A Stand Up Gal

That was a nice long weekend, despite me having to work some every day. Our little girl was fabulous as always. We took a walk to Beverly hills (5 miles round trip. Oh my feet!), on which she slept all the way there, then just giggled and charmed everyone she saw while we had coffee at Peet's and shopped about (baby clothes of course). At the clothes store she and I sat on the floor and played while Mommy shopped. Petra just giggled and played and had a good time. No sign of cranky baby here!

We also went out to breakfast at Sierra Bonita to see Petra's new friend baby Kate. Katie's parents were in need of Mayan Mochas, and were willing to come down from Valencia to get them. Now THAT'S dedication! The babies were adored appropriately, and we had a nice visit with our friends.

Today we went to vote and picked up Serenity at Best Buy. Again, nothing but sweet baby! After a nice beer can BBQ chicken for dinner, we all went up to LACMA to see the Klimt paintings that have just recently been returned from Austria. The are Gorgeous! And again, our baby was the happiest, gigglingist, babblingist little thing on earth. I didn't think she could get any cuter, but I was way wrong- she is cuter every day.

So, enough about us, what about Petra? Petra is now sitting herself up with no problem, and then going to standing if there is anything to grab onto. Once she is up, she is willing to let go of all supports and just stand free for awhile.

She also is talking a lot now- baabaabaabaa, and abbaabaabaab. And throw in all the giggling! Last night she even let out a string of giggles in her sleep. She must have been having a funny dream! Petra herself is like a funny little dream. She plays and laughs. She finds all sorts of toys to play with, and makes her own if there aren't any real toys to grab. Yes, I probably sound like the typical gushing dad, but it's all true! And she is so well behaved, we never really have much trouble going out to eat, or to museums, or shopping. She always manages to stay sweet and happy (well, having the boob around for emergencies helps). I just love this baby!

This and That

Busy busy busy. What can I say, this blogging thing takes more energy than I have sometimes. I find I'd rather spend time playing with Petra than writing about her. But, I know she has a devoted audience, and they are clamoring for more. So, here it is. I've also updated her photo album.

Petra loves her Mommy, so she made her a card for her birthday and for Mother's day. Fingerpainting was fun (at least playing in the paint was). A bit messy though (duh!). The good thing is, Petra will sit nicely in the kitchen sink to be hosed off. Clean baby! Mommy was quite thrilled with her cards (as Moms always are). A birthday gift solved on problem though- stainless steel fridge isn't magnetic, so Daddy got her an enameled metal strip with mighty magnets to put artwork up with.

Petra is still determined to skip crawling and go straight to walking. She stands herself up with no problem now, and will often let go of any supports and just stand for a while (less than a minute maybe, but feels like an eternity to a nervous parent). She will roll onto a her stomach and play some in bed in the morning, but otherwise she seems determined to bypass this whole crawling thing. It must be because she heard me talking about getting a dustmop onesie.

Chompers: Yes, Petra does have teeth, and I've finally got photographic evidence for all you nonbelievers. Still only the two bottom teeth though. No sign of the uppers yet.

No Pony for You!

Looks like I won't be building Petra a rocking horse. Someone broke into our garage Friday and stole all my tools. It must have happened in broad daylight, in the alley that sees a fair amount of traffic. The nerve! They also stole Mommy's bike. Oh well, I guess Petra will just have to have fun on her own feet.

Which she just happens to be standing on now all by herself. At least mostly. She'll be standing there holding our hands, and then just sort of forget that she needs support and let go to do something else. She just stands for 3-10-20 seconds or so, and then tips (forward or backward).

Now, just for the record, everyone remembers the action shot of Petra falling when Daddy took pictures instead of helping her stand in the crib?

And how that made Daddy look like a bad daddy?

Well, I'm happy to say, I'm not the only bad parent.

Just the one with the camera.
To be fair, Mommy caught Petra before she hit the floor, while Daddy allowed her to dent her head on the side of the crib, so points for Mommy (it is Mother's day after all).

We did have a nice Mother's day. French pastries for breakfast, then a nice long walk through the neighborhood, culminating at the Peet's coffee in Beverly Hills (iced espresso for daddy, Jamba juice for mommy, nothing for Petra). At Peet's we met a couple from San Francisco that were visiting LA to see their new grandchild. They fawned all over Petra (and drooled over the Quinny Freestyle a bit). On the way back we just HAPPENED to bump into Al Gelato on Robertson, where we picked up delicious Pear and Cappucino (separately) gelatos to cool us down on the hot walk.

We also finally accomplished a little bit of child proofing this weekend. We got all the booze moved to the top cupboard, and all the poisons from under the kitchen sink as well (no, into a different cupboard. Too dangerous for Daddy to have the booze and the poisons in one place, he's too easy a drunk). We are still doomed though, I'm sure.

Where were you?!

We were in Monterey, that's where we were. Petra had her first big road trip. Daddy had a conference at Asilomar, so we drove up to Santa Cruz on Saturday and spent the night with Grandma Kate. Sunday Daddy went to his meeting, while Mommy and Petra drove up to the bay area to see Grandma Glorena. Then Monday and Tuesday Grandpa Bob and Grandma Judy came to Monterey to visit Petra (and us I suppose). Wednesday we drove home.

For a 6.5 hour drive, Petra was an absolute angel. LA to Buttonwillow she slept, then woke as we arrived for coffee and snacks and a little boob. Then she slept again almost all the way to Santa Nella, only getting fussy and crying in the last 15 minutes or so. Another boob break, and she conked out again until we got to Santa Cruz. I don't think you can ask for a better trip with a 6.5 month old.

And once we got to Grandma Kate's, Petra was besieged- Grandma Kate, Grandma Janice, 4 year old cousins Adia and Aurela, Aunt Kirsten, Uncle James, and Sasha the Rottweiler. Busy busy evening. Petra was a star, and behaved wonderfully. She was entranced by the 4 year old girls, who absolutely adored her. She played cheerfully, was a good girl at the dinner table, then melted down completely at about 9pm, well after her normal bedtime.

Sunday was a little rougher, at least on Mommy. Petra slept all the way to Lafayette, which was good. However, the day spent with Grandma Glorena was a bit too much for her. She was WAY over stimulated all day long, and was having fits by the end. She slept most of the way back to Monterey, but just about the time Mommy took a wrong turn she woke up crying, and kept it up the rest of the way back. She was a jittering mess when we met at Asilomar. Poor girls!

Monday was spent much more quietly, with a good long walk (and nap) on the beach (we brought the Quinny Freestyle 3xl jogger, which handled the sand very well), and then a stroll around Monterey with Bob and Judy. She was adorable of course, with even the skate punks at the pier stopping to say "cute baby." Like we didn't know!

Tuesday Daddy played hooky from his meeting, and we went to Carmel with Bob and Judy for the afternoon. Petra napped a lot in the stroller, and was cute in the Baby Bjorn.

The trip back was much the same. Petra was wonderful until about the last 20 minutes of the trip, then started crying. We managed to soothe her though, and arrived home not too frayed.

What did we learn from the long trip? Well, first, Petra is a pretty wonderful baby, and a good traveller. Second, make sure everyone knows how the strollers fold up (long story short- the giant jogging stroller can be jammed into the front seat of the Passat unfolded). Third, bring the snot sucker. The salt air at Asilomar made Petra's nose run pretty heavily, making sleeping kind of rough (this of course developed into a good cold for a couple of days. Who knew such a small baby could produce so much snot?).

Next year, this conference is being held in Hawaii! Petra's first plane trip?