Fare Thee Well, Nanny Carole!

And yet another time of change is upon us- whereas months ago we were scrambling around, trying to figure out what to do with Iris when Mama D had to go back to work, today we've finally come circle- Mama D is officially on summer break following this morning's graduation ceremony..

And Nanny Carole, who has been such a great help to our family these last 4+ months, is now unofficially unemployed once again, the result of no more under-the-table monies coming in..

It is sad to see the weekly routine end, consisting of Carole arriving on Sunday night just in time for dinner, leaving Iris with a very groggy Carole every morning before going to work, watching horrible B-Horror movies and syndicated TV shows in the evenings with naM, and celebrating Fridays by going out with the whole family to a restaurant..

So last night we took Carole out for one last Friday night dinner at one of our favorite best-kept-secret-in-town restaurants. Iris chewed a hole in the table cloth, naM resumed his streak of ordering White Russians there and only there, Mama D forgot how to get there, and Carole was impressed by the large fish tank.

We'll remember this period where our lives intersected and ran together- we know Iris benefitted from having the consistency of staying at home and being with Carole during the days, learning about this big world in small bite-sized chunks. And we hope Carole also benefitted by having some income and quiet time away from her other existence that abruptly ended back in December... And we wish her well this summer and beyond with so many big decisions to make..

And sure, when Carole is in town this summer, we'll likely use her help for a day here and an afternoon there... Just as before, our door will always be open to her..

Thank you Nanny Carole!

Iris Crawls - Almost!!

OK, well, here we are once again behind in updates!! But recent events simply need to be told. Or shown! Check out the new pictures in the 7th and 8th Month links. But first, check out this video shot today by Nanny Carole:


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For weeks Iris has been gradually changing her attitude towards laying on her belly. For a while she'd be sitting and then fall to the side or back and after only a few minutes she'd get frustrated and start to grunt and complain. Then she wouldn't complain too much. Then it started taking longer and longer before she'd reach that point. Then she started getting better control and falling less...

But it wasn't until Iris started really showing an interest in objects that weren't within her immediate reach that her track toward crawl-dom caught fire. She'd prefer to lay on her stomach, getting into that position from a sitting position in less time it took her to get frustrated in the beginning. Then she got really good at rolling over, on to her stomach as well as on to her back (which she learned first a while ago), and pushing her head and chest up, locking her arms. And when rolling over wasn't enough, when she needed to get forward, she started flopping and kicking her legs!

Within less than a week, she has gone from having no coordination between her arms and legs to the above video. I wouldn't be surprised if it happened before her 8-month birthday (Sunday)!! We're excited and at the same time eyeing the whole upstairs from her perspective and looking at all the stuff we're going to have to move!

In other updates, I've added a few stories from the March/early April time frame, and more to come soon! Stay tuned if you're not already!

naM

Iris Eats!

When it came to eating, we jumped the gun. What sounds like a good starter food, something soft and easy and yummy? Why a banana, of course!!

What I haven't admitted yet is that we scandalously introduced bananas to Iris's diet just three days ahead of the 6-month doctor's visit in which it was recommended that she "start" eating cereal and "the orange" foods. We didn't tell the doctor about the bananas..

Iris loved the bananas, which we were very excited about. We thought this whole food thing was going to be a breeze! Since then, however, we've learned that once a sweet tooth is established, the unsweet foods are a slightly tougher sell. Even a sweet potato was a no-go!!

The night of Iris's 6-month doctor visit, we came home and baked a sweet potato and pureed the hell out of it. The next day, Iris wasn't so hot on the whole thing. Despite otherwise being a fast learner, after 4 days of rejection, we moved on to carrots.. At least we proved that she wasn't allergic!

Fortunately, carrots are sweeter that sweet potatoes (go figure) and our confidence was restored when Iris gulped them down, spoonful after spoonful, opening her mouth ready for more. She did the same thing with rice cereal, but was less open to the less tasty oatmeal and multi-grain cereal..

With two good foods and one bad food behind us, the next attempt was something we considered avant garde, yet was highly touted by the books we were now reading for their nutritional value: avocado. Iris hated avocado. Hated it! Her face would sneer and frown and sometimes shrivel up and cry. Her lips would pucker and seal up. I have to admit that the first avocado we tried was slightly bitter and not quite ripe. So we tried another one that was better- no luck.

After 4 days of that (again proving no allergy), with the score even at 2 apeice, green beans stepped to the plate. Swing and a miss! It seemed like no matter how much water we added, or how long we pureed it in the food processor, we still couldn't get all of the chunks out. More puckers, turning away, and general grumpiness in the high chair. After one marathon, monumental failed attempt, I took the above picture..

At least I was able to capture the moment of her victory, when I handed her the empty bowl and let her repeatedly smack it down on the tray in ecstasy. Empty not because she had eaten everything, or even anything. Empty because she had taken all of the beans into her mouth and spit them back out. Everywhere.

Since then, we fortunately have had more successes than failures. She's now eating pears, apples, tofu, peas, squash, and grapes with regularity in addition to carrots, bananas, and cereal. She'll eat sweet potatoes, but we have to mix it with something else.. Someday we'll try avocados again, that is after we've tried everything else in the book at least once!

Mama D's Day

Yesterday was a special first; not for Iris but instead it was Mama D's first Mother's Day. Although we did consider a year ago to be the real one, this was the first time we could all celebrate together...

By this point in the school year, though, Mama D has just finished one of the most hectic weeks, trying get everything wrapped up in time for the last! So it wasn't a very busy day:

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Okay, so I stand corrected- yesterday was also a special first for Iris after all- first time in a swimming pool!