So Close!

This was taken Saturday night.  I was so sure she'd be rolling over the next day.  Alas, still no.  She does love to roll up onto her side and just sit there, though.  I keep waiting for her to lean forward just enough that she falls onto her tummy in a bit of surprise (is it bad that I've thought multiple times about just giving her a tiny nudge?).  We'll see.  Until then, I will just enjoy the cute naked pictures for what they are - adorableness personified.

Conclusion:  Running (or rolling) faster than we are able does no one any good, but patience while waiting for more running (or rolling) can be tough.

Brrr!

A week ago Saturday it was cold in the morning.  Perhaps it's been cold in the mornings before, but I used to sleep through the cold part and wake up when the sun was shining and cold was far from my mind.  Bean has helped me to develop at least half of the "early to bed, early to rise" habit, however.  I was sitting on the bed in my next-to-nuthins (which is what I spend most every night and therefore early morning in) and I was cold.  I'd put Bean to bed in merely a diaper, so I assumed she was probably a bit chilly as well.  Out came the sweatshirts and fleece (I was so glad she still fit in the adorable warm traveling outfit we bought just for the trip down here.  It was so cute and one wear just didn't seem like it was enough). 

 It wasn't until later that I realized that perhaps the more logical step would've been to simply close the windows, instead of bundling up.  But you just don't do that in Dominica.  Windows are meant to be open, right?  Anyway, it was kind of fun to snuggle up.

Conclusion:  Sometimes logical solutions aren't as much fun.

Four Months Ago

And I thought she was gorgeous as a newborn.

And, of course, it's necessary to have the monthly photo next to a stuffed animal, to show her relative size.  I haven't done it for the first three months, so I suck a little.  But here she is next to Ralph, the rattle cow.  You'll see him show up many times in the future, I expect.

Conclusion:  Time really does fly when you're having fun.

ps - These photos are actually from Valentine's Day, which was three days before she hit three months.  The next few days were a little crazy though, as we started working on naps with more focus and neither of us felt much up to pictures.  So these will have to do.  Also, we weighed her up on campus and she weighs around 15 lbs (no digital infant scales here, sigh).  And according to our tape measure she is nearly 24 inches long.  Needless to say, her percentiles are a mystery to me.  She's healthy and happy.  That is all.

Beach Trip Numero Uno

Can I just start by saying black sand gets everywhere?  Instantly.  You think I'm joking.  I'm not.  I swear, within seconds of getting to the beach, Bean had black sand in literally every crevice and fat fold on her body.  Adorable?  Maybe a little.  Annoying?  Maybe a lot.  The paste that was created in her elbow pit as the sand mixed with the sunscreen was pretty funny, though.  I only wish my fat folds were as cute as hers.
 

Bean wasn't too sure what to think about the beach.  She liked us putting the sunscreen on (guess we need to do more baby massage), but she seemed uncomfortable with the sand idea.  Then Wonderman took her into the sea.  There was more skepticism, which was followed quickly by some crying.  We think the moving water was a little too much to start with.  We had never even taken her to the pool.  So, we retraced our steps and took her to the pool. 

It looks kind of idyllic, eh?

She liked that a little better, but withheld judgment until a few days later, at which point she decided she loved it.  I can see a lot of pool trips in her future. 

Conclusion:  Baby steps really are the best way to begin.

ps - Can I do a ps after the conclusion?  I would just like to point out that Wonderman and Bean have the exact same color of skin.  Have I told you about the CNA at the hospital when Bean was born who told me that my daughter looked nothing like me?  She looked like her dad, but not me.  Who tells a woman who has been a mom for all of 24 hours a thing like that?  As I see pictures of her with me and we look almost like we're different races and then she has pictures like this with her dad, I have to accept that maybe we don't look exactly alike.  Sigh.

The Magical Fruit

So, Bean is growing faster than fast.  I thought I was anxious for her to get big and become more, I don't know, interactive?  user friendly?  self sufficient?  but just tonight I started getting nostalgic for the babyhood that I can already see slipping away as she matures.  She can't sit up on her own, but with the help of this fancy chair, you'd never know:

And I have never been great at tummy time.  It's funny how something so simple can be so hard to do.  Either she's fussy or she just ate or I forget or . . . it just doesn't happen much.  The boppy has really helped in that arena, however.  She loves it and it's always around.  She is getting so strong.  She does push off with her legs so much that if I leave her with too much of her torso on the boppy, she pushes herself forward, ie face first into whatever surface the boppy is on.  It's pretty hilarious to watch.  But she doesn't love it so I try to avoid it.  But I still giggle a tiny bit to myself when it does happen.

Conclusion:  Carpe Diem, but then let it go.  Another good day is on its way.

Little Miss Muffet

So, I haven't written too many posts about the critters here.  There are many things other than mosquitoes (pthhhht on them!) that creep and crawl and sometimes fly in our apartment.  Recently, elephantine spiders have been all the rage.  In fact, knowing, as I'm sure you do, the precious nature of the sleep of an infant (sleeping like a baby, ha! what a silly phrase), you will appreciate the horrific nature of these beasts when I tell you that not once, but TWICE we chose to sacrifice the sleep of Bean in order to kill one of these spiders.  It had to be done.  The day after the second kill, I found a group of ants working diligently to carry up the wall and presumably out the window a spider leg that we had missed in our clean-up.

Sure, it is photographically weak, but ITS LEG IS AS BIG AS A DIME!  Creepy.

Now, let me go back.  I said "we" killed these spiders, but it was really Wonderman.  The first two were all him.  The third was spotted when Bean and I were home alone and she had just fallen asleep.  It was right by the open door that led to her bedroom.  It had been a struggle to get her to dreamland.  I wasn't about to forfeit that if I could avoid it.  That's right, I faced the behemoth and I won - silently.  The silent part took great self-control.  And this time I got slightly better pictures.  This one is for the ick factor:

And this one is just for relative size (Keep in mind that this is the monster curled up in death.  In life, with legs radiating to grotesque lengths, he was much larger):

Conclusion: Sometimes a princess in a tower remains alone and has to fight her own battles.

It Simply Isn't Sound

So, many of you have heard the story of our friend ordering a meatball sandwich at Subway here on the island.  It went something like this:
"I'll have a foot-long meatball sub."
"We don't have enough meatballs for that."
"Ok, I'll take a six-inch."
After this conversation, the person behind her in line ordered a meatball sub.  They received it.
"I thought you didn't have enough meatballs for a twelve-inch sandwich?"
"We don't.  We only have enough for two six inch sandwiches."

That story has come to  exemplify the many idiosyncrasies of logic (?) we find here on the island.  My recent favorite was going to the pizza shop for Friday Fun Day.  A pepperoni pizza cost $43 EC.  A cheese pizza cost $41.  A half and half pizza cost $47.  I asked if they could put pepperoni on just half the pizza, so the other half would be just cheese.  Guess how much that would cost?  Sigh.  $47, of course.  We had all pepperoni.

Conclusion:  It really does require serenity to accept the things I cannot change.