Day 52: A Capital Day

Every once in a while I get a pang of homesickness for California.  Usually it is weather or produce related, but there is much to miss and love about the Golden State.  Luckily, I absolutely love where we currently live, and today was a great example of why.


Given that today was a holiday and we did not have work, we decided to take advantage of our fair city, bundled up, packed Michal's diaper bag, and hopped in the car, driving down to the National Mall.  After driving around for about half an hour searching for parking, we lucked into a spot right in front of one of the DC District court houses.  We headed down to the National Museum of the American Indian, where we had a delicious lunch at their Mitsitam Cafe, which features native foods from various regions in North America.  


After lunch we bundled back up and headed across the Mall again, with The National Gallery of Art as our destination.  Our journey today was Josh's brainstorm, realizing we had not been to the gallery in a while and wanting to take advantage of all the city has to offer.  There were a few exhibits that were interesting, but with Michal in need of a nap, we only took in a few areas of the museum, including the Chester Dale Collection.  I look forward to visiting the gallery in the future, taking Michal through the rooms, discovering these paintings through her eyes. 


My grand plan for the day was to have today's picture be one of Michal and me, looking at a painting.  Except she took a nap through our museum visit.  Instead, this is today's picture:

Just one of many capital days.

Day 51: Cause Celeb

We had the best day ever.  EVER!

We headed out first thing in the morning towards a suburb north of Baltimore.  Our destination: a convention at a hotel there where we would meet one of Michal's e-friends, L, the son of one of my August moms.* While we had plans to meet up with them at some point soon, this first get together was spurred on by the special appearance of one of my favorite actors - Tahmoh Penikett.  He, along with another new favorite, Laurie Holden, was there for the convention, and L's parents were volunteering and serving as personal assistants to the actors.  Apparently Tahmoh was quite taken with Michal, remarking on how pretty her big eyes are and how she was so observant, and mentioned that he also had big cheeks as a baby.  L's mom, later, told me that he mentioned again how adorable she was.  As if I couldn't love him more!

Once we left the actors alone, we let the babies play a bit.  They seemed to have a good time.  L immediately went for Michal's socks, pulling them off in no time and started to see how good they tasted.  Michal just watched, but she did draw the line at cannibalism.  At one point, L decided that Michal's socks were not enough, he wanted to chew on her feet, too!  While Michal likes to chew on her feet, she did not take too kindly to her baby friend doing the same, and showed her displeasure.  Overtime she plotted her revenge and decided that what was good for the gander was good for the goose.

While she never managed to get his socks off, the two definitely seemed to hit it off, and we have plans for more baby play dates.  


* The great group of ladies who met while pregnant and due in August 2010. We range in age and geography, but share so much with each other.

Day 50: Hanging with Friends

We spent most of the day at home, keeping inside and away from some very strong, gusty winds.  This evening, we headed to a casual housewarming party for some friends.  Michal spent much of the evening staring at Bella, a gorgeous Chesapeake Bay Retriever, and carefully watching our friends' 22-month-old daughter, B, playing with her toys.  For her part, Michal was diligent in practicing her skills at sitting on her own, and only tipped over a few times in the hour or so she sat on her own.  


Michal did help B play with her toys - while B sorted shapes into a bucket, Michal practiced gnawing on the star-shaped piece.  At one point, B helped show Michal one of her books - B is for Bear - and took her on a tour through the pages filled with various materials to touch.  She showed her the soft fuzz on the page that was "D" for duckling, the rough center of the flower on the "F" page, and the shiny mirror on the "Y is for you" page.

It is amazing to watch Michal, who just a few weeks ago could not sit up on her own, and to imagine what she will be like when she is B's age - running around, talking, and starting to learn to use the potty.  I have a feeling it will be here before we know it.  All the better to enjoy every moment and milestone between now and then.

Day 49: Dining with Friends

Today was the perfect start to a long holiday weekend.  It was absurdly wonderful weather - in the 70s, which could have been a record high for February in DC.  Michal and I did take a trip to one of the local playgrounds (this one seemed to be on steroids - quite an amazing adventureland of a playground), and we tried out a swing for the first time.  She was so intrigued by the kids around her, swinging away, and she seemed relatively enthused by the minor swinging we did.  She also attempted to eat a wood post.  I didn't let her.


Later in the afternoon, I started preparations to make some apples for Michal, when we got a call from some good friends, offering to meet up for dinner.  We quickly bundled up the baby, threw together some diapers and a bottle, and jumped in the car.  While we certainly get out with Michal, bringing her to a New Year's Eve or Super Bowl party, it is still a little tricky to get together with friends.  This has especially been true as more have babies, so the chance to see friends (and their adorable girls!) was a welcome surprise.  Michal loved watching the older girls play, dance, color, and do cartwheels (after all the other restaurant patrons left), and they seemed to love trying to tickle her and keep her amused.  I have a feeling we will take them up on their offer to babysit, if only to let the girls have fun with each other.

Day 48: Little Miss Grabby

Day care days are tough, since we have so little time with her on those days.  Of course it helps that she is in wonderful hands, and it does make us appreciate the non-day care days.  We definitely try to make the most of our waking time together.  


When we got home today, Josh took her into the living room for some tummy time.  Yes, we are still working on that.  She has rare moments of greatness, either pushing herself way up or (once) rolling over from stomach to back.  More frequently she lays her head down, simply waiting for us to give up, or she starts to get frustrated, which is when she gets the most accomplished.  She is pretty great at moving her lower body - it's her top half that does not do much.

Michal is definitely gaining dexterity.  She is fascinated with tags and has gotten better at aiming her hand and fingers so she can grasp all sorts of small items between her fingers.  This morning she was quite taken with the tag on the pillow.  This evening, she suddenly decided she wanted to hold the spoon I was using in an attempt to feed her peas.  She has been increasingly interested in food (although the peas were a stretch - it was hit or miss for a while there), and while she sometimes ends up looking like a hungry baby bird, opening wide in hopes of a food deposit, tonight she decided she wanted to grab the spoon.  I'm not entirely sure she intended to feed herself or if she just wanted the item I was holding, but she did manage to get the bowl of the spoon into/near her mouth, so that is a success.  She also managed to get it all over her face, so a bath was in order to remove the bits of pea from hair and skin.

  
My favorite pictures of the day, however, came from a quick morning shoot.  We were getting ready for day care and work, so I gathered the necessary items for her diaper bag, including some diapers and wet bag.  I left them on our bed - where Michal was hanging out with Daddy - as I went to finish a few last tasks, when I heard Josh laughing.  I came over, and found this...

Michal decided she wanted her diapers a little closer, turned, stretched, reached, and grabbed, tumbling the pile onto herself.  What a silly girl. 

Day 47: Six Months

In just about 20 minutes, Michal will officially be six months old (yes, that is the kind of nerd I am - down to the minute).  It seems somewhat cliche to say, again, how quickly time flies when you're having fun, but, well, it's true.  Pictures from this morning, right before her liquid breakfast - she was a good sport even though she was probably hungry.

Very early on, it became apparent that I would have a difficult time catching her attention since Bailey was out and about and doing his morning thing.  Here she is looking at Bailey. 

Smiling at Bailey Dog (NOT at me, mind you) 

Yum, thumb.  Breakfast of champions. 

Why, hello there, monkey. 

I've got you now! Tell me where the bananas are, or else! 

Take that, Mr. Monkey!

Just kidding, monkey, we're friends!

Day 46: The Future's So Bright...

Mondays and Tuesdays are a fairly relaxed day in terms of schedule, especially so as I do not normally go in to work until the early afternoon.  When the weather gets warmer, possible outdoor activities will certainly increase.  While yesterday was nearly spring-like and sunny, today started to edge back down to a wintry chill.  Aside from a quick walk with the dog, we decided to hit the mall.

From the very first moment today, Michal was very tongue-y.  Not quite sure why, but she kept sticking her tongue out at every opportunity.  Silly girl.

After a few days of increasing fussiness from the babes, I lugged our exersaucer in to my office.  Michal was SO happy - she loves hanging out, looking around, playing with her toys.  It was definitely better than having to hold her in my lap, clearing multiple pens from her grip, and pushing the keyboard out of her reach before she could compose an email consisting of: MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM N.  (Actual quote from her work today) **

Yesterday's weather was a mean tease of spring to come.  Even though it was about twenty degrees cooler today, I still had the lingering taste of warmth, so we decided to check out some swim suits and cute spring/summer clothes.  Sunglasses were a definite must, and here she is, rockin' the shades.  Note the blue sparkle.


You will notice in the second picture that she is wearing a different outfit than the other pictures.  Yes, we had one of THOSE days.  I probably could have used a THIRD outfit the way she was going.