Our Little Rory Calhoun

So, I'm petting Buddy this afternoon, and Fiona's having the time of her life playing with some toys (especially the squeaky nun--she's full of surprises...like a squeak!). Suddenly, Fiona realizes that Buddy's hanging out with me...and there's nothing more interesting than Buddy. So, she makes her way over, pushes herself up onto her feet while leaning on a small stool, and then gets herself to STANDING while grabbing on to my knees! It was a little awkward, and she couldn't exactly balance for a long time due to the position she ended up in, but she was definitely standing on her own hind legs!

We are so dead...

Baby Proof

Over the weekend I took Fiona out to see Grandma & Grandpa so that mom could get some studying (or whatever it is that mom does when we're not around) done. Some of the things Fiona discovered:

• Grandma & Grandpa have lots of exposed outlets.
• Grandma & Grandpa have a nice big stack of CDs sitting on the floor that looks easy to topple
• Grandma & Grandpa keep lots of bottles sitting near the ground.

You get the idea. Her baby radar for places that haven't been child proofed is truly astounding.

Right now she's still easy to catch, but that's changing rapidly.

Catching Up

Big news from the past few days:

1) Fiona finally started finger food, and she loves it! That means we spend a lot of time finding Cheerios that have rolled off her tray and wound up in odd places on the floor, but it also means that Fiona can now feed herself while her parents have their food. Definitely a big step.

2) On the less-exciting front, Fiona got her first cold. It isn't too bad--mainly a runny nose and some sneezing, the result of recent east coast weather changes and the fact that we didn't realize we needed an electrical heater in her room at night (since she's too young to curl up under blankets in the crib, which she's toss off as soon as we put them on). We'll see if Andrea or I come down with anything in the next few days; the great thing about kids is you get to encounter a whole new generation of germs.

On the Way to Upright

In recent days Fiona has figured out how to open cupboard doors (time to get those childproofed) and also learned how to pull herself off the ground enough to crawl across the bottom level of our coffee table. That's led to a few times bumping her head on the underside of the top level, alas, but fortunately mommy & daddy still seem to have enough of a magic touch for soothing the bumped baby.

She looked like she was on the verge of rolling over for weeks before it happened, but we're certainly expecting a cruising Fiona pretty soon.

How Does This Grabbing Thing Work?

Well, I figured it was about time I posted something about the wunderkind. As the mother, you would think I'd have something to say...In any event: it was the Day of the Aunts (Meredith was up from DC, and Kathy and Stephanie stopped by to visit). I was sitting on the floor with Fiona, and she was fascinated by my water glass. (Anything that makes its way into Mom's mouth is pretty darn interesting.) So, I began to offer her little sips of water from my glass. While most of it dribbled out of her mouth and onto her shirt, a little of it did make it into her mouth. And what a surprise! "What is this stuff?" her expression seemed to read. The next thing I know, she's dipping her hand in the glass, trying to grab the water! But she can't seem to get at it, which propels her all the more into a grabbing frenzy that eventually leads to Fiona grabbing at the lip of the glass with one hand while grabbing at the water with the other. And this, of course, leads to major spillage--Fiona, Mom, and floor covered in liquid. Kathy believes it was all a plot: Bill had put Fiona in her "Auntie Loves Me" shirt that morning, and I must have been feeling left out of the Fiona love-fest. Because when she returned all nice and dry, she was wearing her "Mommy's Best Friend" shirt. Why is it no one wears these kinds of clothes after the age of three? I guess that'll be another post...

Trapped in Our Own Bedroom

When Fiona was first sleeping in her crib we got in the habit of sleeping with her door and our door open; the rooms are positioned so that it's a straight shot for me to sit up and bed and see her sleeping in her crib. It was a good way to check up on her without having to get out of bed (I don't know what we thought would happen; a six-week old baby isn't going to climb out of her crib and start rerouting electrical wiring at 4am or anything).

Somewhere along the way Fiona realized that she was in a perfect position to check up on us. She knows that Mom & Dad aren't going to pick her up the moment she wakes up in the morning--she's been good at occupying herself during the night in her crib from an early age--but she also knows that when she sees one of us get out of bed it means it's time for the day to begin.

And so we wound up prisoners in our bed. If one of us woke up at 5:45 needing to use the facilities, we had to hope that Fiona was still asleep (and by 5:45 she's usually awake), because the moment she saw one of us move she'd start working her lungs to let us know the morning was ready to begin. One morning Andrea woke up and started to move when she saw Fiona lying in her crib, head raised, staring straight at my sleeping figure just waiting.

[Cue horror movie music]

New parents can be stupid. It took us several weeks before we remembered the power we had as people more or less in fully coordinated. And then we closed Fiona's door just enough so that we can hear her, but she can't see us.

How many graduate degrees do we have between us?

But She Still Prefers Crawling

Well, at long last Fiona is sitting upright and unsupported. She can't get into position on her own, but when we have a toy that interests her she can sit and hold it without any help from Mom or Dad. Then she notices that she's sitting, or that there's something else she'd rather reach for on the floor, and she falls to the ground and scoots after her new interest.

She's also lifting her butt off the floor and pushing up on her hands and knees (though not crawling), so we're expecting her to pull herself up to standing soon (which could mean anywhere from three days to two months).

It's Important to Specialize

Like all parents we spend idle time (or what passes for idle time in an infant's household) wondering what Fiona's going to be like when she grows up. And, of course, we also want to know what she's going to do for a living.

When she first started grabbing at things, we tried to think of jobs for a grabber--and toll collecting came to mind.

Soon Fiona added a new skill, as she learned to tear paper like a champ. Obviously this baby was born to be a ticket taker--maybe even an usher.

But after watching her last night, our friend John-Andrew came up with the best job yet. Fiona can scoot along the ground at high speeds while barely lifting even her shoulders off the floor. And from all the grabbing she's been doing at Daddy' s lower lip lately it's clear she has an interest in the mouth.

So we've figured it out. Fiona is going to work for Army Special Forces as a dentist. And in 30 years when a member of Delta Force in Basra needs a root canal done, you can count on Fiona to sneak beneath hostile barbed wire ready to perform emergency D.D.S. work.

Songs & Kisses

I really shouldn't fall into the never-updated-blog trap after only one post, but I'm also trying not to post when there's no news at all. And since Fiona can't do something like say her first words or change her own diaper for the first time on a daily basis, updates will be sporadic.

But I should post, so here are a few items:

• We expect Fiona to be a musical child; it's in her genes, and she's always had a big interest in the music box in her crib, songs we sing to her, etc. While putting her to bed the other night, I got to the last line of the lullaby I usually sing to her (which is "Coney Island Baby" by, uh, Tom Waits, who isn't usually thought of for children's songs, and it's from his musical version of Wozzeck, which isn't really children's material, but really it's a lovely song). Anyway, on the last line, rather than resolve the song, I let my voice go up so I could extend the song for one more phrase. Fiona's eyes opened back up instantly; she knew Daddy hadn't done the song right. That'll teach me.
  
• Lots of kisses these days. Fiona-style kisses, that is--she's figured out that she can kiss Mommy or Daddy by pressing her lips up against the face, but beyond that she's at a loss. So we're getting plenty of baby slobber on our cheeks.
  
• On Wednesday night after Fiona was done eating I decided to teach her how to "give me five." I held out my hand and kept it there, and then when she slapped it I gave her a kiss or a cheer. I didn't remember to tell Andrea about it, but on Thursday when Andrea was done feeding her, Fiona kept holding her hand out for the big five from Mommy.