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