Wonder Twins

Gretchen's friends may notice that Betty's outfit looks familiar...yes, Betty is wearing her two-months-younger cousin's hand-me-downs. Betty was, last I checked, in the 25th percentile on weight. Gretchen is, if I recall correctly, in the 90th-something. Betty is a master roller-over and can almost crawl, but she's wobbly at sitting and has no ability to stand whatsoever. Gretchen has yet to master rolling over but (I saw it with my own eyes) she can stand up with very little assistance. If they combine their skills they are pretty much a textbook 7 or 8 month-old right smack in the middle of the weight charts.

Wonder Twins? Maybe. It reminds me more of a scene from Ghostbusters, regarding the Keymaster and the Gatekeeper: Peter: We have to get these two together. Egon: I think that would be extraordinarily dangerous.

Dr. Livingston I Presume?

Betty had a great Thanksgiving break! She got to meet her cousin Gretchen for the first time as well as her great-grandparents. She also made some major progress toward crawling. In fact, she might be crawling even as I type this. That's why I'm going to keep this post short--gotta get to work so I can go back home and play with Betty. I'm also going home for dinner at a normal hour. Since Betty arrived on the scene, Steele and I have been eating dinner at 9 or 10 at night, after she's gone down. Yesterday we started her on peas, and we decided that it's time to quit eating in front of the TV in the middle of the night. Now we are instituting a family dinner time where everyone sits at the table and eats their veggies. Including Daddy.

For videos of Betty trying to crawl and of Betty eating peas, see my facebook page.

I'll post more pics from Thanksgiving later when I have more time to sort through them and pick the good ones.

And congratulations to Jeff and Millie on the birth of Stella Grace!

Breakin Out

Here's Betty in her cozy pants and a plain white T, coolin' her heels. She had a big day: a committee meeting with Mommy, office hours with Daddy, and then her 6-month photo shoot at WalMart with Mommy and Daddy. Technically we still have one or two weeks to go before the big 6-mo (depending on how you calculate it), but I wanted to beat the Christmas rush. The photos turned out really well (much better than last time!), but since we are giving some away as Christmas presents, I don't want to post the link just yet. One thing I thought was pretty funny was how much today's pictures look like my baby pictures! (That's me below)

We've been very busy lately, and are really looking forward to Thanksgiving break. I'll be taking the rest of the week off--from dissertating, from teaching, from grading, and from blogging. All I want to do for the next few days is eat, drink, and play with Betty. We'll be back online Sunday or Monday with Thanksgiving pics. We hope everyone has a great Thanksgiving!

10th Time's the Charm

"They" say you have to feed a baby a new food up to 10 times before she starts to enjoy it.









Oh boy! Something fun to chew on! Gimme!








This is gonna be great!










I can't wait!





Hey...what's the big idea??? This is the same crap you've been trying to give me all week.

Hep Cat

Why is Betty wearing sunglasses indoors? Because she is cool, that's why!

Leaps and Bounds

Betty had a long nap today and may be transitioning to a new schedule of fewer but bigger bottles and naps. I'm not surprised, considering all the other upgrades she's installed recently. This week she has managed to grow teeth, roll/scoot toward toys, get on her knees, outgrow several pairs of pj's, look for stuff she's dropped, and start saying "ma," "da," and "ba." (You can see a video of her "talking" if you go to my facebook page).

Tessa has also made progress. In the background of this pic you can see Tessa's crate, covered in a tarp. She's been living in the carport for exactly three weeks. We finally brought her in tonight. I wouldn't go so far as to say she smells good (she is, after all, a dog) but she smells good enough to come back in the house. Her face is still a little skunky, her collars unwearable, and she reeks of Skunk Off (which smells like fake grapes), but we are glad to have the pack back together.

Blanket Fail

Today's post is an illustration of why Betty uses a sleep sack instead of a blanket:

Research Assistant

Betty stopped by this evening to say hello while I was trying to catch up on my grading. That white blob in the background is a glimpse at what is, despite appearances, a highly sophisticated filing system.

In olden times people had children so that there would be extra people to help work the farm. As soon as Betty is old enough I'm going to put her to work grading papers and tracking down bibliographic citations. I'm totally not kidding.

When the Cat's Away

Sorry for the delay...once again the rain crippled our internet connection.

The Daily Betty is a team effort. Often Steele takes the pics while I'm at work, and I come home, pick one, upload it, and write the text. Usually the pics in the camera tell a story. Sometimes, like today, I see the pic and I have no idea what those two were up to while I was at work. Betty likes to put her toys on her head, so I would be willing to believe that she did this herself, but I suspect Daddy was just being silly.

Say Cheese

If I tried to take a pic of Betty's new teeth I'd never succeed. As faithful readers of The Daily Betty know, she tends to stick her tongue out when she smiles, and it blocks the view. This pic, which shows the little pearly nubs in all their glory, was somewhat by accident. I was just playing around and forgot to turn the flash off. The red eye reduction caught her by surprise, stopped her mid-smile, and I ended up with a clear shot of her gums.

I feel like I've mentioned this before, but, in case Joe sees it and freaks out, that tiger paw on her bib is a Hampden-Sydney paw.

We're Gonna Need a Bigger Boat

This baby has figured out how to get up on her knees.

Dr. Teeth and the Electric Mayhem

I have a Christmas cactus that has the annoying habit of blooming whenever I go out of town.

Betty did much the same thing. We've been speculating for some time about whether or not she is teething. She shows all the signs: chewing on things, drooling, being a little fussier than normal, etc. Well, as of today you can see that her two middle bottom teeth are definitely coming in!

When I got home I felt like I'd missed a huge chunk of time, even though it was only three days. She's walking, talking, and Steele put her to work outside, raking leaves. Okay, maybe that's a slight exaggeration.

Simulacra Fever!

Here's a rare shot: Betty about to sneeze! It's unlikely that she's actually allergic to the non-existent pollen of her flowers toy--but then again, if her nose is convinced the flowers are the real thing, then it hardly matters whether they are or aren't!

The Long Twilight Struggle

Betty is usually pretty tired by the end of a day, and between the hours of 5 and 8 she gradually gets fussier and fussier. As a result, that time usually consists of a series of elaborate distractions, including exciting trips to Wal Mart or the grocery store. Other times it just consists of more playtime. Here's one of those times. Betty struggles to get closer to her singing sea-horse, but by pushing with her arms she only pushes herself farther and farther away from her goal the more she tries to reach it. (Somewhere in all that are important lessons about life and Newtonian physics.)

Pirate Radio

Here Betty chats with Mommy, who's away for the next few days taking care of one or two dissertation-related things. Verna's being out of town means that Betty and Daddy get to take over the DB for a few days--and boy have we got big plans. Big plans! For now, though, we're happy to have successfully uploaded today's post, given the terrible weather.

Hidden Talents

I read yesterday that a five-month-old baby should probably be able to sit upright supporting herself with her arms. At first I was worried because I thought there was no way Betty can do that yet. But today Steele propped her up, and, as it turns out, she totally can! She tips over without warning, but we're very impressed with this new skill.

Ridin

They see me rollin
They sniffin
Tryin to find out if my diaper's dirty
Tryin to catch me ridin dirty
Tryin to catch me ridin dirty
Tryin to catch me ridin dirty
Tryin to catch me ridin dirty

With apologies to Chamillionaire and Weird Al

Zero Meter Freestyle

It would be hard to describe Betty's new "swimming" moves with only one photo. She pushes herself up on her arms as high as she can go and then releases, balancing on her belly and waving her arms and feet. She does this just for the fun of it sometimes, but she also does it when a toy is out of reach. She wants to crawl, and we will be proud of her when she does, but I have to admit that right now I'm glad she's stuck in one spot. Babyproofing is a project for Christmas "break."

Yo Gabba Gabba

My name is Betty and I like to dance!

Betty loves it when we hold her up and bop her from side to side while saying "doot doot doo, doot doot doo-doot."

Long Row to Hoe

There are lots of pics lately of Betty on her tummy, pushing up on her arms. Doing pushups is currently her main hobby. This pic was taken right before we went out (hence the hat) to the Food Lion to buy steaks and a bottle of Red Bicyclette rosé wine. Ooh la la, you might be saying. An $8.99 bottle of wine! Must be a special occasion. You would not be wrong.

Today I emailed the fifth and final chapter of my dissertation to the committee chairs. Now, don't get too excited. I still have to finish the intro and conclusion, revise the thing, defend it, revise it again, send it out for format review, and jump through a bunch of bureaucratic hoops. All this will take me at least three more months--but still, yay! And if anyone is curious how having a baby affected my progress, I honestly think I finished faster and with a better project. Any minute spent away from Betty is time I'm not going to waste.

Skills Set

Today Betty is five months old! Let's recap: she can sleep though the night, hold her head up, push up on her arms, sit supported, roll over both ways, suck on her toes, grab things, make various talking sounds, smile, laugh, hold her bottle, and recognize Mommy and Daddy. She likes her "Heffalump" elephant toy best, and she doesn't care for overalls or rice cereal. She's interested in Tessa (or was anyway). She prefers music to NPR. She likes her bath. She smiles at the camera. She loves to dance. She is a joy!

Karma Chameleon

I thought this was a picture of Betty, but all I see is the red monkey. Very mysterious.

Helping Hand

Daddy was busy washing dishes and couldn't supply real hands for Betty to gnaw on, and in the high chair she can't get to her feet, so these synthetic ones will have to do.

Utthita Hasta Padangusthasana

Betty's feet continue to fascinate her. I almost posted a pic of her with her foot in her mouth, but it was so weird-looking I decided to go with this one instead. More Rockette, less Ashtanga yogi.

Aftermath

Tessa is still living outside in a cardboard box and probably will be for some time. We've ordered various de-skunking products over the internet that should arrive in the next few days. Most of the inside of the house smells OK now, though you still catch a whiff every now and then--especially if you've been gone for a while. The front porch is the one thing that still reeks. Today Steele and Tray put charcoal under the porch and in the cellar to absorb the odors. Here Tray pauses for a chat with Betty, who, as far as we can tell, has not been bothered by the skunk adventure. And she and Tessa had just started to be such good friends too. It's sad!

Le Mew, Le Help

This may be the most erratic week of The Daily Betty ever. This pic is a little blurry, but it's all I've got. I think it's cute because Betty is apparently cheating on her boyfriend. (Also that light up seahorse, by some strange twist of fate, plays most of our wedding music, which is both charming and creepy).

Am I making any sense today? No? Well, you'll have to forgive me since THE ENTIRE HOUSE SMELLS LIKE A SKUNK. I could describe it, but trust me on this one. And no, I'm not going to put tomato juice on anything. Steele is, as I write, at the Lowes buying charcoal, bleach, and a tarp. He ought to buy a shovel and a fake moustache while he's at it cause the items in his cart aren't suspicious enough. And poor Tessa is out in the rain, not knowing why we won't let her near us. She's spending the night in a cardboard box. So yeah, today's Daily Betty is a little blurry. DEAL WITH IT.