Saturday, October 1 (day 94/365)

Today was Phoebe's friend Kestrel's second birthday party, so we drove up to Palo Alto for his party and had a great time.  The party was in a cute local park where we bbq'd, played with other families, and ate cupcakes.  It was especially fun to watch the older kids play.  There was one little boy with an encyclopedic knowledge of dinosaurs.  He would stage elaborate attacks between different dinosaurs (played by his dad and himself) - it was pretty adorable.  We also got to meet Kestrel's new brother Sylvan.  Sylvan is super cute!  He is also the most mellow baby ever (well, at least since Kestrel).  He would make a tiny little grunt and his mom would say "aww, are you getting grumpy?".  Jeremy and I would just roll our eyes. 

We are used to Phoebe so whenever we're around other kids it helps us recalibrate what "normal baby behavior" looks like.  There were two other babies there (one was 7 months and one was 11 months).  Both of them were quiet and snuggly and spent most of the party peacefully hanging out in a baby carrier.  Phoebe on the other hand was all over the place.  She tried to dive on to the concrete patio, she ate at least three handfuls of grass, and she really wanted to join in the big kid wrestling match.  Jeremy and I always feel like we look more run down and exhausted than other parents.  Every once in a while we are reminded why that is :)

Yay Slide!  Phoebe loves slides!

Playing ball in the park.  Phoebe is pretty good at sharing, but not when it comes to her special ball.

A brief break for some refreshments

P.S Just in case you were wondering, her onesie says "I just boldly went".  It is both a reference to Star Trek, and a poop joke at the same time.  I think Phoebe is really looking forward to the day when she can dress herself.

Friday, September 30 (day 93/365)

Today was open house at Phoebe's daycare.  We almost didn't go because it started at 6 which is getting a little late for the munchkin, but we are glad we were brave and went!  We were the only family there from Phoebe's room for a long time, so we got to hang out with all of the teachers.  It was fun to see them when they are more relaxed - we joked around and swapped Phoebe stories.  As part of the programming we did a  mini-day at daycare.  First up was circle time.  All the adults sang songs while Phoebe tried to eat the felt board and dumped toys on the ground.  I am guessing this is pretty typical.  Then we tried an art project.  Jeremy made an adorable glittery fish (definitely out of place with all the other infant art work - it was at least toddler quality if not preschool), but Phoebe kept trying to eat the paint, so her art time was cut short.  After art time we had snack time, by this time more families had arrived.  The teachers offered the kids and siblings a variety of ridiculously sugary treats washed down with juice.  Then they sent them home.  To their parents.  I am guessing all the frosting is (sweet) revenge for everything they have to put up with during the week. Since Phoebe is too little to understand about not getting cookies like the other kids, we had a great time and will definitely have to make a point to go to open house every fall!

Circle time!  This is the part of hickory dickory dock where the baby tries to eat the clock

One of the climbing toys in the infant room.  This toy alone has been the source of at least three "incident reports"

Ah, climbing toy, my old nemesis, we meet again.

The one shot we were able to get of Phoebe actually sitting in the circle at circle time.  Jeremy must have a fast shutter finger, because I think this lasted for all of half a second.

Just like Daddy ...

Thursday, September 29 (day 92/365)

This week was the book fair at Phoebe's school, and being good PTA parents, Jeremy and I each worked a one hour shift as cashier.  When I showed up to start my shift, the woman at the front desk said "oh, it's Phoebe's mom, I was just about to call you".  Uh-oh.  Phone calls are typically reserved for major "events" (in other words, when they need to warn you in advance that your child will be sporting a new giant lump/bruise when you come to pick them up).  In true Phoebe fashion, the new bruise is smack in the middle of her forehead.  She seems to be a fan of (literally) jumping into things head-first.  We have noted that while some days she looks more like me and some days she looks more like Jeremy, there is no mistaking that Phoebe is starting to take after her Uncle John 100% when it comes to behavior.  We are preparing ourselves to be the parents that can recite the signs of a baby-concussion from memory and can assess the number of stitches a wound will require from 20 paces.

Phoebe was pretty tragic all evening, so I could only get a shot of her new lump during dinner. 

Today was also parent-teacher conference for Phoebe.  We love the teachers in her room and we especially love Miss Erica who is in charge of tracking Phoebe's milestones.  Each kid gets a big binder full of developmentally-relevant milestones.  Their teacher keeps track of the day when they first notice the corresponding behavior and also takes pictures as documentation.  We ended up with a bunch of cute pictures of Phoebe feeding herself, showing emotion (she's GREAT at that), and even playing with a friend!  The teachers are all very observant and we love hearing stories about Phoebe's days at school.  The teachers are also really good at working with us on things like getting Phoebe to nap.  Given that we can't be with Phoebe all the time, we feel very fortunate to have her in such a caring, enriching environment!  We had a great first teacher conference, here's hoping the next 18 years of conferences go just as smoothly :)

Wednesday, September 28 (day 91/365)

Guess who has (finally) learned high-five???  (hint: the baby can do it too)

Jeremy has been waiting for Phoebe to be able to do baby tricks pretty much since we found out I was pregnant.  For him, this is the first major parenting pay-off (followed closely by being able to embarrass your child in public and never having to do the dishes again ... although my dad claims that last one is a big fat lie because he had TWO kids and he still has to do the dishes).  We've been periodically showing Phoebe high-five and then looking like complete idiots while we repeatedly high-five each other and she just laughs in our general direction.  Then, we realized that another kid in her class is a huge fan of the high-five, so we started doing it with him when we'd drop Phoebe off at school. Finally this week she seemed to catch on.  Of course, she'll only do it two or three times in a row - after that she just looks at us with the baby equivalent of an eye roll.  She also tends to prefer high-five with Jeremy, I often get left hanging. 

Anyway, Jeremy is very excited about this latest development.  He has a whole list of tricks that he wants to teach Phoebe.  Next up is "touchdown!" then stay tuned for a video of the baby doing "wax-on, wax-off" (from the Karate Kid). 

Tuesday, September 27 (day 90/365)

Happy birthday Auntie Regina!!!

Tuesday we had a special treat!  Jeremy's Aunt Lynn and Uncle Greg were in California for vacation, so they stopped by for dinner.  They brought an adorable present for the baby, but more importantly they brought champagne and fancy chocolates for the baby-parents!  They are now officially our favorite dinner guests of all time.  We had a really great time catching up with Aunt Lynn and Uncle Greg.  They are both retired and spend a lot of time traveling all over - they are pretty much our retirement role models!  We actually wish we could have spent more time chatting, but Jeremy and I don't do very well past about 9 PM these days.  I guess if I'm being totally honest, we don't do that great past 8, but we can usually pull it together for an extra hour on special occasions :)  Thank you for visiting Lynn and Greg!!!  We hope you make it back this way soon!

Phoebe loved spending time with Aunt Lynn.  Phoebe got lots of snuggles and Aunt Lynn was a really good sport about getting smeared with half-chewed crackers :)

Uncle Greg, Jeremy and Phoebe

Monday, September 26 (day 89/365)

This week, I snuck out of work long enough to take Phoebe to baby class.  Our new class is very different from our old one.  In our Wednesday class, at least half of the babies are pretty active so Phoebe blends a little better.  In our new Monday class, Phoebe is by far the most mobile baby.  I think that a lot of the other babies (and moms) just aren't sure what to make of her.  The pictures on this post are from class and you'll see that all of the other babies in the background are sitting calmly with their moms.  Phoebe, on the other hand, is tearing around the middle of the circle, stealing toys and stepping on babies.  That's right.  She actually stepped on another baby's head ... twice ... not my proudest parenting moment.  At the same time, I feel responsible for the first head-stepping-on, but the second?? ... I mean if someone stepped on your head, would you not get out of the way before it could happen again?

In our Wednesday class most of the parents are used to active babies, so we just all pitch in with whichever baby/babies is/are closest to us.  We're often picking up and redirecting other people's kids or breaking up mini-baby traffic jams.  In the new class, it seems like a lot of parents are quite sure what to do, so they just sit there while Phoebe mauls their kid.  I spend a lot of time running around the circle behind Phoebe apologetically.  The other parents are really nice, but I think it will take us a while to feel like we're part of the group.  Towards the end of class, one of the moms looked at me sympathetically and said "my first baby is like that".  I remarked that she was pretty brave to have a second.  She then pointed out that her older kid was almost 5 years older than his little sister. 

We do serve a purpose in our new class.  The topic on Monday was baby proofing and the teacher told the parents that a good way to see what you need to baby proof is to get down on your hands and knees and crawl around the room.  Then she added "or you could have Kate and Phoebe over for a play date". 

Look mom, all these kids are sitting in a circle!  So much easier to figure out which toys to steal when I can see them all at once!