboard, several times from the bus.

Here it is.

The best way to describe the experience of driving a Mistubishi Eclipse Spyder is as driving the car of your friend's blond-haired teenage brother who listens to rap music and wears his hat cockeyed-sideways with a sweatband on underneath. It has mesh in the headrests. It has a massive subwoofer in the backseat. I can't see over the dashboard very well. I can't see out the side window very well either. Still, I love driving a convertible so I'm making the most of it.

After spending two hours getting to the hotel, I had birthday dinner at a chinese place and read a book while the waitress gave me a look that clearly said "It's not polite to read at the dinner table" but she didn't effect any behavioral change from me.

Tonight I "licked the windows" at the King of Prussia mall and had soup & salad for dinner. It was so luxurious that I didn't buy anything and it was OK. Now I'm watching back-to-back special documentaries on the 9/11 attacks. Birthdays will not be the same again for a very long time. Speaking of which, tomorrow is J's bday, so happy bday, amigo.

SNG sent me a picture-mail from New Bern that I will share with you.

I can almost hear the GUFFAW - SQUEEEEE!

What happens when you present a precocious baby with a bucket of clean laundry? This is a longer one than usual, but I think it's hilarious.

Oooh, fun. I've discovered polls.

Today we rode the bikes over to a La Leche League festival out at a local park-- my friend Peace had a booth there to drum up new students for her baby sign language business, and so we went to show off a real-live signing baby and to enjoy some baby-oriented fun. You might (or might not) know that today is a big nurse-in day to raise awareness of the legal right to breastfeed in public. First of all, I don't think anyone gets their jollies by feeding a baby in public. It's a bit awkward, but if you've ever spent much time with a baby, you know that when they're hungry, they have to be fed. Funny thing about babies. And it's ridiculous that women are thrown out of public places all the time for breastfeeding, even though most states protect them legally. That makes no difference to the flunkie manager who is asking her to stop feeding her baby or to cover it up (and, um, yeah-- just you try to feed a baby while its head is under a blanket). Once in awhile someone is able to raise some publicity about it, but usually, these moms just go home, humiliated. It makes me sick. Anyway, back to the LLLI festival.

There were tons of families there and some interesting vendors. I ordered a new baby sling that my mom will be SO excited to try out (it's stylish and comfortable! and no baby-butt-slippage!), and the LLLI ladies had planned a little kiddie parade that, at first, had more the feel of a march than a parade. The kids made posters about how great breastfeeding is, and then they were lined up to parade around the park and play musical instruments and wave signs and it was all starting to get a little weird, when one of the leaders asked Peace if she'd like to be in the parade. She politely declined, but the woman said they needed someone to lead a song. Peace agreed to lead a sign-language sing-along for the parade. Since I know two of her songs, I decided to help out and we sang/signed "The More We Get Together" and "Row, Row, Row Your Boat" around the park as the kids shook their maracas and waved signs about the wonders of breastmilk. Somehow the music managed to cancel out the vaguely protest-march-feel that the whole thing was starting to have.

I mean, if the LLLI ladies want to protest, then let's march the kids around in the local Applebee's parking lot or in front of Delta's ticket counter or at Target's headquarters or something. I'd be happy to whip out a boob to make a point in the face of some jerk who wants to call it indecent exposure. At the park, I don't think anyone was going to be offended anyway. Still, if they were, they'd have been faced down by a formidable crew of ankle biters wielding percussion instruments.

It was surreal. E-baby slept through the whole thing. After the parade, she woke up and saw her favorite pal (Peace) and jumped straight into her arms. We all had a lovely time.

On a related note, Dianaverse went to a march for dogs today. They walked dogs and had a contest for cutest dog and she saw a boxer from a rescue organization. Maybe the dogs had posters extolling the wonders of clicker-training and vendors selling organic dog-treat mix and signing people up for doggie day care. I hope that the mommy dogs were allowed to nurse their puppies in public and didn't have to cover their fuzzy little heads with blankets. Those bitches get really defensive about their pups. (Sorry, I couldn't resist the pun. I hope nobody is offended. If you are, I can put a blanket over the computer screen.)

So I have one of those credit cards that gives you cash rewards, and I'm about to cash in for a bunch of play-money. SNG and I are thinking about using it to get each other a new iPod for Chritsmas. Serendipitously, Apple announces its new 160 Gb SUPER-pod yesterday. My laptop doesn't even have 160Gb so it's not like I could fill it up with stuff, but our next computer probably will have a terabyte or something.

So I'm wondering, is it worth it, or should I save $100 and get the (now so-less-cool) 80Gb iPod?

iPhones are out of the question. I don't even want one, since my new Treo is The Awesome.

I'll probably get the SUPERpod anyway, but I wonder whether my early-adopter, late-adopter, and no-adopter friends have any ponderings on the subject.

I'm so over summer. We had a mild June and July, but August was terrible. Yesterday was fabulous. Today is even nicer. I thought, "Hooray, we're into September and through with summer and I can jog every day again!"

The Fitness Weather Forecast says otherwise. It'll be up to 95 again by Wednesday. I'll ride the bike instead. This week we're starting a new routine: I'll take e-baby to day care and SNG will pick her up at the end of the day. That'll free me up to stay a little later at work, and ride home through the state park. Riding 8.6 miles a day on a mountain bike isn't much, but it's a step closer to returning to triathlon fitness. If I stay on the roads, it's only 5 miles a day. I used to consider it an average day to run 8.6 miles on my commute to work; now I'm excited about biking that same distance. It's really no wonder I can't seem to get back into my old clothes. :-)

Mom goes back to Austin on Tuesday. :-( She's been here (well, not here, but in San Diego or Columbia, or DC, or Raleigh) for almost 4 weeks. It's been so much fun. I bet dad is ready to have her back now, but we could just keep her for another 4 weeks and have a great time. I promised her milder weather if she came to NC, but it's turned out to be hotter here than in Austin almost the whole time. Sorry, mom!

A week from tomorrow I am flying out to Philadelphia for another Crappy Birthday Away From Home. I'm covering for another instructor whose 5-month-old baby is sick, so I don't feel bad about having to go, but I had expected to be home for all of September. Still, I did get exactly what I wanted for my birthday so I'll be watching TV from my phone in the airport and everything will be OK.

This is mostly for my dad because he couldn't be here to visit this week, and I'm sure he's quite jealous of all the e-baby fun my mom is having. Here are 2 videos, one from San Diego, and the other in my living room of e-baby-shenanigans. The sound quality on the 2nd one is terrible because I had to downgrade to a lower-quality filetype to fit it on youtube.





I'll post a good talking video when I have one suitable for public consumption.

Tiny Dancer
Originally uploaded by catandtony318

After 4 weeks of traveling with a baby, I have been cured of my need to take e-baby on all my trips and will probably welcome the next trip all on my own. She is wonderful, but mama wants to stay out past 6pm and have dinner somewhere that doesn't have high chairs.

Still, we had a great time in DC, especially mom and e-baby, who visited monuments, museums, and the national Shrine. The biggest crowd they encountered was the one that e-baby attracted when she used a sign-frame to sing and dance for her appreciative audience. They laughed and snapped pictures of this crazy, laughing, dancing baby in the Smithsonian. Who needs Panda-Cam when you've got e-baby-en-arabesque??

More pictures here.

E-baby was so happy to see her daddy last night that she wouldn't let him out of her sight until she fell asleep. In other news, e-baby is still not too sure about walking on her own, but she can run all around if she's holding on with one hand. But the words, oh goodness gracious. She is talking (and signing) up a storm. Today she learned the word BIKE. I'm so proud. Unfortunately, the best talking video I have of her is in the bathtub, and of course I won't post it because of the internet pervs.

In more other news, I might have to go to Philadelphia on my birthday. Bummer. But I will enjoy staying out late and eating at restaurants that don't offer me crayons to go with my placemat.

She Really Is My Child After All

Quick update from South Carolina.

Mom and e-baby did some shopping while I taught all day. When we were back in the room this evening, mom showed me her purchases: lots and lots of shoes-- mostly strappy sandals. When I dumped them onto the floor to look at them, e-baby, who had been cruising around the couch, said "SQUEE!"and walked 3 steps over to the shoes, where she proceeded to play with ALL of them. She was so dazzled that she forgot that she wasn't supposed to walk. It was the first time I've seen her do it.

That's my girl.

We had THE BEST time in San Diego last week visiting Lizard and miss c. All the girls had fun, and e-baby went to the zoo! There were some BIG dogs there.

In spite of the cruising accomplishments, I still have not seen her walk (teachers and Lizard have seen it) but we have one better-- e-baby has started talking (more than MAMA and DADA and Dee-Dah, which is babyspeak for Doti). She now says Dog, Duck, Bear, Ball, and Bird. She tries to say Fish, Kitty, and Butterfly, but those come out as Yeeh, Iddy, and buh-buha. She is also using a few new signs: fan, dog, duck, hello. She's been signing for a couple of months now, but mostly just milk and bye-bye.

Her newest and coolest trick is a game of "where is it"- I put her toybox on the floor, and ask "Where's your bear?" and she finds the teddy bear that Christa and Volker sent her, pokes it in the nose and says "bear!" and gives it a hug. Sometimes she puts its nose in her mouth instead. She can also identify her favorite ball and her rubber duckie bath toy with this game. Book is kind of tricky, though. When I ask where the book is, she picks up a wooden domino, or a piece of paper, or something that isn't a book. She also still has trouble with the word Book and usually says Took.

The bear is her favorite toy right now. It has a lot of drool on its head and gets many, many hugs. Lucky bear.

We're glad to be home, but poor e-baby was welcomed home with an ear infection. She's getting an antibiotic today, and should be in ship-shape by Monday when we drive to South Carolina.

I will post pictures soon, but for now it's all the time I have to tap out a quick update.

Here's a mouthful of teeth that's making me laugh today.

"Roar! I'm a BEAR"

Today we took a long lunch to apply for e-baby's passport. It was a major league pain in the tookus, requiring three separate trips to the passport office and one trip to (gasp! arg! ack!) Wal Mart. Everyone involved was very friendly, which was an unexpected treat, considering I was expecting something along the lines of DMV workers. E-baby has a way of defusing bad moods.

After work, when I picked up e-baby at daycare, her teachers asked me whether I had noticed her "starting to, um, stand, and er, walk, yet?" I said I thought she was VERY close to walking, but hadn't yet, as far as I knew... wait a minute. Why do you ask? "No reason! Just wondering!"

You see, a lot of parents don't want to know if their kid starts walking or talking (or crawling, or any other photogenic milestones) for the first time at daycare. I think they want to have the excitement firsthand, and perhaps they also feel bad that they can't be there to see all those little firsts since the kid is in daycare. These might be the same people who don't want to know whether they're having a boy or a girl.

I can totally understand this. There's a real thrill to seeing your child do something for the first time. But personally, I am an information-hungry person. There's no such thing as TMI in my book. I want to know whether the baby will be a boy or girl, and what s/he will major in in college. And I want to know if she's started walking, even if I wasn't there to see it happen.

Anyway, back to daycare this afternoon. I couldn't help but notice the shifting and hemming and hawing, so I told the teachers that it was OK with me if they told me whether anything was going on with e-baby. They sighed with relief and told me that e-baby walked 3 steps today. Even better, she didn't just walk 3 steps and fall down. She walked 3 steps over to the little boy she likes to play with and then climbed over him.

I still haven't seen her do it, but I'm not worried. She'll do it in front of me soon enough. She's tentative about letting go while standing up, so it'll probably be a week or 2 before she walks confidently, and then thump-swish will give way to pitter-patter.

What's new?
This weekend we're dog-sitting DOTi the wonder dog, a.k.a. e-baby's crumbcatcher.

My pumpkins don't like the summer heat-- about half of the plants have died. We'll see whether they make it or not come October.

I don't like the summer heat much myself, for that matter. I've been teaching and working off-campus all last week (and next week, too) so I haven't been able to bike or jog to work, and by evening it's too hot to put e-baby in a jogger and run.

Since I 've been off-blog awhile, there are several new baby updates.

e-baby's 2nd top tooth made an appearance about a week ago and about the same time she started standing up on her own, without holding onto anything. After a week of practice, she can walk while only holding one of my hands, but she's kind of clumsy looking. She also trying very hard to communicate verbally. She started signing awhile back, so she's already "said" her first word ("Milk," of course) and about 3 weeks ago she started waving and saying "bye-bye" to people (usually after they left the room). This week she seemed to want to speak. She has been trying and trying to say Dog, Ball, Duck, and Book. She comes close, but the sounds aren't quite refined to where other people would recognize them.

This morning's "chat" was SO funny. e-baby was climbing onto the coffee table with an animal cracker in one hand and a remote control in the other (whatever keeps the peace, y'know?)when she spotted DOTi out the back window, and she pointed to the window, looked at me with this big-eyed look of WOW OH WOW on her face and said "DOH! DOH! DOH! DOH! DOH! DOH!" Later in the day I heard her call DOTi a "Daaoww." I guess I shouldn't be surprised. She is a native North Carolinian, after all.

I know it's overdue, but I just added the pictures from the Chicago trip to Flickr