Last weekend we had both grandfathers with the Girl. One fed:
The other entertained:
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Grandfathers
the girl
A Little Girl and Some Pumpkins
Chimney Rock, Take 201
Last Sunday we went to Chimney Rock.
Again…
When Dziadek was planning his trip, he’d looked through all the pictures of where we’d been with J (and where she’d bought spoons…) and decided that, having saved up some money, informed us that he wanted to go on one “real” outing, and the rest could be “little spoons.” (It sounds better in Polish.) So he came with plans to go on one big trip and instructions to bring home spoons from everywhere he’d been.
Chimney Rock was our first “little spoon.”
“Mamus juz tu byla?” he asked.
“Yes, she’s been here,” we responded.
“Nie musimy kupic lyzeczka, co?”
“No, we don’t have to buy her a spoon.”
Scrape
Few things hurt as much as a sunburned nose — a really sunburned nose — so I can only imagine how L must have felt.
It looked worse the next day.
First Wound
Bumps, scrapes, and scratches — part of growing up. We tell ourselves, “It’s going to happen. She’s going to hit her head hard and a knot will rise on the spot, or she’ll slip and skin her knee,” and we think we’re prepared.
Yet when it actually happens, it’s something entirely different. For the first second.
In the grass field where everyone parks before catching the bus up to the chimney part of Chimney Rock Park, L was walking, then running, then falling and — it all flashed before everyone’s eyes — stumbling, falling, and planting her face squarely on a patch of dusty ground.
The results were predictable: instant hysterics, jerky motions, and panic — and that was mom. L was in a state of screaming that we’ve never heard.
“Water! Water! Put some water on that rag and give it to me! Quickly!” In Polish, from a panicked mother.
The tears passed quickly enough, but the consequences will hang around for a few days:
Once the girl stopped crying and everyone calmed down, K said, “Don’t worry, L. It’s just your first scraped nose.” Dziadek and I added, almost simultaneously, “And it won’t be your last.”
Another Sunday in the Park
We went back to Cleveland Park this weekend, with the intention of going to the G’ville zoo. We arrived at 4:00 to find it closes at 4:30 — an odd time to close a zoo.
Instead, we walked through the park and made our way over to Falls Park.
On the way back, we stopped to swing and play in the sand:
More pictures you-know-where.
Faces and Acrobatics
The Girl makes some of the funniest faces sometimes. This was last week at Reedy River Park.
Shortly after this, she took a tumble.
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The Girl, in Jeans
I’m Ready For My Close-up…
New Family Member
“We need to get a dog. L is growing fast and we should teacher her that she’s not the center of the universe,” said K. Or something like that.
“Dog equals lots of work and time training, lots of money getting some sort of barrier device installed, lots of time cleaning up accidents, lots of barking, lots of walking at inopportune times, lots of ‘lots’ we don’t have lots of,” I responded, only not nearly so cleverly.
We agreed on something of a compromise:
Meet Yet-Unamed.
He’s a three-year-old abandoned sweetie who’s obviously been around a lot of children: he’s as patient with L as any parent could want. Sure, he has his limits — then he just gets up and walks off…
3/4 of a Year
L turned nine months today. We spent a few moments watching videos of when she was learning to sit and learning to crawl; now, she moves rather quickly, not to mention enjoying things that were impossible a few months ago:
We spent the afternoon wandering around Cleveland Park, and as sometimes happens, I’m in some of the pictures.
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More pictures are at our Flickr account.
The Girl
Mowgli
The girl has been crawling for some time now, but since we’ve moved to our new house with hardwood floors throughout, she’s adapted her crawl so it’s less painful.
Nodding Off
It surely started earlier, but the first time I noticed my tendency to nod off was in high school. It was usually during first period, and that morning after friends and I had traveled to Blacksburg to see the Indigo Girls, it was almost impossible to fight. During church it was tough sometimes as well. It didn’t help that some sermons went for 90 or more minutes…
College wasn’t much better, but at least I finally began creating a nodding-off rhythm for myself. Around four every afternoon, it became unreasonable to do anything other than sleep. Nap, I called it, but it was really much deeper than that.
The triggers were more varied than the time of day, though. Reading often sent me into spasms of yawning, which is particularly problematic for an English major.
These days, it strikes in the early evening. This too can be problematic, for I have evening duty with the Girl, and it’s during that time that she’s particularly needy and wants a lap and snuggles: if we’re sitting in a chair, I’m always a little worried that she might somehow tumble out of my arms and bounce on her head a time or two.
The other evening, as I was nodding off, the Girl on my lap and snuggled into the crook of my arm, I noticed she’d suddenly become very calm as she was looking at her book. I looked over to see her eyes slowly closing, her head drifting forward until a sudden jerk brought her head back up and opened her eyes.
What a thing to inherit.
The Girl in the Mirror
She’s there every single time L and I head to the bathroom for L’s evening bath. It always takes her a few minutes to notice us, and when she does, she seems just as confused as we are. But then the Girl in the Mirror smiles a little, and somehow L manages to smile at that exact moment, and then it’s laughs and giggles all around.
Week in Review
Friends came over with their son:
And so L had a playmate:
I had someone to play pool with:
The grandparents came over:
And we finally got to have a nice breakfast on the deck:
All in all, a nice week/weekend.
Crawling
New video with L learning to crawl — rather, already knowing. Didn’t catch enough in the act of learning…
Fan Participation
I sometimes play guitar for L. She likes it, but she doesn’t sit quietly and listen, much to my dismay. It’s not that she doesn’t appreciate music — she loves music. The problem is she wants to play too:
It’s not that I mind her playing. Rather, it’s somewhat dangerous: her little fingers fit between the strings and a tug can cause her sudden pain as the string digs into her.
Still, it’s an enjoyable way to pass some time.
Horse
The Girl met her first horse the other day:
She wasn’t exactly thrilled.
I loves you, [L]
Last night, before L went to bed, I’d put in a Nina Simone CD, figuring it was calming enough to play in the evening.
Little did I know.
A few minutes later, while trying to put the Girl to sleep, I began the CD again. She wasn’t crying, but she wasn’t settling down. I rocked her, walked her, bounced her gently, talked to her — all the tricks, but she was just not completely calming down.
When track six — “I loves you, Porgy” — began, instant calm. So I did the logical thing: hit repeat and put the Girl to sleep by playing one of the loveliest songs ever…about fifteen times.
As an aside, here’s a very sweet claymation video set to a Simone song: