I submit to you that pigtails are cute. Especially when worn by a cute toddler, and held in place by pony tail holders of mismatched colors.
Exhibit A:
Time is running away with me again. Or perhaps running away from me, as I chase after it cartoon-like with an oversized butterfly net. In any case, I need to go to bed. But I felt like posting something. Like a picture. Oh, fine. I also wanted an excuse to post this picture. So look: pigtails.
Phoebe had a grand time on her big trip to Europe. She particularly enjoyed those times when she got to stretch her legs and walk around, which didn’t happen often enough for her. I’ve put together a short movie (less than 2 minutes) of one of Phoebe’s Paris park romps, using some footage taken by my mother.
You know how when you’re expecting a phone call, or waiting for someone to show up at the door, it’s hard to settle down and concentrate? Well, that’s how I usually feel when Phoebe’s having a nap.
Even though she usually naps for about an hour and a half, the time zips by. I get her settled, putter around for a few minutes, and usually open up my laptop. To, well…putter. Before I know it, 45 minutes have elapsed. And I think about getting to work. Knowing that I probably have only about 45 minutes.
Today, we were down at John’s parents. (We’d gone down for the weekend to get in a visit before our big trip.) The plan was to head out to the rehab center to visit John’s dad after Phoebe’s nap, and then to go directly home. So, once Phoebe was napping, my puttering included some packing and getting organized. I read some stuff online, answered a couple emails, and did some other puttering and even some work-related stuff.
It looked like Phoebe was going to have a longer than usual nap. She was upstairs, and the baby monitor was with us downstairs.
I’d started reading the new Harry Potter last night, and managed to read about 15 pages before I fell asleep. In this unexpected quiet time, the book beckoned. John was sitting reading his copy of the book. (Yes, we did buy two copies yesterday.) I commented to him that I felt like whenever I settle down to do something focused, Phoebe always wakes up. “I feel like if I sit down to read, she’ll wake up.”
After some more deliberation, and couple more minutes of quiet from the baby monitor, I decided to pick up the book. I sat down. I said to John: “Do you want to time this?”
I started to open the book.
“Waaaaaahhhhhh!!” said the baby monitor.
I slammed the book shut. And there was silence.
Tell me, how did she know?
Last night I posted a list of things teeth-oriented. Yes, a silly list. But I should have realized that teeth are no laughing matter. Now teeth want revenge, and they have launched a full-blown attack. 
Phoebe has been showing some signs of teething this week. Fairly minor. A tendency to drool, and bite and chew on things. Habits which she’s largely outgrown. There has been some tugging on the ears, and our 15-month check-up confirmed that there are no ear infections. So, teething it is. No big deal. Right?
That is until last night.
I hadn’t been prepared for an attack of “vicious canines.”
Phoebe is a good sleeper. A phenomenal night-time sleeper. (Not so great with naps.) She rarely wakes up in the night, and when she does, she can usually get back to sleep pretty quickly. But last night, just as I was going to bed, at 1:00 a.m., Phoebe woke up screaming. The long and short of it is that she just would not settle down. Did not want to be put down. At 3:00, I finally decided to just hold her, and take her into bed with me. We slept fitfully, and she woke up at 6:00. Full of energy.
I spent most of the morning lying on various floors as she played nearby. She’s been in a great mood except when she’s expected to sleep. We tried a morning nap. She was very tired, and went down in her crib with no argument. Relieved, I stumbled back to bed, and collapsed.
She slept in her crib for 25 minutes.
At this point, I threw myself on John’s mercy, who has work he needs to do today, to let me get just a little more sleep. So, happily, I am now at least partially functional.
What scares me is that the offending teeth are not even visible yet. How long will this go on?
Phoebe is making great strides in her walking skills. Also singing. And tickling. I have a few movies from earlier this week that I can’t help but share.
First, the tickling! Phoebe found a hole in John’s sock:
Second, Phoebe walks forward on cue, retracing her steps of 3 weeks earlier:
Third, my favorite. Phoebe starts off strong with singing (or possibly trying to communicate with dolphins), and showing off her stellar hand-eye coordination. But just look out for the dramatic finish.
(That last bit makes me laugh every time I watch it. As it did the first time I saw the little topple. John says that Phoebe will some day resent me for that little laugh of mine that can be heard at the end of the movie. Perhaps she will resent me, or perhaps she’ll realize that she could have a career in vaudeville.)
Anyhow, we’re down in NY once more for the weekend visiting the in-laws. The drive down was looooonnnnngggg. (So long that I am inspired to use additional non-standard orthographic elements to represent my exaggerated lengthening of the word.) Traffic was slow, leading to a 4 and half hour trip, when it usually takes 3 and a half. One extra hour doesn’t sound toooo bad. But, somebody no longer falls asleep in the car. (Oh, except for the last 5 minutes of the drive, leading her to wake up cranky and howling upon our arrival.) She (it’s Phoebe we’re talking about here, by the way, not me) seemed to need constant entertainment the whole way down. I generally sit in the back seat with her. And I sang, I danced (well, the belted, seated kind of dance), played games, recited stories, soothed, talked, sang, talked in silly voices, sang, counted toes. (Did you know that Phoebe has 5 toes on each foot? I counted them several times to make sure.) When I’d stop, we’d get screaming. (Not me, mind you.) Let me tell you, we had some Quality™ time.
But, we arrived, tired, but generally with some sanity left intact. Though my voice is feeling a bit strained today.
And here we are. John and his mother are out hunting for a new microwave, and Phoebe is napping. Later, we’ll go visit John’s dad in the hospital. (It’s a sub-acute care facility. He’s been in and out of many, many hospitals of various types since he rebroke a hip last summer.) It’s good that we’ve been able to get down here pretty often.
There’s a particularly bright star on the horizon. We are (hopefully, hopefully, hopefully) going to get to go to my favorite restaurant in the universe. It’s a little place about 40 minutes away from John’s parents’ house in a town called Pine Bush. The restaurant is called Pure City, which leads me to regularly call it Sin City. (Not to the proprietors, though.) I keep meaning to write about it. However, it may not make it’s way into this week, since this is Cheese Week. And this restaurant is 100% cheese-free. Aside from some tofu cheesecake. Does that count?
We just had a breakthrough moment. I’m sitting on one couch in the living room (doing work, believe it or not) and John is sitting across the room on the other couch. Phoebe was over playing with John. John realized he needed a tissue. The tissues were over next to me. What on earth could we do? Certainly, standing up seemed like too much effort, and it’s very hard to throw a single tissue across the room. So I held out a tissue, and asked Phoebe to come get it. She crawled over and then brought the tissue to John. Yes! (Of course, there were moments when it seemed she would opt to shred the tissue, or wander off in another direction. So the whole process was not terribly expedient.) It’s only a matter of time before we can get her to start mowing the lawn and changing the oil in our cars.
Phoebe took her first steps today. (Not counting a few inadvertent ones she’d taken over the past few weeks.) I caught a bit of her first toddling on camera. I’m happy to be able to share this beautiful Phoebe moment.
Phoebe’s a very good sleeper, and rarely wakes up in the night. But she woke up tonight a few hours after going to bed, just a little whle ago. I was actually glad. It was so wonderful to have the opportunity to hold her, comfort her, cuddle with her. I needed some comforting, too. It was hard for me to tear myself away from her, to let her go back to sleep…
collecting tokens 