Baby Bear

Well, hello there my giant, growling, blondie baby!

What have we been up to this past week?  I really should implement a blogging schedule.  This waiting a week between posts isn't working out so well for me.  You are changing too quickly and too much happens.  I feel like I'm letting memories slip away.  Thank goodness for my camera.

Staring Contest

Somehow you grew by leaps and bounds.  Your head looks bigger.  You're becoming a bit much to carry around in your car seat anymore.  And suddenly, yesterday, I started carrying you on my hip.  Like a big girl!  You've been sitting up quite well thanks to the Bumbo.  Your strength is great but you don't seem to quite realize what will happen if you throw yourself backwards (again, probably thanks in part to the Bumbo).  So for now we'll keep you well surrounded by pillows and such when you're showing off.  You also have a new sound.  No...not any da-da's or even ba-ba's yet.  You've started growling.  It hasn't totally replaced the gurgle sound you are so fond of, but you prefer it when you're frustrated or playing with something intently.  It's a full-on growl, too.  Like a baby bear.  No joke.

Be afraid, toys...be very afraid.

Speaking of "baby bear," I might have to start calling you Goldilocks.  The headrest of your car seat is covered in fine little baby hairs.  So sad.  All of those precious hairs...gone.  That color that we couldn't quite describe...the brown-from-a-distance-that-looked-blonder-inside-and-reddish-in-the-sun-color?  It seems to have been replaced by a legitimate blonde.  Three times in the past two days someone has called you "Blondie."  So, I suppose that's who you are.  My blonde-haired, (very) blue-eyed baby girl.  Watching you change is blowing my mind.

Your other newest trick/obsession is your tongue.  You curl it and stick it out constantly.  You suck on it like a pacifier.  And you stick that sucker out and lick your lips like mad when someone is eating in front of you.  I suppose it's your way of telling me you're ready to try some new foods.  I'm getting the message.  I made myself a smoothie with coconut milk, pineapple, banana and ice the other day.  You went crazy trying to reach for it.  I finally gave in and let you try a taste.  You absolutely loved it.  It was creamy and only barely sweet.  You've been eating bananas like a champ lately.  We are moving on to carrots this week.  Peas soon.  And sweet potatoes are on your horizon.  Watch out farmer's market...here we come!

The Tongue: Exhibit A

and Exhibit B

You've been spending your days lately taking early morning walks with mommy.  Trying desperately to stick to a napping schedule (if only we would stop making morning trips to the store).  And being my sidekick while we majorly thin out the toys in the playroom.  Don't tell your sisters but we've managed to fill three garbage bags with donation toys they'll never miss.  We also gathered a stack of board books for you to grow into and salvaged a stuffed animal or two to be washed and added to your collection.  That room looks much more manageable now.

This was your contribution to the playroom cleanup.

You've also been much more purposeful and deliberate with your hands lately.  Gone are the days when it would take all of your concentration to grab the toys placed in front of you.  You take what you want, direct it to your mouth and chomp away.  Or slam it down in front of you...which always startles you and makes you laugh.  You looove to be startled.  I can promise you didn't get that from your dad.  If I want to make you laugh I just say "Boo!" really suddenly (or anything really suddenly...recently you've had giggle sessions over the word "baby", "diaper", "hiccup"...just so long as I say it with emphasis and make you jump a little).  Maybe I finally have a kid who will ride roller coasters with me?!?!   Another thing you are fond of is grabbing faces and hair, and pinching and pulling and scratching.  You're just trying to figure out the world around you, but boy can it be painful!  I just cut all of my hair off the other day to try to remove some of the temptation.  You gave me the strangest look after my haircut.  It's crazy how observant you are.

Insert evil grin here...

This past weekend was a fun one.  Saturday there as a Pirate Treasure Hunt at Freedom Park.  We love Freedom Park even without a cool event.  But there are far too few family things that happen in this town, so we are all over stuff like this.  For five dollars, Sydney received a pirate mug, bandanna, eye-patch, a few other goodies and a treasure map.  It laid out the location of treasure boxes scattered throughout the walking paths.  Just like that, we were off!  Scoring some loot!  Sydney had a blast.  You slept through most of it.  Feeling brave, we all ventured to Olive Garden for dinner together.  That probably wasn't our brightest decision of the day.  You were pretty tired by then.  But there was a family next to us celebrating a lady's 90th birthday.  For a moment she came over and smiled and chatted with you.  I was pretty swept away by the image of you staring at someone who has been here for 90 years.  Imagine what she must have seen in her lifetime.  Imagine what you will see in yours.  Such a timespan between you both, yet you shared a look of understanding.  Like somehow in the beginning and toward the end, life must make sense the most.  You have it all figured out, don't you?  We ended our night with a drive-by sunset.  You know...driving down to the beach to watch the sun go down, but not actually parking and getting out.  It's almost impossible to find a parking space at the beach this time of year.

Treasure map!

Captain Sydney

And First Mate, Finn

Collecting gold coins

She won the sword in a raffle.  It lights up.  Sweeeet!

Playing some games

Just hangin' with Jack Sparrow.  No biggie.

Mostly we've been taking in spring.  There aren't many things about Florida that clue you in to the fact that there's a season between winter and summer.  We go from chilly evenings and mornings and hot afternoons to straight up hot days, all day long.  There are a few things to watch for if you know where to look.  The oak trees on our street have bright green, new growth.  The afternoon showers start to make an appearance again.  The auto-hauler semis show up to take the snowbirds' cars back home.  And trees like this one on our street:

Jump, Syd!

Tomorrow we head to the beach because we have friends in town all the way from Colorado. I can't wait for you to meet them and for them to finally see you.  Last time they were here, you were tucked safely in my belly.  This visit calls for baby sunscreen and beach umbrellas. Too. Much. Fun.