Skipping Town

Today we concluded our church adventure by getting Lucia baptized and participating in our third wedding ceremony. Yes, that’s right—third. More on that in a moment. Mom and Dad arrived late last night and were, of course, thrilled to see the baby bright and early this morning. We drove to the church for our 9:30 appointment with the deacon. After Andrew and I got married again, at the altar, we proceeded to the back of the church to the baptismal font. Lucia was a model baby for the baptism, looking up curiously as the deacon poured the water over her head without so much as a peep. She looked adorable, if I do say so myself, in a little white dress and white sweater Mom picked out for her. She also has a new bonnet. It is officially too much. And Lucia is now, in my dad’s words, officially churched. Whether we or she pursues anything further on this Catholic path remains to be seen; but I’m glad we’ve given her a jumping-off point for whatever she chooses in the future. So, yes, our ...

The food adventure has begun. Yesterday for lunch, Lucia had some steamed, pureed organic carrots. She gamely opened her mouth for the first bite, expecting, I think, the usual rice cereal; the look on her face was one of shock and confusion at first, but then her doubtful grimace gave way to a smile. She liked them! Yesterday also brought another first: the first time Andrew handled bedtime by himself. I went to a breastfeeding support group from six to eight, so Andrew was on his own for the evening, as well as bath, feeding, and putting to sleep. He took her on their nightly "nature walk" around the backyard (a tactic that seems to keep the evening Fusskins at bay), and then went through the whole routine. It was a great success; he said she kept looking around for me, but she was fine and went to sleep easily. A big day for a little baby.

Honey Baby, My Little Baklava, Sweetums, Sweet Pea, Sweetheart, Baby One, You’re six months old today—six months! As your Aunt Molly pointed out, I’m now 1/36th of the way through my mandatory eighteen years of care. Don’t worry; you haven’t driven me to a countdown. With the exception of yesterday and other days here and there, caring for you has gotten much easier. Again, with the exception of yesterday (who needed to nap? not this baby!), we have our daily routine down, more or less, to a science. From mornings spent screeching in bed while I take my shower, to tummy time while I wolf down some oatmeal, to our reading sessions on the couch, walks around the neighborhood, and hours of playtime as the day goes on—with nursing and two naps in between—we manage to get through the days smoothly and enjoyably. You’re generally pleasant and fun to be around, especially since you seem to be learning new things and changing every single day. This month, you added some new sounds to your repe...

The drive from Lodi to Napa this weekend was so pretty it almost made one happy to live in NorCal. It’s a beautiful time of year here—the “winter” has more or less ended, as has the rainy season, and the days are sunny, blue-skied, and warm. The oppressive summer heat is still many weeks away, leaving us with a protracted springtime that truly is lovely. Everything is green right now—lush and fresh—and as we drove along Route 12 on Sunday we wound through rolling green hills dotted with windmills and flocks of grazing black and white sheep. Lodi is extremely rural, with acre upon acre of vineyards producing exceptional zinfandel; we’ve heard that the area bakes intensely in the summer, leaving the grapes to struggle for water and creating a very concentrated fruit. Right now the vines are still bare, and the fields are scattered with yellow mustard flowers and bright orange California poppies. By the time we arrived in Napa, the late afternoon was growing cool. We sat outside in sweate...

This weekend, which was sunny and gorgeous, I introduced a new item into Lucia’s wardrobe: a bonnet. This bonnet, white with lace and ruffles and little pink roses, was a gift from a wonderful family friend, and I’d been eagerly awaiting spring weather so I could put it to use. First, she wore the bonnet to the farmer’s market on Saturday morning. We had to walk down a busy road to get to the entrance, past a long line of cars waiting to pay their entrance fee, and several people leaned out their car windows to exclaim over the baby in her bonnet. Inside the market, a clearly crazy woman approached Andrew, waving her arms and asking in a loud voice, “IS IT REAL? IS IT REAL? IT LOOKS LIKE A DOLL.” Sunday, we drove south to Lodi to meet up with a cousin of mine in the area from Seattle. We had a little time to kill beforehand, so we went to a winery—Lodi is a major part of wine country. Lucia was wearing a little spring dress, and the bonnet, and I was carrying her in the Bjorn. When we ...

We’ve been sleeping. The past two nights have been a dramatic improvement over the days before; she’s been waking up only twice--around midnight and around five. We’ve been able to soothe her without picking her up or feeding her at the first wakeup, and then I feed her at the second. We moved her bassinet away from my bedside, to the other side of our bedroom, so perhaps that was the key. Who knows? Now if we can just dissuade her from that first wakeup, we’ll be on the road to a baby who sleeps through the night. Needless to say, we feel much more human. And it was an eventful week. We had our final “marriage class” on Tuesday, with the deacon; we had to do homework beforehand, which involved choosing a conflict and going through a ten-step process to resolving it, as well as defining financial and other goals. In our session we discussed these things, handed over my baptismal certificate and some witness forms, and that was that. The baptism, and our marriage ceremony, will be on Ma...

We’ve simultaneously turned a corner and backtracked dramatically this week. On the bright side, Lucia now loves rice cereal, and she’s suddenly a pro at eating from a spoon. We took a week or so off from solids and started up again when we got back from San Francisco—and it was a completely different story this time. Lucia now opens her mouth like a little bird as she anticipates the spoon, and she does a happy little wiggle whenever she’s ready for another bite. She does spit out a little cereal as she works to swallow it, but not much, and she’s been finishing every serving I prepare for her. And (knockknockknockknockknockknock on wood) she’s been a stellar nurser. As far as eating goes, we have a model baby. Not so for sleeping. Lucia has now reverted to newborn-style sleep, waking up every hour or two all night and crying inconsolably. Andrew and I are zombies, unsure what to do and horrified at the prospect of having to do anything except comfort her when she’s upset. At the same...

Another nice day in San Francisco. The weather has been gorgeous—blue skies, lots of sun, just cool enough for a coat. Perfect weather for sitting outside in Union Square and strolling around the city blocks. This morning I walked with Lucia to an outdoor café right on the square and had a pastry; then we returned to the hotel for a wonderful two-hour nap (Lucia) and some reading (me). Andrew had a break for lunch, so we got bagel sandwiches at a deli and ate them outside on the square. After a quick return to the hotel so Lucia could have her own lunch (nursing in public just does not work with this little one—she gets way too distracted, even with my nursing cover; she winds up twisting it around in her fists, trying to eat it, entangling both of us), she and I took a walk to the Container Store, where, as usual, I bought a few small plastic boxes. You can never have too many! Lucia fell asleep while we were walking around, right on schedule for her afternoon nap—but sudden city nois...

During my last few months in NYC, after Andrew moved to Barcelona and before I joined him there, I spent my Sunday mornings alone. I’d wake up in my beautiful, sunlit Park Slope apartment, get dressed, walk to the newsstand across the street to by a Times, walk down one block to the muffin bakery, buy a cup of coffee and a muffin, and then sit in the narrow, charming bakery and read the entire paper. Bliss. I miss those days—not the alone part, of course (though I never minded that), since Andrew and Lucia are the best kind of constant company—but the city-ness of it, the easy routine that wove home life and city life into one seamless, happy swaddle. We have our routines in Roseville, too, good ones—picking up the Times from our front porch; going to the farmer’s market—but the all-in-the-neighborhood nature of our previous New York life is, of course, lacking. For four days this week, though, I get to experience it all again. I’m currently in San Francisco—Andrew has a big conference...

On Thursday, Lucia’s five-month birthday, Andrew and I attempted to introduce Lucia to rice cereal. It did not go well. As I mixed a half-tablespoon of the cereal with some warm breastmilk, I nearly gagged; it looked disgusting, like thin, watery gruel. I certainly wouldn’t want to eat it—I don’t even like oatmeal—but we sat Lucia in her Bumbo chair on the table, clasped a little bib around her neck, and feigned enthusiasm as I aimed an infant spoon at her mouth. The look on her face as I tilted a tipful of cereal onto her lips was one of, first, surprise, then revulsion, and then horror. With a pained look, she pushed the food out of her mouth. We tried a couple more spoonfuls, with the same result. Then she began to scream and attempted to writhe out of her chair. A hysterical baby was the result of our first solid-food experiment. We’ve fared no better now that we’re four days into it. I don’t think it’s the taste—after she gets upset I’ve been putting the cereal into a bottle, and ...

I was browsing in a local kids' consignment shop yesterday and found a cute green sweater I thought Lucia might like. But when I took it off the rack, I noticed a large tag inside: KEEP AWAY FROM FIRE. I snorted out loud. I wonder if there are any parents out there who need to be reminded--nay, told even once--to keep their baby's clothes (and, of course, the babies themselves) away from fire. It's a scary and ridiculous thought. I put the sweater back, though. Anything that comes with a warning like that seems just a bit too much on the flammable side for comfort.

Little Lucy, You’re five months old today! Growing so fast, yet still such a tiny baby. You’ve had personality since the moment you were born—but it’s coming through so dramatically now, in your screeches and raptor calls, in your beaming, dimpled smile. You certainly have a mind of your own, which drives me crazy sometimes; but your stubbornness and occasionally irrational behavior makes you, I suppose, your mother’s child. You’re getting very good at a variety of things these days, such as grasping toys in your hands, supporting your weight on your feet when we hold you up, kicking your legs high into the air, grasping hanging toys with your toes, and studying things intently as you hold them in front of your eyes. But your forte—the area where you really excel right now—is chewing. You chew on everything and anything; no toy, no finger, no shoulder, no sleeve, no blanket is safe. Sometimes, when I hold you against my shoulder, you’ll open your mouth wide and start chewing on my chin...

Our baby, our precious baby, decided to sleep very little this weekend. Friday night, she woke up twice during the night to eat, then decided that 5am would be a great time to wake up for good. Andrew took her downstairs to play; she was ready for a nap by 7, so we got another hour or so of sleep, but we felt like zombies as we drove down to Napa to visit Beth and Nate. Fortunately, they, too, had had a difficult family sleep night, so we were all just a little sleepy together. Enjoying a lovely lunch in the sunshine seemed to help a lot. It was a perfect day to drive to Napa—sunny and warm, with the hills a beautiful green dotted with yellow mustard flowers. In just a couple of months this verdant landscape will be nothing more than deathly parched straw; but for now, the rainy season we’ve had made for a very nice drive. Lucia seemed happy to be there too, even giving big smiles to the Clarks instead of the sober, wary stare she usually gives people who aren’t Andrew or me. Sunday sh...