Christmas Day

Petra had a wonderful time! Just some pictures today.

Christmas Present

The ghost of Christmas present, that is. Petra is loving the run up to Christmas, and even decided to decorate herself in ribbon chains. I can't wait to see her tomorrow morning when she wakes up to presents filling the livingroom (OK, maybe not filling, but there are some under the tree, and a Dala rocking horse and a rocket-rider for her!). Paint fumes are still wafting from the rocking horse a little. I might have cut it a bit close. Daddy's been putting on coats of paint and lacquer all week, but it looks great if I do say so myself. No pictures though until Petra sees it first!

We have molars! And Petra has one too! Lower right deciduous molar suddenly appeared this afternoon (at least one edge of it). That baby, keeping secrets from us! She hasn't been fussy or feverish or anything, though she did bite me good when I stuck my finger in to inspect the new tooth. I love this sweet baby!

The list of Petra's signs and words keeps growing, and now includes a sign for glasses. Daddy got new glasses the other day ($29.95 over the internet! I love these tubes!), and Petra wanted to try them on, so she made a sign for glasses (index fingers pointing at her eyebrows on either side). Too cute to resist! And besides, with parents that have eyes as bad as ours, she might as well get used to the idea of wearing them.

Holiday fun

The stocking is hung by the chimney with care (after being chewed a bit), the Christmas cards are sent, the tree is up (and Petra knows it's called a Christmas tree), the lights are twinkling. I guess it really is time for the holidays! Petra's already gone to 4 holiday parties, and been a big hit at each (and has, for the most part, been a wonderful little girl through all of them. Though you can see from the picture that she is a bit "spirited" sometimes!). Next we'll have to make some Xmas cookies! Having a baby around really does make you appreciate the holidays more (or again?). Everything is new and exciting!

Daddy finally managed to finish assembling Petra's rocking horse. Long delayed since all my tools were stolen, we finally saved up enough to replace the critical ones and get it built. Bought paint yesterday, and will start sanding and painting tonight. With the primer, base, details, and clear lacquer coat each taking a day to dry, it should just BARELY be done in time for Xmas morning. If the blog get's a little confusing from here on, blame the paint fumes!

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas

As you can see, the presents have begun arriving, so it must be Christmas. Daddy loaded Petra into the wagon today and hauled her to the local nursery to buy a tree. With the tree in the wagon, Petra had to walk all the way home, holding Daddy's hand as we went. We nearly caused a few accidents as cars slammed on their brakes or swerved to the curb staring at the incredible cuteness. We might have to make this a tradition, if no one gets hurt!

The tree is up and decorated, and Petra was entranced by the lights (yet, mysteriously did not start grabbing ornaments). She also had quite a bit of fun carrying around her Xmas stocking before it was hung by the chimney with care (care that it was out of reach).

What else is new?
Daddy is now officially "Dada" (no longer "Mama")

Petra let's out a loud honking roar (similar to an elephant's trumpet) when she sees the cow printed in the bottom of her cereal bowl. And she says "Maaaa" when we play with the toy sheep.

Tonight she ran through her whole repertoire of clever tricks to get us to sing her praises: put her hand to her ear and said "hello" like she was on the phone, picked up the remote and said "'mote," played hide and seek (both behind her hands, and behind the green slug rocking toy, which she just realized she could pick up), did all the signs/words for her counting book (hat, baby, flower, car, ball). Such a little showoff!

You had to ask

Guillermo! How could you?! You had to ask, and thus invoke the curse. As we all know, the second you mention how great something is, everything goes terribly wrong. Well, for the last several nights (nearly a week) Petra has been sleeping the night through with nary a squawk. Daddy hasn't had to get out of his warm bed to freeze his butt off shushing her back to bed, and freezing Mommy's butt off when climbing back into bed. Everything was right with the world. And then Guillermo had to ask, and voila! 2 crying episodes last night (not that bad though, 11:15 and 12:15, made me nervous though). Overall though, let's hear it for this wonderful baby!!! Good girl! Such a good sleeper!

In addition to being a wonderful sleeper, Petra has also been showing us all her clever monkey tricks. She's big on "peekaboo" now, pulling her shirt up to cover her face, or hiding and peeking out from behind the furniture.

When she uncovered the cow printed on the bottom of her bowl at breakfast, she said "moooo!" She also likes "Quack" and "Maaa" (duck and goat of course).

She also loves stickers. I had stuck to the door of my closet a few "I voted" and "I gave blood" stickers, and when I open the door, Petra points and taps a flat hand against her chest, showing she wants me to stick a sticker on her. VERY CUTE!!! We had to go buy a couple sheets of stickers because I ran out.

She's madly in love with cars at the moment, pointing at every one she sees (and this is LA, there are LOTS of cars!) and saying "car!" She also fondled the neighbors Mercedes. She found an add for a car sale, and has been carrying it around for 3 days now!

Were always amazed by how fast she is changing on us. She's always surprising us with new words or monkey tricks, and she seems to understand just about everything we say to her. She's growing so fast I wasn't at all surprised when yesterday she grabbed the car keys, opened my wallet and pulled out my credit card. Ahhh, if only they could stay young forever!

Be sure to check out all the new pictures on Flickr!

A Curse Upon You

I'm not going to tell you what Petra did last night, because I don't want to curse it (you saw what happened last time I mentioned that she was sleeping well!). But use your imagination.

Petra had a busy social calendar for the weekend, even if Daddy ruined it by being sick yet again. We did manage an early morning playdate at the park on Saturday before Daddy retreated to the couch, making Petra miss out on a birthday party. Sunday afternoon, after Daddy got examined at Kaiser, Katie came to visit (and chase Petra around. Petra always seems to move just as Katie finally catches up to her). We also checked out the Hipster's Gymboree, Cool Baby, which just opened around the corner from us. Petra had fun in the play area, but being rhythmically challenged, I didn't take her into the "Daddy & Me Drumming" jam session (maybe next time).

Petra is absolutely out of control. At least verbally. She is constantly babbling, she picks up words in an instant, and remembers them. She surprised me with "moon" the other day, and remembered "candle" after only seeing them lit once. We have REALLY got to start watching our language!

Thanksgiving

What could I be more thankful for, than having such a wonderful little girl? We went to have Thanksgiving dinner and a sleepover at our friends' house, and Petra was great the entire time. We put a pack-n-play in the laundry room, and put crickets on the white-noise machine, and she napped and slept wonderfully (12:30-6 for those keeping score!). She and Katie slept right through dinner, letting us eat like grown-ups, then woke and had their own Thanksgiving dinner. So sweet of them. The girls played nicely, and we all had a nice trip to the park. All in all a very relaxing Thanksgiving. Thank goodness!

Petra has been in love with the cordless/cell phones for awhile- she holds them to her ear and "talks to grandma". We got her her own toy cell phone today, which she loves. He's saying "Hlo" now whenever she holds it to her ear.

Our little sweetie has been very helpful in the kitchen- as you can see here and here. She's always grabbing herself a piece of fruit when the fridge is open.

Worms

OK, not really worms, but words. There's a movie reference in there if you can find it.

In her own words:
Shoes
Toes
Remote
Cracker
Cricket (virtually identical to Cracker, different context, I hope)
Ball
Mama
Daddy (SURE, that's what she's saying. She still calls me Mama half the time)
Cat
Door (or "Go", not quite sure, but they are semantically related in her book)
Water

She rubs her hands together when we wash our hands or say "wash your hands"

She turns around and around to make herself dizzy (and will do it on the command of "round and round")

She plays Peekaboo unprompted (lifts her shirt up to cover her face).

I lay her down to sleep in her crib, say goodnight and leave- and she goes right to sleep! (staying asleep all night is a different matter, but she is waking less often, and usually puts herself back to sleep quickly).

She bites. Ouch, not a good one. But it seems to be only when she is getting tired. Hopefully we'll get her to stop before someone gets hurt.

I love this baby!

Uh-Oh

Petra climbed up onto the couch this morning, grabbed a remote and flung it on the floor- "Uh-Oh!" she said.

Then she grabbed another remote and flung it- "Uh-Oh"

Then a magazine- "Uh-Oh"

Then a newspaper- "Uh-Oh"

I tried to explain to her that when you do it on purpose, you don't say "Uh-Oh"!

I think she's learning all sorts of bad habits at daycare. Like this "Uh-Oh" thing, and now if you try to pick her up when she doesn't want it, she drops to the ground and goes completely limp. Pesky kids!

In addition to Uh-Oh, she also said "Mote" when she picked up the remote, and she did the "cereal" sign when I asked her if she wanted some cereal. She is such a smart baby! And did I mention that she whistles now? I love this baby!

Slip sliding away

We'll get to the sleep training update in a minute, but first, the fun stuff. We had a 3 day weekend, and nothing at all on the calendar- no birthday parties or parents groups, friends all out of town, no play dates, no big sales. We had a great time just hanging out with Petra. We spent one morning at the Pan Pacific park playground, where Petra indulged in her love of slides (and learned an important lesson about static electricity), and one morning at a playground by a farmers market in Santa Monica (where she rode the bouncy riding toy again). She had a great time everywhere we went. It's so nice to have a little girl who is so happy and playful. She meets, and plays with, other kids, and steals every toy she can get her hands on.

She is such the independent little girl! At one point she just took off from the playground, crossed a walkway and a big open field, just to steal a ball (her favorite toy) from a kid playing soccer with his dad. Half the time she picks the ball up, occasionally she throws it, and now she has started to kick it along. Is there any money in women's soccer?

Petra continues to amaze us in a thousand ways. Just a few include:
*A newfound love of animal crackers, which led to her adding "kakaa" to her vocabulary. Such a big smile she gets when I giver her one!
*Handwashing motions whenever she sees us wash our hands (or, for that matter, when she gets near a puddle).
*Endless chatting and babbling (sure, cute now, but wait until she's 2).

And now the sleep (or lack of sleep) update. Things are going pretty well. Worst night she woke up every hour on the hour, and took about 10 minutes to get back to sleep (lots of whining cries). Second worse was a night with a 2 hour block in the middle of the night when she would go to sleep, but wake crying 5-10 minutes later. The best night had a solid 4 hours without a peep! She doesn't really cry much at all now, just a cry out when she wakes, but she lays right down to go to sleep as soon as daddy comes and says everything is OK. She still wakes too often (4-6 times a night), but I think she is getting better about soothing herself back to sleep.

Tonight mommy put her down for the first time. Not quite as smooth as when daddy does it, but she went to bed in her crib yet again. We've even managed to completely avoid backsliding and bringing her to bed with us, as tempting as it has been a couple of times.

Don't forget to check the photo album for more pictures.

Second Night

Much better! Hardly any tears at all, though she still woke up a number of times. Now though, there would be a little whine or two, then she'd flop herself down and go back to sleep. There was about 1.5 hours in the middle of the night where she would wake herself every 5-10 minutes though, so we have to work on that, but she is doing wonderfully!

And now, I've probably cursed it and tonight will be hell.

The first night of the rest of your life

Petra stayed in her crib all night last night, for the first time.

I'm not saying she slept all night, but we put her down there, and that's where she stayed until morning. It wasn't as bad as I've sometimes read it can be, but it was still not fun having her cry.

She's always slept in bed with us, though for the last few months she's gone to sleep in her crib, but come to bed with us when she wakes up howling at 11 or 12 or 1. Basically, it's because we are lazy, and the sound of her crying hurt us so much.

But she's growing up, and it's better to get her sleeping on her own now than later. We surveyed the whacko theories and draconian methodologies out there for sleep training, and ended up with "The Sleep Lady." Basically, though, they all come down to the baby crying and you not taking her to bed with you. TSL has you next to her crib for a couple of nights, then a little further away, then at the door of the room, then in the hall, etc. etc. until she's going to sleep on her own without you helping. We needed to follow a system to help steel our resolve to follow the system, rather than cave and bring her to bed. We both put in ear plugs and went to it.

Going to sleep however, isn't really the issue with us. Petra goes to sleep pretty easily. I take her back to her room, it's dark and the classical station is on the radio, and in 2-10 minutes she's out. Not a problem. The problem is when she wakes up howling and won't lie back down, and won't stop until she gets in bed with us. All the "systems" seem to act like getting to sleep is the problem, and not staying asleep.

So, you ask, how did it go? Not too bad. She went down at 7:30, her normal time, but woke crying at about 9 (earlier than usual) and didn't want to go back down. I sat with her, shushed her, patted her etc., but she howled for a half hour before falling asleep standing up with my arm around her. What a heartbreaker!

She stayed asleep until about 1am, then had another 20 minute cry before flopping down on her but and collapsing forward asleep. Again, not the way I'd want her to go to sleep. This is building self-soothing skills?

2:30 she did 15 minutes of crying before the sit and collapse again.

3:30 only 5 minutes; 3:50 (!) another 5 minutes; 4:30 about 10 minutes, and 5:40 about 10 minutes. She definitely didn't like being covered up, despite the chill in the air. She'd be out, and the second I'd cover her she would start yelling and stand up again.

So, total of only 1 hour and 15 minutes of crying for the first night. I've read about kids doing that EVERY TIME they wake up.

My biggest fear was that she'd be cranky and mad at me for forcing her to sleep in the crib, but after she woke up at 6:15 or so (just enough time for me to take a shower) she was her usual happy morning baby self. Hooray! She was a darling as we walked up to the polls together to vote (and play with a doggie outside). Though she fell asleep on her feet in daycare a little later, and slept an hour on the couch in the middle of the daycare scrum. Poor tired muffin!

And let's not forget poor tired daddy too! He got less sleep than Petra (and WAY less than mommy- those earplugs really work!). Thank goodness for espresso.

A Cold Day In...

Seattle, actually. We all went up for 5 days while daddy was at a conference. Just to welcome us SoCal folks- record low temperatures! Funny thing was, all the Seattlites were saying how great the weather was! Just because the sun was peeking out occasionally, and it wasn't pouring rain (except when we were walking to/from the Children's museum). Mommy arranged for us to meet some of her invisible friends at the Children's museum at Seattle Center. We planned for this by staying at the Mayflower Park hotel, right at the monorail station, so we wouldn't have to go out if the rain was falling. Of course, the monorail wasn't running, and the bus was coming something less than frequently. We ended up walking most of the way there and all the way back, and on the one rainy day of the trip. Brrrrr! The only good of the cold came from Petra deciding that wearing a hat is actually OK! Before this, she wouldn't let you put one on her head for more than a second.


Petra had a great time at the museum though. Within minutes she had conked her head on some concrete and had a nice bruise on her forehead (thank goodness, we wouldn't want the invisible friends to think we were good parents!). She got it by fearlessly climbing some steps and going headfirst down a slide a couple of times (with no trauma), but got brave and tried to WALK down the slide. Hilarity ensues. She recovered quickly though, and took off through the museum. She loved playing at the water table, and she insisted that I lift her up in the air to pat Clifford the Big Red Dog ™ on the nose. The Children's museum, of course, is not really a museum. It is a pay per use playground, the kind of place that used to be called public parks (or rec centers), but with more funding. That's all the ranting I'll do though, because Petra loved it.

Petra also visited the Rem Koolhaas library a couple of times, and had fun there (especially with a big stuffed leopard she found). Very cute.

Speaking of cute... When mommy comes home on the bus, she sends a text message so we know when she be arriving. Daddy's phone has a special "brrriing" sound when these messages arrive, and Petra recognizes them. As soon as she hears that sound she says "Mama!" and starts getting excited. Such a clever monkey!

Not the usual perfection

Petra's been cranky at night ever since her party. I think her molars might be coming in (I can see large bumps where they will erupt), and then throw in her first diaper rash, and we might have a reason. Regardless, it's been a bit frustrating. Every time she wakes up during the night she wakes up crying and flailing, and it's hard to calm her down even with the boob. Hopefully it's just temporary and will be gone soon (everything is just a phase with babies, isn't it?).

Of course, during the day she is happy, chatty and playful! She loves the Ikea Poang chair that we got her, and will sit/stand and bounce on it for long periods at a time, and bring her toys (like the little frying pan in the picture) and books with her when she climbs into the chair.
She also fetches her little red See Kai Run shoes and tries to put them on herself. She also helps (or actively hinders) when we are getting her dressed- she puts her arms through the sleeves, lifts her foot etc.
She's become a big fruit eater, and goes into the fridge every time we open it to grab a plum or a pear and start gnawing away at it. We find peeled fruit all around the house! She's insisting on walking just about everywhere- to and from daycare, 3 blocks to the drugstore, up the street to the bus stop. It makes the walk a bit slower, but much more fun.
Petra is starting to open books and turn the pages on her own. We've seen her go from barely paying attention, to closely watching the pages, to turning them when we finish reading the page, and now she's taking over on her own. Such a good little librarian!
She's also an action-baby, with her rocking slug (also from Ikea), on her poor man's segway, or riding the spring toy in the park. She's just so much fun! Except at 3 in the morning.

Cake and Ice Cream

Petra had her first birthday party yesterday. Lots of friends came over to help her celebrate- some old, some new. Cake and ice cream, pizza and balloons ensured that everyone stayed happy. There were plenty of toys to keep everyone busy, and a 5 foot Strawberry Shortcake piñata to keep them all in line. Cake was provided by Petra's admirers at La Maison du Pain. Petra was an absolute darling for the entire party.

And that was a bit of a surprise. In a case of epic bad timing, we had her 1 year check-up the day before. 23lbs 15oz, 30.5 inches tall. Doing well, except the tail end of an ear infection (which we only saw as a cold- she's a real trooper). The bad news- 4 shots and a blood draw! That left us with one cranky baby (and one that was a bit feverish as well. Pesky pneumococcal conjugate!). All night long she would wake crying, and all Saturday morning was much the same. We forced her to take 4 naps before the party though, and with the rest and some Tylenol drops she was MUCH better by the time the guests arrived. Blowing up a mess of helium balloons (her favorite) certainly helped improve her mood as well.

Thanks to everyone who made this such a special day for our girl!

Happy Birthday to You!

I'm not sure I believe it, but today is Petra's first birthday! 365 days of the little muffin! My how time flies. It seems like just yesterday that she was just sitting up, and crawling, and standing, and walking, and, and, and...

Things that prove she's a genius (at least to us!):
Say "Go get your monkey" (or other toy) and she looks around, spots it, and brings it to you.
Say "Dance dance dance" and she dances up and down and turns in a circle.
Say "brusha brusha" and she'll brush her teeth with a toothbrush.
Say "bye bye" and she'll wave (or make kissing noises if you kiss her, and blow a kiss if you're lucky).
Say "bounce bounce" and she'll bounce up and down giggling.

She drinks from a sippy cup, climbs stairs and furniture, and she runs down the street as fast as Daddy can chase her.

There's just too much! So, to sum up, let's just check off a few milestones from the American Academy of Pediatrics:

Turns over box of blocks to dump them out
Recognizes names of familiar objects
Walks alone
Stands on tiptoe
Carries toys while walking

But wait, all those are in the "second year" section of the book! Hmm, maybe she's really 2 years old? Did I miss something? I better go back and check the blog.

Can I have the keys?

Petra is one step away from borrowing the car! We have a little wagon that she has hardly noticed for a month or so, and all the sudden she realized 1. She can push it all over the house (ramming walls and "Steering" by manhandling (babyhandling?) it all over) and 2. she can be driven all around the house at high rates of speed. Both appeal to her immensly, and she is having a ball doing both.

Petra is playing with all her toys in new ways now it seems- She turns the pages of her books for us (and brings us a nonstop stream of books to read to her- such a little nerd!); she has discovered puppets (and giggles when they kiss her); She stacked a couple of blocks (instead of going all Godzilla on them like usual);

Halloween is coming! We'll be travelling on the 31st, so elaborate heavily furred costumes are out. Mommy found a cute T-shirt/pants combo with a glitter skull & crossbones- with a pink bow. That would be adorable enough, but then Daddy found some kitty ears with a pink bow to coordinate with it. Petra hated wearing the ears- until she got a look at herself, then it was all smiles and posing! The little ham!

MMMmmmmmwah!

Petra blew Daddy a kiss as he was going to work yesterday! Such an incredible cutie!

Of course, she balances that with suddenly learning how to whack things away (or throw them) when she doesn't want something (particularly food, but anything she doesn't like can go flying).

The Frog Princess

Petra had quite the frog in her throat for a couple of days this week. It made her already cute giggles and babbling even cuter (if a little disturbing). Luckily, it went away in 2 days, and she had no other symptoms of illness at all. Go figure. And I'm sure it has nothing to do with us bathing her in the kitchen sink.

Let's see, what else to tell? Petra has become quite the dancer since she started walking. Now when you say "dance dance dance" to her, she does a little softshoe shuffle and bounces up and down. Far better than the white-boy shuffle that Daddy does. She raises her arms to show that she is "so big" when you say "how big is baby?" She yells "Doggy" (more or less) when she sees one, and loves to pant like one. She is officially moving WAY too fast for us, and seems to love sprinting for the street every chance she gets. We're going to have to put her on a leash soon.

We had a busy weekend playing. Went to the French bakery for treats and adoration. Went to BevCen for some retail therapy (and a towel bar for Petra!) and adoration. Went to the Autry museum to see the Yosemite exhibit and for adoration. Hmm, sensing a theme? I don't know, but I don't recall seeing everyone else's baby constantly being adored by complete strangers. Sure there are cute babies, but THIS cute?!

Apple of her eye

And plum too. Petra helped herself to a whole apple the other day, and over the course of about 3 days she ate the whole thing. First she peeled it with her sharp little incisors (I say sharp with the weary air of experience), then slowly worked her way right through to the middle. There are little bits of apple everywhere, but she really enjoyed eating it.

Today, as we were unloading the groceries, she walked up to the fridge and grabbed a plum out of the produce drawer, and has been steadily eating the whole thing. It's good to know that she goes for a piece of fruit when she needs a snack, rather than an unhealthy cookie (which daddy was eating at the time).

Petra is practically running now, and it's hard to keep up with her sometimes. She's also been trying other methods of locomotion- she's bouncing up and down sometimes now, and giggling at herself while she does it. I'm wondering if she hasn't been watching Tigger videos at daycare. It's very cute though!

We are those people you hate

Petra had her first plane trip this weekend. It was the Lindstrom family reunion up in Healdsburg, so Friday we drove to LAX, flew to SFO, Drove to Castro valley (and stayed with the G'rents), Saturday drove to Healdsburg to be swamped by adoring relatives, and Sunday Drove back to SFO and flew home. A whole lot of travel for a little muffin in one weekend. I'm sure many a traveler cringed seeing us coming onto the plane, but Petra performed like a champ. Her parents did a little less well- we lost our boarding passes in the 15 feet between the security entrance and the metal detector. They held us for about 15 minutes searching for them, but finally just told us to go on. I think we can thank Petra for that. At the airport she was playful and inquisitive, running (!) around to make friends. On the plane (where we were lucky enough to score an extra seat for her carseat- gear note: Maxi-Cosi too wide for a Frontier short haul plane without the armrest halfway up) she was fascinated by the rows of people, the lights, the air vents, the TV screens. Then, when we started moving she went right to sleep and didn't wake up until we were approaching the gate at the other end. The pressure did bother her ears, but she just rubbed them in her sleep.

Petra was also an angel (of course) when staying the night with her G'rents in Castro valley (after sleeping on the drive from SFO- I love this baby!). Saturday we started the drive to Healdsburg right at nap time (our goal is always to travel at nap time). We had an invitation to the Spring Hill Dairy Farm in Petaluma, so we made a little detour on the way to the reunion (getting up at 6:30 every morning gives you lots of time to do detours!). Grace at the farm stuffed Petra with lots of fantastic organic cheeses, then gave us a tour of the milking house, and let Petra go meet the calves. She giggled quite a bit as the calf suckled on daddy's knuckles. The calves were certainly more manageable size-wise than cows were.

A quick change, and another nap, and we arrived at the family reunion. Luckily, quite a few of us couldn't make it, so there were only 22 people at my uncle's house, all vying to be the first to play with Petra. Petra fell right into her role as the belle of the ball. She wandered and posed, took a little swim, got handled and cuddled by all. I discovered that family can be kind of handy at diaper changing time, and I was sure to issue invitations for anyone to come babysit anytime!

The trip home was again timed to nap time, but traffic through SF was pretty bad and she woke up on the way. However, she was perfectly happy to eat some grapes and melon in her carseat and behave until we arrived at SFO. Of course, to keep up our record, we got stopped at security. This time I think it was some water in the sippy cup that triggered it, but they completely unpacked the diaper bag while daddy held a squirmy (and very smelly at this point) baby. The morning with the relatives, plus the car ride, plus the airport wait was just a bit too much, and when it came time to strap down (Petra again scored her own seat) she had had enough and screamed her little head off for at least an hour. OK, maybe only 5 minutes while they did the safety talk, but it felt like an hour. The second the engines spun up she was asleep again (I love this baby!).

Now we are (thankfully) home, and in full recovery mode. Petra conked out early tonight (and yesterday), and the parents are soon to follow.

Next flight- Seattle in October, then maybe Puerto Rico in December, or Hawaii in March? She is so good, I'll take this baby anywhere!

You can't eat just one

Baby giggles are aural crack. Once you get one, you'll do anything for another. Witness the madness- Daddy acting like a fool trying to squeeze just one more giggle out of Petra. This is from when she was 3 months old, and just discovering the wonders of gravity.

No Stopping Her

OK, I think this YouTube thing has gone far enough.


Or not.

These Feet Were Made For Walking

Dental Hygiene

Petra's always been fascinated by us brushing our teeth. I'd sometimes take the back end of my toothbrush and rub her gums with it like I was brushing, and she'd giggle. Recently the dentist gave me a baby toothbrush for her, and she loves playing with it, biting it, and sticking it into her mouth. This morning, she brought it to me, then smiled while I actually brushed her teeth with it- top and bottom! Such a good little girl. No rotted teeth for this one! Just healthy pearly white chompers. Good baby!

In other areas of hygiene though, Petra is a little less diligent. We saw a onesie at the mall that read "84% Dirty, 16% Filthy", but I don't think Petra is ever that clean! She usually has the remains of her last meal (or two) smeared on her face (along with a healthy (?) dollop of snot), and when we go out back to play she splashes in the water table just enough to make the dirt really stick when she crawls in it! We have a board book "Whose Toes are Those?" that has a line about "so brown and sweet." Despite her clearly northern european complexion, this usually is a good description of Petra's toes (though "dark brown" or "black" could often be used as well). She clearly isn't burdened by compulsive cleanliness!! We love her anyway, and she gets a bath once a week whether she needs it or not.

Splishy Splashy

Such a busy week Petra had. Since her first tentative steps last Sunday, Petra has gone on to become a more solid walker every day. By the end of the week she was toddling to me down the hall when I came to pick her up at daycare. Her cruising has become so assured that she practically runs as long as she can touch something for support, and we have to run to keep up with her crawling. The day will come soon when we won't be able to keep up!

Petra's vocabulary is growing as fast as she is. She's got all the phonemes in place, and I'm pretty sure we've heard actual words: Dada, Mammu, Duck, and Cat all seem to be pretty regularly used (though "Duck" may actually be "That," because we don't really see many ducks around here!).

We had a nice morning at the Farmer's market Saturday. Petra chased pigeons and ate fruit salad while Mommy and Daddy had donuts (Mmmmm, Bob's!). She had a little audience around her ogling her and saying how cute she was. I'm glad we could make someone's day.

Then we headed up to our friends place to enjoy the kiddy pool. Petra loved being in the pool. There was no hesitation or struggling, just giggles and smiles. She kicked well, and paddled a bit when supported in the water. She even didn't mind dipping her face under the water a few times. We're looking into Mommy and me (or Daddy and me) swim classes for her. We'll feel better knowing she's safe in the water, especially since now she isn't afraid of it. When I was drying her off after the swim she broke loose and crawled at top speed right back to the pool and reached in again. That baby!

Speaking of breaking loose, our little muffin is starting to fight us when we are changing her diaper. She is really good at twisting herself around to get her butt in the air and her feet on the ground. It makes for some potentially messy situations, and an uneeded amount of stress as we wrestle her around and into a diaper. Maybe now that she can toddle, we should start thinking about potty training? Yikes!

Three small steps for a girl....

One giant scream of terror for parentkind!

Yikes, Petra just took her first steps! Walking, here she comes! Yesterday she suddenly figured out how to stand herself up without leaning on anything, practiced that a few dozen times and kablooie- she takes a few steps to Mommy. Our lives just flickered before our eyes. Suddenly we don't have a baby, we have a toddler!

Catching up

Whew, two weeks of vacation and Daddy is ready to take a vacation. Exhausted! Petra, however, appears to have mastered internal cold fusion, and is a tireless bundle of energy. Good baby!

Remember that cold Petra had just before we started our 2 weeks together? Well, she recovered quickly, but I caught it and went downhill fast. I was already coughing by Monday, and could hardly move by Friday. When I finally was able to get to the hospital they did chest x-rays and pumped me full of antibiotics. I've been on the mend since then. Still coughing a bit, but no more blood! Hurray!?

So, I didn't get to have as interactive a week with Petra as I had hoped, so she still isn't quite walking (only a step here or there). She just crawls faster than we can chase her, and cruises around like nobodies business. She has mastered climbing off the bed (just like Daddy taught her!), so only the crib (baby jail) can hold her now.

So, what have we done since the AAAS meeting? We continued to go visit Mommy at lunch time every day, which made everybody happy. Petra and I made the rounds in the neighborhood, having snacks at the wonderful La Maison du Pain, where they adore Petra and make her special fruit salads with feta to snack on. LMdP lacks the relaxing ambience (and Mayan Mochas) of SBC cafe, but that's long gone now. Sigh!

Grandpa Bob and Grandma Judy came to visit for a couple of days. Bob helped Daddy replace the drywall in the bathroom (ceiling free since February!), and Petra kept escaping from the living room and crawling into the bathroom to help (and dusting a trail along the way). We had dinner at La Dijonaise and Petra was a perfect darling, sitting nicely in her high chair and eating everything we put in front of her.

Petra has pretty much given up on baby foods. She pretty much eats right off our plates now. She also only wants to feed herself- no spoon feeding. This can be a bit messy, but she is clearly proud of herself when she picks up food and shoves it into her mouth. She does the little happy dance (I'll have to get video) when she likes the food.

As soon as G&G left, we packed up the car and headed for CalPoly Pomona, where Mommy had a 3 day/2 night retreat for her work. We stayed at their Kellog West conference center, a nice enough place that felt like it was trying SOOOO hard to be a real hotel, but couldn't quite pull it off. A bit dingy and run down (the guest rooms at least), and locked in the 70s. The dining hall even had a 1970s era high chair with wire footrests, chrome steel guillotine (I mean tray), and brown flower vinyl seat cover. Petra actually liked that chair a lot- she got a good ringing sound out of the tray when she pounded on it. We might have to look for one on eBay!

Mommy was in meetings all day and night, with us only getting to visit at meals. CalPoly is an Ag school, so there wasn't much to do other than walk around and look at the plants and animals. I took Petra down to a stable with some cows and a horse. She did her happy dance and giggled as the cows came out to stare at her. When they all started moooing, however, she got a little freaked out. We also found a native botanical garden that had a bunny romping through it. We got near the bunny, and I set Petra down to watch- and the bunny came running right up and sniffed her! Petra giggled and gave the bunny a pat on the head. Clearly, this isn't a wild rabbit. He was fat, slow, and had big floppy ears. Petra loved it!

We walked all through the campus taking time out for espresso and to play in the Japanese garden (Petra did a good job of fetching a water bottle I'd toss out onto the lawn). She is quite the explorer, crawling around through the garden and over the rocks. She tuckered herself out though, and was sound asleep by the time we got to the Arabian Horse Center. Lots of horses, all VERY interested in the sleeping baby, but Petra never opened her eyes to see them. And the rule, as we all know, is never wake a sleeping baby! Luckily, later we were able to go meet a horse that was housed with the cows. Petra was very excited to see it- from a distance. But when the horse walked right up to us, she was a little overawed by just how big it was. MUCH larger than the little stuffed pony she has at home. The horse was very friendly though, and let Daddy pet it (and it bumped me a few times).

We did LOTS of walking, with Daddy wheezing and hacking. It was worth the walk though- Petra got to meet horses, cows, barn cats, bunnies, lizards, and sheep! Lots of fun. She was very well behaved the entire trip (though at one point she did get away and climb some stairs and promptly fell and bonked her head). She is such a good little traveler!

After we got home from Pomona, Grandpa came for another couple of days to help finish the work. When we went to get started though, we all noticed the smell of gas. We looked around, and found that the DWP had accidently cut a gas line and pressurized natural gas was fountaining out of the ground in front of our house. Mind you, this is where, months ago, the DWP's contractor had accidently cut the water line while they were digging up our street to put in a new water main (a job that has had our street closed for a year now). Then the DWP comes to fix the contractors mistake, and breaks a gas line! This will never end. Of course, the DWP didn't bother to mention to anyone what had happend, but we could see and smell the gas, so we packed up quickly, called 911, and got out of the house. The fire department came pretty quickly- to a place 2 blocks away where they could smell the gas! The street (and cross street) were closed again for an hour or two while they got the gas leak under control. We all had a nice chat with our neighbors, and went out for coffee and pastries while waitiing. What fun!

Then, to top off a busy two weeks, Daddy had to go to Montana for a couple of days for work- and Grandma Glorena and her boyfriend came to visit for 2 days. Good timing for Daddy maybe, but it was a bit much for Mommy (3 weeks in a row of relatives).

Now, finally, things are back to normal (?!). Everyone is back at work, Petra is back at daycare (she remembered Karan and did the happy dance, whew!). We are looking forward to a quiet weekend of doing NOTHING!

Way behind schedule

Quick update- 2 weeks with Petra, wonderful. Pneumonia (me not her), not so wonderful. Cows, horses, sheep and a bunny, wonderful. Trip to Montana for a meeting without Petra or Mommy, not wonderful. Going home today? Hurray!

Real update as soon as I get back up to speed.

Home Alone

Petra and I have been having a great time at home together. The play area at the mall was a big hit (as the picture shows- she loves that little tunnel!). The sandy play area at the park was fun. Even better though was yesterday's meeting with the American Association for the Advancement of Science's Research Competitiveness Program. Even though I'm on vacation and babysitting, I got called into work for a meeting that was apparently scheduled at the last instant. Petra went with me of course, and was a little trooper! She played pretty quietly while Daddy sold the research program to the site visitors (and did pretty well I think). After the meeting we met Mommy for lunch at the Hammer museum (they have a nice little sandwich stand set up for the summer, run by Clementine. Very tasty sandwiches and salads. Petra got cuted galore of course.

Luckily after that first day (when I exhausted her) Petra has decided it's time to take naps again. Today she not only had her morning nap, but she slept for 1.5 hours late in the afternoon (now we'll see if we can get her to bed at bedtime!).

Last night we went out on the "Night out on Crime" walk with the neighbors. Petra snoozed until the walk began and whistles began blowing. But she was a charmer, and not fussy at all.

Petra-fied has been name-checked on Daddy Types. We're famous! And all because we had the Maxi-Cosi handy, which we bought after we first read about it on Daddy Types. The web is getting a bit circular!

Baby Daddy

For 2 glorious weeks I get to be Stay at home Daddy again. Daycare is on vacation, so I am too. My goal for these weeks is to have Petra walking by the end. I don't think I'll be having any problem- she'll already take the odd step herself, and cruises around like crazy barely touching anything.

We certainly had a busy first day. We played and read at home a bit before walking out to get Daddy's hair cut. She snoozed the whole way, and didn't cry when she woke up at the barber. Then off to the park where she played in the sand, rode the swing and the merry-go-round, and crawled up and down stairs. Then she slept for the walk home and stayed conked out for another hour at home. Good baby!

Then off to meet Mommy for lunch. Everyone at UCLA was happy to see her, since it's been about 3 months since we last visited. We had a good visit, then went off to the play area at Westwood Pavillion (mall). As before, Petra loved it there, playing amongst the swarming throng of rugrats. One little boy adopted her and was never far from her side. Another baby had a good conversation of "aaahs" and "baaa baaa baas." We ended up staying there for two hours, long enough that when Mommy got off work she just met us and we all rode home together. Petra snoozed the whole way- she played too much and napped too little today. All Daddy's fault!

This weekend we went to Farmer's Market to get some tasty Huevos con Calabasitas for Petra. She just loves the food at Loteria Grill (and so do we). While waiting for the food, Petra took off on her own to explore one of the tschochke shops at the market- wind chimes drew her like a moth to a candle. She has no qualms at all about crawling off to explore on her own. Such a brave baby!

I've been working on getting Petra to sleep in her crib at night. I lull her to sleep in my arms (sometimes fighting her squirming and crying, but rarely for long), then put her down in her crib. She invariably starts crying and trying to get up, but usually some shushing and belly patting gets her back to sleep quickly. She now stays there until 1-2 in the morning, at which time she wakes up and won't go back to sleep without Mommy by her side. I'm sure as we work on it we'll get her to sleep longer and longer. I do get frustrated though in the middle of the night when she finally decides that she's not having any more of Daddy putting her down. The screaming and flailing (painful thrashing- she's a big strong girl now) wear me down quickly (and she probably knows this). We'll keep trying though.

Petra's had a cold the last few days. Snot production is at maximum, making it hard for her to breathe at night (and contributing to shorter times in the crib). She absolutely HATES the snot sucker, and screams hyterically when it is used on her (and who can blame her- try vacuuming out your own nostrils), but there isn't any way she can sleep with her nose clogged so badly. So, I just do it when she's already hysterical for Mommy, so the screaming is no worse one way or another, and Daddy is already the bad guy. Sigh.

Moving Out

And it is definitely Petra doing the moving! A scorching hot weekend left us heading to the mall in search of air conditioning. We ended up at Westside Pavillion (not our favorite (?!) mall) because they have a play area near the food court. Large plastic foam food and 1 million running jumping screaming little kids. Petra absolutely loved it! She crawled right out into the middle of the scrum, sat down and started clapping her hands. She instantly had dozens of little friends. Every now and then she'd look to the sidelines to make sure Mommy or Daddy were still around, smile, and then go shuffling off in search of more action. The picture shows her coming through the tunnel, which she discovered and explored on her own (second time through it she crawled right over another kid who wasn't moving fast enough). She just had a grand time, and was adored by everyone (even other kids' grandparents- while the kids were right there!). We eventually had to leave because Petra was threatened- some other mom said "Watch out or I'm going to pick her up and squeeze her to death." She meant it in a good way, I'm sure.

Petra wasn't feeling well yesterday- she had a bit of a fever when we picked her up for her 9 month doctor's appointment (she's 3/4-years old already!), and was pretty cranky all night. But by morning she was pretty much back to normal. Such a good strong baby.

And, did I mention big? She was well quantified at Kaiser, weighing in at 22lbs 12oz, and 28 inches long. That puts her in the 95th Percintile for both height and weight (Though her BMI is coming down now as she grows up tall). We have such a big strong baby!

2, 4, 6, 8, This is how we masticate!

And then there were six! Petra popped in two more upper incisors on Monday, just after Grandma left. Her smile is growing every day! The teeth are coming in handy for all the eating she is doing- everything we send to daycare gets eaten, no leftovers! She was chomping tortellini like they were going out of style! Of course, pairing this love for all things chewable with her love for sticking out her tongue (see previous post) makes for quite the train wreck! We can't stop giggling when she does it though, which just encourages her to do more.

This chomping may be dangerous for others- Vanna, our ancient cat that is still oblivous to Petra, was scrounging for food under the same table as Petra, and Petra grabbed her tail and gave it a good squeeze. Next up- biting!

The picture here has nothing to do with biting, but it is damn cute!

Moving on

Grandma Kate came to visit for the weekend, so Petra was pretty busy. Saturday morning our little lab rat was a research subject for a study at the USC Language Development Lab. She watched blinking lights and listened to sounds while the grad student recorded where her attention went. She was a good little lab rat! We then popped out to Peet's in Pasadena (long way to go for coffee, but Daddy needed to pick up a new router to replace the one that was stolen). While Grandma had a latte, Petra crawled around chasing pigeons and getting VERY dirty. She was also adored by loving crowds, of course! After the afternoon nap we went to Santa Monica for a walk along the beach and some pictures with grandma.

Sunday Grandma baby sat for an hour while we ran some errands, and Petra climbed onto her lap and took a nap for more than half an hour. After lunch (and Italy's defeat of France in the World Cup), we went to the Hammer Museum at UCLA to see a great exhibition on the Societe Anonyme. It seems like just yesterday that Petra was just starting to crawl (it was really June 2nd), and already she has just taken off. She is crawling everywhere, and not particularly worried if Daddy and Mommy are left behind when she does it. At the Hammer, Petra just took off crawling. She explored the bookstore, she met new friends, she chased down women who were cooing at her from across the plaza. We couldn't get her to hold still!
Petra also decided that she is just about ready to walk. She squats and stands (and claps her hands). She cruises from one support to another, even if she can't really hang on to both at the same time. She'll reach out to her next support and take a step to get to it without touching anything. Now that she is more comfortable with her crawling and standing, she is very content to play on her own for quite a while without demanding our attention (though she always has it!). It's fun to watch her cruise around and play, smiling, giggling, and clapping her hands as she discovers new things (about the world and about herself). I love this baby!

Stairway to Heaven

Or at least up to the couch. Petra is getting more mobile by the moment, and she has decided that two dimensions (crawling on the floor) are not enough- she wants 3-D! She's already tried pull-ups on the edge of the table, and now she has discovered that if the stool is next to the bench, and the bench is next to the couch, they work as a perfect set of stairs that can be easily climbed! Up she goes! We are SOOOO in trouble now! We can't keep the floor childproof, how are we going to manage everything that she could possibly climb up to? And she isn't even walking yet!

Uppers!

Photographic evidence of Petra's new teeth! She actually has a VERY cute toothy little grin now (at least when viewed from the right angle- preferably upside down!). The 4 day weekend at home with her has been wonderful, which makes it that much harder to go to work tomorrow. Of course, the good news is that she has been waking us up about 6am every morning, so the alarm going off won't be a surprise.

More Chompers!

We've got (and when I say "we've got" I mean "Petra's got") more chompers! Her two upper incisors finally popped through today, after threatening for weeks. Of course, there was no indication of the teething in Petra's behavior- She's been a complete darling and not fussed one bit! I love this baby! Mommy and Daddy are looking forward to a 4 day weekend to spend with the muffin. We miss her so much during the week, and she changes so quickly! Along with the teeth, her tongue has reappeared this week. She used to stick it out all the time, then it went away for awhile (about the same time as she got her lower teeth- such a cute little grin she showed instead!), and now it is back, usually stuck out the corner of her mouth- very cute!

Crawling and Bobbing

My god she is cute and talented! Just click the picture to see her in action! She's crawling around like crazy, doing laps between Mommy and Daddy. She is standing up every chance she gets, and doesn't need anything more than a wall or a pillow to stand up with. And once she is up, she "forgets" to hold on, and just stands around. At Trader Joe's this weekend, she was given her first helium balloon, and she was THRILLED with it. She played with it all the way home, and then kept chasing it around the house. She especially liked pounding it into Daddy's face. Good baby!