Deck the halls

Hi All, We hunted, gathered, and then decorated our tree tonight. On the way to get the tree we stopped at several gaudy light displays around the neighbourhood, but Fiona wasn't as wowed as I though she would be. I think that seeing them from the warm car is not as wonderful as seeing them up close in the street at night. We go across the street to see the neighbour's lighted train display pretty often and she likes that. As for the tree in our house, Fiona helped to decorate it and there are plenty of durable ornaments down low for her to rearrange. It is likely to be a cautious week keeping her from climbing it I think.

We stopped by a friends house up the coast today. There are cows on an adjacent property and we went to say "hello" to them. Other than the county fair where the cows are pretty bored, fiona has not seen cows much. She wanted to see them when we were a little way away, but then as we got closer and the cows were full size and mooing at us, Fiona, (I was carrying her) clenched onto me with arms and legs, and quite definetly said BYE!!!!!!! to the cows, blowing them a hasty kiss as she looked away. Maybe in a few months she'll have a change of heart.

Drying Teddy

We have been pushing the potty training with Fiona and apparently this had rubbed off on her, but not in the way we would like: Yesterday she brought a dripping teddy to me she said "Teddy...poo...Gruuuuunt" and I got it, teddy had tried to poo in the toilet and his feet had accidentally touched the water in the bowl. He's drying in the sunshine today. At least we may have a chance of potty training something around here.
Louise

Grandad's Visit

Fiona's granddad Ken visited this weekend. Fiona had a good time and we went for a bike ride together and out to a great brunch place. Fiona did very well with her table manners, crayon's at the table help, she had a fruit salad and dipped each piece in whipped cream...nutritious? Fiona is wearing her warmest Jumper, It was my jumper when I was little, a few moth holes but it keeps her warm.
Love
Louise

Manamanah

Guitar Practice

Fiona has been helping me with my guitar practice as you can see. Hopefully she'll choose her own instrument one day but for the time being she shares with me.
Love
Louise

MILO

Here is fiona enjoying a spoonful of her mum's morning Milo. She finishes off by saying her name too still just "FF"

Since the last post...

No more progress on toilet training,we'll just keep up with out "fruitless" efforts and hopefully by the time she is going off to university she won't poo in her pants.

We had thanksgiving and fiona got to wear a festive dress, she helped make dinner rolls see the photo and guess which one is hers.

She has picked up a lot more words in her vocabulary her is a sampling:
Dinosaur, Milch (milk), Luna, sweep, chalk, bowl, bottle, poon (spoon), "no" is still a big one, phone, MILO, She has photos of the cousins and makes good attempts at "Charlotte, annie and Ollie" annie sounds the best. "Come" and "here" are used to get mummy to follow her into the bushes int he garden. "OUT" os often directed at Luna (I suppose we say tat a lot), she says Kiss, "Where-di-di-go" is still her hide and seek game followed bu "di-di-is" (which is "there she is").
It's fun all this language stuff.

Fiona at the moment loves to go for bike rides, play int he garden, go for walks around the block and look for cats which she tries to call by saying 'Kitty-kitty" we are rarely successful at this.
Taking her to the shops these days can be a bit challenging because there are so many things that she wants to grab. We still have yet to have a throw down tantrum in public...only a matter of time.

So, I hope you are all having a wonderful December,
Love
Louise

New hope

Yesterday I had said to Devon, I'm losing hope with this whole toilet training thing. Today, fiona at lunch time says "Poo"--no questions asked, I put her on the toilet and Viola...another poo in the potty. She's got a case of the runs at the moment so maybe the more frequent need will give us more chances. Now, that's making the best of a bad situation.

Love
Louise

Hitting the Hard Stuff

Hi All, Just a quick update about our current adventures in parenting. Fiona is talking more and more every moment. She has figured out that saying "please" gets her what she is asking for most of the time. She is putting two words together in command form like the other day at the park when she wanted me to come down from a bench I was on, she said "Mummy down" while pointing at the ground...clever girl.

She has also started hitting us during times of frustration and excitement. Any suggestions about what might work here would be helpful? We're mostly just shunning her after she hits us, game over, little time out, will this work? How long will it take?

Also please notice the picture of Fiona who has discovered the television. She managed to get the DVD going herself the other day. We had no idea she could figure that one out. She has one DVD that came in a magazine that has some Winnie the pooh and other cartoons on it. I wonder how long until she notices that it's the same 20 minute loop.

Here is her latest artwork too...

WEANED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I've been waiting for a while to post this because it has been a bit off and on: Fiona has still been breastfeeding once each morning for the past few months, but this week I think she has finally given up and realized that the milk and weetbix that await her for breakfast are far more filling than my dwindling milk supply. So, I'll finally pack away the battle worn nursing bras for good and accept that my little baby is growing up. We'll look forward to the day that she can bring us breakfast in bed. or at least look forward to her sleeping in and not needing breakfast until after 8AM. It's been wonderful to get to feed her for such a nice long time, part of me wished that it would keep going longer and part of me is jumping for joy that I'm off duty in that department.

Fiona Folding

Here is fiona folding her washing, a favourite activity.

Big Shoes, Bigger Hat

Fiona is into putting on hats and shoes. Here she is in a particularly silly hat and in her daddy's shoes.

Tiger Girl

Fiona was a tiger for Halloween. Quite a good roar out of that girl.

She's working on her talking, her new words of note: House, push, Dummy (finally), shoe, sock, two, bowl, and fish. Da is still the word she uses for yes and again. She has copied the way that we saw "where did it go" (sounds like "weah-di-di-go") and says it as one long word when she has lost something, but I don't think that it is a sentence because she isn't really putting words together on her own. We'll keep you posted.
Love
Louise

Weekend at Grammy and Grampy's house

Hi All, We had our first overnight away from fiona this weekend. Devon's parents agreed to look after her over a saturday night while we enjoyed Fiona-free camping in Big Sur (much more relaxing than our recent camping with her). This time we stayed at an amazing private property with spectacular views, even from the loo! The trip was a retreat with Devon's work, and the property belongs to our congressman, Sam Farr, who was also there. Interesting group to have grown-up conversations with. Also went surfing with friends and generally enjoyed a temporary lack of responsibility. Very nice, and very nice to get back to Fiona and all her craziness on Sunday. Below is what Fiona did while we were away, courtesy of Vicki.

SATURDAY:

After you left: distraction strategy worked, no fuss. She liked and clearly identified the glass fish in the patio.

Lunch at noon: string cheese; cottage cheese with guava sauce; small piece of bread with butter & jam; grapes, strawberries, apple; pieces of date bar; milk.

Afternoon nap: Went down nicely, slept 2:00 to 3:20.

I almost blew it by saying, when John came back from his afternoon lecture at the museum, Come to the window, look who is here! Fiona lit up, calling Mommy! But Grampy was welcomed warmly anyway.

During the day, she mentioned Mommy a few times, but not with significant distress or in any particular context. Told her that Mommy and Daddy would come tomorrow, which seemed OK.

Afternoon outing at Carmel Point was stretching it, but she enjoyed it and did fine. Didn't like Grampy disappearing with his group of students. Altogether 4:00 to 6:30 by the time we got home, but she had snacks (raisins and crackers) & water. Luna also got crackers.

Played on the beach for about half an hour, digging with the red spoon in the shelly sand and filling a plastic jar; looking a shells; climbing on the rocks.

Tired of that, we returned to the car, where Luna was waiting. Played with the steering wheel and all the buttons, great fun. [Display screens are now off; we will have to figure out how to reset them. Don't know how she did that!]

Walked a little, while waiting for John's group to return; very keen group, tho only middle-schoolers. Fiona said hi to various walkers. She really liked a spiffy-looking black convertible sports-car of some kind, wanted it! I had to explain that it wasn't ours. You need to discourage this expensive taste in cars....

Back in the carseat, Fiona indicated her left shoe, whimpering a little. Does it hurt? Yes. I took it off, and found several rocks in it! No complaints about the right one (and no rocks). So that was pretty clear. She's a good communicator.

Hungry for dinner: two big helpings of curly whole-wheat noodles with cottage cheese, cream cheese, sourcream, plus green peas. Grapes, strawberries, apple; pieces of date bar; milk.

Afterwards Fiona was clearly tired, but sweet, not cranky; puttered around happily while we made and ate a fast chicken-salad-dinner. Story, quick bath, in bed at close to 8 pm (Would Tiger like to go to bed? Yes.), went right to sleep. We have hopes of her sleeping late....

Two poo's, before and after dinner.

SUNDAY:

Moderately good night, despite some coughing, and one full-on standing wake up at 4 am. I mumbled that it was still sleepytime, laid her down, and apparently was convincing. She woke again at a few minutes before 6, rested with us for a few minutes in our bed, and then John was persuaded to be the hero (while I fell asleep until 8!).

Breakfast was Cheerios with raisins and yoghurt. Milk. Fluoride.

Stinky big poo after breakfast. A little irritated; put vaseline.

We all went for a walk on the rec trail with our hats and Luna, and were told we were "a picture." Lots of fun watching the boats, people and dogs, but especially climbing on the benches and drawing in the sandpath.

More milk, a story, nap from almost 10 am to 11:10.

Woke up happy. Many big smudgy kisses on Daddy's photo. Puttered. Helped Grammy with the flowers, dusting. Crayons.

Lunch at 1 pm, because earlier she insisted that she wasn't hungry. More noodles, etc., fruits, date bar, milk.

Another poo. A little irritated; put vaseline.

Outside with Grampy, building the chicken-house. Visiting with the Tom's and with Ranger, good time.

Milk, story, nap 2:45.

3:30, Devon & Louise home!

Shoes On

Here is Fiona putting her new shoes on. Quite grown up!

This news just in....

A miracle has occurred at 79 Alta Vista Drive:

Just a few minutes ago Fiona was standing at her toy basket fishing things out from the depths. She got a stern expression on her face and looked up at me (practicing guitar nearby). She patted the front of her nappy with her hand, and I asked the obvious: "Do you need to do a poo?" She nodded looking more concerned by the second. I raced her off to the toilet pulling her clothes off as we ran. We made it in time, and Fiona sat, had her poo, and reaped the reward of getting to flush it herself.
Maybe there is some hope in this potty training...
Love
Louise

PS: there was no time for a photo of this incident.

Small victory

Lately Fiona has mostly given up on her potty as seen in previous posts but instead has decided that the regular toilet is more her style. She asks to use it by tapping on it's lid or walking up to me and grunting then running to the toilet. Pretty clear. Anyway, until this morning this resulted in me holding her bare bum over the bowl while she grunted or just tried to get her hand into the water. Jump to Today, I figured it would be more of the same, pulled her PJ's off put her over the bowl and then VICTORY!!! A real poo in the potty. We celebrated and then watched it circle the bowl on the way out to sea. Her best reward is getting to do the flush part.

Wheels on the Bus with Capo

Here's Fiona's favourite You Tube video. Now that Louise is taking guitar lessons, she will soon be able to play this for Fiona all day long! Until then, maybe Uncle Nick and Auntie Nikki can help Uncle Jonathon make a video of him playing this???"

"F F" Fiona

Make two "F" sounds in rapid succession...that's how Fiona says her name. Here she is hoping to spend some quality computer time watching You Tube videos.

A walk in the woods

We took fiona on a long walk with friends Chris and Kate, at a local park this weekend. She did very well but preferred to walk on her own than be carried. She rode in the back pack with Devon for a good portion, and then we made the mistake of letting her out. Getting her back in was challenging and as you can see she protested. She loved the forest though, It was cool after our first rain of the season, lots of rocks and sticks and acorns to collect along the way.

PS fiona has learned finally over the last couple of weeks to say MAMA(actually pronounces it "mumum") and uses it well. This will get her far in life.

Lovely Girl

Here's our favourite baby being her sweet wonderful self. Currently however, she is teething. Sleeping through the night seems to be a bit rare at the moment. Some nights we have thought it was because she was hungry, hot, cold, wet, full, lonely, tonight we believe it is teeth and are trying some western medicine on her (tylenol/oragel). Most bad nights recently we have just gotten up, made her warm, cooled her down, stuck her onto her mum, given her a sip of water (which to her is like having candy, she loves it) , but generally cuddling in with us has worked though we get less sleep then. We'll keep you posted on how the sleeping saga goes, we hope to be back on track soon. Very soon.
Love
Louise

Inevitable

We knew this day would come: Brown Trout swimming with the turtles in Lake Bathtub.

Show Me Your Teeth

This is one of fiona's latest tricks...Say "Show me your teeth" and this is what you get. Beautiful, isn't she.

Wonderful Grapes

We are just back from a weekend camping in Sonoma, near the Russian River. It was a beautiful weekend, but we are still not convinced of Fiona's suitability as a camping partner. This weekend it seems she has become afraid of the tent. So, not as much sleep as we would have liked but we made up for that with lots of fun. We picked grapes for homemade wine with friends and enjoyed canoeing at the lake and a swim there with Fiona. She got to touch some little fish caught by our friend Morgan. She threw frisbee for a very motivated border collie who didn't mind that the longest throw was only a couple of feet. As you can see by the photos, Fiona had a good time eating Cabernet Grapes... Merlot ones too, but we didn't take pictures there.

The drive home found us scrambling to find her a dummy (pacifier) we had two with us on the trip up and none with us on the trip home, We found that the Safeway in Novato is well stocked with her prefered type. She slept for a while after the dummy diversion, we drove home across the Golden Gate bridge and through San Francisco and down the coast, Fiona woke up in Half Moon Bay where Devon used his Daddy navigational Skills to find a wonderful park where we could take a break from the car.

Home again last night Fiona became the wonderful sleeper we know and love.

Our car loaded up and ready to go.

Fiona and Louise in the vines.

Riding ont he "tractor" picking up the bins of grapes.

Sneaking another grape...

First Sprinkler Day

Here is Fiona Playing in the sprinkler in the front yard for the first time. She loves water for drinking, bathing and playing.

Davenport

We had a family trip to the beach this morning at Davenport north of Santa Cruz. Fiona Devon, and I had slept in a little and so we risked getting off the usual nap schedule leaving after breakfast. It was a little cold but that doesn't stop Fiona from rolling around in the sand. As usual the best toys were rocks and dry seaweed and even a long pelican feather. Luna lolled about as she does and Devon went kayaking. Back home now and Fiona flopped into bed to sleep. Simple pleasures.

New Teeth

I'm pretty sure that Fiona has three more teeth now, but when I ask to look at them or feel them I get a resounding "No" from her. I've caught a couple of glimpses, so I think we are up to a grand total of 7 teeth. This morning she's walking around with a necklace on and talking on the phone. Busy, sophisticated girl.

Talking more and more

Even though Devon still doesn't think she articulates well, Fiona is trying really hard to talk recently. Here are some of her words with translations:

Dada = daddy
Dada = mummy
digiiiiiiii = dog (usually said at earpiercing pitch)
Dada = Dummy (pacifier)
hoool = hole
oooow = owl
dat = bat
poo = poo (good job fiona)
poo = pool
dat = date one of her favourite foods still
aaa = car
dahdah = Buddah

Hopefully we'll have some new words to post soon.
Love
Louise

Mum and Dad's big day out

Hi all, Still doing well here...We took advantage of John and Vicki this last weekend to leave fiona for an afternoon and add a little kayaking to our life again. Not the whitewater that devon would have liked. actually quite flat, we went kayaking off of Monterey and had a blissful time followed by a wonderful lunch where neither of us had to pretend to be a tiger and take a big bite of lunch "a la fiona." At john and Vicki's ther ewas a bit of screeching about the nap. but we think that they'll have her back again despite it.

Take care,
Louise

Beach Bums

Today was a beautiful day in Santa Cruz...as good as it gets really. No fog, warm and sunny, gentle waves lapping at the beach. We took Fiona for a play at the beach after her afternoon nap. Everyone was in a good mood. We rode our bikes there.
Of course the day started off well for Fiona getting a little reading in unencumbered by her potty. This happens to be The Comic News she's reading and Fiona is wearing her new blue backpack (thanks Grammie)
After this and a couple of meals and naps we were off to the beach here are a few pictures:

Big Day

Hi All, it was a big day here, two very short naps and a trip to the used baby store and the pool. I don't have pictures of most of it but Devon cam e home from work and took over on the baby duty. I sat. Needed it. He got to read "Siesta" and play with the puzzle. Fiona is not too adept yet with the puzzle, has a bit of trouble lining things up but generally knows where the animals should be.
As for the books, she has quite a library and brings certain books depending on her mood. Some she is looking for certain things on each page and others she just has a favourite page that she jumps to every time.

Here are some pictures:



Puzzle
THis is fiona's self portrait, she pushed the button.

Hungry Gorilla

Recently, Vicki brought over a calendar for Fiona to see pictures of of gorillas. This one is of a gorilla signing that it wants to eat. When Fiona looks at the picture she responds to it by giving her own sign that tells us that she is hungry. Empathy. I'm not sure, but she sure seems brilliant to me.
Here is Fiona from this morning taking advantage of Devon who was lying on the floor not reading, she climbed up on him with her nappy in his face, and put the book in his hands. Subtle eh! I'm not sure if Devon could see much of what he was reading but Fiona babbled along with the turning pages in a sing-song voice not much in the way of words but reading none the less.

Snakes!

Fiona keeping busy riding in her ar seat with a collection of toys.
Fiona riding on Devon's Back while chasing snakes inland from Pescadero with our Friends Jeff and Melissa. Fiona got to touch a snake and a lizard (not the rattlesnake!!!), We kept her out later than responsible parents really should have, but it was a wonderful place and the company was good.

More soon.

Redwoods

I don't have a photo of yesterday but here is what we did. We had a wonderful time. We took Fiona on her first (on foot) hike in the redwood forest. It was wonderful. Giant Redwood trees reaching up into a summer evening sky...The smell of redwood dust mixed with the scent of the laurel trees warmed by the setting sun riding on a gentle breeze from the ocean. Devon and I have hiked that trail lots of times together but walking with Fiona between us holding a finger from each of us we felt so lucky. She made a point to step on every rock in the trail, picked up sticks, occasionally teetered towards the poison oak(making me nervous), she tossed stones into the creek, pointed into her ear as she listened for birds, and squealed with delight at the other dogs on the trail or when Luna rejoined us after a jaunt through a meadow...and then Fiona had to rush home and go right to bed.

I hope you are all well,
Love
Louise

V Day

So today Fiona was wandering around in the yard (naked as a jay bird) when she stopped, grabbed her potty, and placed it carefully in front of a good patch of flowers. She sat down, without putting her feet in the bowl, and after a couple of minutes VOILA....her first solo, poo in the potty. We had a small celebration before sending it down the toilet, this may be the start of something. we'll keep you posted.

First Artwork

Hi All, life bustles right along with fiona honing her walking skills. She has recently taken to turning in circles as if to make herself dizzy, she walks backwards and sideways, and is getting increasingly proficient at opening doors and cupboards. Here is her first foray into the art world.
I can see that we are going to need a place to keep her pictures soon, the fridge just won't be big enough!
love
Louise

Cherry Plum Bum

Hi All, we are in the warm lovely days of June when the cherry plum tree in our back yard produces fruit. Last year the crop was poor, affected by a late freeze and wind storm, this year it made up for that by producing a bumper crop. We collect them in huge buckets and are processing them as fast as we can. Devon is about to resort to fermenting them. As it turns out Fiona loves cherry plums too. Her bum however has a little problem with the after effects of lots of acid fruit. It s difficult to keep her away from them as they are all over the house and yard. As you can see she helps herself, pits and all. I suppose that it's good that she likes fruit so much. Just wish she was old enough to help with the pitting.

Love
Louise

Fiona in the morning

Lately we have been enjoying sleeping in more often, don't get us wrong, Fiona still wakes up at sparrowfart but we have a trick: Stock the farthest places in the house with the most loved toys, and in the morning when she is itching to get onto the bed and rub books into your face remind her gently that her penguin, her ant, the ball, nay Luna is in need of finding and off she goes for a few minutes allowing her parents to eek a few more minutes of sleep out of the night.
We hope you're getting more sleep than us,
Love
Louise