The Comings and Goings of Lil G

Today marked the first day I entered Geneva’s room to find her standing in her crib. Next thing you know, she’ll be jumping on the bed.

And cold celery feels good on teething gums.

These pictures show you what a standing Geneva looks like. She’s been pulling herself up for almost a week. However, this was the first time she’d pulled up on something other than me! Our little coffee table is just the right height for Lil’ G and you can see how proud she was.

Our trip to Florida this time was a far different beast than the last trip. It was shorter, but definitely just as sweet. We set up our tent on the beach on the first day and it was love for Geneva. She especially enjoyed talking to the seagulls. They screeched at her and she screeched right back! Enjoy!!

January was a wild and crazy month around these parts and for a multitude of reasons. The largest of these being a small vacation and it being my last month as a full-time stay-at-home mom. That’s right, Mama has gone back to work. But more about that later.

Geneva has been busy busy over the last few weeks. We had another trip to Florida that was absolutely fantastic! Geneva wasn’t so sure about the sand, but she loved the sounds of the beach. She was also far more interested in the pool. I can’t wait for her to have swim lessons. She’s quite the happy traveler, but doesn’t like to sleep anywhere but her own bed. I’m sure many of you can identify with this!

We’ve witnessed a few firsts that are sure to impress. Let’s run down the list:

1. Geneva said her first word: bye bye. With that is included a very vigorous wave and a big smile. She also says Mama and Papa, but with less frequency.
2. She claps her hands together and is so pleased when she does so. We all cheer and laugh and she has a noisy version of cheering with us. It’s sort of a flat yell.
3. Yesterday, Geneva pulled herself to standing for the first time. It was a bit of a shock when it happened, even though I’d seen her working on it for a day or two. She used me as a ladder of sorts and clawed and scraped her way to standing next to me. I’m not even sure she realized what she’d done.
4. Geneva LOVES to look at pictures of babies and colorful items. She has two books that she “reads” constantly. One is a book of body parts and the other is a book of water things (soap, ducks, frogs, etc.).

Geneva eats very well. Her repertoire of foods has multiplied and she’s getting more and more table foods. She loves yogurt, but thinks cheese is a tad too tart. Goldfish crackers and Cheerios are favorites. Corn is a new delight and avocado continues to please her palate. Papa made her some pancakes to take to school with her, so as to have a tiny taste of home. Next up will be the introduction of meats. Geneva has had pureed chicken and didn’t mind it, so we need to get her up to speed with the real stuff.

So on to the part that you all are no doubt most interested in: the working part. I was presented with the opportunity right after New Year’s to return to work part time. This was an exciting and a daunting prospect. Rob and I talked things through and came to the conclusion that a happy Mama was a workin’ Mama – so the preparations began. We found a daycare that we both really like and, after that, things were pretty simple. Gramma Jayne started the tradition of calling daycare “school.” I think she did it to make me feel better. Ha ha.

We’re nearly at the end of our first week in this new arrangement and there’s still major adjustments going on. Geneva has great difficulty napping at school and it’s my fault. We generally keep the house quiet when she sleeps. At school, she’s sharing her crib with a room of other children and many distractions. She’s going to have to learn to sleep through a hurricane. She takes little catnaps here and there, but nothing on the scale of what she got at home. This distresses me, but I’ve been reassured she’ll adjust accordingly.

The other major thing is her eating. Geneva’s at school long enough to need one bottle feed. She’s nursing the rest of the time, but receives a bottle of formula and yogurt while there. And she’s not having it. Everyone, pediatrician included, tells me she’ll get hungry enough to eat and she’ll eat what’s in front of her. Right now, she sips on it and is content to wait it out until Mama (and her milk) shows up. This won’t be a concern for too much longer, because she’ll be on regular milk soon enough.

The teachers there love her and Geneva appears to really be enjoying herself. There’s no hysterics on her part (and none here either). I’m excited at the developmental opportunities from being around other children every day. A little boy in her class has just learned to walk and I know Geneva’s soaking it all in.

This entry is already too long. Pictures are soon to follow. But first, here’s a video of Geneva partaking in her favorite pasttime: reading.

Now here’s more pictures from Christmas! Hee hee.

Dateline: December 25, 2008. 7:00 a.m. East Point, Georgia.

When shampooing my hair as a little girl, my Dad would slick my ponytail into a tall spike on the top of my head. The more lather, the better. My sister and I would have these impressive ponytail horns that I’d be hard pressed to imitate now. Last night, Rob decided it was time to attempt Geneva’s first shampooey spike.

It’s a start…

What with Geneva crawling like crazy now, I’m seriously lacking in time and energy! It feels as if my whole day is spent chasing her around. But I’m tired in a good kind of way.

Our house is filled with excitement this holiday season as Lil’ G continues to amaze us. Here’s a brief snapshot of what’s been happening:

First things first. Our lost camera has been found. Gramma J found it outside in the leaves near where she parks her car. I must have dropped it (or it fell out of the diaper bag) the day we got back from our trip. Good news is that the memory card inside is completely fine. Bad news is, the camera is inoperable. We had torrential rain for about four days here. Combined with sub-freezing temperatures and then the weather jacking up into the 70s, the little camera just couldn’t handle it. I feel supremely stupid that the camera was out there the WHOLE time. I keep checking it periodically to see if it boots up – but no luck.

With the crawling came some really dirty knees. This pushed me into action and I got the carpet steam cleaned. I was beginning to get hives at the thought of what G. might be crawling on! The shag looks positively revitalized…well, as much as 30-year old shag can look revitalized.

Geneva loves to sit in front of the sliding glass door and look at the dogs outside. I put the girls out to give Geneva full run of the living room without incident (pulled tails, stolen rawhide chews, etc.). Ginger and Sadie sit at the door and Geneva gives them wet kisses through the glass. Geneva also likes to loll around on the ground in front of the door and pat the glass – I wonder what the dogs must think…

The biggest news is that, today, I noticed that one of Geneva’s top front teeth is emerging! She developed a snotty nose on Wednesday and I began prepping myself for a nasty cold. But the snot was inconsistent and Geneva just didn’t seem all that sick. This morning, I noticed her running her tongue over her top gum quite frequently. I thought she was performing some new kind of trick. Then, it occurred to me to feel inside her mouth. Sure enough, I could feel the rough tip of her tooth. It’s very cute how she runs her tongue over the tooth. It reminds me of when I lost teeth as a kid and couldn’t resist the urge to stick my tongue in the vacant spot. Dad told us that if we could refrain from sticking our tongue in the toothless hole, a gold tooth would grow in. Suffice to say, I don’t have any gold teeth.

Table food is of big interest to Lil’ G. She’s only really had fruits, but she loves feeding herself. She’s eaten chunks of apples, bananas, pears and avocado. I tried giving her some chunks of sweet potato and she quickly let me know that I had not steamed them appropriately. The major sign being her retching and gagging and giving me dirty looks. Geneva eats Cheerios as if they’re going out of style and her dexterity is improving by the day.

Sleeping is going okay. For the most part, Geneva goes to bed without incident. She tends to wake up only about once a night, usually between 3 and 5 a.m.  Her sleep period comes out to around 12 hours. Naps have improved and gotten back to normal over the last couple weeks. She’s usually awake for about two hours at a stretch now. The evening stretch is the longest, with her being awake anywhere from 3 to 4 hours (depending on when that last nap occurs). She has bathtime with Papa before she retires for the day.

Two neat gestures that Geneva does is wave bye-bye and nod her head ‘yes.’ The nodding is sweet enough to make your teeth rot. She does it sort of as a mimic to me or Rob doing it. Waving goodbye was a bit of a shock. She’s actually been doing it since Thanksgiving, but I was suspicious that it wasn’t really a wave. But it was. She waves goodbye (or hello) to everyone she meets! Geneva loves waving to strangers and she’s a bit of a flirt, too.

I guess that’s about it for now. We’ll be sure to post Christmas pics once they’re in hand!

Today we visited the Georgia State Farmers Market to pick out a Christmas Tree. It was a lovely day for tree shopping and we had many beautiful North Carolina Firs to choose from! We spotted one pretty quickly and asked them to wrap it up for us. Seeing as how we now have a very mobile small person, the tree size has been reduced from previous years – but it’s still a beaut!

(And despite the solemn-looking face from Geneva, she really did have a good time.)