Travels

No posting recently. Fiona had another asthma flare which required a round of antibiotics and prednisone. Her spirits were high throughout the whole ordeal, but the steroids tend to disrupt her sleep, which, of course, winds up disrupting Mom & Dad's sleep, which, of course, leaves Dad too tired to post.

Anyway, we're through the woods on the most recent flare and we're finally out of spring and into summer (weatherwise, even if the solstice is still to come), so, knock wood, here's hoping the asthma flares slow down.

The other reason posting has been slow is because we've been out of town. Over the weekend, we took a trip down to Tampa for Fiona's Gigi's birthday celebration. This was our first flight since Fiona learned how to walk, and we were dreading trying to contain a baby who loves to move, but Fiona wound up being terrific. She didn't leave the car seat at all during the flight down (as we'd hoped, figuring that once she got up she'd decide she ought to be up) and spent most of her time looking at the emergency card in her seat pocket and watching Animal Planet on the in-flight TV.

Down in Florida, Fiona had a great time meeting Gigi's dog Dinah. Dinah's about Fiona's size and has a name that's easy for a verbal baby to master. Fiona was so excited by all the new sights at her Tia's house that she didn't even have time to figure out what hadn't been childproofed (I wish we could leave our bathroom door open all the time without fearing for the toilet paper).

My favorite example of how far Fiona has progressed in recent months: on Sunday morning, a whole bunch of Gigi's friends descended on Tia's house for a birthday brunch. By then, Fiona had adjusted to the nine people who had been staying at the house on Friday and Saturday, but doubling the number of people to keep track of was an awful lot to ask of an infant. But instead of crying or clinging desperately to Mom and Dad, Fiona found a couple of toys and retreated down the hallway to a nook she'd found where she could play in peace and quiet. She stayed sane, and we stayed sane, and nobody wound up overwhelmed.

The flight back was a little rougher; takeoff was delayed first by a late arriving plane and then by a sick passenger (which meant we had to taxi back to the gate after already being on the runway). We were also dealing with a baby in the late afternoon instead of mid-morning. But if I said it was genuinely rough I'd be lying. Fiona didn't want to be in her seat, but she only made a big fuss once and that was only for about a minute; the worst I could say is that she wanted more attention from Mom & Dad on the way back than she did on the way down. So far, every time we've worried about how Fiona's behavior would respond to a new challenge she's come through with flying colors. We count ourselves lucky.