Nana finally got to hold the Girl for an extended period of time -- a genuine miracle when Pa-Paw is around.
Month: April 2007
Wednesday Afternoon Hands
The Girl is getting control of her hands. They’re still jerky, and this is a cause of great frustration. “Get used to it,” I say. “Not being able to get your hands to do exactly as you wish is something that plagues us for our entire lives.”
But she has, I think, finally realized that those things sticking out from her shoulders are hers and under her control. So she’s reaching for things. She’s holding things. She’s flinging things, though somewhat accidentally.
And once a little almost-four-month-old gets that ability, where does everything go? Straight to the mouth.
Tricks
The Girl has been learning how to grab things with her hands and then actually do something more -- move it, hold it, bring it towards her mouth. Lately, I've been putting a clean cloth diaper over her head and seeing if she can pull it off. If I leave some wrinkles for her to grab, she usually does.
Tonight, however, she used her head -- but not literally.
Irony
A woman spends a fair amount of time at Ingles wiping off the handle of the shopping cart and anything near it, and then goes in and buys seemingly countless amounts of soda...
Roll
Lots of rolls -- bank-and-roll, dinner rolls, credit roll, drum roll, sausage roll, Charles Rolls, bank roll, spring roll, barrel roll, Swiss Cake rolls, fat rolls, egg roll, shake-rattle-and-rolls, rock-and-roll,
But none of them can compare to this roll.
In the Dark
For the first time in ages, K and I slept in the dark last night.
No, not the "first time in ages." The first time in almost four months.
Since L's birth, we've kept a small red light on beside the bed. You never know when the girl's going to wake up in a pacifier panic, or spit up and need emergency cleaning, or any number of other horrid, life-threatening things.
But last night, K thought we should do an experiment -- open the blind to the window on her side of the bed and see if that provides enough light. And it did.
And so for the first time in weeks and weeks, I lay there in the dark, no red light filling the room with an oddly calm-yet-angry glow (red light is just really not all that pleasant at all), and it honestly felt as if it was the firs time in my life that I'd slept in the dark. It felt like going to bed without brushing my teeth, or coming home without hugging, kissing, and playing with the girl, or eating cereal with skim milk -- it just felt unnatural.
Next step -- get the girl to stay in her crib all night, even in the midst of needing a 1:00 a.m. feeding...
New Toy
When I got a new toy as a kid, the hardest thing to do was to leave it at home every morning when I left for school. When I got back, I was so excited to be able to play with it again.
With L, it’s the same, only the feelings are more intense, not to mention more significant.
The best part of it is the smile and the giggles I now get when I return home from work.
Unless she’s sleeping.
The Visit
Oh, that Papa is sly. A planned Easter visit across the mountain can be turned around (Let someone else do the driving for once!) by simply throwing one's back out. Then the parents can bring the granddaughter to the grandparents!
I'll have to remember that.
Of course, the one who spent the most time with the Girl was the old man...
If it weren't for the fact that Nana is so sensible, that girl would be so spoiled that she'd stink worst than durian.
The Mobile
Now playing at a YouTube near you: The Mobile.
A stirring drama about a little girl, a mobile, and the bond between them. With an all-star cast and a classic sound track, it's sure to become a classic.