Bubbles

Well you can hardly see the bubbles because they are off screen but here is Georgie reacting to them.

Thanks to Adam, we have a camera again and will have photos up and running again here now.

I took the camera to the farmer's market today but forgot the SD card. It was too cold too stay long and get photos anyway. What I did get though was a lot of meat. We got two packets of chorizo, two packets of chicken wings (for the Super Bowl), two packages of goat stew meat, and two packages of buffalo stew meat. Everything but the buffalo was was from Eco-Friendly Foods, the slaughterhouse of naturally raised animals mentioned in Omnivore's Dilemma. The buffalo is from Cibola Farms.

Dr Appt

Today we had a well child visit with our pediatrician (nurse practitioner, actually). She was supposed to have a 9-month well child visit, but we wanted to do that here with our office we love, rather than in Montana with the prairie doctor who we had some misgivings about.... I'm sure some prairie doctors are great. Just not this one.

So.... Georgie weighs 20.4 pounds and is 28-1/2 inches tall.

The NP said that because she walked so early (first steps at 9 months, 1 week), she might talk late. Apparently that's a common pattern, for early walkers to be late talkers, and vice versa. Also if your mother is a linguist, you might be a late talker.

She's had a cold, and the NP said it does appear to be just that, a cold. No ear infection or anything. She said to come back if Georgie starts to act sick or gets a fever.

We also got the chance to ask a lot of questions (e.g., about feeding solids) from our list. The NP said to give her some water, but not juice (she said juice is like soda for kids). She said we could feed her pretty much anything and everything, giving a one week trial/intro period for foods like wheat that can cause allergies. She said not to give her shellfish or peanut butter yet, though. Oh, and she said we shouldn't shy away from giving Georgie spices -- Thai, Chinese, etc. She said this can help kids to not be picky eaters. It will also enable more shared meals and earlier. I read an article about this in the NYT last year, so we were happy to see that our doctors are up on the latest evidence/research. And that the NYT reports on such stuff.

In celebration of this new advice about food, we gave Georgie some hummus when we got home. She loved it, even though this picture (from Aaron's phone) doesn't really show it.



And in celebration of the appointment, we bought Georgie a new toy afterward. A wooden puzzle, "Diggers and Dumpers," that has a bunch of machinery on it. Here she is, playing with the toy and her papa with our many boxes that my dad shipped. More on how much my dad helped us in MT (and the aftermath) in a post to follow. :)

Self-portrait by Georgie

One thing Georgie loves is playing with my phone and she often figures out how to activate the camera with the phone closed. Usually if she takes a picture it's just a blurry mess. Well it's still that today but this time she also produced a fairly clear image of herself. We're so very proud!

Monkey business

The girls and I went to a gym thing in Falls Church called Monkey Business today. We had a blast. Georgie loved all the props and had a really good time walking across the padded carpet.

peas

from last night.

Open Gym

Today Georgie and I went to an open gym about 5 minutes away. They have a play time from 10-12 on Tues and Thurs. There were a lot of kids there, and a lot of toys, all over a big basketball-court-size gym. Georgie had a blast. She usually naps at 10 or 11, so I'm not sure how often we'll be able to go (at least until she switches to just 1 nap a day). Today we were only there for about 45 min. because of her 10-11 nap. Anyway, here are some pics.



In the first picture above, she's looking at a girl who's 14 months old (I later found out from her mom). She had lots of fun looking at the other kids. Two not-fun things happened: one boy roughly and quickly grabbed a cart-type toy she was looking into (his mother apologized but then let her boy keep the cart .... hmmm.....), and another boy ran into her with a toy vacuum cleaner, but she didn't seem to mind. But then another boy showed her a toy and shared with her.

I found a few other play places to go for free or low cost (today's fun cost $3) for almost every weekday. So lots of play and socialization ahead.

Chicken

Well, I got a card reader today and then found that I haven't taken many photos lately. So here are two videos of Georgie showing very little interest while we try to introduce chicken. It's hard for her to care when there are still rice crisps on her tray.

In other news, we are continuing to settle in to our neighborhood. We had a security system installed, bought goat meat at our local butcher, and got Virginia tags and licenses. We are looking forward to getting a couch this weekend so we have somewhere to sit.

Life begins (again)

Once again we are starting life almost from scratch. We brought and are shipping quite a bit of stuff from Montana but it still feels pretty brand new. We went to Costco today and got a round of basics (25 gallons of chicken broth, a new shower head, etc.). Yesterday we spent a very long time at IKEA (including time we spent in the parking lot because a fire alarm evacuated the store. We ordered a bed (king size!) and it was delivered today. We still need a couch and some odds and ends and we'll get them this weekend.

Living here feels a lot different this time. We had considered living somewhere else and a lot of the attributes we were looking for we are finding here. We live in a cute old house in a safe neighborhood that has character. Previously we lived in a crappy basement apartment in a crime-ridden neighborhood with no personality, except of the crack-addled variety.

A quick inventory of our neighborhood leaves me very excited:

• There is a halal butcher a block away. My plan for this week is to get some fresh goat meat and make a Jamaican curried goat that I heard about in Jamaica but never tried.
• There is a Thai place one block away that delivers.
• There is a coffee shop (Rappahanock) that roasts there own beans. We bought a pound a few days ago and are going to make some in the morning.
• There is a kabob stand.
• There is a movie theatre that serves beer and food a la Alamo Draft House. In fact it's called Arlington Draft House.
• Costco is only 1.5 miles away. A nice organic market is only 2. Work is only 2.

Basically it feels like we did move to a new city and a experiencing the requisite excitement. I'm sure a little DC crapiness will mix in soon enough, but for now I find myself surprisingly excited about where we live.

Also Georgie really likes it here. At first I gave Nikki a hard time for saying that but she is right. There is a lot for her to do here. And today she met Milena again. She loves to be around other kids and loves to watch them. She's fascinated with Milena, who is only a year older and has a lot of the same interests but is a lot more mobile and has a lot more opinions. Georgie watches her like Milena's her role model.

Speaking of Georgie, I can't post any new pictures or video right now. We can't find the cord that connects the camera to the computer and the computer doesn't have an SD reader. I ordered a new one but it's not here yet. Stay tuned till it comes or we find a workaround.

We got it!

We have a home. We signed the lease and got the keys today. We stopped back in there today and are so excited to move in. I think we can safely say that it's the nicest place either of us have ever lived. Thanks again to our old friends and new neighbors Rachelle and Lubo for finding it for us.

Not homeless

We don't have keys in our hand yet so I am wary to say this with too much certainty. But it looks like we have found a place and then only thing standing in the way is a little paperwork. We haven't done the lease yet, but we have 'verbal' approval for the townhouse in Arlington. We'll be doing the lease and getting the keys some time today. I drove by on the way to work tonight and I think it's going to be a lot of fun. There are very few neighborhoods with any personality or charm in this region. Certainly none of the other places we looked have any. This house was built in the late 30s as affordable rental housing for gov't workers. So it has that New Deal kind of charm to it. It's not very big but it's two levels, has wood floors, and has an updated kitchen. It's also in a neighborhood near a lot of the things we want to do in town -- farmer's market, movies, etc. And did I mention it's a 2 mile commute for me?

In the meantime, we continue to be graciously hosted by Garry and Lynn. Georgie is having fun in their house. Today she played with the cabinet knobs for a while and then played with measuring cups. She tried mango for the first time last night and loved it. More pictures soon, we just got the camera up and running again.

Still homeless

But that may all change tomorrow. We found a great place in Arlington and put in an application this afternoon. Actually, I shouldn't say we found it -- it was found for us by our great friends Rachelle and Lubo. And if we get it they will also be our neighbors, their place is just a few doors down. I don't want to talk to much about the place, in case I jinx it, so I will save that.

But I will say that it is in the unlikeliest place. Yesterday morning we put in for a place in Woodbridge. Then I took Nikki there and we both got a creepy feeling. We talked to several potential neighbors and they were all just weird zombies. The whole thing just felt unpleasant, depsite the fact that the house itself was really nice.

Well, in despair, we decided we needed to look out a little further today and we headed for Loudoun county today to look. Nikki talked me into stopping by Arlington (a 15 mile detour from our plans) to see this place. Well we never made it to Loudoun.

Well, more on this when we know something. Keep your fingers crossed...

Order restored

Georgie just seems so much bigger now than she did 10 days ago. I know that sounds silly but I feel like I left a baby in Montana and a toddler came to DC. And boy can she toddle -- she was walking all over the hotel room tonight. It's so good to have my girls back. Now we just have to find a home...

Reunited (almost)

Nikki and Georgie are coming into DCA this afternoon. I'm excited. It's been a long time to be apart from someone that changes every day. (Georgie I mean.)

They are getting in at about 4:30. Rather than fight the traffic at that time, we are going to stay the night in a hotel by the airport.

In other news, I may have found a place to live in Woodbridge. It's not where we were originally looking but we couldn't really find the kind of place we were looking for in Chantilly or Centreville. More on that as things develop.

A Video for Papa

The batteries are dead on the camera, and my mom was snowed in today so couldn't go to work (and then to get new batteries for me). So here's a video from Tuesday:

Arlington, VA

I made it. I got in about 5:30 this afternoon, after 11 hours of driving. It's weird to be back. It kind of feels like I never left. More soon.

Wednesday

A photo from this morning:



This afternoon I realized that my parents had a water jug like we had at our Dupuyer place. Georgie loves standing by these jugs.





She likes to play the piano from the floor:



And finally, from our peek-a-boo game this afternoon. She was hiding a little longer than in the video; I was so happy to finally get a good video of her.

Lexington, KY

Well I've passed the 2000 mile mark for the trip. But I still have 500 more miles to do tomorrow before I work tomorrow night. I hit over 200 miles of rain today and it really slowed me down. So did waiting on the St. Louis icy streets to improve. I'm not sure what tomorrow's wx will hold. I really hope I can get out early and start booking.

Tuesday

Georgie doesn't like pureed avocados. Or pureed bananas. But if I give her small pieces of a banana that I'm eating, she likes it (she also likes greener bananas rather than yellower/browner; I've tried giving her both.) And she loves eating rice crispies, feeding herself from her high-chair tray. So I thought maybe if she fed herself mashed up avocados, maybe she'd like them. Mostly she just got her clothes and face messy (in my excitement about the avocado experiment, I forgot to put a bib on her). But she did eat some. And she ate some from my finger, too.



After avocados, we tried carrots, which she's always loved.




After dinner, my dad read her a couple books. She's been doing a lot of pointing lately, and we always point to pictures in the books when we read them. Tonight she started taking my dad's finger and pointing to things in the book, including making him touch the baby animals (in the book from Uncle Kevin, Touch and Feel the Baby Animals).



She would touch the animals on the page, too, and then put her fingers in her mouth (an extension of putting everything in her mouth from the carpet, or maybe a lesson she learned from the avocado experiment at dinner).


Then she'd touch my dad's finger to the animal and try to put his fingers in her mouth. A couple more of her taking turns with my dad touching the book.

Monday

Monday involved more pointing (sorry no pictures of this) and more looking into bags and pulling toys out. Also, she walked 22 steps (will try to video her walking soon).

Chesterfield, MO

First of all, I'd like to make an annoucement. I hereby declare the Texas Longhorns the 2008 National Champs. Nevermind Oklahoma and whoever they are playing. We beat Oklahoma in the regular season then beat our opponent in our BCS bowl so we are the champs. Sorry Sooners.

Ok, now that that's out of the way, I'm in a suburb of St. Louis for the night. I now have under 1000 miles left so the end is in sight. I think tomorrow I will just make it as far as possible, then have a little left Wednesday morning. They are calling for AM ice here so I might not be able to leave right away.

I've driven all over the country before but never alone. It's getting kind of boring. Today the iPod was dead and I had listen to all the CDs in the car. The XM antenna is broken. Basically I had nothing new to listen to or think about. Glad it's almost over.

North Platte, Nebraska

Saturday was a total wash. Most of the day the roads were 'essential travel' only. I figured, much as I need to get to DC, I was not in the same category as ambulances and such. Finally it started to look clear in Buffalo but looked like a mess in Casper still. So at 2pm I decided to just stay another night and hope for the best this morning. I did have a few pockets of clear roads around Buffalo but mostly I had 250 miles of ice- and snow-packed roads. They were probably in the same shape as yesterday but I was much better mentally prepared for it. And I actually kind of got used to it. It started to not scare me as much to slide around while going 50 on ice. Perhaps there is a little yooper in me after all.



After Douglas, WY, the roads cleared but I decided not to take any chances with Cheyenne and cut east on US26. That ended up being a very nice and scenic drive through easter WY and western NE. My brother Adam has a special fascination with Nebraska. I understand what he means and I can say that it lives up to his imagination.

So in 4 days, I've gone 1000 miles. At that rate it would take 10 days to get to DC. That's faster than a stagecoach but hopefully I can do better tomorrow.

Sunday

The big activity of the day was taking blocks out of Grandpa's shirt pocket. She's always liked the pens in his pocket, and we've tried with other toys before, but today she got what the pocket was about -- you can hide stuff in there, then take it back out.



And some close-ups of her looking for the blocks and trying to get them:

Saturday

Today Georgie took 10 steps. Twice. The first time she was walking toward two balls I was holding, and the second time she walked to Grandma, turned, then walked some more. I saw the first time and then only saw the last few steps of the second time. My parents said she walked 10 or more steps that time, but I'll say 10 to be conservative. My mom said she wasn't looking at either of them, she was just concentrating really hard on walking, going slowly and carefully and using her arms for balance. That's a pretty good description of her (few) longer walks. I didn't get pictures or videos of it, sorry.

These ARE from today, even though she's in the same room and wearing the same onesie (washed last night) as yesterday. :)

Just Me and Georgine

So Aaron's gone and so is everyone else. Today both my parents were at work all day. We had quite a snowstorm here, and I-15 was closed for about 5 hours today near where my mom works. My dad went to get her to drive her home in the pick-up. I looked down the lane to see them coming up, fast so they didn't get stuck in the huge snowdrifts. It looked funny, because my dad called someone at the end of the lane, so it looked like he was at some kind of starting line before bolting through snowdrifts. They weren't going totally straight, I could see every drift they hit, and snow was blowing up as high as the windows on the doors when they plowed through drifts. This was the view out the front window this a.m.



Georgie's main activity today was pointing. And my main activity was taking her to the things she was pointing at (or trying to encourage her to walk/crawl there herself if it was within her range). She also played with lots of moving toys today -- cars and balls. These pictures are from right after her morning nap. She was in a great mood, but I couldn't seem to get her many smiles on film. I did manage to get her cute funny post-nap hairdo, though.