Grace and Hazel

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After Grace was seen getting her crawl on (see below), we decided it was time to bring on the slammer. A quick trip through Craigslist and I found a perfect way turn the the dining room playroom into a medium security lockup. Fortunately, our hoosegow is big enough that she hasn’t noticed when she is on the inside. I think the warden of our nanny-share situation will be particularly happy to see the new pokey so she won’t have to use duct tape to secure one kid while she changes the other one’s diaper.

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Grace spent some time in the pool yesterday with a completely different result than last week. This time we had a way better instructor that told us how to submerge the babies (I have learned that guessing at these things is probably not wise). As a result, she swallowed a lot less water this time and therefore did not vomit for the rest of the day or end up in the Emergency Room, which made us all happier. For some reason, she was crankier today than last time, crying through most of the exercises so she probably now has a reputation at the pool as a cry baby. Next week, we hope to time naps just right to make her the happiest baby in the pool. Mommy did a suspiciously good job of only capturing her looking happy, so by tomorrow, we will have conveniently forgotten the drama that was Day 2 of swimming.

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When Jenn’s cold got a complete stranglehold on her sinuses and lungs, Grace and I took the hint to get out of dodge.  Apparently stressed out brides don’t take the day off from their worries about invitations to celebrate Presidents Day, so my bride had to work amid her coughs, sneezes and groans.  To her credit, like a mailman in the freezing rain, she powered through it with only a few Why-me’s.



Meanwhile, in the North Bay, a now perfectly-healthy-and-hydrated Grace and I visited Kai and Tenzing (and their parents Kelly and Ziya).  They are a few months younger than Grace and were wowed by her ability to sit up and nearly crawl.  After her impressive one girl show, she pounced on Tenzing like a baby cougar, stealing a kiss and then pulling his hair.  Giving as good as he gets, Zinger accepted the kiss and poked her in the eye.



We never did figure out what it was about Valentine’s Day that caused Grace to lose her lunch. We have to accept that she may be a cynic (as is her birthright) though it seems a bit early for those symptoms to be showing up.  I think it is a good sign that she managed to set aside her cynicism to find a little love on President’s Day.

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As if her first Valentine’s Day and her first time in a swimming pool wasn’t enough for one day, little Grace “decided” to vomit her way into the Emergency Room. She mostly refused to eat from about 2:30pm and when she did manage a few ounces of bottle, it came firing back out half an hour later (hitting Jenn each and every time). The 1-900 number nurses…the ones with medical training not sultry voices…suggested that dehydration was the main concern and we should work at getting some flat 7UP or Pedialyte into her. That plan worked until the 7UP came right back (all over Jenn again) and we headed to the CPMC Pediatric ER. Of course as soon as we got here she seemed as happy as a clam and smiled at all of the nurses and doctors. She did learn that the price of admission is a rectal temperature which seemed to surprise her, to say the least.

We are now awaiting the results of a urine test to rule out a UTI and shooting a syringe full of Pedialyte into her mouth every 5 minutes. If that stays down, we will head home to get some sleep and see what adventures we can find on Feb 15th.

UPDATE:We are heading home, tired and happy that Grace has nothing more serious than penchant for entertaining nurses and a burgeoning Pedialyte addiction

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IMG_1340, originally uploaded by Lincoln Topliff.

In the nuclear (family) arms race to first spoken, meaningful “mama” or “dada”, Jenn is clearly in the lead. We have heard both sounds in the wild but they are mostly random and non-replicable. That said, there have been far more “mamas” than “dadas”. Today, however, Grace muttered the M-word under her breath right after I said it, which seemed at least a little on purpose. I don’t think there can be a clear victor until she appears to know who she is talking about. As it stands, when asked “Where’s Mama?”, “Where’s Dada?” or “Where’s Lincoln?”, the only one that gets a real reaction is the third one, which makes her look down immediately for her furry friend. So, that battle goes to the 11 lb dog, who couldn’t care less what Grace says, unless she is throwing string cheese at him. Fortunately “Lincoln” is hard to pronounce, so he probably won’t win the war. Game on!

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It is no surprise that Grace would be sitting in front of a mirror when she discovered her ability to applaud. While we have been cheering her every achievement for almost a year, she can finally join us in (self) congratulations. Yay!

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IMG_0363.JPG, originally uploaded by Lincoln Topliff.

Choosing your football team is a very personal choice. Since we don’t know if Grace will make her choice based on city, uniform color, cuteness of quarterback, total points scored in the 4th quarter or number to times they cover the spread, we don’t want to purport to make her choice for her, especially at such an impressionable time in her life. However, since she is attending her first Super Bowl party, we thought she should at least dress like she cares about the sport. The party is being thrown by nice couple that work in local government, so we also thought it would be nice to show some repect to them and their choice of team (not to mention Grace’s Grammie’s favorite). Just so we are clear about her freedom of choice, she owns a Raiders jersey too…though with Rice on the back, that might also be considered ‘9ers.

What is certain is that Grace couldn’t care less who wins today’s game, as long as the Cards cover.

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It probably goes without saying that Grace is getting a little big for her britches these days. In fact, she has been going through britches like a certain, “incredible” green superhero. It is as if being in the 75th (or more) percentile in weight and length was not enough. She achieved the same marks in cranial circumference awhile back and it went right to her head.

We have noticed with amusement (at first) that she enjoys spending a lot more time in front of the mirror these days. However, when she tossed Bla Bla aside to high five herself, we were a little concerned…

then this started and we thought an intervention might just be necessary…

With mobility on the rise, Jenn and I now worry that we will have to start listening at night for a thump and roll followed by furiously slow scooting that would mark an Escape from Cribcatraz, as she sneaks down the hall to find that beautiful baby in the mirror. You know, the good kisser.

We decided it was time to take Grace down a notch. Fortunately her crib gave us the perfect opportunity to prove that we are still in charge. With the help of my Makita drill (with screwdriver bit), 15 minutes later she was a whole peg lower than yesterday, at least in terms of mattress height. Sneaking around will be that much harder now and she will have no choice but to shower attention back on Bla Bla.

We still have one more crib peg with which to assert our authority, if this attempt to curb her narcissistic tendencies proves insufficient. After that, we might have to ground her from visiting with that other baby.

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