Delenn's 8 Month Update and Some New Events for Logan

Delenn is 8 months old. Logan will be three in a couple of months.

Life here has settled back down again to some semblance of normalcy.
After two hard, hard, hard weeks of teething and a runny nose/cold we
seem to be seeing the light at the end of the tunnel. For a good ten
days, Delenn woke up very frequently (every couple hours early in the
night and up to every half hour by the end of the nights). That may
because Mommy became too comatose to be able to administer any kind of
meds (Infant Tylenol or Oragel). The past couple of nights have been
STELLAR with just one feed at 11pm and one at 3am. (Delenn goes to
sleep at 6:30pm after her bath and books and gets up usually at 6:00am.)
For all that pain and agony -- Delenn now has one top tooth through and
is in the process (still) of breaking the skin to get the second top
tooth and her third bottom tooth.

Delenn is very much a Momma's Girl at this point. She always reaches
out for Mommy and shies away from others (hides her face in Momma's
chest) when (most) people talk to her. Daddy can handle and entertain
her, but ONLY if Momma is not around (not seen OR heard). Usually Dad
is also able to calm Delenn down without Mom around by feeding her Mom's
milk from a sippy straw cup. However, the other night, while Mom was
out giving a performance (playing the oboe as part of the Alexandria
Quartet) for a large ball at the convention center, Dad did everything
in his power to calm his little Girl down. No milk, no singing, no
swaying or looking out at the stars and sky would calm her down. Nope,
it wasn't until he stuck on the evening news and she saw the female news
presenter that she finally calmed down. Within 5 minutes of the news
Delenn was back out like a light and in her crib asleep.

Delenn now has a running vocabulary of bababa and dadada (though dada
doesn't yet seem to mean Daddy). She also imitates our pitch and tone
of voice (which can make meal times quite loud with Logan chiming in too
with those excited squeals). She seems to be understanding lots more
these days. For example, when Mommy reads her books she'll hold two
books in front of Delenn to choose from. Delenn puts her hand on (or
grabs a hold of) one or the other (and it's not always the one on the
right or vice-versa!!) [Incidentally, Delenn's favorite books are Baby
Chick's Day (that Auntie Wendy and Uncle Joe bought for Logan) and the
touch and feel books. She's also just starting to be interested in flap
books.] Delenn also started to sign 'all done' at meal times and will
get a big grin on her face when Mommy signs some things like milk, duck
(for the ducky in the bath) or light (when pointing up at the light on
the ceiling). And much to his delight, Delenn waved at Daddy when he
got off the bus a few days ago.

Delenn continues to astound us with her eating mayhem! She is eating
finger foods--and her diet ranges from pieces of avocado, steamed
carrots and broccoli to bananas, cooked and raw apples to Cheerios,
Alphabits (a sugar free (non-sweet) cereal like Cheerios) and graham
crackers (which disintegrate into mush). She also likes the turkey
broth soup Mommy made some time ago and has chowed down on small pieces
of chicken, ground beef and chick peas. If there is some sort of baby
food in a bowl (like yogurt or whatever), Delenn works hard to put her
spoon into the bowl (though she really hasn't ever scooped anything onto
her spoon yet). She is so determined to do it all herself. (Hmmm...
does this mean she'll be headstrong??) To those of you not up to date on
your baby know-how, most babies don't start to self-feed until well into
their nine or tenth month. Delenn is only just now eight months.

Delenn also gets a big kick out of feeding Mommy and offers her whatever
she has in her tiny hands. Mommy gobbles it up with great gusto
(pretends, that is), much to the amusement of Delenn. She definitely
has a sense of humor. The other evening, Logan put some cotton batting
on his head. Then he'd tilt his head and the cotton would slide off.
You should have HEARD the BELLY LAUGHS Delenn let out!

While many kids start crawling around 6 or 7 months, Delenn still has
not started crawling yet. Perhaps that's because she is SO determined
and driven to walk. She spends a lot of time trying to pull up with the
help of Mommy or Daddy's fingers. In fact, she's not content to sit if
she has the option of holding on to Mommy or Daddy! She's even now
trying to pull up on tables. And, whenever she can, she 'walks' while
holding on to Mommy/Daddy. Of course, she has little balance at this
point. Still, she definitely has the knack of moving her legs forward.
Some kids skip the crawling stage -- and we wonder if Delenn will be one
of these?

Logan has had an adventurous few weeks too. Daddy took Logan to see his
first movie a few weeks ago -- Ice Age 2. Logan did pretty well, though
Daddy said that he did the best when he was eating (popcorn!) or
drinking (water from home). Today he and Daddy went to the Disney movie,
Cars. He did better (at being quiet and not running around) than many
of the other (older) kids that were there. There was one scene where
the main character race car and a hick tow truck were tractor tipping
(instead of cow tipping). Logan laughed hard at that. Directly
thereafter a lot of other kids began to laugh as well. Guess it took
Logan to point out the humor for the rest of the kids.

Logan had his first soda at his friend, Portia's birthday party two
weeks ago. He was offered some orange soda and announced quite loudly,
"Mommy, I LIKE SODA!" (We very rarely even offer him apple or orange
juice. He primarily drinks water, milk or 'mala' (milk with vanilla or
chocolate vegetable powder).

The previous weekend Dad and Logan went off for Australia's biggest
off-road racing event, the Finke Desert Race. In last year's blog we
went out camping with visiting family and friends to see it. This year
because of Delenn's teething, we decided to stay home and watch it from
the start/finish line. Firstly, on the Friday (8 June), we went to the
scrutineering event. There spectators can check out the motorbikes,
quads, buggies, and trucks that are all entered in the event. Logan
really enjoyed checking them out and asked all sorts of questions.
Before long he was commenting on the placing of the engines, the
suspension, and where the spare tire was kept (and why there was a spare
tire in case they got a flat). It was getting quite cold (has been down
to almost freezing these last few days) and Logan noticed other kids
with 'hot dogs' (sausages or snags as they're called here in Australia).
We got one to warm up and sat on some bleachers. Logan then commented
on his own about thanking me for the hot dog and 'I am pretty lucky
Daddy to have this hot dog and to have you as my Daddy'. I don't know
where and why the kid will suddenly come out with this stuff, but it
certainly makes Dad laugh out loud with his 'out-of-left-field words',
but more importantly it makes Daddy all happy and warm-feeling at the
same time. The next morning, Saturday, Dad took Logan and his pal
Nicholas off on an hour long bike and hike adventure (with whom we said
a sad and permanent goodbye to at the airport later that day along with
Kristen, Steven, and Matt) After Logan and Nicholas biked around the
block to the foot of a hillside, they got off and we proceeded to hike
up a quite lengthy and precariously rocky 'mountain'. This was quite
exhilarating for the boys and they were quite pleased with themselves
once they made it to the top and could look down over a good deal of the
surrounding area. This, coupled with several bouts of 'bindi' attacks
(stickers that get caught up in their shoes, socks, and hands), made for
something similar to the likes of Sir Edmund Hillary and his expedition.
Anyway, the secretive primary purpose of the adventure was to wear the
boys out. Dad is pretty sure he succeeded. On Sunday morning Dad went
out to the Finke Desert Race start and finish line to see the racers
blast off. Logan really liked watching the red light switch to yellow,
then blink yellow (the engines would really rev hard at this point),
then go green, and then see the race vehicles blast off. They'd go two
at a time every minute.

Logan will be turning three in a couple of months, so Mommy and Logan
have been to check out three-year-old kindy (for kindergarten). At
Kindy, kids get to play at various stations (such as animals, office
(with pencils, pens, stamps, keyboards and play telephones),
cars/trucks, etc.) There is also usually an area for dress up,
painting, play dough, and/or climbing equipment. They have circle time
(to sing songs or listen to a story). And all this fun is done for 2
1/2 hours (without parents on hand). We first went to check out the one
held at the Toy Library. Even though we go to a playgroup held at the
Toy Library and know one of the teachers, Logan was very shy and clingy
when we went to check it out. On the drive back home, Logan said,
"Mommy, I was scared." I was impressed he was able to verbalize that.
Last week, we went to check out the other Kindy in town (the Gap
Three-year-old Kindy). Mommy knew the director (We played hockey
together about four years ago) and has always really liked her. Logan
jumped right in and had a great time there (even though we had never
been to that facility before.) In fact, he even played with some of the
other kids. Mommy jumped right in too... at one point reading a book to
six kids (but not Logan!). It has a large sand pit which all the kids
seemed to enjoy -- and also had various stations set up (as they did at
the other kindy). But, seeing how comfortable Logan was, we put him on
the waiting list. He should get a spot when we return from the States
in October. He'll start with just one morning (9 to 11:30am) a week and
then may go twice a week after the New Year.

Logan amuses us with his stories these days. We always ask him how his
day was (and he'll ask us periodically throughout the day as well).

I think we mentioned this before, but Logan is honing his skills at
distraction (ie. distracting his parents). 'TALK' Mommy -- he'll say if
he wants to be doing something he shouldn't (like sticking his fork into
his straw or whatever).

Earlier this week, Mommy made chocolate chip cookies. Mommy had her
back turned and was sneaking bites of cookie dough and fresh baked
cookies. Feeling she had gotten away with her crime, she turned (still
munching slightly) to find Logan bent over a snack cup filled with
Delenn's Cheerios. He too was sneaking a few bites and looked up at
Mommy with innocent eyes (and munching mouth). Mommy BURST out laughing
-- and so did Logan! (Both feeling that they had been CAUGHT!)

Delenn is usually up around 6am. After breakfast and some play time,
Mommy turns on a 'movie' (such as Dora the Explorer, Little Einsteins,
the Letter Factory, etc.) for Logan and goes back to read books and
nurse Delenn. She usually naps around 8am. By 9am, she's awake again
and we head out for morning activities. Last week, for example, we went
to John Hayes Rock Hole to go hiking with Le and Linda on Monday.
Tuesday we went to the book library for story hour/craft followed by
Kindermusik. On Wednesday we checked out the Gap Kindy (though starting
this next week, we're planning to get together with two other kids
(Portia and Linda) and do activities. The Moms will take turns weekly
coming up with activities for the kids while the other two Moms go off
to do other things.) Thursday Logan went to play with Kimberly at
Rosalie's while Mommy ran errands. And, on Friday we went to the Toy
Library play group. We try to be home by noon so we can eat (or finish
eating) lunch. Delenn naps basically as soon as I can get her down
(usually around 12:00, but sometimes as late as 1:00 if it's been
particularly busy). Logan has an hour or so of Quiet Time (with naps
happening just once or twice a week these days). Mommy tries
desperately to clean up (toys, the dishes, the food hurricane, etc.).
Then we play for a bit before heading out to ride bikes (Logan and
Delenn each riding their tricycles)... or for a ride in the bike trailer
or stroller. Most days we try to meet Daddy and Noel at the bus stop.
Then it's dinner/bath/bed -- and WHEW -- maybe(??) an hour or two before
Mommy and Daddy collapse. (Well, no I take that back, Daddy is naughty
and more often than not stays up to work on things. He's been doing
some studying and only finds time at night.)

A bit ago, I talked briefly about Delenn enjoying her books before her
naps and bedtime. Logan also enjoys reading books as well. Most days
he gets two or three books before Quiet Time or bed time. He doesn't
have any favorites at the moment -- it ranges from non-fiction books
about the doctor, dentist, rockets, race cars, animals, etc. to Disney
books, story books and so forth.

Mommy still plays oboe in the Alexandria Quartet. We now have a cello
player (who is terrific). We worked hard to put together a three hour
concert for a function at the Convention Center last Thursday night.
And Mommy has thoroughly enjoyed playing (field) hockey for her team.
We have had some great games -- and Mommy has improved steadily over the
course of the season. Daddy and Mommy also play soccer, though we are
on a four week break at the moment. We'll be going to a soccer team
picnic tomorrow instead.

Oh--and to those who don't know it yet, Mommy decided not to teach for
the Univ. of Maryland this coming year. With two little ones (and other
interests), I decided I would enjoy life more spending that extra
time/energy on the family instead. I thoroughly enjoy browsing the
preschool books for ideas rather than spending time focusing on WWI,
WWII and other bits of history or grading and responding to students.
It was a difficult decision because the truth is, I love teaching
(history/adults), but having made that decision I am VERY VERY happy.
(So I know it's the right one at this point in my life.)

We know we have left out lots of funny stories, but the days blend
together. We're doing well and are enjoying life immensely!