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

Before the baby was born, from time to time Peace and Fuzzy would call us up- late on a weeknight, usually- and say one word: RALPH'S! We'd jump into the convertible, pick them up, and drive under stars with the wind in our hair, laughing at stupid jokes and telling stories the whole way, until we arrived at Ralph's and we'd eat fruity water-ice or chocolatey cream-ice in the parking lot.
The landscape has changed since then and we don't leave the house past 8pm, but Peace and Fuzzy still come over to eat chips and salsa from time to time, which keeps us feeling a little like we still have lives.
I don't know whether I mentioned it here or not, but we decided a few months ago to sell my convertible and replace it with a 4-door. It's ridiculous to get a baby in and out of the backseat, and she isn't really safe with the top down (you know, flying debris and little eyeballs and all that stuff). In a serendipitous turn of events, SNG's new boss' husband bought it. I'm sure he'll get lots of great years out of the cherry bomb.

It's really best that we sold it because the car wasn't getting much use (it's had about 2000 miles on it over the past year) and around here, a convertible should be driven. A lot. But I'm sad because I really enjoyed that car.

Today we bought its replacement. The ScoobyDoo has a new sister, and they now need new names.

Say hello to Ruby-Doo and Scooby-Blue!

HAPPY 10-MONTH-DAY, E-BABY!

Sorry there have been no posts in awhile- we were in Chicago last week and this is the first time I've been on the web in almost a week.

I wasn't supposed to be in Chicago last week- I was supposed to be spending the week working on something with a tight deadline but the guy who was supposed to go to Chicago was called to another project, so I had to go. I've still got this week to meet the tight deadline-- except I have to sit in on a class Wed-Fri this week. If you do the math, you'll count two business days to finish two weeks' work. So I probably won't be blogging much this week either.

The Chicago trip was a lot of fun. SNG quit his former job and his last day was the 13th. He started his new job yesterday, so all of last week was free (he was very fond of saying "I'm between jobs at the moment" and told people this at every opportunity). He and e-baby flew out with me and did lots of Chicago-style sightseeing while I was at work all day. They went to Millennium park, the park along the lakefront, the Sears tower and many sweet shops. He had ice cream for lunch the first day, chocolate mousse cake the 2nd day. I think the 3rd day he finally went healthy and had a hot dog or something.

In the evenings we ate heavenly Italian food: first night we had Volare (take-out: it's too swanky for a 10-month old) and the 2nd night we went to a pizza joint for deep-dish cheesy, saucy goodness. E-baby tried pizza crust and it was OK, but her FAVORITE was the linguine fra diavolo from Volare. Who knew, kid's got a taste for the spicy.

Finally, SNG did a little bit of shopping. As you probably know, SNG and I don't follow baseball (and frankly, if there's a ball involved, you can be sure it's a sport I don't follow) but we are a fan of this baseball:




And, um, no, we don't give e-baby Sweet-Tart squeeze candy to eat. That's a "decoy" tube of butt-paste we give her to play with during diaper changing time. She was so interested in chewing on the real butt-paste tube, which, eewe, so we got this as a safer, more hygenic alternative. SNG eats the candy, though, and... eewe.

Another Baby-Related Blog Entry

Next week is e-baby's "10 month conference" at the daycare. This is when the primary teacher sits down with the parents of a baby nearing 10 months to discuss her progress, what competencies she must achieve before she can "move up" to the 1-year old class, and what we can do together to help her reach those goals.

Whoa there, little fillies... did you say move up to the 1-year old class? I mean, sure that's in 2 months but Holy Toledo where did the time go? Where is my little bitty baby that just a few months ago looked like a puffy little pillow of baby softness? Suddenly there's this (completely adorable) little almost-toddler who has a recognizable family resemblance, and a whole library of different facial expressions, living in the nursery where just a few days ago I put down a newborn.

Given that babies only grow up, never down, and given that I can't do a darn thing about how fast the time will fly, I need to embrace the growing up. My only consolation is that she just gets cuter, and funnier, and more interesting than before.

This week's tricks include:

*Weaning herself off of baby food. We've been giving her little bits of finger-food for a few months, and starting about 2 weeks ago, she is uninterested in strained baby food, and more interested in feeding herself. So now those strained peas and powdered oatmeal are being converted into baby pasta sauce, and instead of homemade strained zucchini, she gets pieces of the same veggies SNG and I are eating. And in e-babyland, no meal is complete without banana chunks. I've never seen anyone who loves banana that much. Although really, she loves anything that she can feed to herself.

*Saying bye-bye. She started waving and saying "Bye" when people leave the room. It needs refinement, though. She says it (and waves) after they've gone. Probably something to do with babies' slow reaction time.

*Singing whatever song is stuck in her head. She like to dance to music, and makes up her own songs, but the other day, as she rode in her bike trailer to day care, I actually recognized the song she was singing-- it was a Michael Franti song that was playing in the house right before we left. But where Michael says "Lies, lies, lies" she says "Dah dah dah."

Yesterday my friend Zen and her baby Season came over with a loaf of homemade whole wheat bread from flour than Zen's dad had ground himself (how very cool!) and the girls played in the kitchen together. I think we were both kind of taken aback at how much they are changing and becoming more engaged with the world around them. They were playing together, rather than mostly with their respective mommies, and laughing at each other's little baby-babble jokes. It was so much fun. Season's getting so big and her face is gaining lots of character.

I guess I just continue to be surprised at how quickly everything changes. As soon as I figure out how to handle one baby, one set of quirks, of needs, of dangers, another baby appears with a whole new set of quirks, needs, and dangers. I have newfound respect and more than a little guitly conscience regarding other mothers of small children, some of whom I've quietly chided in my mind for their kids getting on my nerves. Still, it keeps me on my toes.

Part of me hopes that the ten-month conference will reveal that e-baby is the smartest, most competent baby ever known. But another part of me is glad that she will stay in the infant class a little longer. I'm just not quite ready to be through having a baby.

There's never been much question that I eat some weird stuff. I don't even know where to begin with that. Therefore it will come as no surprise that I am on a mission to test-drive various tofu ice cream recipes. Oh wait: I'm test-driving tofu ice cream recipes sweetened with Splenda and fruit instead of sugar and with unsweetened (green-box Silk) soymilk. Because tofu ice cream, that isn't weird enough by itself.

Perhaps one reason SNG and I are such a good pair is that he has noooo problem cooking his own dinner if I make something he doesn't want, and he'll make me something too, in case what I made is too weird even for me to eat.

Why the recent interest in no-added-sugar tofu ice cream? Because Alton Brown said we needed an ice cream maker, and SNG takes Alton's opinion on such matters as law. And because I don't do cow's milk products. And because sheep's milk ice cream just sounds nas-ty.

I'll let you know how the tofu ice cream turns out.

Happy 4th of July and Happy Birthday, Granny!!

HAPPY 4th OF JULY!
Originally uploaded by catandtony318

E-baby wore her special Texas-style red white and blue today, in honor of her Granny's birthday. She also took a bike ride to the playground and played on the baby swing. It was most awesome.

In the Kitchen, 4th of July outfit
Originally uploaded by catandtony318

Fruity Darkness: A Tragedy in Three Acts
Act 1
Scene: A local grocery store, produce department
Alphagal, sniffs, prods, and examines various fruits and vegetables as SNG and e-baby wander amlessly, singing along to the in-store music.
Alphagal: Ooh, these grapes look pretty good. But you never eat grapes. The pears are nice, too. But we had pears last week and I made jam so I'm sick of pears.
SNG: ...feel the beat of the rhythm of the night, dance until the morning light...
Alphagal: Oh, HERE we are. Strawberries are buy one get one. Do you think you'd help me eat strawberries?
SNG: Sure, I like strawberries. Do You Like Strawberries, honeybunny? Hm? I Bet You Would if You Tried Them! Ooh, I think I'll chew on your toes now!
E-baby: LA! LALALA! DE! DA!
Alphagal: Well, you'd better be sure because it's buy one get one on 2-quart baskets. And it isn't worth getting just one. They're not half price. It's strictly buy one get one.
SNG: Awoogawooga. Yeah, I'll eat a few strawberries. Just don't get too much stuff! We always get too much and then we end up throwing something away.
Alphagal: Better to have too many fresh vegetables in the house than not enough.
E-baby: Wooooah!
Stranger: Oh, aren't you sweet!
E-baby: MAMA!
SNG: No, honeybunny, don't grab those onions. I don't think you'd like them.
Alphagal: I'm getting the strawberries. And these ranier cherries are on sale so I'm getting 2 pounds of them as well. Will you eat them?
SNG: I like cherries.
(scene)

Act 2
Scene: SNG and Alphagal's kitchen
(the baby is crawling into the refrigerator and pulling things off the shelves as SNG and Alphagal put away groceries)
SNG: Hey! We already had cherries!
Alphagal: I know, but they were black cherries
SNH: But I would have eaten them if I'd known they were here! Why didn't you tell me we had cherries?
Alphagal: Same reason I didn't tell you we have sliced mozzarella-- I figured you could look in the fridge and see it for yourself.
SNG: But they're in the produce drawer!
Alphagal: Yeah? And? Isn't that where produce lives?
SNG: Yeah, but I don't go looking in there for something to eat! You've got to tell me to eat the cherries.
Alphagal: You were with me when I bought them!
SNG: That doesn't mean I know they're there! You have to remind me to eat produce or it'll go bad.
E-baby: (smacking together two jars of jam) Bla! Bro! Bra! Huh! Hee!
Alphagal: Well, we also have the fresh blackberries I picked on our hike yesterday right on the counter and you haven't eaten them yet.
SNG: I didn't know we still had any left! I would've eaten them! You've got to tell me...
Alphagal: They're right next to the sink. Don't you ever look at the countertops?
SNG: No. Hey! There are BLUEBERRIES in here, too! When did we get blueberries? We have too much fruit.
Alphagal: (Gravely) Do you think I should make a cobbler?
SNG: (equally gravely) Yes. It's the only right thing to do.
Alphagal: I can pit some cherries and makes a cobbler of cherries, blueberries, blackberries, strawberries, a little splenda and jiffy mix.
SNG: Mmmm I like cobbler.
(time passes)
Alphagal: (peering into oven) This is ready. But e-baby needs a bath and tonight is hair-washing night.
SNG: (Mock fearfulness) Oh no! Not hair-washing night!
Alphagal: And she had a little diaper rash so she gets extra naked time.
SNG: I'll make some salmon and roasted veggies while you take care of that.
(scene)

Act 3
Scene: The next morning. Kitchen is spotless. Baby is trying to open the refrigerator door.
SNG: OH! We forgot the cobbler! It's still in the oven!
Alphagal: OH! Oh WOE IS ME!
SNG: Oh SADNESS!
Alphagal: Oh DARKNESS!
SNG: It smelled so GOOD! How did we forget? I even ate ice cream!!
Alphagal: Me too! Well, soy-cream. And it was a healthy cobbler! Mostly fruit and no sugar. I PITTED CHERRIES BY HAND!
(Aphagal and SNG fall to floor in front of the oven, weeping. Curtain.)

OK, it could have been worse. At least we remembered to turn off the oven, so we could eat it for breakfast this morning. But it wasn't warm from the oven anymore.