All new experiences

As El and I were playing today, and she was getting a little fussy, I thought about the fact that she might just be getting bored with our routine.  Our house is small, so we really have just the livingroom to hang out in, and after spending almost all day, every day in there, I have to imagine it gets tiresome for a developing mind.  So I thought it would be a fun mix if we played on the bed for a little while.  It wasn't.  El became just as bored.  But then it hit me - El has never experienced the awesomeness of a blanket cave before.

She didn't hate it, and it held her interest for a solid twenty minutes, so I call that one a win.  Watching her kick at the blanket and tug on it with her hands made me think about the endless list of things I'll get to watch her experience for the first time, and that's a pretty awesome thought.

El is so smart (And SAHD Tip Fourteen)

Alright, I'm not saying my daughter is a genius or anything, but she's pretty darn smart.  Mom and I have been sitting her at the table in her highchair while we eat dinner for the last week or so.  We thought it would be a good way to familiarize her with dinner before we started introducing solid foods.  She even played around with a spoon while we ate (which she mostly gagged herself with).  This past Monday saw her first experience with solids.  Like rebels, we decided to go with bananas as opposed to cereal.  By last night, El was already an old hand at this whole eating thing:

You can probably tell from her face that she's still not sure if she likes bananas.  But every time we hold the spoon out, she gets excited and takes it.

The first post-banana diaper wasn't too bad, but we still haven't had a dirty one today.  I live in fear.

SAHD Tip Fourteen - You know your kid.  Seriously.  You've been home with her all day, every day.  You know her.  So when she's crying and it's not her usual naptime or feeding time, you know, instinctively, what's bothering her, so trust your gut.  Don't think, "But you only ate two hours ago.  You can't be hungry again.  What's wrong?"  If she's acting the way she gets when she's hungry, she's probably hungry.  This is a lesson I've had a hard time learning.  El took so easily to a napping and feeding schedule that I immediately assume the worst when she's off of it.  But here's the kicker - babies are weird.  They'll change their schedule just to screw with you.  So when they're upset, go with your gut as to what's wrong.  You're probably right.

Where does the time go? And SAHD Tip Thirteen

Wow. . .it's been two weeks.  Time got away from me there.  My wife was on school vacation, so you'd think that with us splitting Eleanor duties I'd have more time to blog, but I found myself unable to do it.  Not having to do something breeds laziness, I guess?  Anyway, it's been an interesting two weeks.  El is continuing to develop and grow into this awesome, smiley, cheerful little person.  Being on the ground doesn't hold her interest for very long, but she does love her jumperoo.

She's even figured out that she can keep her feet closer together to stand up taller and reach the toys that are further away, but if she spreads her feet apart then she can bounce lower before her feet hit the floor.  She's wicked smaht.  I remember when we first started putting her in that contraption, she would play with a few of the toys and look at us with a "Now what?" expression.  Now she bounces all over the place.

SAHD Tip Thirteen - Parenting can be rough, and sometimes you're going to have to do things not very pleasant for you, your child, and your partner.  Do what you have to do for their health and well-being, and take solace in the fact that you're helping them (whether they realize it or not).  Case in point - a few nights ago, El was very stuffy and it was keeping her awake.  The only way to rectify the situation was to put some saline drops in her nose (which she hates) and clear her nostrils with an aspirator (which she hates more).  She's recently learned how to shake her head back and forth, so this also required that I hold her head down while she screamed bloody murder at two in the morning.  El fell asleep shortly thereafter, and the next morning was her smiley, playful self.

A bit of a hiatus (and SAHD Tip Twelve)

Wow, that weekend sort of got away from me.  Sorry for the silence over the last few days.  My wife's school was closed Friday and Monday, and all of my shifts were cancelled for the weekend, so we enjoyed a mini-vacation.  Actually, outside of spending four hours clearing the driveway on Saturday morning, I didn't leave the house.  Which you think would've meant plenty of time to update this thing, but for some reason it kept slipping my mind.

I'm very thankful for time I get to spend with El and Mom together.  It's usually limited to weekend mornings and brief periods of time on weeknights.  That's what made this weekend so awesome.  On top of that, El is continuing to develop.  She's now mastered rolling both ways, and linked a few rolls together to get herself most of the way across the livingroom floor (which is worrisome).  Sitting up is her next, great challenge, but she's starting to get there:

But then again, she might need a little more work.

She'll get there, though.  And finally, a SAHD tip that was driven home (again) this weekend:

SAHD Tip Twelve - Make your peace with the fact that you're going to get baby poop on you.  It's going to happen.  Unless you walk around wearing a hazmat suit, but then you'll just have to clean your hazmat suit.  Turns out it's not nearly as bad as you might think.  That's not to say it's awesome, but it will happen and you will survive.

Rolling from tummy to back is so last month

If the title didn't give it away, El figured out how to roll from her back to her front today!  The best part was that she rolled over, turned her head to look at me, and gave me a huge, proud smile.  She knew she had just done something awesome.  While Mom was, unfortunately, at work during the big premiere, El did roll over for her two or three times after she got home.  Here's the big, strong girl still beaming from her accomplishment:

To make the day even better, Mom has a snow day tomorrow, and ye olde bookshoppe called to tell me not to come in, so we both have the day off!  The only one who loses out is Grandma B, who won't get some Friday El time this week (don't worry, though, she saw El on Wednesday).  Stay warm tomorrow!

SAHD Tip Eleven

SAHD Tip Eleven - The Diaper Genie is awesome.  I don't know how people without one take care of dirty diapers, and I don't want to know.  So part one of this tip is to seriously consider buying yourself one.  The way it's designed, the dirty diapers are sealed off so it doesn't stink up the room.  The major drawback is that the refills are pretty expensive.  So here's the second part of the tip (which was given to me by Uncle S and Aunt C) - only put the stinky diapers in the genie.  Toss the wet ones into the regular garbage, 'cause they don't smell that bad.  And you're going to be changing more wet diapers than soiled, so that's a large amount you'll be cutting out.

On an unrelated note, the Litter Genie is likewise awesome.  I'm actually cleaning the litter about once a day instead of once a week.  Although I'm pretty sure the agreement when my wife and I got our cat was that I wouldn't do the litter.  How the heck did she trick me into it?  Feminine wiles. . .

Five months

So I should have blogged about this yesterday, but little El is five months!  We celebrated in our new, traditional fashion: cupcakes from a local shop (she, of course, can't partake yet) and a monthly photo shoot with Mom.  I think they came out great!

And yes, that is a wookie, made by our friend Beth.  But there's a bow in its hair, so you know it's a girl wookie.  The funny thing here is if you compare the size difference between El and the wookie to just four months ago:

She was also a lot less cooperative back then.  It's already so interesting to look at those first pictures we took of her and to see how different she is.  I also love getting to watch her personality and sense of humor develop.  It's certainly a crazy ride.

I'm a lucky guy

I could make that statement for many reasons.  My wife, my family, my friends.  But as I was lying on the floor next to El, and she was smiling and generally being cute, I just thought about how lucky I am.  I have an opportunity that most dads I know don't.  While it does stink to say hi and bye to my wife in the same breath as she gets home and I leave for work or class, I get to spend all day with my kickass daughter.  Today I managed to get some good smiles too, in a move inspired by Aunt C and Cousin Em:

Come to our house and admire our cute baby

Having friends over is definitely a weirder concept when you have a baby.  Before, you can just invite people over whenever.  As long as you don't have plans and they don't have plans, there're no worries.  But once you have a kid, the dynamic sort of changes.  While you can guarantee that your schedule is open, you can never really predict what your kid's mood is going to be, if they're going to nap that day, or if they're going to spit up all over you right after you put on your nice clothes.  Well, my wife and I had some of our closest friends over today, and El was an adorable hostess.  She was staring at them the entire time, smiling, playing. . .it was a good day all around.  So now when we invite people over, hopefully we can invite them to come to our house and admire our cute baby.

The socks are comin' off

As I've mentioned, one of El's latest fascinations is with her own feet.  If she's on her back, they come up near her face.  If she's sitting in our laps, she tries to flop forward and bring her face down to them.  I've gone into the nursery to get her up from a nap, and the toes of her socks have been wet.  But today she decided to take it up a notch:

There's only one problem with her getting those socks off - her feet are cold enough with them on (which is clearly something she inherited from Mom).  Of course, she doesn't seem to mind her yeti feet, so I guess it's not a big deal.