Goopy eyes

Poor Chickpea has been under the weather for a few days now. Symptoms include goopy, droopy eyes, congestion, coughing, general wonkiness and erratic sleeping habits. All of which= lots of fun for mom and dad. She is pretty cheerful for all of that, however, which is a big relief to us. Today is bitterly cold so we are staying here in the house and hoping not to go stir crazy. We are supposed to go visit our cousins Eileen, Matt, Eamon and Declan near Boston tomorrow but that is not looking likely. Granny Rose watched Cece yesterday while Mom was tutoring at Gould Farm for a couple of hours and they had a great time. Granny discovered the therapeutic powers of the doggie puppet. Wish I had a photo of that. Currently the little patient is gnawing on the Puss in Boots rattle that I played with back in 19....whatever. Dad is pleased because now that Cece is eating rice cereal a couple times a day, he can participate in feeding her and thus calming her. This morning Dad was very kind and, when Cece woke up at 6am and was not inclined to fall back to sleep, he got her and himself dressed and went out for an early bird breakfast and let me sleep. Ahhhhhhh........

One small roll for Cecelia, one giant step towards independence

This photo is Cecelia post roll-over, about one hour ago. She likes to roll now whenever she gets the chance. She gets pretty frustrated once the roll is complete, however, as she does not know how to roll back, and the view looking up from her belly isn't nearly as good as the one on her back. Now she is (seemingly) happily restrained in her bouncy seat, which should not be confused with a 'jumper', which we have not succumbed to acquiring yet, but probably soon will. I have also succumbed to dressing her periodically in pink. Can't be avoided, like cilantro in food sometimes. I like the brighter, 'hot' pink, if you will, better than light pink. Of course all my efforts at gender non specific clothing and stuff will probably be for naught and she will be wearing tiaras at age 2, but hey, you never know, maybe she will buck trends and be obsessed with tractors soon. This one shows a) her general adorability and b) a wierd red circle on her right cheek that has been there awhile, but seems to be nothing to worry about. Doesn't stop me.

Belated Valentine's date

Jim and I are going to go out to the movies tonight! Wow, that is a first for us. Granny Rose is babysitting, and I am hoping she will have a peaceful, sleeping baby for the 2 + we are gone. If not.....no, won't think about it, won't worry about it. We are going to see 'Notes on a Scandal'. Doesn't sound too romantic, but we gotta take what we can get. The other choice is the one on Idi Amin, so, ...Cecelia fell off of the couch this morning. First time. Last time? It was worse for Jim than for her. She doesn't have a bump or redness or anything. He, on the other hand, is traumatized for life, hearing the impact of her head on the floor over and over again. We are getting a fire going for Granny Rose, it is going to be bitter again tonight. We just talked to friend Charleen and BIG baby Leo- he waved at us on the phone. It is 70 degrees in Sacramento today. No fair. I ran from the house to the car today with Cecelia's carseat, it was so windy and cold.

Snow day

I left the house with Alice the dog today for a (very) brief walk down the street and back. There are about 6 inches so far and it is very windy and icy and all around nasty. Very glad to have a good excuse not to go anywhere. Of course, if the bad weather persists tomorrow I might start to go stir crazy. But for today the fire has been going all day long, cookies have been baked, naps taken, tea drunk and desk organized by Jim (yay! bonus!). Cecelia has been interested in Alice today more so than usual. Alice'w howl this morning set her to laughing, a scene and a sound that I wish I had caught on my recorder. As it is, I manage to catch some snippets, and I am grateful for that. Because a month from now, if my memory is anything like it is at the moment, I won't recall any of the big details of Cecelia's current stage of development.

No Washington DC

What was I thinking? Jim and Cecelia and I were going to drive to Washington DC on Thursday morning so that I could attend a full day workshop on Friday for a grant I am writing. Well, a) we are getting a BIG snowstorm tomorrow (of course in a normal year it would probably be 'just another snowstorm', but this year it is cause for alarm) and it will probably still be bad driving on Thurs, b) Cecelia would most likely not enjoy a 7 hour car ride, and neither would we, even with a break in New York for lunch at the Saigon Grill and c) AM I CRAZY? So, no trip for us. We will stay here and stay sane for this week, and consider a trip sometime when the though of it does not raise my heartrate. Ahhhh, so much more relaxed now. Must stock up on mocha latte supplies today in case I can't get out tomorrow morning. Cecelia is getting more and more charming. Yesterday she kept distracting some elderly ladies sitting next to us at Laurie's sister's funeral. I tried to turn her away from them, but that just made her more determined to turn her head 180 around to make them coo and gigggle with her.

Janice's birthday

We spent last evening at Janice and Ken Schumacher's house, where Cecelia entertained the crowd with funny faces and noises, her manipulations of a little spoon, and her curiosity about the baby in the mirror. That is Aimee in the mirror with her. At the moment here at home she is not so entertaining; I laid her down in her crib about 30 minutes ago and she is still screaming. This is the least fun part of parenting. And I am still not convinced that this is the 'right' thing to do, but as long as I go up to comfort her every few minutes it seems doable, if not comfortable for anyone.

Avery and Myra and toys I prefer

I got to play with some other babies at church. Avery is four months older than me, and Myra was born 6 hours after me at the same hospital. OK, it is kinda silly to pretend that a five month old is writing her own blog, so I promise I won't do that anymore...just like I promise never to put a pink garter thingy around her head, either. So I bought a little mat with the things hanging down for her to whack and grab and put in her mouth, and the hanging thing that she likes is not the singing sea horse but the tag that I have not taken off yet. Lesson 1: Do not spend money on toys, just clean out containers and leave those lying around on her blanket. In church she was much more interested in playing with Daddy's coffee cup than the less fraught rattle or cloth hat. Just a preview of what is to come, I guess. We will try to take a walk today if it is not too windy, it has been pretty bitter lately.

Here goes

This is our first posting and as I write I am doing so quickly because Cecelia Rose- aka Chickpea, aka Ceci (Italian for chickpea)- nicknames we haven't started using for her yet but anticipate using some time soon, is crying her little heart out up in her crib. We have been trying to get her to take naps and go to sleep at night on her own, and it is painful. We are making noticeable progress, but it is soooooo hard. I go up to comfort her and shush her every few minutes, but don't know if that is helpful or harmful. She seems to then remember all over again why she should be upset, and work up into a bigger lather than before I came in. Sigh. Our first big challenge of parenthood. Luckily, I have nothing at all to do today except mother. Too often I have been filling up my days with other things to do. Which is why, no doubt, I have not had the focus or time to help her fall asleep on her own. Or, is it just not right, not natural, not compassionate, to 'make' her go to sleep by herself at the age of 5 months? I am learning that no one has that answer, definitively.