Feeding Frenzy

In case there was any doubt about it, over the past few days Fiona has definitely been manifesting a stong mind of her own. In particular, she has decided to declare her independence in the realm of eating. Now, up until earlier this week, I would have said that Fiona had demonstrated a profound giftedness in eating. Despite being a bit of a peanut, she was pounding down entire bananas, avocados, and two jars of baby food at each feeding. Imagine my surprise, then, when on Monday she began boycotting everything I offered her.

I'll spare you all the details, but a little trial and error proved the following:
1. Fiona wanted to feed herself. While in theory this is a great thing, the reality is that Fiona's fine motor skills do not yet make it possible for her to feed herself -- short of grabbing the spoon and flinging food around, or grabbing the bowl and flinging more food around.
2. If forced to accept food off of a spoon, it had better be some sort of fruit.

Needless to say, mealtimes have become interesting. I try to divert Fiona with finger foods while alternately attempting to shovel spoonfulls of food into her mouth -- all the while smiling broadly and keeping upbeat so that I don't give her a food complex. See above for a photo of Fiona eating Cheerios (a non-fruit favorite) with her grandfather.

Mother and Child Reunion

Yesterday, we attended a "Generational Social" -- a gathering of my childhood friends Jenny and Julie, their 5 children, and all of our mothers. It was wonderful to see everyone, although I'm always surprised by how difficult it is to catch up when 6 children under the age of 6 are involved!

This reunion also reunited Fiona with Gabe (Jenny's youngest child), who is 1 month younger than Fiona but already looks like a 3-year-old. Despite Gabe's superior size, though, notice who has all the toys.For those of you who have read this blog daily for the past few weeks hoping for news of Erick, I'm pleased to pass along that he's doing well. It sounds like he's having a great learning experience in Ifakara, Tanzania. "Learning experience" is one of those euphemisms (like "Opportunity to Succeed"), so in other words, he's enjoying his time there, but some things, such as trying to get any research done with any degree of speed, are challenging. We'll look forward to reuniting with Erick in the Bay Area on August 16! We miss him; whenever Fiona sees his photo, she reaches for it and smiles broadly. (Then again, she does the same thing when she sees Cheerios...)

A Visit from Dr. Kristin

This weekend we were the fortunate recipients of a visit from Dr. Kristin, formerly my college roommate. Kristin is a real-life doctor in Indianapolis - a pediatrician, in fact. Thus, it was useful to have her around this weekend because she could give us all sorts of professional insights; for instance, she diagnosed the huge red boil that appeared overnight on Fiona's forehead as a mosquito bite (as opposed to the early stages of The Plague, as we originally feared).

It is a sad truth that, whenever one has visitors and is looking forward to one's baby being her usual brilliant and happy self, one's baby invariably turns the tables. Within minutes of Kristin's arrival, as Fiona stood supporting herself on a chair (and I felt very proud of our baby's standing skills), I turned to talk to Kristin. At this very moment, Fiona attempted to take a step, lost her footing, and toppled over like a tree cut off at the roots. Fiona then screamed for about an hour. Funny that one of my worst mothering moments (so far) occurred before a visitor -- a pediatrician, no less! Babies, they keep you humble.

Kristin and I took Fiona to Great Falls Park, a lovely spot where one can overlook the Great Falls waterfalls on the Potomac River. Fiona was very enthusiastic about the waterfalls, proving that, despite her unfortunate goat encounter, she may still give nature a chance.Just for fun, here is another photo of Kristin and Fiona. And Fiona's plastic hot dog. Thanks for visiting, Dr. Kristin!

Goat Trauma

Yesterday, Fiona's grandfather and I took her to the Reston Zoo. The term "zoo" is a bit of a misnomer here; back when I was a child, it was called "Pet-a-Pet Farm," which is much more accurate. In any event, the highlight of the "Reston Zoo" is a big barn filled with pens of goats, sheep, llamas, and pigs. The idea is to purchase small cups of food to give to the animals, and to pet them. I have fond memories of this place, and given Fiona's enthusiasm at the National Zoo, I was looking forward to sharing this experience with her.

The animals at the "Reston Zoo" are so accustomed to being fed that, as soon as we entered the barn, they all immediately rushed the pen fence and began angling for our attention. This included licking Fiona's toes, which perhaps look a bit like food pellets to barnyard animals.In the 8 months that I have known Fiona, I have never once seen her demonstrate fear. She has encountered barking dogs 5 times her size, the entire Atlantic Ocean, and most of our friends without batting an eye. Here, however, you can witness the very moment that her goat phobia began:

Now, as a concerned parent, I did a little internet research on goat phobia, and it turns out that it's not an uncommon affliction. In fact, there's even a Childhood Goat Trauma Foundation -- I kid you not (pun sort of intended).

In hopes that the day wouldn't be a total dud, we decided to take Fiona to the shopping mall. Here she is, a mere 30 minutes after her goat encounter:As a mother, I now have to face the sad fact that, although I'd like to think that my daughter would love romping with all creatures great and small out in nature, she may prefer to worship at the temples of consumerism.

[Postscript: The other theory is that, as it was 90 degrees and humid at the "Reston Zoo" and over-air-conditioned at the mall, perhaps my daughter is just more inclined to grumpiness when she's hot. That's what I'd prefer to think.]

The Latest....

Fiona had a wonderful weekend. We drove into Washington, DC to visit my college friends Dahna and Sarah at their beautiful apartment. Fiona is usually a bit reticent when she first meets people, but she warmed to Dahna and Sarah extremely quickly. By the end of the visit, she was blatantly attempting to snatch Sarah's necklace from around her neck, and lounging around on the floor with Dahna. Dahna and Sarah rewarded her with a Williams College stuffed bear (visible on the floor beside Dahna). Fiona gave it her usual brutal treatment, showing that she's unimpressed by small liberal arts colleges. If she keeps up this attitude, we'll save $100,000 in 18 years.During this visit and for the past few days, Fiona has been increasingly verbal. The pterodactyl shriek, which disappeared at the start of our East Coast visit (probably due to trauma) is back with a vengeance -- especially when we're strolling around the mall. Up to this point, Fiona's other vocalizations have been more akin to grunts, but now she's clearly attempting to babble in short phrases. We have no idea what she's saying, but she'll string together a bunch of "ba," "da," and "ga," and then shriek at the hilarity of what she just said.

A few other indications of developmental progress:
The other day, as Fiona was scooting around the kitchen floor on her bottom, she reached the oven drawer and stopped, fascinated. She began pulling at the handle. "Oh, how cute," we said, "but she'll never get it open."

Not only did Fiona succeed in opening the drawer, she then began pulling herself up on it in order to have a better view of its contents. This probably sounds incredibly lame to most of you, especially non-parents, but it made my weekend!
In other news (exciting only to myself and Fiona's grandparents), this morning Fiona actually played in her sandbox for SEVERAL MINUTES without attempting to eat sand!

8 Months Old!

I haven't posted much this week, because there hasn't been much to post. After a whirlwind 2 weeks of traveling the Northern half of the East Coast, we've been giving Fiona a much-needed chance to just sit on the carpet and put things in her mouth. There have, however, been some exciting milestones over the past week. As today is Fiona's 8-month birthday, it seems appropriate to list them here.

In tribute to her California roots, Fiona is now eating avocado. She can eat an entire (mashed) avocado in one sitting. Vigorously. Messily. Here she is attempting to lick the remaining traces of avocado off of her bib:
Fiona has also shown a recent enthusiasm for bagels. She mostly enjoys sucking on them -- not much seems to end up in her stomach.

In perhaps the biggest news of all, Fiona has become independently mobile! She's been working on crawling for quite some time now, but hadn't been making much progress. This was mostly due to the fact that, when placed on her stomach, she became instantly frustrated that she couldn't crawl and flipped herself over onto her back. Well, our girl has solved the problem. Two days ago, while sitting on the carpet, she appeared deep in thought. My interpretation of her inner monologue:
"Why do I need to bother with being on my stomach to move around? I can just stay seated and drag myself around on my butt."

Which is exactly what she proceeded to do. I have since looked this up in my baby reference books. It is called "scooting" and actually seems to count as a form of crawling, since it's independent locomotion. Yesterday, Fiona independently locomoted on her bottom all over the kitchen floor. The only problem is that, thus far, she can only move backwards. Challenges, challenges.
Some photos to give you perspective:

Back in the VA...

We arrived safe and sound back in McLean yesterday. Fiona survived two days in the car from Maine to Virginia with flying colors. Her trick was to sleep most of the way, much to my great relief. We broke up the trip by stopping overnight in the Greenwich, CT area. Many of you know that Greenwich is where Erick and I first met, so it was neat to introduce Fiona to the town to which she owes her existence.

For an idea of what it's like to take a car trip with Fiona, here she is in her carseat:And here is all her stuff. The photo doesn't do it justice, but that is the entire back half of a minivan. With the exception of about 3 suitcases, everything else is Fiona's.
Today, Fiona was reunited with her old friend Zoe. It was amazing to see how much both of them had grown in just 2 weeks. Both of them are working very hard on the goal of crawling, although both seem to be far more interested in standing and skipping the whole crawling business. Here they are, hanging out with their grandmothers:

Bye Bye Beach, and more cousins....

Today was our last day in Maine; tomorrow we will begin a 2-day drive back down to Virginia. While it will be nice to get settled back in McLean and to stay in one place for a full month, I think Fiona will miss the salty sea air and the beautiful rocky coast of Maine. We visited the beach a record two times today. To explain why we haven't typically gone to the beach more often, despite its being only a 5-minute walk from our house: it takes about 30 minutes to get Fiona prepared for the beach, and once there she only lasts about 20 minutes before she's completely exhausted. After her first visit to the beach today, she napped for a record 3-and-a-half hours.

Fiona also met two more "cousins" today: Alexander and Rachel, the children of my cousin Ryan and his wife Sarah. Here we are will all 6 mini-cousins together. The visit lasted about 5 minutes, and all the adults had aged 5 years once it was over.
The fun thing that has emerged from these interactions with her cousins is that Fiona seems to have some special chemistry with her cousins Maren and Alexander. Here she is with Maren, who calls her "Firona" and seems to find her endlessly hilarious:
And here she is with Alexander, who couldn't stop kissing her:As we will be in the car for the next two days, I can't imagine that there will be much of note to post, unless we experience some unusual rest-stop action. For those of you who read this blog secretly hoping for news of Erick, he has arrived safely in Tanzania after about 24 hours of travel. Last I heard, he was headed to bed.

Bon Voyage, Daddy!

Erick left today for Tanzania (Boston to London, to Nairobi, to Dar Es Salaam, to Ifakara - quite a trip), where he'll spend the next month doing research with a team from UC Berkeley. It's really good work -- they're looking at methods of bringing down the rate of HIV/AIDS -- so we're very proud of him. But Fiona and I will miss him a ton. Fiona even attempted to stow away in his luggage. She thought the better of it when we reminded her which parent she relies upon for food.

Cousins Galore, and More Ocean Romps

Fiona has met quite a few of her East Coast cousins over the past week. Since I don't have any siblings, these cousins are actually her second cousins or cousins once removed or something like that -- I can't quite keep those distinctions straight. Anyway, here she is with her cousin Chris (actually my cousin) and his girlfriend Laura. We discovered that Fiona looks quite a bit like Chris did when he was a baby, so for a preview of what Fiona may look like in 25 years, imagine Chris as a girl.
Yesterday, Fiona hit the cousin jackpot when three little cousins (in reality, the daughters of my cousin Liz) joined us at the beach. Here she is with Ainsley (4 years) and Maren (2 years). Fallon (2 months) is not pictured. It was shocking to see a baby who is actually smaller than Fiona -- meeting Fallon was our first experience with this. (We've met other babies who are YOUNGER than Fiona, but they're usually still larger!).

In other news, Fiona returned to the beach with Nana and Boom, and continues to enjoy the crash of the surf. She also went to work building a big sand pie with Nana. We were really excited about this. "Oh look!" we exclaimed, "She's actually helping to build, as opposed to shoving the sand in her mouth. Perhaps she's over her sand-eating phase!" At precisely this moment, Fiona executed a massive face-plant into her sand pie.

Happy Birthday, Boom! Happy Anniversary, Wes & Kristin!

Today is a special day on both sides of Fiona's family. It is both her Grandpa Boom's birthday, and the wedding anniversary of her Uncle Wesley and Auntie Kristin. Fiona made Boom a card, which she was very anxious to share with him this morning. Clutching it in her little fists, she beat him about the head and shoulders with her card until he opened it. Then she proceeded to chew on it. Very generous.
Uncle Wesley and Aunt Kristin are across the country in Orange County, CA, but Fiona wishes them well from a distance. They are her only true Auntie and Uncle, and are also her godparents, so they're very special people. Also, they live within spitting distance of Disneyland -- a fact that Fiona will come to appreciate in time. The photo above was taken during Christmas, when Fiona was much, much smaller (5 lbs, if I recall correctly).

Fiona Meets the Atlantic

We are now all up in the coastal town of Ogunquit, Maine, for a week of true vacation. It's very special to be back in Ogunquit; we were last here in July of 2007, when I was about 5 months pregnant with Fiona. During her first 48 hours in Maine, Fiona met members of her Grandmother's family (Great-Aunt Carolyn, Great-Uncle Craig, Kate and Zane). She also met the Atlantic Ocean. Although in California we live practically within view of the Pacific (in the form of the San Francisco Bay), the Atlantic is the first ocean that Fiona has actually experienced. Fiona was undaunted by the massive ocean. The water here in Maine is frigid, but Fiona loved dipping her toes in and jumping the waves. Perhaps this is not surprising -- apart from eating green beans and being outside in humidity, we have yet to find any experience that Fiona seems to dislike.

The excitement of her first ocean did take a toll, however. Fiona was wiped out and had to have an early bedtime.

Fiona Explores the History of Transportation

On July 4th, Fiona explored several modes of transport. During a trip to the Rockingham Park Mall, she enjoyed a ride on the food court carousel with her grandparents. Later, she took a turn behind the wheel of the toy car rides on the Mall's lower level. We were a bit dismayed to find that Fiona seemed to enjoy the cars MUCH more than the horses -- and from the look of things, has the makings of a speed demon. There go our plans to buy her a horse and buggy when she turns 16.
Once we returned to her great-grandma's house, Fiona felt confident enough to attempt to drive the Massive Vacation Van. This van is our new ride, since we turned in the Batmobile upon meeting up with Fiona's granparents in New Hampshire. Fiona, who apparently fears nothing, felt right at home behind the wheel of the MVV.Here is another view, to give you an idea of the scale:

Fiona Wishes You a Happy 4th!

Today, Fiona (decked out in her special 4th of July suit, courtesy of her grandparents) celebrated her first Independence Day at a barbeque given by her Great-Uncle Raymond and Great-Aunt Debbie. Fiona loves her country. Where else can one experience balloons, watermelon, and dogs in one morning?

Four Generations Converge

Earlier today we arrived in Salem, NH, where most of Fiona's maternal grandfather's (aka. Boom's) family lives. Fiona met her Great-Aunt Joyce.

Then she met her Great-Grandma Caroline. This was a very special moment. Fiona's middle name is Caroline, after this Great-Grandma. Great-Grandma Caroline is amazing, and we hope Fiona will grow up to have many of her traits. For example, she just turned 90 years old, but still lives independently and even volunteers weekly at the local soup kitchen. When we arrived, being a proper Italian grandma, she went to work cooking up a huge feast of chicken cacciatore. Fiona and Great-Grandma Caroline seem to have already begun a nice relationship.Of course, Fiona's grandparents were thrilled to see her as well, having been separated from her for a whopping 5 days. Boom treated Fiona to her first shoulder ride. We suspect that she enjoyed it, after she recovered from the shock of suddenly being the tallest in the room.