I can hardly keep up

Last night we went to the Asian Food Center and Kamon for sushi. She happily ate edamame, sunomono, and avocado-rice balls. In fact, she was shoveling the rice into her mouth.

This morning we went to the gym to practice our new skills in the pool. The pool there was a little cool for her, so we went in the spa and practiced. When we get to the gym, I always hand over my driver's license. Usually, when I hand someone a card, Zadie says "Money!" and I say, "yes, mama has to give the man money." Today as I handed my license over, she said "money." I said "No, this is my I.D. See, it has a picture of mama on it." She looked interested.

When I got it back, she said money again, and I said "No, remember, this one with the picture of mama is I.D." She then said "I.D.! I.D.! I.D.!" all the way through the parking lot and in the car on the way to the co-op. At the co-op, we shopped, and then went to the check-out line. I got out my debit card and she said "Money." I got out my license and showed it to her and she said "I.D." Isn't she amazing?

She also said "toe" in the context of "baby toe" many times this weekend. And this morning we took a picture of her with the giant sack of rice Sweetie wanted to get at the Asian Food Center. We said "rice" and she went "ri... ri... rice!"


In Daddy's shoes.


On a giant sack of rice.


Pretty in yellow.

Swim lesson

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Originally uploaded by countmockula

I would go ahead and call our first swim lesson an unqualified success.

I wasn't sure we were going to go tonight, although I'd been kicking around the idea for quite a while. I kept thinking I would wait until it was closer to summer, and now, heck, summer is almost here! So at the last minute, I got us ready for our first class.

We did the administrative paperwork thing, and then I spoke with Amber, who told us how it would go; we would play around in the water, and once in a while, an instructor would come by and work with us for 30-60 seconds, but mostly it was play time to get her used to the water.

Sure enough, after we had only been in the water a couple minutes, an instructor named Anna came by and introduced herself. She knew it was our first time, so she suggested starting Zadie off slowly by first just swinging her from side to side, and then maybe dipping her ears. If that went well, she said, we could dip her chin or even her mouth.

So we swung her and dipped her ears, and she was doing just fine. Another instructor came by and said she was doing very well. She asked if Zadie could blow bubbles. I put her mouth under, and she didn't blow bubbles, but she didn't freak out, either. The instructor asked if she could hold her. I handed Zadie over, and she said "Okay, I think we'll try the elevator." She then dipped Zadie all the way underwater! Zadie came up blinking and smiling! We did the elevator many more times, and all Zadie ever did was blink, smile, and laugh. We also practiced entering the pool from the side and we played with a duck.

She especially enjoyed looking at all the other babies. I really liked the vibe of the class, and I'm looking forward to using the other three sessions I've paid for! I also will practice some of our new skills in the pool at the gym and, as it gets warmer, at Grandpa's house.

Yay for my water-baby! I knew she'd take to it...

I forgot a few

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Originally uploaded by countmockula

This still isn't nearly all of them, but she's saying toe, shoe, door, kitty, more, and eat.

Also, as of yesterday, she recognizes blue and can say it! It was cute, because Mom was saying "Zadie, what color is the bag?" and Zadie said "book book book" and went and got a book about colors and brought it to me. I opened it to the blue page and she said "BOO!" Then I turned to the yellow page, said "yellow," and she yelled "YELLOW!" back at me.

Also, apparently while she plays on the swing, Boompah has been playing a game where he hides his face behind some leaves of the tree. He is otherwise totally visible. She thinks this is hysterical. He did it yesterday, and with a sly little sideways smile, she turned her palms up (the sign for "where") and asked "Oom-pah?" Mom said it was super-cute, like she was in on the joke.

Here she is with some Tupperware. She loves the Tupperware.

She is also destined to be an accessories girl. She walks around the house with shoes and purses all the time, and has now on three occasions tried to steal some other little girl's pink footwear. Once was at her music class, and she did it twice with different pairs of shoes at the park the other night. It's like she sees abandoned shoes and thinks "Sweet, free shoes!"

The park and stuff

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Originally uploaded by countmockula

Not much going on right now. We used the bike trailer to go to the park. She's not crazy about the trailer. I hope she gets used to it.

Tonight she kept wanting to follow the big kids around, and they were going up this ladder a lot. She tried, but just managed to get her legs through. Still, she said "Whee!"

She now has four molars. She's saying new words so quickly I can't keep up with them. Notable ones of late are: stick, kick, kid, help, up, down, out, book, apple, ring, purse, shoe, potty, sit, ride, and to my shame, Elmo and TV. (Some of those she had tried before, but they're much clearer now, like apple, which finally sounds like apple instead of ap-ap!)

She's obsessed with letters, and points to them and says "E." If we correct her and say J or D or whatever, she really tries to say them, too.

I made her a scrapbook of her family in the Pacific Northwest. Last night she kissed everyone's picture and tried really hard to say Maryam (Mee-am).

And there is your Zadie update!

What a difference a year makes.

Mainly I just wanted to show you the photos. Life's been pretty good around here. Testing at school is finally over, thank goodness.

I've been on an organizing kick, and I cleaned my crafty closet and I'm halfway through the hutch where I keep stationery and computer stuff. I also got rid of a bunch of stuff, partly on Freecycle and partly to Goodwill.

My intention today was just to get a few things out of the garage, but Sweetie motivated me (and helped me) to do a more thorough cleaning. So now the new bike trailer fits while assembled, yay!

Tonight Monkeygirl and I went to Second Saturday. We started at Sideshow Studios, which was a great show, and then on to midtown, where we went to Bodytribe, Deep, and a few other places we don't normally stop in.

Tomorrow is Mother's Day, so we'll stop at the farmer's market tomorrow morning for the freshest stuff, then make brunch. Then we'll go on the David Lubin garden tour, which we take every year.

I suppose that's about it. I hope you're all well, readers.

Take care,
CM

It's Oh So Quiet

Empty Classroom
Originally uploaded by thiyaga

My seniors took an exam this morning and are excused from their afternoon classes, so only a few of them are here studying. Fifth period is awfully quiet now...

Zadie is a helper

Gynagirl and Drummergirl just got the keys to a new place together (I'm so happy for them!). Today we were painting (well, I didn't help that much), and Zadie "helped," too.




On the go.


She wanted to sit on the step-stool.


She stepped in paint, so we took her overalls off. Then she climbed this stepladder all by herself!

Yay, weekend!

So as much as the work week sucked, the weekend is making up for it.

First I stopped and bought diapers and candy at the Nugget market (candy was not on the list, but I'm a sucker for saltwater taffy). I also got cash out for my second purchase -- a bike trailer I found on Craigslist. It's this model: http://www.bikemania.biz/BEBELOVE_Bicycle_Trailer_p/bpi_462-1.htm

When I got to the woman's house, I was blown away by how small a town this really is sometimes: she lived in the other half of a duplex my dad once lived in! I bought the trailer and she showed me how to fold it down to put it in the car (I put a small tear in it doing this, but I'm not worried about it).

Then I went home and fed the baby. Next, we went to dinner with an old friend of Sweetie's (whom I really like) and her husband at Tower Cafe. Sweetie and I had decided on Tower because it can suit any taste, and we weren't sure whether they were into ethnic foods and such. But we talked, and they are, so next time maybe it's Maalouf's. The baby was in a really good mood for about the first hour and twenty minutes, and then she wanted desperately to walk around, so we called it a night.

This morning we did our usual -- breakfast, baby feeding, cleaning house, reading the paper -- then Zadie and I went on a shopping spree! We went to REI for their anniversary sale and bought Sweetie a shirt he wanted, shoes for me, and a bike helmet for Zadie.


I've been really coveting Keens for a few years, and I'm going on a camping trip at the end of the month with a great deal of hiking, so I figure I can justify the purchase. Also, they were on sale.


It's called a "Nutcase." Don't worry: I figured out how to adjust the chinstrap after I took the photo.

Then we went and bought a new camera. You may have noticed we haven't posted many pictures lately. Our camera was on the fritz. I consulted my online buddies, and they said it had pretty much lasted as long as I should expect a camera to, so I gave in and bought a new one. I'll post the bad, flash-less pictures at the end of this post, and that'll be the end of the old camera.

Zadie and I had lunch, then came home for a nap. After that, I made a Thai green curry, and now I'm writing this! Here are those pictures:


She wants to carry mom's purse and wear dad's shoes.


We put her in the laundry basket. Because it made us laugh.


The smoothie incident.


Now that's what I call laid back.


Baskin Robbins was selling 31 cent cones for charity, and we believe in being charitable.

Sigh

Puddinhead doesn't feel good (and has the diapers to prove it), and she has been in my arms non-stop since 4:30. She also didn't sleep well last night. I think it's just serious teething -- she's got another molar coming in. But I feel awful for her.

I also feel awful for me: I lost ALL the phone numbers in my phone, most of which existed only there. Would it have been smart to have them elsewhere? Yes, yes it would. But it was a serious of sucky circumstances (mostly my fault) that caused me to lost the numbers, and now I'm just sick about it. I was able to replace many of them, particularly those from friends who answered my email, but there are some that are just gone, gone, gone, including that of an old friend I've very nearly lost touch with (and this may be the nail in the coffin of that relationship).


Wanna know what happened?

Got a new iPhone (YAY!! And super-duper thanks to Sweetie, who rules beyond belief). Synced it to the computer. The phone numbers from the phone went onto the computer, and the addresses from the computer went onto the phone.

It was messy. I cleaned up the contacts on the phone. But if I sync them again, it'll get messy again. So I deleted the contacts from the computer, thinking that ZERO contacts plus a nice clean list = a nice clean list. But instead, it wiped out everything off both lists.

And then I discovered that deleted files from contacts don't go into the trash, they just disappear.

And then I discovered that my automatic back-up thingy had been turned off and hadn't backed anything up.

So everything was really, really gone, unless it was an address I had in the computer the last time I backed up (in February).

And it remains really, really gone unless I've contacted the person and replaced the number.

Anyway, the whole thing pretty much bummed me out, and I STILL can't figure out what I did wrong/why it worked that way. Suffice to say, I know better now. In future, I'll be cleaning up the messy list on the computer. Humbug. I'm still happy to have the new iPhone, though. It's super-duper cool! I even have a fancy Cibo Matto ring tone. Nothing like Japanese girls screaming at you to alert you that a call is coming in.

Nothing like young folks

to make you feel old.

Last night, Zadie stuck her hand in my glass of punch, and I said something like "no, I'll give you a drink, but you have to take your hand out." A first-year teacher next to me said "maybe she can drink through her fingers." "Ha ha," I laughed, "like Mork from Ork." She smiled blankly. "Oh," I said "you don't get that because you were too young for 'Mork and Mindy'." "I think I caught a couple episodes of it on Nick at Night" she replied.

Happy

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Originally uploaded by countmockula

I forgot to mention in my previous post that she also walks around now saying "happy happy happy." It's the sweetest thing in the world. She makes me happy every day.

This picture is one year old. I don't have any new ones because our camera is on the fritz. I changed the batteries, I changed the internal battery, I reset the time and date, I've done all the troubleshooting I can, and it's just sucking. We need to buy a new one.

The amazing adventures of Zadie-pie

In ascending order of amazingness:

She woke me up by giving me a kiss on the lips this morning. She kisses her dolls, the cat, pictures of babies in magazines, and GI Joe. Then she put Joe's head in her mouth. I didn't teach her that.

Today on the way home, I had Led Zeppelin on and I heard clapping, in rhythm, from the backseat.

A couple weeks ago, Zadie started pulling dollar bills out of Mom's purse and saying "money, money." We don't know where she picked that up, because we haven't said "money" to her. Then she pulled my checkbook out of my purse and said "money." Finally, at dinner the other night, Mom got her credit card out* and Zadie again said "money." She doesn't say the word in reference to other stuff. I have no idea how she picked it up. She's either going to be a financial whiz or a gold-digger.

And finally, we picked up some potty chairs and decided to introduce her to them and see what happened. Well, what happened is that she wants to use the potty on a semi-regular basis. She has had long spells where she stays dry in the diaper and then pees in the potty. I'm amazed. She's barely over 1 year, but she's on her way (I know, it may be a long path, but this is the first step) to being potty trained!

I just think she's a kick in the pants.

*Yes, believe it or not, besides providing me free child care, Mom still buys me dinner every Sunday. I'm guessing I did something very, very nice in a previous life, 'cause nothing I've done in this one deserves it.

Monkey baby

Zadie makes the monkey sign. Watch until the end -- it's cute.


She is working on several new words and signs. She says "kitty" pretty well now, and says "ow" and does the sign for hurt*. She tries to say diaper, and has done the sign for outside. She is much better at "no" now. (It used to be "nuh" and now it's really got a long "O".) She uses her popper very well now, and plays with the shakers I got her on Easter. She told my mom today, via sign language, that "squirrels eat." I said she was a good girl the other day, and she replied "goo gur." She tries to say belly button, and can move my finger to her navel (although she won't point to it with her own finger yet). She made the sign for nurse perfectly today (she usually pats my chest, but today she patted her own). She really likes pointing to eyes and saying "eye." We have been working on kissing and hugging her dolls and animals, and she's been getting really good at it. Today she kissed her Baby Beans several times, and each time, I said "Aww, that's sweet." Then she started making kiss noises and saying "aw" herself, so it went "Mwah, aw. Mwah, aw. Mwah, aw."

*She needs the hurt sign these days. Not only does she have a nasty-looking swollen gum where a molar is coming in, she got her first bloody nose the other day. On Easter, she bailed and fell face-first into the coffee table. Her nose was bleeding in two places -- one on the outside and one on the inside. It got swollen up and she has a bruise on her forehead.

Happy Easter!

The bunny dropped off several musical shakers. Here she is shaking.


The eggs were not hidden very well.


Here she is with Daddy, her two egg shakers, and a banana shaker.

The cupcakes

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Originally uploaded by countmockula

Yesterday on Facebook I saw a BEAUTIFUL picture of cupcakes that Jenny made. She mentioned that she was going to bring some over for Zadie.

Today I went about my errands, going in and out through the garage, and came home from lunch with Grandma at about four. Sweetie was supposed to be home at five and I had planned to make one of his favorite meals, so instead of going anywhere else in the house, I just stayed in the kitchen and started dinner.

Apparently, while I was out, Jenny had dropped off the cupcakes and FedEx had come by with a package. My mom then dropped by, not planning on coming in, but then seeing everything piled up on our porch, she decided she'd better bring it in.

When I first started making dinner, Zadie was in the room with me, but after a few minutes, she wandered out into the living room. I checked on her and found her nose-deep in a chocolate cupcake with three other cupcakes on the floor around her. I picked them all up and put them back on the plate, then put them on the kitchen table. I went back to cooking.

A few minutes later, I turned around to see what she was doing, and she was gnawing on a green-frosted cupcake. Three others had fallen into the diaper bag when she pulled the plate down. I guess when it comes to cupcakes, I really need to keep an eye on this one.

Zoo pictures

With a flamingo friend:


Reflection in the koi tank:


On an alligator:


This orangutan had a blanket on and reminded me of Yoda. He later climbed up his play structure with the blanket on the whole time.


Imitating the giraffe, who was sticking out his long tongue.


Us with bongos in the background:


Zadie got a new romper for her birthday. Jenny kept making fun of her for not wearing pants.


Here she has adorned herself with toys.
'

In jammies and tutu.

The zoo, take two

This morning, our original plans for the day fell through. I checked the weather, and there was a 40% chance of rain. I took the odds, and we went to the zoo right as it opened. For about the first hour we were there, we had the place practically to ourselves.

It was a lot more fun this time than last time. The monkeys were whooping it up, the lemurs were playing, the chimpanzees were eating (as Zadie pointed out to me) and playing, and almost all the big cats were out stalking around. She made the monkey sign for the first time, then did it again while I talked to my Grandma on the phone and told her about the monkeys. She loved the fish, seemed interested in the bongos this time (last time she totally ignored them), and saw red pandas, zebras, a tiger, jaguars, ostriches, emu, kangaroos, a hyena, and more. In the reptile house, she made the frog sign at the frogs and was nonplussed by the snakes. About halfway through the exhibit she insisted "walk, walk!" and so she walked the rest of the way (missing the animals, of course). She was also really interested in the construction at the giraffe habitat, a couple trucks that drove through, and a zoo employee who was eating yogurt. (She made the "eat" sign at me and pointed at the employee.) My favorite moment was when we saw these howling car-alarm-like monkeys. They were going "WHOOP! WHOOP!" She quietly whooped back at them, then watched them for several minutes before deciding she was scared and needed a hug.

I saw a zoo employee with a creepy big teased-up pompadour who looked like Bruce Campbell in Bubba Ho-Tep.

Every time we saw a kid under about 8, she said "Baby!" At one point I thought she was going to join a tour group. Oh, and something odd happened. There was a little girl Zadie liked and was walking towards. I saw that her name on her name tag was "Mia." Zadie has been calling our cat "Mee-ah." As she walked toward this girl, she said "Mee-ah, Mee-ah!" The only thing I can think is that her dad must have said her name and I didn't hear it. Either that or my kid can read. Or the girl reminded her of our cat.

New pics

I like this one because she looks downright ecstatic.


She has begun pretending, putting pieces of wooden sushi to her mouth and saying "Mmm nummy."


After seeing how much she liked a kid-sized chair at her cousins' house, I thought I'd buy her one. She immediately took to it.


First she climbed on it and pointed at the flowers.


Then she pushed it like a walker all over the house.




Last night, pooped out after falafel.


That is all.

Zadie and Daddy's extremely well-documented day.

On Tuesday, Sweetie had the day off, so he spent all day with Z. He took 44 pictures. Here are a few.

Zadie climbed onto her new zebra.


And also into the fridge.


Then she apparently went gangsta.


He got her dressed and took her to the park.


For lunch there was spaghetti.


Then a change of clothes and a ride in the wagon.


Azaleas are nice.


She pretended to sleep, then hit Daddy in the face!


Daddy made his special fruited tofu for dinner.


He almost got a picture of them together.

Alphabutt

I love this CD. Alphabutt by Kimya Dawson She's the girl from the Moldy Peaches who did much of the Juno soundtrack. This is a kids' CD. Frankly, it's probably better for kids older than mine, with all the butt, doo doo, and fart jokes (my favorite: "There's a big strawberry on its way to my mouth... It smells good going in and bad going out."), but I don't care. There are also many references in there for adults, like the song about Bobby-O, skinny younger brother of Fabio.

Right now I have three favorite tracks. The first is "Happy Home," which talks about how she never thought she'd have a happy home with a backyard and a hammock and a paid-off student loan. It also includes the lines "If you're breathing then you're living/ If you're living then you're learning/ So write and write and keep on writing/ Just make sure your life's exciting."

The second is "I Love You Sweet Baby," which chronicles their day, including eating avocado for lunch, nursing, reading, playing peekaboo, and saying how happy they are that she's their daughter. My favorite line is "You're an amazing human being." I know it's not, like groundbreaking lyrically, but it touches me.

I also love "Smoothie," which is very peppy and exhorts Papa to make Mama a smoothie so she can feel the baby inside her go "wild." She says it feels like a school of fishes, a fart in a tub, two bowling balls rolling a perfect game... It reminds me so much of when I was pregnant and how active Zadie was and how I could always feel her kicking.

I also think Suzanne of Cuss and Other Rants would appreciate "We're All Animals," about how she doesn't shave her legs or "down there" because she's an animal.

Anyway, if you happen to read the ol' blog here and have little ones, you might appreciate this CD. I've been listening to it (gasp) without the baby, even.