huh . . .

Today Doodle drew an odd shaped oval with some accessories protruding from it on the chalkboard. Mr. D asked him if it was a shark and he said, "no, it's a communal bathtub." No idea where that came from.

An amendment: My aunt told my mother that there is something called a communal bathtub on Spongebob Squarepants. Doodle has never seen that show, but I'm sure a kid or two at his school has seen it. So I asked him, where did you hear about a communal bathtub. Was it someone at school? He said, "not a communal bathtub, a commuter bathtub, like a commuter train!" Aaah, now that makes a lot more sense.

additions to the 10 month post

There are so many more things that Pancake does that I forgot to include, and I'm sure there will be more that I won't remember to include here.

She has learned how to drink water from a sippy cup. She hides her own face with a towel or her shirt and pulls it down and waits for me to say peek-a-boo! She likes to hand a toy to me, I say thank you in a certain melodic way, then I hand the toy back to her and she imitates the melody of "thank you" without actually saying the words. She imitates other sounds too -- she says bop, clicks her tongue, makes raspberry noises with her lips. She is constantly reaching her hand out and saying dat. She turns the pages of books when we're reading. She also likes to pull all of the books down off the shelf. She throws her toys short distances and regularly throws her pacifier out of the crib and then cries for me to come get it. Luckily, once she gets it back she doesn't continue to throw it.

She only has the pacifier to sleep. And since I'm on the subject, she's a great napper. I always put her down awake and she falls asleep sometimes quickly sometimes not, but almost always without crying. She talks to the animals hanging down from her mobile or to her doll or herself, but she doesn't cry. She goes to bed at night the same way. She takes a morning and afternoon nap, each of which last about two hours. I feel so lucky to have such a good baby.

new Doodle quotes

Doodle was gathering different sized blocks to put into a box and I said, "How about this one," holding one up. He said, "Yea, that looks like a good candidate."

Last week I came down with a stomach bug and was in bed the entire day on Friday. Mr. D stayed home from work and took care of the children. For dinner he heated up a Trader Joe's frozen pizza and the kids and he were eating at the kitchen table (I was still in bed). Between bites of pizza Doodle asks, "Did Mommy move?"

Believe it or not I still had the wish bone from the Christmas turkey sitting on the window sill above the sink in the kitchen, so yesterday I asked Doodle if he wanted to make a wish and pull it apart with me. He agreed and I explained what to do. I told him not to say out loud what he wished for, so he whispers, "I wish I could help Mommy make dinner every day." It was adorable and so sweet.

Running around our back yard.

Eating pizza on the train coming home from NYC.

10 months

Pancake is only two months from being one! I can't believe how old she is already. We are able to see more and more of her personality every day. She's such a sweetheart -- smiling at everyone wherever we are. Today we took the bus to and from Center City and she smiled at all of her many fans.

She waves reliably now when you say "Hi Pancake" or "bye bye" or "Pancake, wave your hand." She makes the sign for more when she wants more food, which is always, and also when she wants more of whatever game we're playing (patty cake, wheels on the bus, trot trot to Boston).

She starts physical therapy tomorrow morning. Apparently she has low muscle tone in her legs. She moves across the floor on her butt pretty well and she can push herself backwards with her hands while on her belly. She is great at putting toys into boxes or holes and pulling them back out.

She purposefully drops things on the floor and then declares "uh oh." She gestures her hand toward whatever she wants and says "dat."

Her sleeping has improved a bit, but is still not ideal. She now goes to sleep around 7:00 and wakes up between 4 and 5:30 a.m., I nurse her and then she's up for the day. I usually can't get her back to sleep until about 7:00 a.m. Luckily I have an amazing husband who takes Pancake downstairs for their new routine of eating Cheerios, rolling the ball back and forth, reading books and playing with blocks.

She's eating easier foods to prepare, like pizza crust, crackers, bananas, avocado cut into chunks.

She's a pure delight. Thank goodness we have two really great kids.