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!
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