Come on Baby, Do the Locomotion

I have heard that some children sit quietly. Legend has it that there are children who sit in your lap and snuggle. I evidently did not order that model.

Peanut is a woman on the go. Even if she is not actually moving from one place to another, she is moving her hands or kicking her feet, or making her chair bounce, or something. If she is taking a bottle, she is swinging her legs at the same time. If she is on our bed she is examining the thread count and seeing if our sheets are scratch and sniff. And now that she can throw things down on the floor? Let's just say that Jillian Michaels and her workout routine "The Shred" have nothing on Peanut's dedication to rebuilding my abs.

Come on Pooh, there's always room for one more!

A few months back we bought the Nutter a caminador so she could "walk off" some of that energy. It took her about 6 seconds to figure it out, and though it started a little jerkily, pretty soon she could maneuver herself through the space between our trunk and our couch, get under the dining table, and even do a wicked ninja spin move I think you have to see to believe. (Why do you never have the camera when you need it??) She has loved the mobility and the freedom to go where she wants to go without having to rely on those dreadfully slow padres to figure out where she wants to be. Of course two months later I just read that the American Association of Pediatrics does not recommend walkers. Actually, to be more accurate, in bold type and italics it said, "the AAP strongly urges parents not to use baby walkers." Oops. Too late now. In theory these walkers actively rob your child of her will to walk. My thoughts on that at the moment? Praise.be.to.God.

In reality the following video does not do justice to her moves, but it has other fine qualities I think you will appreciate...

Caminador from Richard Williams on Vimeo.

Tag to the front, like all the cool kids do.

Then, when our friend Joann Lee came down with a delegation earlier this year she brought Peanut a Jenny Jump-Up (yes, they do now make them gender specific...as with everything it seems). The bad news is that we have no door frames. The good news is that Papi is an engineer and rigged up something that I am sure is also not approved by the AAP, but it works and we like it. (Remind of all this very kindly please when I am fretting later that Peanut takes our rules more like guidelines...). The funniest thing about the Jenny Jump-Up has been to see the various ways Peanut makes use of it. She prefers to sit in it backwards so she can grab and eat the tag. She uses it as a way to practice her ice-skating moves since we don't have much ice on hand around here. She does the standard jumping, but she also does this sort of jump/walk forward thing that quite honestly makes me think of the contraption Dolly, Jane and Lily put on Dabney Coleman in the movie "9 to 5". Unfortunately every video I have gets posted sideways...have to figure out how to change that.

And finally (for now), Peanut is officially crawling. She started out with ranitas (little froggies) - forceful hops in which she would push off with her legs and then throw her arms back landing, essentially, on her chest and face. We tended to keep her on the bed in that stage (for fairly obvious reasons), but that girl could make some serious progress in fairly short order. It took her a while to figure out how to move her arms along with her legs (rather than just getting them the heck out of the way), but now she has it mastered. What I love is that if I go to the kitchen to get something, and she is not interested in being alone in the living room (there is a peek through so I can see her...no hyperventilating please...), she does not cry but rather shuffles her way around the corner to come see me. Think you can get rid of me that easily mom? I don't think so...

So now we are on to full-out exploring, pulling up, and generally upping the workout intensity. Maybe we'll snuggle next year. :)

Our Superhero(ine)

She is growing so fast. It is cliché I guess, but it is still true. I remember when we got clothes for 6 and 9 month olds and they seemed sooooo big. I knew she would get to wear them, but that day seemed far away.

Except it came, like a few weeks ago.

I was putting some clothes away in Richard's closet (which happens to be in Nora's room...just come visit, you'll see), and I glanced over to the left at the couple of Nora outfits we have hanging up in there. First, I just chuckled. It is pretty funny to see big boy clothes crowded over to make some room for pretty little white dresses and...what is that to the far left??

 Yes, you see it. It is spotted. Perhaps one would say cow-like.

That outfit is one of the sassiest things Peanut received when she was born, but it seemed HUMONGOUS! The tag on it said "0-6 months." Now I ask you, who in the world thinks that is a sizing that makes sense? At any rate, I hung it up knowing that it would be forever until we could wear that spunky thing. 

And then I saw it. And it had been 6 months. And I thought, "Oh CR*P! We have to put that thing on TODAY! What if it is (cue shivers down spine) already too small?!?

So we hopped to it. We had nowhere in particular to go that day, but by gum we were going to put that outfit on. And (wiping sweat from brow), it fit. Sort of. That is to say that when Peanut is wearing one of her non-disposable wonders, the pants are a little too small...or tight...or something. Handily that is just the style here in Colombia, so we didn't even have to worry about that little hitch. We even got out the cutie patootie socks that go with this thing. They look like Mary Janes, but they are socks, and they have a whopping white flower on them with a rhinestone in the center. My girl was going full-on Costeña I tell you. Yes, a tug here, a cram there and into this sassafras she went...

And when I got worried that the pants might actually cut off her circulation, or at least interfere with digestion, I decided that they could be repurposed...

Cute, right?

Even better though, is that when I sent one of these photos to my friend Sarah, she wrote back and pointed out that with the camera angle just so and with the bows on Peanut's shoulder, she looks like she might be wearing a cape - a la superhero(ine). We all know from The Incredibles that capes are not wise, but hey...sometimes you have to just run with it.

So the question is, what is her superhero(ine) name? Sarah's first proposal harkens back to Peanut's Texas roots combined with the fact that she is already living overseas on a religious visa. Her suggestion? The Righteous Wrangler. Niiiiiice.

We can't determine her comic book identity with only one suggestion though, so we need your help. Fire away friends...fire away.

Mmmmm....Solids...

I keep thinking I am going to find time to really get some good posts up for you. I imagine having a post up every other day, or at least once a week. And then the water goes out unexpectedly (today), Peanut sleeps for a total of 20 daytime minutes (yesterday), or who knows what the heck else. Then I start to feel badly and avoid the blog. Or I have so many thoughts backed up that I need to call a plumber because I can't figure out where to start unplugging them.

So, in my desire to at least get SOMETHING to you all. I present...solids. They made their way into our lives a few weeks ago, and nothing has been the same. Cereal, carrots, bananas, auyama (a squash), guayava (a fruit), and next...avocado. It's a wild and crazy world down here.

 

So I gnaw on this big plastic thing, right?

Ohhh, I gnaw on this little plastic thing...

Hey, that ain't half bad!

What? What's wrong?

 

 

 

 

To appropriately address this solids thing, I do still need to note two things:

1. When the doctor suggested we start solids it was at her 5 month appointment when he informed me we were now to give her soup instead of her mid-day milk. 

"Soup?" I said incredulously. 

(Not to mention, "Soup?", like "What the heck do you mean by that, and how do I make it?").

"You know," he said (as I internally rolled my eyes), "you take some carrots, squash, chicken, other stuff but I am pretty sure I just zoned out at that point, and you liquify it and give it to her. You know, soup."

Yeah, so that didn't happen. Just too much of a cultural leap for me I am afraid. I really buy into the whole testing foods out one at a time to figure out if there is an allergic reaction kind of thing. I'm clear that 44 million people here are doing just fine jumping into soup. It's not them; it's me. I can accept that.

2. I am now making my own baby food. They don't really have jars of baby food down here except fruits (which seem like about the easiest thing to make from scratch), so I have now been pureeing food and freezing it in ice cube containers for later use. This may not seem like a big deal to many of you (because you did this, because it can't be that hard Mamie, or whatever), but I want you to stop for one moment and remember how much I like to cook even for myself. 

Yeah. 

Especially for those of you who lived with me during college, I know you are in awe right now. Thank you.

Taking Things into Her Own Hands

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Ay Yay Yay

Seriously? You people have had to wait since December 3rd to see a post on this site? That is just sad. Pitiful really. I could put lots of excuses up here - good ones even - but that would probably take more time than just pictures, and that is what you want, right?

So here you go. A few pictures to get me back on the wagon. You're gonna love 'em.

PS. I spent two days trying to get this with music and coolio stuff. After the 179th attempt, and a host of words I am not interested in Nora using just yet, I have ceded my vision for at least having a freaking post. Geesh.