Happy New Year!

We've got plenty of snow here, which meant that the whole family went out to play in the snow yesterday. Our landlords were awesome enough to let Gaz borrow a sled, so we pulled her around the back yard until we were ready to collapse. There were snow angels and many attempts at snow balls, and Gaz threw every piece of ice she found. I don't know what the ice throwing was about, but she especially likes that. There are pictures, but I haven't done anything with them yet. It was still snowing while we were out and the screen was always getting obscured by new flakes, so I just took a bunch. I'll sort through them today if Gaz cooperates. Now for the New Year's Day hodgepodge:

Mark: We're having Hoppin' John for dinner so we have good luck in the new year.
Gaz: I LOVE Hoppin' John!
Gaz takes a big bite of beans
Gaz: What Hoppin' John mean?

That was dinner. After dinner she was perpetual motion girl, due to a long nap that afternoon. We played with a squeaky bug pull toy that plays music:

"Everything falling down!
Bridge falling down!
Trees falling down!
My fair lady!!!" (Trying to sing "London Bridge")

"Berry chocka, berry chocka. . . That funny word!" (Trying to sing "Frere Jacques")

Last night we were reading "The Poky Little Puppy" she started reciting part of it--over and over and over again and then cackling "I did it! Hehehehehehehehe!". I was not allowed to finish the story, and then she went looking for dragons in the bedroom.

I fell asleep last night while getting yon Gaz to sleep, so I have forgotten the other wacky hijinks I was going to blog about, but I'm sure they were picturesque and memorable. May all your wacky hijinks be picturesque and memorable this new year!

Blogity blog blog

I don't have tons of time for blog-reading (go figure), but I do love Tending Violet. I mean, she's got pink hair so you know it has to be good. I especially like the Week 39 entry. Take that, Dr. Phil!

Back to the bidness of this blog, Gaz is on the verge of walking. And by "on the verge" I mean she's already taken her first unaided step. It was totally unexpected, which is why she was unaided. I mean, we were right there, but we weren't holding her hands or anything. If you do hold her hands she takes off, so she's clearly putting two and two together. Sunday evening we spent some quality time with our landlords in the back yard and M. kept saying how ready-to-walk Gaz looked, and since she's raised two walkers recently I believe her. We had a great evening and it only took Gaz, what an hour? two hours? to warm up to everyone. And she let a total stranger hold her for a minute or so without crying. Progress!

Gaz is generally being a progressively more complex little human. She's been on a serious blueberry kick since the early days of solid food, but is cooling on them now. Peaches are most fun for smearing everywhere (everywhere!), tofu is fabulous, cereal puffs are the new rice cakes, and so on. Peas wax and wane but continue to be rather well loved, and beans are a special new treat (we've been eating out at Mexican restaurants lately). Hooray for the incredible edible legumes.

So many little moments feel blog-worthy to me, but they all blend together in a mishmash of daughter love. So: I love my kid. She's the best kid ever. I'll leave it to y'all to sort that out into its composite moments of joy/befuddlement/frustration/triumph/peace.

P. S. - Gigantic congratulations to Mark's sister Emily and her husband Kyle, who welcomed little Merynn Deborah into the world on Thursday (three nieces! how did we get to be so lucky?), and a big fat "HELLO BABY!" to Miss M. We all can't wait to meet you, particularly Gaz! Is there anything cuter than babys' obessions with other babies? No way!

why didn't anyone mention this before?!?!

Teething biscuits are perhaps THE most messy thing in the galaxy.

I know, something that solid and rectangular doesn't look like it could be as bad as all that but don't let the little devil fool you. As soon as it encounters baby spit (and oh, can a baby with teeth generate the drool) it liquifies into a sticky brown mess and ever few chomps the baby will inevitably decide that what would be even cooler than chewing on this tasty treat is rubbing said tasty treat all over his/her face, neck, clothing, the carpet, the furniture, Mom, etc. Normally it hurts my wrists to hold her out from my body--deQuervain's tendinitis, remember--but when confronted with her gooey hands all thoughts of wrist pain fled like startled bunnies. I ended up sticking her in the high chair and now that looks like a war zone. It's not technically as gross as diaper detail, but oh the laundry. The Horror; the Horror.

I don't know if we'll ever get Gaz clean. Fortunately being covered in dried cookie residue isn't hampering her nap (if anything, it's helping).

New home, new tricks

Gaz-n-cat
Originally uploaded by georgiegrrrrl.

We're fully moved. Expect an email with our new address and phone number (yes, new phone number) to appear in your inbox soon. Well, soonish.

We're chock full of crawling now, especially now that we've got the rug down in the living room. Last night she was even able to traverse a small section of hardwood flooring, too. At first she was stymied by her pajamaed knees' inability to find purchase on the shiny floors, but now so long as her feet are bare (now that we've got the heat figured out we can do that sometimes) she can propel herself fairly well. She can also drag around toys as she crawls hither and yon by "kneeing" things that get in her way. I'm sure it's more accidental than anything, but it's always a hoot to see what was in her way when she was en route.

Another fun new trick is that she's figured out that she can stick her fingers in her mouth to pull out any food I've just given her that she doesn't really want to eat. Problem is that she's doing that every time I've fed her since the move. I'm hoping that this is just her little protest over being uprooted, and that she'll settle down over the next week or so. Anyway, it's amusing even if it is somewhat frustrating. She's clearly in no danger of wasting away from lack of smushed sweet potatoes.

We're still settling back into our usual schedule of life. I expect the occassional fuss-fest, but Gaz has really been a champ during the madness, much better than the cat, so I don't anticipate too much additional baby-generated insanity.