If She Can Make It Here...

New York City challenged the endurance of our little family. Erick and I were somewhat sad to discover that venturing out in Manhattan with a child is an entirely different proposition from living in the city during our previous life as a childless couple. Of course, we knew this in theory, but the reality brought on a sort of "you can't go home again" revelation. On Sunday, we took an hour subway ride from Jeff and Annie's Brooklyn apartment to the Upper East Side. This involved a lot of lugging Fiona's stroller up and down stairs. Once at East 68th St., we attended our former church, Redeemer Presbyterian. Only we were 45 minutes late as a concession to Fiona's morning nap, and we sat in the "family room" (a windowless basement chamber where families with wriggly children can attempt to watch a live feed of the service).

After church, we trekked downtown (more up and down stairs with the stroller) to Spring Street Natural, once our favorite brunch spot. In an attempt to maximize our catching-up efficiency, we had arranged a brunch with 9 friends. This was wonderful. As always, Fiona relished being the center of attention, and even kept up a brave front as she was passed between 9 pairs of arms. (See photos for a sample of some of Fiona's admirers).The final stop was FAO Schwarz, the (in)famous Manhattan toy store, where we met up with my childhood friend Kai-lin and her boys, JT and Liam. Somehow we failed to realize that the largest tourist attraction for children would be a madhouse on a rainy summer Sunday afternoon. The scene was roughly analogous to the wildebeest migration in the Serengeti. Kai-lin's sons were fantastic, though -- a highlight was JT (at the wise old age of 3.5) showing Fiona every single toy in sight, saying, "I'll get it for your birthday if you want it!" Fiona was fairly serious as she took in the whole scene...until we got to the stuffed pink rocking dog. (Think rocking horse, but with a large pink stuffed dog instead). This contraption made her day. JT, I think she wants it. After a long day, it was time for another hour-long subway ride back to Brooklyn, and an early bedtime for all of us. Everybody who raises children in New York City now has our admiration and sympathy.

TECHNICAL NOTE: As an added bonus for everyone, you will notice that I have finally figured out how to embed photos within the text of each update, rather than stacking them all at the beginning. It is a highly complex process by which one clicks on the photo and drags it to its desired location. Since this took me a month to figure out, I am proud of my new skill, which should make this blog much more user-friendly. Enjoy.

Introducing: The Amazing Eleanor!

While in New York City, we are staying with our very gracious college friends Jeff and Annie at their apartment in Kensington, Brooklyn. Jeff and Annie have a 1-and-a-half year old daughter, Eleanor. This visit is the first time we've met Eleanor, and she's a delight. It's fun to see what we can expect in a year: Eleanor is a walking, talking little person. In fact, Eleanor has so much energy and personality, she makes Fiona look comatose -- and Fiona's no shrinking violet!

It's been particularly interesting to see Eleanor and Fiona interact. They seem to regard each other with a combination of delight, suspicion, and outright aggression. Both are only children, so they're not quite sure how to make appropriate physical contact with another baby; there's a lot of face grabbing, eye poking, and pushing -- Mortal Combat baby-style. The fact that Eleanor makes more frequent contact is only due to the fact that she's bigger and more coordinated than Fiona. There have also been plenty of sweet moments. For instance, we managed to capture a fleeting moment of sharing above. And when Fiona was fussing in the bedroom, Eleanor stood outside her door and yelled in sympathy. Fiona, I'm ashamed to say, has shown no such empathy when Eleanor is upset, but we trust that in time they will become true friends. They certainly seem to share a taste in sunglasses.

The Batmobile Heads North

First thing on Saturday morning, we set off in our rented vehicle, bound for Brooklyn. Much to our surprise, when Erick picked up the car the night before, he learned that we'd been "upgraded." It turns out that we're the privileged renters of...an SUV. That's right, we were upgraded to paying through the nose for gas. Said SUV, a Hyundai Santa Fe, is so sleek and black and huge that we have dubbed it "The Batmobile." As you can see in the photo above, The Batmobile is so large that it cannot even fit in a single camera frame. We included Fiona in the picture for scale.

The nice thing about a large SUV (besides satellite radio) is that we had no problem fitting all of Fiona's gear into it. Since we're on the road for 2 weeks and we don't want to spend time buying supplies en route, I overprepared and packed everything we could possibly need, including 52 jars of baby food, 100 diapers, 160 diaper wipes, etc. Of course, I neglected to pack an umbrella, so of course we've had to contend with torrential downpours for the past 2 days.

The drive from McLean to Brooklyn took longer than ever before, partly because we made two long stops to feed Fiona and give her a break from the carseat, and partly because we encountered 4 traffic accidents along the way. Fiona took the entire thing in stride, and was in great spirits for almost the entire trip. In the bottom photo (above), Fiona is probably the happiest person at a rest stop along the New Jersey Turnpike.

Start Spreadin' the News!

Today it is truly hot and humid: 95 degrees and steamy. We wanted to get Fiona out of the air-conditioned house and expand her horizons, so we took her to the McLean Farmers' Market. Despite being partially dressed and despite Erick misting her with a spray bottle every 30 seconds, we watched Fiona visibly wilt. So this afternoon, we will probably expand her horizons by taking her to the air-conditioned shopping mall.

Fortunately, tomorrow we are heading to what we hope (probably mistakenly) will be cooler climes further north. For those of you who wish to follow our progress, here is our rough itinerary:
Saturday, June 28 - Tuesday, July 1: NYC/Brooklyn
Tuesday, July 1 - Wednesday, July 2: Hamilton, MA/Boston
Thursday, July 3 - Friday, July 4: Salem, NH
Saturday, July 5 - Sunday, July 12: Ogunquit, ME

I will attempt to keep up this blog during our New England tour, which shouldn't be any more challenging than here in Virginia, where I am currently sitting in a McDonald's using their (slow) free wifi. For those of you who weren't aware, McDonald's now has free wifi!

Fiona is in good spirits and is looking forward to meeting a whole new batch of admirers. Hopefully she'll still feel that way after a week on the road....

Fiona Visits Zoo; Loves Elephants, Alpacas

On Tuesday, we took Fiona to the National Zoo. Fiona has previously been to the Oakland Zoo, but she was much younger and slept through the entire visit (Erick and I had a great time, though). This was an infinitely more successful trip; Fiona had a blast! She saw tons of animals (the National Zoo, for those of you who haven't been, beats the heck out of the National Aquarium). Interestingly, Fiona's favorite animals, defined as the ones that inspired the most arm and leg waving, were the elephants (predictable) and the alpacas (????). She also enjoyed her first ride in the Baby Bjorn, kindly lent to us by our friend Jessie. (Since the Baby Bjorn allows great mobility of the appendages, we actually can't be entirely sure whether her convulsions were provoked by the animals or her newfound freedom). The photos above include Fiona in front of the elephants and some darned cute merkeets.

One highlight of the trip was the Japanese tourist who approached us and asked if she could take a photograph of Fiona. Since we were in a zoo at the time, we weren't quite sure how to interpret this, but we obliged.

Fiona Takes a Stand

Fiona has done many things in the past few days, but sadly we did not get photos of most of them. In brief, her activities included:

-the discovery that balloons are fun to play with;
-a cookout at a friends house, which included 3 other children, a dog, and 2 bunnies. Fiona was convulsing with joy the entire time;
-a playdate with Gabe, the son of family friends. Gabe is one month younger than Fiona and twice her size. In her attempt to make friends with him, Fiona grabbed his face and made Gabe cry. With Fiona, love hurts.
-another playdate with Zoe, in which Fiona grabbed all the toys while Zoe watched patiently;
-breakfast with Boom at the mall. Fiona wolfed down her Zweiback with her usual gusto;
-a trip to Sweet Stuff Bakery with Nana to meet Lisa, the proprietor. Lisa was appropriately charmed by Fiona, but sadly did not offer any free baked goods.

Fortunately, we did manage to get a photo of one of the most exciting moments: Fiona standing, supporting herself (one-handed!) on her Exersaucer. This happened quite suddenly during her afternoon playtime yesterday. (You can see my hand in the picture, because I was concerned that she might collapse at any time, but I promise that I was in no way supporting her). While the entire household raced around documenting this momentous event, Fiona was uncharacteristically somber. Perhaps she realizes that with standing comes responsibility. (As an added reinforcement, we left the Classified ads on the tray of her highchair this morning).

Zweiback!

Another major milestone: Fiona has successfully eaten her first piece of Zweiback toast. For those of you who (quite rightly) have no idea what I'm talking about, Zweiback toast is like mini-biscotti for babies, and it's by far the most solid of any "solid" food Fiona has eaten to date. Unsurprisingly, she ate the whole thing. This was especially exciting to her grandparents, who had repeatedly suggested giving Fiona the Zweiback. What is it with grandparents and feeding? I wouldn't have predicted it, but both sets of grandparents get positively giddy contemplating new foods to ply upon Fiona.

Here, fishy fishy fishy!

Friday afternoon was pretty exciting for Fiona. She rode the Metro to downtown DC, where we met Boom after work for a trip to the National Aquarium. Fiona took the Metro in stride. She was a little cynical. “Mom," she said with her eyes, “what’s up with the carpeting?”

The Aquarium was another story entirely – she LOVED it. This was not a surprise to us, since Fiona has already visited the Monterey Bay Aquarium and had a similar reaction (joy convulsions). However, the Monterey Bay Aquarium costs $25 per person and takes an entire day to see. The National Aquarium, in contrast, costs $5 per person and we saw the whole thing in 30 minutes. Although it’s apparently improved since the days when, according to my dad, it was "a government office with some fish in it,” it is essentially a basement (the basement of the Commerce Department, to be specific) with some fish tanks stuck in the walls. But the beauty of it is, Fiona doesn’t care. Stick her in front of some fish swimming in circles and she’s in heaven. (And that’s all good and warm and fuzzy, and I don’t want to get too political or anything, but maybe with all the things our government spends money on, they should consider shelling out a little for a better National Aquarium. I mean, seriously.)

Out for a stroll in McLean, Fiona cleverly eludes the paparazzi…..

for a time....

Big Girl Tub

I am not a big fan of naked-baby-in-the-tub pictures. Fortunately, Fiona seems to share my aversion. By means of a strategically placed fish, she has enabled us to take a bathtub photo that I don’t feel sleazy posting. The significance of this photo is that Fiona is now taking baths in the “big girl tub.” This milestone was reached when we came to Virginia, since her grandparents don’t have a baby tub. These are the small developmental steps that excite us; it’s one step closer to her leaving home, getting a job, and supporting us in our old age.

Bubbles!

We've had some gorgeous (coolish and non-humid) weather here on the East Coast this week, so we've been taking every opportunity to spend time outside. Yesterday, we brought out the bubbles while Fiona was playing on the patio. Fiona was very amused by the bubbles, and we had a nice moment when a huge bubble popped right in my face and Fiona busted up with laughter. Nice to see that she's already starting to disrespect her mother.

Fiona and the Ladies Who Lunch

Fiona's proud Nana never misses a chance to show her off! The other day, she went to a lunch with a group of women who are in her Bible study (and had been praying for Fiona since her tiny birth). Fiona made a brief appearance at this luncheon. Scenario: Fiona and about 12 grandmotherly women. Hmmm, who do you think was the center of attention? We took a group photo; Fiona is fixated on the ceiling light fixture. Light fixtures are one of Fiona's favorite things. Don't know if it's because her grandfather is an electrician or what, but an overhead light with a dimmer switch can keep Fiona amused for 30 minutes.

Playdate with Zoe

We mentioned Zoe in an earlier post -- she's Fiona's age-mate and the granddaughter of my parents' next-door neighbors (and child of my former childhood friend Aaron). On Father's Day, Aaron and his wife Jessie brought Zoe over to see Fiona. Since Fiona is our first child and we have no basis for comparison, we often get glimpses into her personality when we see her relative to other babies. Watching Fiona interact with Zoe, we could only draw one conclusion: our daughter is a hyperactive spaz. Fiona went into convulsions of joy when she saw Zoe, and then proceeded to attempt to claw at Zoe's face and eat her clothes. All the while, Zoe patiently stared at Fiona with a mixture of tolerance and pity. See for yourself: the photos above speak a thousand words. It's not difficult to identify which baby is Fiona -- she's the one who has at least one blurred appendage in each image.

Another One Bites the Dust

Fiona has continued her bi-coastal campaign of destruction against stuffed animals of all species. See above for a step-by-step illustration of how she subjugated Jimmy the Raccoon (one of my own childhood toys). We thought her method of crushing his skull using her feet was a nice touch -- this without ever having seen an action movie. The stuffed white seal was collateral damage.

Happy Father's Day!

Fiona would like to take a brief break from her role of attention vortex in order to wish her Daddy, Grand-Daddy, and Boom a very Happy Father's Day! She feels very blessed to have three such fantastic men in her life.

Okay, back to Fiona: yesterday, because it was raining (which will hopefully bring cooler, less humid weather - yeehaw!) Nana and Boom took her for a stroll around the local shopping mall. This was Fiona's first time strolling in a shopping mall, and apparently she liked it just fine -- especially the ceiling lights. Unfortunately, we have no photographic evidence of this momentous event. We'll try to do better next time.

Surf & Turf

As mentioned in the previous entry, Nana and Boom have generously provided a little sandbox and pool for Fiona’s summer enjoyment. Both have been HUGE hits with Fiona (although the great thing about Fiona at this age is that she would probably be fascinated and thrilled just to watch paint dry).

As far as Fiona is concerned, the best thing about the sandbox is eating the sand. We're trying to teach her the concepts of “NO,” and “YUCK.” You can see for yourself in the sandbox photos (above) just how well that’s working. In bald-faced defiance of her mother, Fiona is shoving sand into her mouth by the fistful. Adolescence is going to be fun. Erick suggested an appropriate subtitle for these photos: “This sandbox isn’t big enough for the both of us!”

Fiona’s first time in the kiddie pool was also a success. That’s her above, practicing appropriate pool safety by wearing an inner tube in one inch of water. She loved the water, giving it her stamp of approval by attempting to eat it. (Clearly, Fiona is still in the oral stage). This morning, Fiona’s Grandpa (aka. Boom) introduced her to a couple of new things: the Celtics and the Slinky. Predictably, both hat and Slinky ended up in her mouth. Apparently the girl is a Celtics fan.

Live from the East Coast! (Let the spoiling begin...)

We made it! At approximately 3:15 PM Eastern time on Wednesday, June 11, Fiona arrived in Northern Virginia. It was a long day, beginning with an early morning in Foster City at her West Coast grandparents’ house. Fiona discovered Erick’s old Big Bird doll, which she proceeded to tackle and subdue, despite it being twice her size. Everything went as smoothly as we could have hoped at the airport and on the plane. Fiona was cheerful and fascinated with the entire process, and charmed her fellow passengers with her usual tactic of grabbing their fingers and sticking them in her mouth. Note to self: teach her that this won’t work for much longer. Only 3 pterodactyl screams – not bad for a 5 hour flight.

Fiona was tired from her long day of travel, but happy to see her Nana and Boom. Nana and Boom thought Fiona was okay, too. Although we were informed that it was a beautiful day with low heat and humidity, we were a bit dismayed to step outside and find that it still felt like walking through porridge. Ah well.

Fiona has spent the last few days conquering her new environment. Among the accoutrements of Nana and Boom’s house: a sandbox, a kiddie pool, a bouncy swing, and a whole slew of new toys and clothes. Fiona is enjoying all of it! She went to a pool party, the highlight of which was actually indoors: a huge stuffed animal tiger, which she body-slammed much in the manner of Big Bird. She’s also making new friends, most notably Zoe, our neighbors’ granddaughter. Zoe is 6 days older and 10 pounds heavier than Fiona. They got along like gangbusters from the first, smiling and reaching for each other’s hands. Then they started talking. We suspect it went something like this:
FIONA: My parents are kind of strange, but they feed me.
ZOE: Same here. What a drag – I can’t wait ‘till I can crawl.
FIONA: Yeah, then we can sneak out at naptime and go play on the swings in the park.
ZOE: Cool!

Photos of most of the above are included for those of you who are visual learners (Zoe is the baby on the left in the swings). Maintaining this blog might prove more challenging than I originally thought, since Fiona’s grandparents don’t have wireless internet, but I’ll do my best by spending naptimes at the local coffee shop.

See? Actually, Fiona looks meaner.

The travel begins today - finally! We'll stay over with the Grandparents Gong tonight, and fly to DC early tomorrow morning. There will likely be a few days of silence on this blog. East Coast, get ready for Fiona!

Farewells (Part 4) & "Heat"

Yesterday and today, it was hot in Berkeley. By "hot," I mean that it got up to about 80 degrees. When it gets this hot in NoCal (where most people don't have air conditioning) everybody walks around in a stupor. Although she can't walk yet, the same is true of our daughter. When we took her out for a stroll today, she produced the mean expression in the top photo. (Looks a bit like Robert DeNiro, no?) Little does she know that, in just one day, she's entering the jaws of the beast. I hear from an anonymous source that the DC area is "disgustingly hot." This may be a challenge for our Bay Area baby.

To continue our seemingly endless farewells, Fiona visited her EarthTeam Aunties. Those of you who knew me when I worked at EarthTeam know that I had the best co-workers EVER. The EarthTeam ladies have known Fiona since she was a little zygote who forced me to run to the bathroom every 5 minutes for the first 3 months -- and yet they still managed to be surprised when I told them I was pregnant! I love these women.

Anyway, Chicory (EarthTeam's Program Director) is getting married and moving to Wyoming over the summer, in blatant disregard of our absence, so it was particularly important that we wish her well. We had a nice visit with Chicory and Trisha, and we took a photo -- see above. For some reason, Fiona, to whom posing for photos is second in enjoyment only to eating, was fixated on grabbing my necklace. But Chicory and Trisha look great!