Happy Easter!

Rachel Bang

The other night, we tried a bath with Rachel instead of a shower. Well, baths for the little girl are not going to happen again for awhile. Originally, I sat outside the bathtub, nice and dry. But she would not stay seated and fell twice, bonking her head, but mostly just scaring herself. So I climbed in with my boxers on and sat there trying to keep her still, just playing with her toys. But all she wanted to do was stand, and even though I was holding her, managed to bump head a little bit a third time. So no baths until she's much more stable on her feet.

Death

Maybe it was a source of pride for me, but I never really feared death. If it happened, it would be sad for those around me (hopefully) but I never really feared for my own death. It wasn't that I didn't think about it, it's just that it didn't scare me.

For the second time at work, the death of a guy in their late 40's has come across my desk. (I maintain the website for my church.) The first guy (48) had three kids in the High School and Jr. High ministries and actually had a heart attack and died while playing Nintendo with his youngest son. The second guy (49) makes me come really close to crying. He leaves behind an 8-year-old girl and a 6-year-old boy. While there's never a good time, six years is just way too few years to spend with your children.

It's selfish of me, but I want to see my daughter's high school and college graduations. I want to give her away in marriage. I want to hold her children in my arms. Many, many people live to see those things happen. But not everyone does.

Sorry if this is a downer. No pithy "enjoy each day," just some somber thoughts.

Wake UP!

Our little one has taken to waking at night again. Sometimes I think it's because of the cough, but sometimes she's hungry. Which I do not get. We get home from work and she gets fed, then we eat (occasionally vice-versa), then she gets her shower, then she eats again and goes to bed. How can she possibly wake up hungry?

In other news, there are now two others at her school who share her birthday. We met one of them, Trinity, today. She was born at the same hospital later the same day. Trinity also does not sleep through the night.

In other, other news, J&M are expecting. They suffered a number of miscarriages before having their first daughter, but were trying unsuccessfully for the past two or so years to have a second child. D&L should be welcoming their second any time now.

Heartstrings

Why Parents Drink

The boss of a big company needed to call one of his employees about an urgent problem with one of the main computers, dialed the employee's home phone number and was greeted with a child's whisper.

"Hello."

"Is your daddy home?" he asked.

"Yes," whispered the small voice.

"May I talk with him?"

The child whispered, "No."

Surprised, and wanting to talk with an adult, the boss asked, "Is your Mommy there?"

"Yes."

"May I talk with her?"

Again the small voice whispered, "No."

Hoping there was somebody with whom he could leave a message, the boss asked, "Is anybody else there?"

"Yes," whispered the child, "a policeman."

Wondering what a cop would be doing at his employee's home, the boss asked, "May I speak with the policeman?"

"No, he's busy", whispered the child.

"Busy doing what?"

"Talking to Daddy and Mommy and the Fireman," came the whispered answer.

Growing concerned and even worried as he heard what sounded like a Helicopter through the earpiece on the phone the boss asked, "What is that noise?"

"A hello-copper" answered the whispering voice.

"What is going on there?" asked the boss, now truly alarmed.

In an awed whispering voice the child answered, "The search team just landed the hello-copper." Alarmed, concerned, and even more then just a little frustrated the boss asked, "What are they searching for?"

Still whispering, the young voice replied along with a muffled giggle: "ME."

Mobility

Rachel has stepped up efforts to gain independence through movement. The other night, she kept popping up all over the place like Pip and Pop. She'd be in one place banging on her music table, then all the sudden she was giggling and she banged on an overturned basket, and then all of the sudden she was holding onto my legs bouncing on her tiptoes as she started up at me laughing.

While the balance isn't there yet for complete walking, Rachel gets around pretty good. When there's a wall or piece of furniture, she'll use that for support. And when there's a gap too large to transition, she gracefully plops unto her backside, rolls to her side, springs onto all fours and crawls quickly across the distance before climbing back to her feet.

She's taken too chewing on the rubber protector we put around the coffee table. We don't see any teeth marks in it, or any indication that she's degrading the integrity, or getting any pieces in her mouth, but we hope she grows out of that by the time the new coffee table (sorry, apparently they're now called "cocktail tables") is delivered next weekend. Or else we'll have to keep that in another room until she's done with the table-biting phase.

Aaaaand we have a winner...

...for the first food Rachel doesn't like. I, for one, cannot fathom it, but our little girl seems to be repulsed by avocados. To be fair, I'm told I hated avocados as a child, too.

At any rate, I decided to give them a try two nights ago as they're some of the next stage of food that the experts recommend you introduce, along with various meats. I took a little piece of chopped avocado, offered it to her, and she took it in her mouth like a little baby bird.

The look of disgust on her face was priceless - if only we'd had the video camera going! I'd been doing that when introducing new foods for the first 4 or 5 things we tried, then stopped, and now I'm kicking myself for it. Her expression said "What IS this garbage you just gave me?" I think she managed to swallow the little bit that was in her mouth.

She's had other foods that she didn't love right off the bat, but she would take other bites and now seems to think they're okay, if not her favorite. Peas (blech!) would be a good example. So I offered her a second taste of avocado. She opened her mouth, took it and then pushed it right back out with her tongue. For now, at least, avocadoes are a no.

I've read that sometimes children need to have a particular food offered to them 10 times before they'll accept it. I don't think I'll try it 9 more times in the near future, but I'll probably try it again in 6 months or a year to see if her palate has developed a taste for foods like that yet. And if not, hey, more avocado for me.

In other new food news, the beef-and-carrots combo seemed to be a hit last night. That was her first meat. I'm thinking about starting to make some of the food for her myself, cooking vegetables, fruits and meats and pureeing or finely chopping them and making little baby food containers myself. I could probably make food much cheaper, if I can just carve out some time to do it.