All You Need is a Spoon

When we first started taking Fiona out to restaurants (not that we get out very often), she was about 4 months old and we usually timed it with her naps so that she'd sleep through the whole experience. That worked well for about a month, and then we went through a tough period where we'd try to time her bottle with the arrival of our food and spend the rest of the time trying to distract her with toys and then sending one parent outside with her once the bottle was finished.

Thankfully, we've apparently hit an easier phase lately. On Sunday, Grandma & Grandpa came into the city and we all went to our favorite local place, Fatty's, for Aunt Kathy's birthday brunch. Fiona had her first experience in a restaurant high chair, which she can finally handle now that she's able to sit upright easily. Amazingly enough, she lasted the entire meal--from sitting down to the arrival of the check--without leaving the chair. At first we gave her toys, but after she threw those on the ground, Andrea handed her a spoon. The reflective surface and the familiar-but-oversized shape (much bigger than the spoons we use to give her applesauce or baby yogurt) combined for an unparalleled amount of fun. By the time Fiona's order arrived (sweet potato fries--one big reason we love Fatty's is that, aside from the price and convenience, they have food that Fiona can eat) , we were home free.

All this will change again, obviously, once she's walking.

Probably Won't Walk Soon

The tree is fine. We're not keeping any presents underneath it this year, since Fiona would just tear the paper apar, but we hung a few soft ornaments low to the ground and Fiona is distracted enough by grabbing those off the branches that she doesn't try to do anything more dangerous, like pull herself up on a tree that probably wouldn't support her.

Actually, I'm not that worried about her trying to pull herself up. When she first started standing I guessed that she'd be walking by Christmas, but the more we get to know our baby the less likely I think that is. Fiona is curious but cautious--for all the joking we do about her suicidal tendencies (mainly because she likes to fling herself backwards so that daddy will hold her upside down), she's very careful about testing each new surface before she tries to stand on it.

For example: the bouncer. When Fiona was first learning to stand, she put a hand on the bouncer and felt it move and instantly let go so she could look for a more stable surface to use. Over time, she developed enough confidence in her standing that she decided to try again, and now she pulls herself up on all sorts of things that we wouldn't have thought were prime material for babystanding. But it's a deliberate process when it's something new, and I think Fiona will be very careful about those first few steps, even if it means waiting until she's 13 months or so.

Once she can walk, though, all heck will break loose.

Cognitive Leaps

Amazing how those baby germs work: Fiona gets a cold for two days and charges full steam around the apartment the whole time she's coughing; I come down with the same thing a week later and am knocked out of commission and then have to get medicated by my doctor when the cough doesn't go away after two weeks. Good times, and it explains why this blog hasn't been high on my priority list.

But that doesn't mean Fiona hasn't kept right on growing. Over Thanksgiving weekend, when she wasn't having her toys swiped by her second cousin Ella (which seemed to be Ella's primary activity outside of running full speed laps around the house), Fiona figured out how to clap her hands.

Clapping followed the wave good-bye, which Fiona has figured out albeit with an FCC-approved 90 second delay. People wave at Fiona, she smiles, and then about 90 seconds later she waves back. Usually the person who waved has moved on to another room or state by the time Fiona gets around to waving, but it doesn't seem to bother her.

Fiona has also started really responding to books. We've been reading to her at bedtime since she was two or three months old--basically just to get everybody in the habit of reading books, since Fiona barely acknowledged either the pictures or sounds we made as we read. But in the past month or so she's started grabbing her books off of the table we keep them on in the living room and handing them to us to be read. One of the books ends with a game of peekaboo, which Fiona now plays along with by holding her hand up to her eyes (her eyes don't always wind up covered, but we're in the right ballpark).

Finally, Fiona has started trying to dress herself, in a way. When she finds a sock on the floor she holds it against her foot; when she finds a hat, she holds it against her head. The clothes don't stay, but given that we can remember very well having a three week old baby who couldn't do much of anything except for cry, eat and poop, we're happy to watch all those neurons begin to make the right connections.

We're off to buy a Christmas tree, so I'm sure I'll have more soon as Fiona responds to the lights and ornaments.