Proper Respect

Now that she's gotten so good at it, Fiona really enjoys standing up in her crib when I walk into her room in the morning or to get her at the end of a nap.

So, what are the odds that when she's fifteen she still stands to greet me every time I walk into the room?

That's Not a Fever

Well, Fiona seems to be through the worst of her first cold (knock wood). As colds go, it wasn't too bad (coughing, sneezing, sniffling), and we were certainly lucky to make it to 10½ months before her first big sick day.

On Sunday her forehead felt a little warm so I decided to see if she had a fever. The first time I tried to take her temperature under her arm I had to contend with her wild baby flails and called Andrea into the room because the thermometer kept shooting up. 99, 100, 101, 101.5, 101.8, 102, 102.4, 102.9. It didn't seem to be stopping.

We put Fiona in her crib and went scrambling looking for directions to the thermometer (do thermometers have directions?) We argued over how long we were supposed to keep the thermometer under her arm in order to get a correct reading. We wondered if she really did have a fever.

All the while, Fiona was bringing herself up to a standing position in her crib (which she does frequently). And then she started bouncing up and down and laughing happily.

At that point we knew for sure that we didn't have a baby with a temperature of 102.9.

(Bottom line: she had a slight fever, just over 100, which broke pretty quickly thanks to infant Tylenol).

Buddy from a 43° Angle is Still Buddy

Fiona's got her first real cold today so she's not up to much in the way of exciting baby hijinks. But yesterday she was a proverbial bundle of energy.

Two of the phrases Fiona has some familiarity with are "no" and "leave Buddy alone." (Buddyis our cat and we don't think he'd react too kindly to a baby grabbing a fistful of his fur while he's trying to nap). The two phrases usually go together--one of the few things Fiona is routinely told not to do is bother Buddy.

Unfortunately, somewhere along the line Fiona came to the same realization all children eventually do, which is that she doesn't have to obey us when we tell her no. We can get upset with her, we can move her to another activity, but if she tries to act on something she's been told not to do the world does not actually come to an end.

What she really likes doing is testing Mom & Dad. Yesterday she was playing on the floor as usual, and Buddy was taking his post-1pm pre-2pm nap as part of his strict routine of 18 hours of sleep per day. Fiona decided she was done playing in the front half of the room and started crawling toward the back. Along the way, she found herself heading face to face with Buddy.

"Fiona, no. Leave Buddy alone," we told her.

And with a little guidance, she did. For approximately six inches, until she realized that she was now near Buddy's neck. She reached out.

"Fiona, no. Leave Buddy alone," came the order.

And she did. For approximately three more inches until she discovered she was near Buddy's shoulder blade.

On and on this went, Fiona traversing the arc from Buddy's nose to tail, detouring every time she got a new glimpse of Buddy just to see if maybe this time we'd let her touch the cat, or if maybe we'd only meant that she shouldn't touch Buddy on the face but we wouldn't mind if she grabbed him by the butt.

I have a feeling Fiona's Aunt Kathy can respect her niece's commitment to testing for loopholes in parental decrees.

Our Intrepid Explorer

So, now that Fiona's scooting up a storm and climbing the walls (well not literally, but I'm waiting for THAT day), she has realized that there are methods by which she is kept out of certain spaces. And she doesn't like that ONE BIT. Previously, we babyproofed the living room so that she could have the entire run of the space (which you know is quite large). You'd think that would be enough space, especially considering all the toys and paper to be found in the area, right? WRONG...on so many levels. So, Bill and I have had to open up the rest of the apartment to the Little Fiona Who Could. She now scoots like a bat outta heck down the hallway, into her room, and through the kitchen. We've closed off our bedroom and the office, but I imagine it's only a matter of time before she wants her all-access pass.

Getting to the real story...We're very good these days about picking up Buddy's food and water after Fiona's discovery that cat food is the BEST THING EVER. But this morning, I was getting Fiona's bag together for daycare and she was having a grand ol' time rolling around on the kitchen floor. I went to pick her up and got a whiff of...ONION. My baby had ONION BREATH! Where she found it...alas...Your floors are never as clean as you think.