Como Zoo!

We are in the middle of a concentrated effort to jam in as much fun as possible in mom's last few days of summer (sigh). Today, Laura and I headed to the Como Zoo with uncles Mike, Matt, and Matt's girlfriend Steph. (It was also on their summer "to-zoo list"...ahahaha thanks Michael).

I'm not sure that Laura's old enough to fully appreciate the zoo; sometimes it seems like it's hard for her to see the animals, and although we read animal books and stuff, I don't think she always realizes what they are. She did have her moments of excitement though. We were close up to a baby orangutan and its mama as they wrestled and played around.

We were excited to see the new polar bear exhibit, but all we saw was the back side of one sleepy polar bear. Laura was more interested in the fake baby seal in its cave...just the right size for her!

We approached the sea lions (seals? are they the same thing?) right as the Sparky show was going to start, but decided the show looked a little full. Hence we ventured into the "aquatic building" to see some fish but instead stumbled on Sparky + buddy in a tank waiting to go onstage! They were all pumped up for the show and kept diving in and out of the water; they even came right up to the glass to see Laura! When the trainers came to get them for the show, Laura got to see them feed the seals some fish. Later on we saw Sparky's other buddies sunning themselves and barking, which Laura did enjoy and even tried to imitate.

After all this trekking around the zoo, we were hungry so Uncle Mike brought us to Porky's for lunch. Laura must have been hungry too because she ate some of mom's cheeseburger (unprecedented!), some fries, and most of our chocolate milkshake (a fave Laura treat).

Needless to say, she cashed out within five minutes of dropping off the rest of our group, slept the whole ride home plus another hour in her crib. Thanks Mike, Matt, and Steph! You were great zoo buddies, Laura holders, and stroller pusher/carriers. Laura loves you!

What a Puke!

Isn't it funny that on the very same day Brett "Purple #4" Favre's retirement/unretirement saga finally comes to an end (for the 8th year in a row), Laura pukes on the carpet.

Oh sure, the two really have no correlation with each other, but I thought it was kind of symbolic.

Here is what happened. Grandma Janelle came over to babysit while Mom cleaned up her stuff in Grandma/Grandpa M's basement. Grandma Janelle brought Dad a jar of pickled cucumbers (really, they are just pickles) that Grandpa George made from scratch. Let me tell you, those things are pretty good and I thought maybe Laura would like them as well...

I gave Laura a sample and she reacted with that bitter-look. I assumed she didn't like it so I continued to eat them. Thirty-seconds later, Laura came back and wanted another. I gave her a tiny piece and she put it in her mouth and walked away. Thirty seconds later, I hear a gag and see her puke yellow fish crackers all over herself and the carpet. Foy!

Oh, Laura.

Our New Home - Video

Laura,

Just thought I would show you what our house looked like one month after moving into it.

Nigh Nigh Time

Laura goes to bed...

Laura is 1 Year + 4 Months!

Height: 30.5"

Weight: 18 lbs.








Likes: watching daddy mow the lawn, repetitive viewing of favorite tv clips (opening sequence of "Thomas the Tank Engine," Sheryl Crow singing "'I' is Going to Soak Up the Sun" on Sesame Street, Elmo's World segments), pretending to sleep and covering up with a blanket on the big girl bed, yogurt and "num num" treats (cookies, ice cream), goofing around with dad in the basement playroom, throwing her sippy cups, brushing teeth and washing hands in the sink, asparagus and peas, puppies


Dislikes: being still for diaper changes, having mama leave her, long car rides





Any new tricks? At night we often repeat this sequence where she throws all of her plugs (pacifiers) out and cries. I go in and ask her "Where are your plugs?" and she points behind her crib where she threw them. When I say, "Where do the plugs go at bedtime?," she points on the mattress. Then I say, "What is it time for?" and she says "Nigh-nigh." Stinker, she knows exactly what she should be doing!

She also can identify and name the letter "i" (only lowercase) courtesy of said Sheryl Crow clip above, and knows the following body parts: ears, hair, eyes, nose, mouth, tummy, bellybutton, toes. Laura is working more and more to try and repeat the things she hears us say, and works harder on words that she is interested in - for example, "glasses" and "mow."

In search of...Daycare

New town, New home, New neighbors...New daycare.

I am starting to wonder, "Is too much NEW, a bad thing?" The word "new" should equate to fun, exciting, adventurous. Don't get me wrong, I am very happy we decided TO move and were ABLE to move! I really like our house and the neighborhood. I think the splash of change is too much to take in at one time. With that said, Laura doesn't mind, she is taking it all in with smiles.

This week, we're interviewing new daycare providers. We had such a great thing going at Kimms that we're using her as a measuring stick to the new people.

So far, we have visited two in-home providers and have one more this evening. The decision will be difficult as each person has their pluses and minuses. We're having a hard time deciding what are the things we need/expect/hope from our new provider and how do we weigh those pluses and minuses (location/cost/# kids/friendliness/discipline and teaching philosophies, and so on) to make the best decision.

This process seems to be more complicated than "what can we live with and what are deal breakers." Stay tuned...

Sad, Tiny Little Peanut

Yesterday we took Laura in for her 15 month visit. Mom had HIGH hopes that she was going to be at the 20 lb. mark FINALLY. I generally believe our home scale to be about 5 lbs. inaccurate (allowing me to pretend that I am 5 lbs. less than I really am), and Laura was at about 18 lbs. the other day at home.

Argggh, but no. Laura gets on the scale and the nurse says, "Eighteen pounds." (On the plus side, home scale = accurate) Let's review her last few visits:

February 1: 17 lb. 6 oz.

April 5: 17 lb. 8 oz.

April 20: 18 lb.

July 14: 18 lb.

At this point, she's off the chart (in the negative way) for weight percentile. I feed her stuff all the time, and she's definitely keeping Nabisco and Keebler in business, but the fact is she eats like a bird. The doctor wasn't concerned because she is continuing to grow height-wise and says it's normal for kids not to eat a lot at this age. Although, she did say she might always be kind of a small gal. (Lexi, you can counsel her in the event Laura feels distress over this someday) Any tricks for baby weight gain?! I think we will be trying a little Ovaltine or Carnation Instant Breakfast.

Plus she was the saddest girl ever with the shots this time. Usually she's fine by the time we get out to the parking lot, but this time I had to listen to the hiccupy breathing kids do when they're trying to calm down from sobbing - the entire way home. And then when we got home we had the sad, sad, crying all over again for dad. Oh, I felt so bad for her. We had to do a 4am snuggle and Tylenol hit as well...this morning at 6:50 I wake up to hear her over the monitor, "Num num num." I go in to get her up and she's pointing at the Tylenol (loves it).

Enjoy this picture of the peanut at a happier point in the summer:

Laura is 1 Year + 3 Months!

Laura spent most of her 15th month at Grandma Barb's and Grandpa Glenn's, and had a fine time there soaking up attention from them and Uncle Matt, as well as sneaking into neighbor's yards to enjoy their fun toys! Now we are in our new house and settling in; I think Laura is starting to get used to our new place.

Likes: Airplanes (see her uncle's post below), walking around in bigger houses, pulling flowers off mom's plants, Elmo (calls him Mel-mo), birds, lawnmowers, playing outside/swinging, spitting out milk and juice/throwing food for fun, crackers, sharing morning cereal with someone, wind chimes on Grandma's porch, bubbles, playing with water, her newly rediscovered baby swing and bumbo seat, her baby, pacifiers, ice cream, hiding behind furniture or around corners

Dislikes: Laying still for diaper changes, people telling her "no" or taking things away from her, most foods that are not in the cracker/cereal/bread group (argh, mom is distressed about this), eating substantial meals, mom or dad leaving her, riding in the car

Any new tricks? Laura has said the following new words/sounds but chooses to use them very selectively ("eh eh" whiny sound and pointing is still the preferred method)...Papa (for Papa George), bubbles, Elmo (Mel-mo), cracker (says tah-tah), ball, no (but comes out like the German, nein), Bucky (yes, sorry Gophers...that is for Bucky Badger, she loves him!), puppy, woof, meow, moo, neigh, oo oo ahh (monkey). She's starting to play on her own a little bit with toys, and at grandma and grandpa's house she would "relax" and lie down on a pillow with her arms behind her head. Laura is starting to try and run; she will rock and pat her baby, and she does gymnastic "tricks."















She is endlessly entertaining to us and we love her! Mom also loves being home for the summer and taking care of Laura, although we are sad that she is done at Kimm's for daycare. That is a tough transition and now we have to find new daycare at our new place - how will we ever get as lucky a second time picking someone new? Also Laura and I have been attending a summer ECFE class; I think that will need its own post. I've been learning some really interesting things about her in this class!!

We can't complain, baby hear plane.

Babies.

They can't do much for themselves can they? They can't feed themselves, dress themselves, drive a car, pay the bills or even use the toilet. Sometimes when adults are especially incapable people will say they are "helpless as a baby."

As such it comes as no surprise that there are many day to day things that you and I can do much better than Baby Laura.

But one thing that Laura can do better than any other living adult I know, is detect airplanes.

On Father's Day, myself and my beloved domestic partner Kaitlin went down to Eagan to hang out with the family...and of course with Baby Laura. During the course our visit, I daresay Laura detected at least 17 airplanes. When she heard one, she would raise her eyebrows, declare "Oooh," leave her mouth in the shape of "Oooh," and make "touchdown" with her arms. She would then scan the sky to try and find the plane and finally look to everyone else to make sure that we too were aware of the plane.

This became even more impressive when I realized that she was indicating "airplane" before any of the adults had even realized there was a plane overhead. It's true that when you live in Eagan you get desensitized to the sound, but Kaitlin and I don't and she still caught them before we did. This to me indicates two things:

1. Adults will tune out outside sounds when they are focused on something else and as a result can be caught unaware of what's really going on around them.

2. Laura can probably hear better than we can. Possibly many of her senses and reactions are sharper than ours because they are all brand new.

Isn't that cool? I think so. I'd really like to experience my current existence with the senses of a 1 year old.

Oooh.

Why No Posts?

Why haven't we posted in awhile?
The best way to describe our life right now is to say that we are in transition. At least for me, that makes things chaotic.

In April, we put our townhouse up for sale and it actual sold in 20 days! Sure, we took a beating in the sales price but an upgrade was needed.

Soon after "the sale," Mom and I looked for two weeks for a new single-family home in the Prior Lake/Savage school district. Why Prior Lake? This was a tough decision. We couldn't look past the elimination of Mom's commute and Laura growing up through the same school system as Mom.

Mixed during the new home-looking, I went on a work trip for a week and ran the Lake Minnetonka Half Marathon. Meanwhile, Mom took care of Laura, made sure the house was clean for each showing, and focused on wrapping up the school year.

A few weeks ago, we found our new home and will move in on June 21st. Where are we now? We are living at Grandma Barb and Grandpa Glenn's house. They have been great hosts and in turn have had plenty of "Laura-time."

As soon as we are all moved in, we can get back to this blog!