My School Was Not Cancelled

Snuffy and I went running in the 14 degree weather today because we are (Annoying When Not Exercised) Tough. Schools were closed here today for the second day in a row because of the cold. I am not kidding when I say I run slowly, but I got to feel fast today when we passed a not very adept cross country skier. There was a narrow trail on the canal path where the snow is packed down and it is relatively easy to run. Snuffy kept getting right in front of me on the trail and then going really slowly. And leaving his left blinker on.

Daycare still sucks as much as ever. Actually, more since Dylan now knows what is going on a bit. She was in the best mood ever this morning so I thought she would do well, but she got hysterical the minute I set her down there. I am pretty sure she cried the entire time she was there today. They asked me if she cries a lot at home, which she does not. They seem to think I am doing something wrong. Bleecch, I am not. See:

Congrats David & Melanie!

Motto: A marriage of love, not health insurance.

This Week in Pictures

When Kate Gets Bored














When Aaron Does Bath Time














When Dylan Channels Snuffy














When You Need Earphones While You Shave














When Dylan Gets Put Away For The Night

Nothing more than feelings

Dylan has a toy, Baby Tad's First Feelings, that talks about Baby Tad's first feelings. These include Happy, Sad, and Sleepy. I would have added Hungry. Tad makes such observations as Feelings are Special. Feelings are Real. I like sharing the way I feel. I hope Baby Tad likes feeling chewed up, because that is Dylan's main interest in him. She figured out how to shake a rattle yesterday. She thinks about it really hard and then is so proud when she actually does it.

From The Baby's Song Book

See-saw, Margery Daw,
Sold her bed to lie upon straw;
Wasn't she a dirty slut
To sell her bed and lie upon dirt?

Enjoy, Dylan

Dylan & Daddy

Happy Birthday, Aaron

Happy Birthday Cool Uncle Z

Also Happy Five Months to Dylan

Everything You Never Wanted to Know About Snuffy Poop

When we first got Snuffy, we worked very hard to train him to poop on command (good for cocktail parties and whatnot). We were derailed by a months-long saga that involved giardia, numerous food allergies, and bloody diarrhea, the upshot of which is we now cook him chicken for breakfast every morning and he eats only (very expensive) prescription duck and potatoes dog food. It also meant he wasn't entirely in control of his bowels, and truly could not poop when told to. He is still funny about pooping, and won't go at all unless he is being walked. We can leave him out playing with his dog friends for many hours, only to have him come in and start whining fifteen minutes later in legitimate distress. Sometimes I walk him around the yard and he'll go there, but mostly he requires a long jaunt around the neighborhood.

He prefers, if possible, to go right along the edge of the curb. Right now there is about a foot of snow on the ground. It has melted and re-frozen several times, so it has a nice crust that breaks through if you step on it. Snuffy, however, cannot be deterred. So he now wades through snow that despite his high clearance comes up almost to his stomach. It is pretty funny to watch. As Aaron says, he is very particular.

He is still great about peeing whenever and wherever we tell him to (except, of course, in New York City).

This morning when I took him out to pee he saw another dog and pulled me across the new layer of snow like I was on a sled.

If you've ever wondered what a kimono onesie looks like, today is your lucky day:

A Place For Everything

Is it ironic if you are killed by a CPR class?

Daycare was Bad yesterday, as expected.

Aaron is deeply offended by the lack of suggestions for what he might want for his birthday (he is a strange one). But I think you all are just smart because it was a TRAP, A TRAP, RUN. He was then going to tell you that whatever you suggested you should go out and get it for him.

As I was walking down the hall of my building yesterday to bring Dylan to daycare, a woman stopped me to coo over the pretty pretty baby. I walked back down the hallway on the way to my office, and the woman recognized me and said hi. A few seconds later she did a double take and said urgently, wait...what did you do with that baby?

Last 100 Hits

No Dylan Turnovers Here

Dylan has discovered the joys of pounding the keyboard. I'm in trouble now.

I lovingly put a cupcake on the table this morning to eat on my walk with Snuffy. You see where this is going, I imagine. Snuffy lovingly swallowed the cupcake, wrapper and all, before I even had time to get my shoes on. That dog has quite the sweet tooth.

Sweet potatoes were quite a hit with the under-6-month crowd this morning.

Since her first round of rolling over a while ago, Dylan has not been interested in a repeat performance. She doesn't like spending a lot of time on her tummy in the first place, so she has to be in just the right mood to even be doing that. When she does roll over it is very sudden, like she has been possessed by the rolling over spirit.

I have given up on the bottle completely. I packed them all up in the attic. Where I went to pull the string to turn on the light and the string broke. I stood there jumping up and down with my stubby little legs trying to reach the stubby little cord, but alas it was no use. The attic is turning into a Giant Rubble Mound, but at least we won't be able to see it.

The sippy cup is actually working better. At some point soon (where soon = ideally before my four-hour CPR class tonight) I am hoping to have her eat an actual meal from it that doesn't involve eating from me ten minutes after eating from the sippy cup. Although now since I don't like daycare so much I like having a reason to check on her every couple of hours. I suppose I can still do that, but maybe it won't have to be QUITE so often.

Advice Needed

Aaron would like to solicit comments on what he might like for his birthday this Thursday.

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Now, With More Snuff!

Food Glorious Food

Dylan was yipping like a puppy all day yesterday. We did want another dog, so maybe she's trying to please us. It was weird though.

The sidewalk plow came, yay! I couldn't even get the stoller down the sidewalk anymore. Our street, however, is another story.

Sidewalk














Street; Needed: Mr. Plow














I have been really torn about when to give Dylan solids. I know the recommendation is to wait until six months, but I don't think that's based on too much reliable research (the strength of the recommendation is a 'C' on a grading scale). And I think it might help tide her over when I can't feed her as often as she likes. She is giving me lots of signs that she's ready -- she is really interested in watching us eat, the amount of time between meals is getting shorter and shorter, she can put stuff in her mouth on her own, she gets hungry at night when she never used to. There's a chart of how much milk babies who aren't eating solids should be getting in this book I have, Super Baby Food, and she's two pounds heavier than the heaviest weight in the chart.

I eventually decided that the most important thing is that she not be hungry at daycare, so I tried giving her some avocado.















I'm not sure it agreed with her that well -- she had a HUGE poop later that day, which is rare for her, and she was more irritable than usual the rest of the day. I waited a few days, then yesterday tried again with banana. She liked it, but I'm not sure that agreed with her either. I think I'll try sweet potatoes next in another couple days. In any case she LOVES teething biscuits.

CrankyPants

According to both the Wonder Weeks and fussiness level, Dylan is at the beginning of another fussy period. It will purportedly last about three weeks and then we're in the clear for a couple of months (exceptions: teething, bad sleep nights, looking at the baby cross-eyed, phases of the moon). Three weeks doesn't sound long, but come stay with us for a few days and you might feel differently. She has started acting shy and bursting into tears when people who aren't me or Aaron hold her or look at her. She'll play with toys for a while, but wants to be held and enteratined a lot. She does NOT like to get dressed. Although as she gets more functional the unhappy times seem a little easier on her.

The days she was at daycare this week didn't go that well. And unfortunately I feel like the fussier she is at daycare the less they really try to play with her or comfort her because they don't get a lot of positive feedback from it. I sometimes try to dress her particularly cutely because that makes them like her more because her class is almost all boys (scummy, I know, but whatever makes things easier for her there). They just don't seem to be able to deal with her very well when she's being sort of high maintenance. I know it is like wishing for the End of Days to want the baby to start crawling, but that is her ticket to the next room up at daycare, where they have the same adult to child ratio but do a lot more fun stuff.

She really tricked me into thinking she was easygoing those first three months, but I see now that I was wrong. She's still a lot of fun right now though. She smiles every time I look at her and wiggles her whole body happily, like Snuffy wagging his tail.

Bedtime

Dylan had a good night the past couple of nights and kindly let me sleep in. Snuffy's groomer, however, called the house at 7 freaking 15 in the morning. How nice of them to let me know his appointment was cancelled.

Aaron went to give blood the other day. They give you a free movie certificate, then screen you. He had been to the Dominican Republic too recently, so could not actually give blood. He proudly spoke about how he would have given a double dose, had he been able to donate, all the while scurrying away with his coupon.

So, about bedtime. It has changed our lives. It's like she was suddenly programmed to fall asleep between 8 and 9. And she really puts herself to sleep every night. And the reflux is a lot better. So instead of MAYBE getting her down at midnight, if we're lucky, plus another hour and a half of holding her upright, we can just put her down at 8:30 and go about our business. It's awesome. I hope it lasts. She's not as good at going to sleep for naps, but she's getting better if we time it right. If we keep her home in the morning she also still takes a nice morning nap. If we don't then she muddles along on 20-minute cat naps all day at daycare, then sacks out in the evening when she gets home. Which does not work as well for getting her to bed. I actually think she could go to bed a little sooner, but her naps have to work out right.

It's been snowing here every day. There used to be a sidewalk plow that would troll the neighborhood, but it hasn't been out yet. It is fairly hard to walk Snuffy down a lot of streets and I'm not even sure I could run right now.

Wednesday = Sucks

I don't have a lot of scheduled time during the week, but all of it is on Wednesday. Which is also the one day a week that Aaron has more than one class. Yesterday I felt like a little gerbil on a wheel scurrying around.

The trip to DC went well. I think the meeting, which was to recruit state health workers for my dissertation, was successful, but my project still could crash and burn at any moment. It was a fun adventure to travel with her though. I wish we had been able to go play in the city some because it was a nice day and it seemed like there was a lot going on. Dylan doesn't like the actual time on the plane, but she likes looking around in the airport and we had fun in the hotel.

My dad was there to help on the plane ride there and during the meeting. Dylan did great until he underestimated the height of the overhead bin relative to her head. The flight back was pretty empty, so we had some space to spread out.

Hanging out in the hotel

Dylan on a Plane