A year ago....

Weeeeee!!!!

Stella took her second (but first documented by camera) bike ride on Easter. We attached the seat to the tandem, but it's a little tough for Steve to get his legs through and he has to ride a little bow-legged. So although it's pretty awesome the whole family can go on one bike, we might put it on my 1960s Schwinn to make it a bit easier. I think her smile speaks volumes - this girlie is VERY excited about riding a bike.

Stella ponders what to cook for dinner

Looks like we're having Oyster Sauce!

Camping Trip from Hades...

It all started as an innocent idea... let's go to the desert to the see the wildflowers. We certainly have had enough rain this year that they were supposed to be pretty good... and in years past, their simple beauty has stunned us. Little bright flowers growing out of sand, scree, hardly imaginable places where it seems so hot and dry nothing could grow... For example: Exhibit A, Anza-Borrego Desert, March 2008 (the last time we were out there for wildflower season):

Notice the date - March 2008. Pre-Stella and Scupper. Should that have clued us into something? Hmmm...

Saturday afternoon we made our way out to a new camping site we had not tried before. County park, dogs allowed. High of 75, low of 51. Sounded great. Here are a few pics before the battery died in the camera.

This is Stella in her Peapod, a travel crib that's basically a tent... it's pretty awesome. I read about it in a NYTimes article my dad sent me on traveling light with kids, and ended up finding one on Craigslist for a great price the next day. it fits perfectly in the back of the van and she loves being in it... or so we thought.

She also loves crawling in the pop top with Dad... Nevertheless, after Stel peed all over the van carpet when i was trying to change her (to which she squealed with delight) we had a lovely dinner, put her to bed and opened a bottle of wine... because wine always tastes better when camping, especially when the bottle was only $4.99. Steve proceeded to spill glasses of wine not once but twice all over us as he was trying to get the fire going again. (they were perched on the edge of the fire ring.) Scupper was just basically cold and annoyed and put himself to bed.

 Around 10pm, we decided to call it a night and Stella decided that sleeping was for suckers and proceeded to cry and scream until we brought her up in the pop top with us. Thinking that slumber parties with Mom and Dad are the best thing ever, she wiggled and cooed and screeched (her new found voice) for at least a hour until she finally settled in curled up around my arm. Two hours later, she woke up screaming. Screaming. Not sure why, just screaming. Considering it is whatever ungodly hour of the night and the pop top has an open screened window (and we're in the middle of a campground) I brought her below, Steve closed the pop and she proceeded to finally conk out on me, as I'm sitting up in the bench seat. We look at each other. What do we do? God knows we don't want to wake her up. Steve throws a sleeping bag over me, and I slowly slink to the floor, hoping that i can at least sleep leaning against the seat. Steve tried to "curl up" in the passenger seat in the front. Scupper, sleeping in the driver's seat, looks at both of us and wonders why we humans are so weird.
    Cut to 6:45 am. Steve has been sleeping sitting up in a seat... Aimee and Stella are on the floor of the van, half on Scupper's dog pillow,half on the van carpet that Stella had peed on previously... Stella has been blissfully asleep, wrapped in mom's arms and a downy sleeping bag, Mom, on the other hand, has been half-covered by said sleeping bag and is freezing and not sure how many body parts are asleep... wishing that she was as asleep as said body parts.
   Stella wakes up cooing, Steve and i wake up groaning. But that's ok. A few hours of interrupted sleep doesn't matter. We're going on a hike! It's ok. it's a new day....
   and then we realize we forgot to pack coffee.
   and then we think that going down an off-road trail in a 2wheel vehicle without a map of the back roads is a good idea.

This is me, digging out the van back tires with Scupper's dog bowl because the dry, dirt road gave way to a wet, sandy wash. ...
  and then Steve realized that (after getting us out of stuck sand) that he's been driving on the back roads with his emergency brake on and could have burned out the back brakes....
   and then we think that going for a hike for at least a little bit might be a good idea...
   and forget that letting Scupper off leash in the land of cactus might be a good idea... until he chases a lizard, gets a cactus stuck to his paw and tries to get the said cactus off his paw WITH HIS MOUTH.
   here's the cactus .... after Steve jammed his own arm in Scup's mouth to get the cactus out.

These are cholla cactus... Cactus balls with spikes that have barbs on the end so that when they go in, they stick. Picture this: Steve ripping cactus spikes out of the mouth, tongue, muzzle and paws of one scared pup while I hold him and tell him it's ok with Stella in a pack on my back in the middle of the desert. And then when we get as many as we could, Steve goes "take a picture of the cactus with my cell phone... you know... just cause."
    and then just when you think it can't get any worse, we get back to the van and Stella's diaper has exploded with poo all over her, the backpack, and me.

Needless to say, we hightailed it for home. Steve took Scupper to the emergency vet to get the rest of the spikes out of Scup (sedation required), and Stella and I took a long bath.

Camp site: $20
Tank of gas: $30
Emergency vet bill: $312
Camping trip you'll never forget: priceless

Easter Bunny: Creepy or Quaint?

So Easter is coming up... and all of a sudden, Steve and I had to think about how we are going to handle things with Stella. Since neither of us is religious (although Steve grew up in a church-going household) Easter does not have religious connotations for us as it does for others. So, what do we do? For me, Easter was always a time to have a nice meal with family and hunt for Easter baskets. Although I'm not into the chocolate/candy/sugar filled basket for Stella (obviously not at her age now, but maybe also not down the road?) we wonder what type of traditions to share with her.

Which brings me to the Easter Bunny. and I guess Santa Claus, the tooth fairy, et al. I'm not sure I'm totally into this whole perpetuation of creepy human-sized mythical creatures bring presents and gifts. I guess there is no way to get around Santa... but a bunny? Is there a way to turn Easter into a celebration of spring? Maybe it's a day we go the nursery and get plants, plant seeds, dig in the dirt, have a nice meal, pick flowers, whatever... something like that? I'm all about dying eggs for some reason... we used to blow out the insides and make an egg tree as a child, and I really enjoyed doing that. But perpetuating a myth about a big bunny that "bring you chocolate" seems a little much for me. Am I stupid here? Am I thinking too much in my head about this? I mean, please, you can't tell me that this is just a little weird, right?

What do YOU think about traditions? How would you/do you handle them with your child?

Stella, superkid

So I realized when i got a few comments and emails from people asking me if I was ok that i've been using this blog as a personal therapy/whining device.

Sorry about that. Most people's children's blogs should not contain random crankiness from the parents... but rather celebrate the wee munchkin, right?

So since i actually did already mention that Stella says "dog" now - I will also enjoying retelling some of her recent exploits. She is extremely flexible... maybe she learned a thing or two from all the yoga classes I took when pregnant (and never returned to... ugh). She loves to pick up things with her feet. Seriously. Loves it.

Exhibit A:

This is an easy one, but she's also adept at picking up books, blocks, and the occasional Scupper bone, although she is getting better about not putting them directly in her mouth.

She loves bathtime - and this Saturday we attend our first baby swimming class together at the YMCA. WOOHOO! I can't wait. I know it seems a bit ridiculous to take a 1 yr old to swimming class, but I've read a few things on it, and it seems if you get them used to the water early, they should be very comfortable with it by at least 2-3 years old. I had friends in college that were 20 and could not swim. I can't even image that. So in the water we go!

Besides trying to crawl and pull herself up on anything she can (today our babysitter said she tried to crawl up the dog to standing) she is learning quite a bit from her friend Anouk.

Anouk is two months older and is the daughter of a fellow grad student. We do a babysitting swap - Tuesday I take the girls and Friday she takes them. It's pretty great for them - and a free day of babysitting is great for us as well! This week she took Stella to the zoo (her first time!) and as I put her in the car seat to leave, she and Anouk started talking and cooing and smiling at each other... BBFs. Too cute. Julie said they "Talked" the whole way to the zoo. Stella learned to use a sippy cup by watching Anouk... she is starting to string lots of syllables together and offer much inflection in her voice as Anouk begins to command language better. While they still "parallel play" they enjoy each other's company, although we have to work on Stella and sharing. She's a big fan of stealing anything Anouk finds. I'm also hoping that she'll pick up all the French that Julie speaks to both of them... sadly, my high school French is just about good to speak to Anouk now, but I have a feeling that she's going to surpass me soon.

Stella also has enjoyed eating things that the "big people get." Like sharing apples, bananas and full pieces of muffin or toast. She gets VERY excited when I offer her a bite of apple. I might have to video it, it's so amusing. Let's just hope she is as excited about apples in about two years.

Well, they aren't earthshattering milestones - she's a pretty average Joe, and I'm sure everyone's child has done these things, but it's wonderful to learn and experience the world anew with her. Our babysitter is a cognitive science PhD at UCSD and she is studying brain cognition and how we start to "learn" things so being with Stella one day a week has been a joy for her as well (and I get to learn some things too!) next week we are going to film the "A-B" test with Stella for a lecture she has to do... the one where babies under the age of 1 cannot remember where you have hid the object in a new place and go to the old place even though they see you hide it... pretty cool. Maybe Stella will defy the statistics. We'll see. ;)

Wonder if THIS could get me tenure...

So over the past 6 months since Stella has been eating solids, I have been making her baby food. Not an amazing feat - I know other parents who do it/have done it, and I'm sure I'm also not the best one out there. I have, however, come up with some interesting concoctions that Stella seems to enjoy... that is, when she decides she feels like eating. Tonight, I made banana apple bran mini muffins from a baby cookbook that a friend gave me. As I was flipping through the intro, which I neglected to read a few weeks ago when I was given the book and jumped right into some of the recipes, I read that the author made stuff for her son and then gradually branched out to sell some of the items (muffins, teething biscuits, "cookies") and then published this book... which, I found later, is a pretty popular seller on Amazon.

Hmm... i think to myself. Well, I COULD DO THAT. Stella has had some pretty fun things over the past few months - and now that she's not so hot on pureed stuff, I've been even more inventive about what to feed her as far as finger food. (Did you know how many amazing things can be spread on toast? We do!) Maybe a baby food cookbook could get me tenure, what do you think? I think recipes like "lima bean/apple/carrot" and "lentil, bulgar, roasted red pepper" and "chick pea/ spinach/ pear" could count as equally as in-depth play analysis, right?Just wait until she starts helping me cook in the kitchen. That definitely is book contract number two. Cooking with your kids.. man, i'm all over it.