Like the wind!

Not really.

A week into her seventh month, Ada has graduated to crawling. She used it, of course, to get closer to a trash can of dirty diapers.

I didn't bother editing the video ... so forward the play bar to 4:12. When you've watched the miracle a few times, you can go back to the beginning and watch her playing with the dog crate door, which was fascinating to me until, well, until she started moving around the house on her own.

Afterwards I tried to get her to do it again, but the crawling/dog crate door operating tired her out. So now she is in her crib babbling to her stuffed chicken before falling asleep for afternoon naps.

Seven Months!

Big Girl Desk!

It has been a really REALLY long time since I've had an official this-was-designed-to-be-a-desk desk. I've worked on dining room tables, coffee tables, work tables with wobbly tops, and finally FINALLY I HAVE A DESK! AND IT HAS DRAWERS!

Well, actually, it's designed to be a craft table. Whatevs. It's a desk. Thanks Martha!

But first I had to put it together. ALL parts required assembly.
There were a total of 22 actual desk pieces, 124 pieces of hardware (including the drawer slides and knobs -- which I'll be replacing with cuter knobs), and 4 special tools.

It took 11 little bowls to separate the little screws and such.

And it came in a giant box.

It was fairly easy to assemble if you are patient, read the directions ...

and are able to reach odd angles while under low ceilings.

We did have one minor setback and that was that I'd assembled the drawer sides backwards, thus making the slides backwards and so when we placed the drawer in the hole bit, it smoothly went in but with a little too much gap. Back to the floor for more assembly!

But then it was a success!

And then it was a desk!

and a shot over a cute baby!

A reminder to my self

This was originally posted on Look Ma! No Hands!  A blog I share with a friend of mine. I need to post there more frequently, come to think of it...

 

Matthew McConaughey is My Power Animal

I have an itchy trigger finger when it comes to my emotional outbursts over injustice, contempt, and anger. I get this from my mother. We are both Sagittarius if you put any stock in that Zodiac business. We do — but only when it suits us.

Frequently my mom will call me, like today, simmering and just about ready to boil over about some perceived atrocity that has befallen her. I often call her in a similar state.

I’ve decided lately that this is no way to live and so I tried to talk her down. She kept saying her favorite saying, “I’m just going to be like water.” This of course is a total bastardization of the old proverb (or maybe Bruce Lee said it according to this website) that water doesn’t fight obstacles, it instead goes around them, over them, just wearing those obstacles to nothing and doesn’t let obstacles get it its way. This is great if you are a normal person or maybe Bruce Lee.

However, when we are “like water” my mom and I are really angry, indignant water. It’s not a calming motto or a way of being for my mom and I. Instead, it’s a passive way of dealing with something. Which really isn’t dealing with it at all.

So today I told her, “Don’t be like water. Don’t get all stone-faced and not say anything. This is not the way to be. You need to be like Matthew McConaughey.” And in that moment, I knew I was right.

What would Matthew McConaughey do? Maybe not the real MM, but the MM that lives in our perception. MM would just takes the news, shrug his shoulders, look out at the waves — gives his toes a little wiggle in the sand maybe, and then just say, “Cool. I’ll be over there,” and he’d point to a spot on the beach. “You let me know when you work that out.” And then he’d saunter off (I imagine MM saunters without attitude) to check out a Frisbee game.


This isn’t to say MM doesn’t know when to take a stand. He’s been embroiled in a few legal battles over paparazzi, he has been arrested for “resisting transportation” during the infamous nude-bongo-weed incident, and he’s involved in a lot of charity work, according to his official website.

In fact, he originally went to school to be a lawyer. So it isn’t that he isn’t into justice, a moron, or just wandering around in some catatonic state (well, maybe he is sometimes as he is known to enjoy a little weed here and there), but rather I imagine MM knows when to get cranked up and when to just shrug his shoulders, smile, and see how the waves are doing while everyone else sorts out their shit.
And that is why being like water is bullshit.

Be like McConaughey. Just. Keep. Living.

Hello, friends!

Shirley and Ada read a book.

I know I haven't posted in a while because we've been very, very boring at our house so there hasn't been much to report.

Ada isn't yet crawling, though she seems so close we think it could be any day. She can get up on hands and knees and hold it there. She can even get a hand and knee forward just a smidge and she does the telltale rocking back and forth, but so far, no actual mobility. I used to be happy about this, but she's so frustrated and angry about it not working that I just want her to get on with it. I know, I know ... all in due time...

Still no teeth! She has these little gum bumps that are for sure going to be teeth entry points and she is frequently uncomfortable in a way that suggests teething, but so far, no nippers have made an appearance. Hasn't stopped her from enjoying some new foods ... ice cream, mac and cheese, banana lumps vs. mash, she really seems to enjoy potato soup, and yesterday she had a bit of yogurt.

I guess there is one thing to report on, but since we don't photo it I never posted much more about it. She's sleeping through the night. I mentioned last time that after her checkup with the pediatrician, he and I discussed it and he talked me into trying the Crying It Out (CIO) method. I had been so turned off of this idea because every parent I talked to about it acted like it was successful discipline of the child. It always came out harsh and combative and I've never felt that way towards Ada and didn't want to start. Luckily for us, Ada really did just want to be left alone it seems.  It has been about two weeks now, and she hasn't put up much of a fight and although we still hear her (actually just me ... Jeffrey has gone back to his dead man sleep habits) whimpering and cooing in her bed occasionally, it never has become the pained hysterics I was fearing. In fact, for a bit there before we did the CIO, we'd pop into her room when we'd hear her, and rather than easily going back to sleep, she'd start wailing. I think we were disturbing her more than we thought. The CIO hasn't proved to be much of a CIO but rather a "stop worrying and just let me be I can do it myself" method. We also didn't lose our easy bedtime -- I had feared that she would start having trouble going to sleep at night if we did CIO -- something that we were really pleased to have so easy -- and that fear was needless. She still curls up with her blanket and goes to sleep in her crib, almost gratefully, every night.

Update: since I wrote that sentence, she has started bawling when we put her to bed. I'm hoping it's the cold and that when her sinuses are clear, we go back to easy bed times. Or maybe that ship has now sailed. Damn.

Another thing she has started to do is play to the camera. She can be crying, tired, or playing with great focus but the second she hears the camera turn on, she perks up, and the moment the focus light comes on, she starts grinning. We'll try to get video of this soon ... once Ada and I get over our colds and our noses are less red...

So that's about it. Shirley came to visit after Christmas and she and Ada had a great time playing together. In true Grandparent Gautreaux style, Shirley kept her entertained beyond tiredness and Ada would nearly collapse into her crib for naps. Shirley and Terry should consider a post-retirement careers as audience hype men.