Beyond Thunderdome

Betty and one other baby were all that remained today in the infant room. Three more babies went home sick during the day. While Betty napped and the other baby sat in his swing they bleached all the toys, but it may be too little too late. Some of the sick babies had already been sick last week, which means this might be another bug. Great.

When we started day care in January, we had heard that Betty would catch every bug that came along. We were super lucky that she really only ever caught one (bad, lingering) cold...until now. But still, World. Come. On. The first week of summer vacation? That's not a wee bit cruel? Let me remind you, World, that I was too sick to celebrate my dissertation defense back in Feb. Remember that? I do.

Here's Betty, delighted to be on her evening walk (after lots of screaming and woe at the dinner table). She is almost fully photosynthetic.

It Girl

Betty returned to school today--only to find that many of her classmates and two of her teachers weren't there. She's a trendsetter! In related news, I realize that there's a very small window of opportunity for me to dress Betty in whatever I choose, no matter how weird or dorky. Like this hat for instance, which is almost certainly the ugliest hat ever made. (I think Grandma got it free from Babies R Us). Even when it's on right--especially when it's on right--it looks ridiculous.

The Sky Is Falling!

I took Betty to the doctor today because she still doesn't have her appetite back. I'm glad I did. He assured us that Betty is fine, and it was good to know that when she suddenly started shrieking an hour after going to bed. Betty has been a great sleeper, so this was extremely unusual.

We offered a bottle, various teethers and a hot water bottle; we checked her fingers and toes, checked in her diaper, and took her temperature in several locations; we called Uncle Clay (because...um, I dunno); we even tried letting her watch a few minutes of The Office (TV is usually verboten). Basically we ran around like idiots while waiting for the doctor to call us back. He seemed totally unimpressed with our panic and OK'd some Tylenol for teething (two canines and her fourth bottom tooth--ow). Right now she's lying quietly in her crib. Though I'm sure teething is terrible if you're the one with the sore gums, I hope it's "just" teething. All those people I quizzed while pregnant ("What's the worst thing about parenthood?") were right: The worry. Is. Excruciating.

P.S. Look! She's standing!

Sick Bay

Whatever Betty has made its way South and started exiting through the other door. I called the doctor today and they said to keep offering fluids and to bring her in tomorrow if she's not well, which, unless she is 100% better first thing tomorrow, I will definitely do. Meanwhile, Steele is sick now too. Miraculously, he got up and taught this morning, but otherwise he's been in bed all day. I guess I'm next.

Betty and I just played quietly all day. Here she is reconnecting with an old friend: the musical sun that was so calming to her when she was about 3 months old. I never bother to turn it on anymore, but I did today and she smiled when she heard those old familiar tunes.

On the Mend

Betty seems to be doing better, but she still has no appetite. She feels well enough to be bored though. With every room in the house in disarray thanks to the impending move, the only room safe to play in is her nursery. With 2 days of weekend and then no daycare today, well, she was pretty tired of being in there and so were we. So after her nap we went up to the playground at the church near our house. We didn't get much playtime in because it soon started to rain, but it was fun while it lasted.

Technicolor Yawn

In my literature classes I often talk about foreshadowing. If a character in a film or a novel coughs for no apparent reason early in the story that character is going to die of tuberculosis. You'd think I could apply this critical eye to my own life, but alas, I cannot.

Had I been watching a sitcom in which a baby takes an exceptionally long nap (we're talking 3+ hours here) and then had pizza for dinner, well, I would have rolled my eyes and said, "That baby is going to vomit." And yet I blogged merrily yesterday about exactly these things.

Betty apparently has a touch of a stomach bug. Because we are not jerks like the person who brought her sick baby to daycare last week (thanks, thanks a whole lot), we'll be keeping Betty home tomorrow even though we could probably get away with taking her in. As the above photo shows, she does not look particularly ill. Here she is laughing at me when I told her not to touch the diaper pail.

Hair Today, Gone Tomorrow

Betty woke up this morning with a major case of bedhead. We had a nice lazy Saturday--leftover pizza, a loooong nap for Betty during which time Steele and I actually started packing, and a stroll through the orchard after supper.

Hot Pursuit

Betty has a sense of humor. She laughs, as I recently noted, but she also plays her own little jokes. For a while now I've been playing a game where I chase her around the room and she gets away from me by going under the bed. (It used to be that I had to pretend that she could get away--now I really do have a hard time catching her. She's fast!) But that's not really Betty's joke since I invented the game. Betty has come up with a variation of it though that is 100% her idea.

In the morning when I go to get her from her crib, she'll stand up at the end and smile at me, and as soon as I get close she'll drop down and crawl to the other end. Then she stands up and waits for me to come over, then she drops down and crawls back to where we started. She plays several rounds of Keep Away From Mommy before I finally catch her--all this while wearing a sleep sack.

Her other joke involves pretending to choke on her food. She plays this game, no doubt, because Mommy and Daddy's reactions to it are hilarious. We're not quite so amused by this particular little game.

Me and My Shadow

Shortly before this photo was taken Betty discovered the fun of blowing raspberries on my leg. You know, going "pffbbbth!" (it has nothing to do with actual raspberries).

I wish I'd had the camera on me at supper time. Tonight we introduced a new character: Black Bean Ezra Pound. I don't know what it is about Betty's (lack of) table manners that brings out her inner fascist, but, against my better judgment, I still think it's funny.

Ode to Joy

The bad news is that my Spring Fever continues and I didn't take a pic today...actually today was just one of those long, busy days where we went school-pickup-car nap-supper-bath-quiet playtime (too dark for pics)-bed, so there weren't too many photo ops. The good news is, it gives me an excuse to post this pic from yesterday of Betty laughing. Someone recently commented that when Betty smiles she smiles with her whole face, and I'd like to add that when she laughs she laughs not just with her whole body but with her whole being. She's probably the most joyful little creature I've ever been around (and our family used to have a poodle who danced for her supper so I've known some pretty joyful creatures!)

Outside The Box

There are still some loose ends to tie up, and we hope we're not tempting fate here, but we're going to start packing. Here's Betty watching Daddy load empty boxes that we've been storing in the shed into the house.

You can chart what stage of life we're in by our moving boxes:

When we moved out of our student apartments into Little Red House we packed all our stuff in beer cases. This has as much to do with the way beer is sold in PA as it does our prodigious beer-drinking abilities, but it's still amusing.

Then, when we moved Steele down to Virginia (and I eventually followed) we packed our stuff into Crate & Barrel boxes, which had previously held our wedding gifts.

This time, we're using diaper boxes.

In other news, Betty came extremely close to eating a turd tonight. I'll spare you the details since it's more gross than funny. Lesson learned: Naked Time is not a good time to putter around doing chores.

Mani-Pedi

The gadget Betty is chewing on in this pic is called a teethifier and it is a hybrid teether/pacifier. It's a pretty nifty idea for back teeth. Better than stuffing a whole block into one's mouth, which is dangerous, or sticking spoons back there, which causes gagging and woe.

Speaking of nifty ideas, let me give full credit to Steele for a great one. Betty's nails and toenails grow really fast, but she doesn't ever want to hold still to let us cut them. They get all snaggly and she scratches up her face and I feel like a bad mom. Cutting them when she's asleep isn't really an option because she sleeps with her arms either tucked under her or with her thumb in her mouth. But then today Steele suggested keeping the clippers in the car, so that when we drive somewhere and she falls asleep (as she often does) we can just snip-snip-snip before rousing her from the car seat. I tried it today and it worked perfectly! I even managed to cut her pinkie toenails, which are about the size of the "o" in "of."

Spring Fever

Here's another pic from yesterday. Today was a typical Sunday. We took a nice walk on campus, and Betty crawled around in the front yard (at least until Tessa made some bees mad and they chased us inside). She had some tofu for supper. I just didn't happen to photograph any of it, for no particular reason. I guess my students' laziness is contagious.

First Date

Today we went to a party for our friends' two-year-old, Horatio ("Rache"). There were kids all over the place, and even though she was almost the smallest one there she held her own with the big kids, taking toys away from them and generally having fun. At one point during this wild party, however, Betty and Rache and I ended up by ourselves outside playing quietly in the front yard at Rache's "bughouse."*

Rache was quite smitten with Betty, whom he calls "Miss Betty." He kept picking little flowers and blades of grass and giving them to her (as you can see him doing here) and asking over and over "Miss Betty in the bughouse?" Guess that Talk about not going in the bughouse with boys may come sooner than we thought!

*I am not sure if this is what the playhouse/tent is called. I'm basing this info on what a two-year-old told me. So. Bughouse.

Lady Gaga

Today Betty woke up talking in two-syllable "words" and made use of some new consonants. I'm not sure what a "duggle" is but it is apparently a matter of the utmost urgency.

Moving Right Along

Betty is going to daycare 5 days a week from now til the end of May so that Steele and I can survive the end of the semester and its attendant piles of grading and mandatory social events. We also want to keep Betty safe and happy while we pack up and get ready to move. As I mentioned yesterday, Betty has a weird packing tape phobia. Also, the general upheaval of moving is not a safe environment. It's sort of the opposite of babyproofing. (And, yes, it looks like we're moving! The inspection today went well! Pics of the house are on facebook).

Here's Betty in her undies after a fun day at daycare. She's showing quite a bit of interest in the toy stroller that Aunt Sue sent her, and pretty soon she's going to figure out that she can use it to get around the house upright.

Top 10 List

To go with this random pic of Betty eating Cheerios, here are 10 random things that 10-month-old Betty does that I find particularly endearing:

-how happy she is when I come out of the pantry holding the Cheerios box.
-how brushing her teeth makes her laugh.
-how she talks to herself in a quiet voice when examining a new or particularly interesting object.
-how she cries and cries when Tessa ignores her.

-how she has figured out how much fun it is to bang two blocks together.
-how she stands on her tiptoes to try to reach the third shelf of her bookcase
-how her version of giving kisses is to bite your nose

-how she totally ignores us when we drop her off or pick her up at day care

-how she smiles when Steele starts humming the Superman theme (cause that means she gets to be Superbaby).

-how she cries and cries when she hears the sound of packing tape (yeah, that's going to be a problem very very soon).

Shear Genius

For one brief moment of insanity this morning I thought I would cut Betty's bangs. Then I realized that I'd like for her to have both her eyeballs and also not to look like a dork, so instead I took her to the "Spalon," Farmville's premiere beauty parlor. She got her bangs trimmed and earned a Certificate of Bravery for her stoicism. Here she is, before and after. She doesn't look too pleased with her new 'do but I think she was just hot under the cape.

Edited to add: It was only after posting this that I realized I look exactly the same in both pics. Weird.

Blue Plate Special

Here's Betty out for a walk after supper.* For supper we both had meatloaf and potatoes, which she loved. I'm starting to think that it's not that Betty doesn't like food--she just doesn't like babyfood.

As you can see here, her hair is starting to get in her eyes. I tried pulling it back but she pulls out the bows. I think she may get a haircut tomorrow, or rather, I think I'm going to cut her hair tomorrow. It's amazing how much Betty has changed from the little baldy she was six months ago.

*Yes, you're right. We did say we couldn't take Betty for walks here on the farm. That was when she was in the carrier on top of the stroller. And it was winter time. Now it's Spring, and she's sitting up with good balance and full head control, so she can handle a little bit of off roadin'.

A Walk in the Park

It was a perfect day for our new favorite family outing: signing/scanning/emailing paperwork to our realtor and then taking a walk on campus. In other news: Betty loves pizza! (And, thus, green peppers, onions, mushrooms, and olives!)

Home Economics

Here's Betty in the Barnes and Noble Jr. in Midlothian where we met our realtors for another day of house hunting. I hope that this was the last day of hunting and the first of many many trips to B&N! Betty was great all day, and even offered her opinion: she crawled around happily in the house we like the best. She ate her lunch sitting on a granite countertop in an empty flip, and took a nap in our realtor's car as we took turns viewing the last couple houses, which turned out to be duds. I didn't post pics of the first house we made an offer on a couple weeks ago (when interest rates were a full point lower than they are now...grrr), and I'm glad I didn't since it fell through. Again, I'm not going to provide any info until everything goes through, but this time we have 3 options in the same neighborhood at roughly the same price. Cross your fingers!

Blooper Reel

Thanks to the ongoing project that is The Daily Betty, I take hundreds of pictures. I'd say about 20% of them turn out like some version of this one. (And a full 50-75% are so blurry they might as well be pics of Sasquatch). Danielle posted recently about wanting a camera with faster shutter speed, and I feel her pain. You push the button when the baby does something cute (which is, like, every 45 seconds) but by the time the pic takes the baby has noticed the camera and is crawling toward it as fast as she can go, grinning with the belief that this time she will obtain it. Then you put it out of her reach, she cries, and the cute moment has been interrupted forever. Until 45 seconds later when Betty finds something else cute to do.

In other news, Enfamil's records (they stalk you, courtesy of the hospital) show that Betty just turned 10 months, so a package arrived on our doorstep today containing a free can of their toddler formula. Let me mention that our mailman is a kinder, gentler version of the mailman in the movie Funny Farm. Our mail will usually be in the mailbox. Sometimes it's on top of the mailbox. Sometimes it's on the porch. Sometimes it's on top of Tessa's outside kennel. Once it was in an ice chest. We'll never know whether we want to buy Enfamil toddler formula or not because the mailman put it on the kennel and by the time Steele got home Tessa had eaten it. At least it's nutritious!

Standing Ovation

As (long) promised: evidence that Betty can stand on her own(and evidence that she can hold a bottle on her own too). She is getting really good at standing, and does it frequently, but it's so hard to get a pic of it because if I get the camera she gets interested in that and sits (or falls) back down.

Flower Power

The flowers in Southside Virginia exploded almost overnight. All of them. Everything is blooming all at once and every surface is covered in a fine layer of yellow dust. Steele took Betty out after supper to have a look at this bush and the butterflies that live on it. He reports sneezing uncontrollably, but Betty was fine. Here's hoping she's not prone to allergies like her Daddy...

Edited to Add: I have to share a snippet of the conversation Steele and I had tonight about Betty's birth (keep in mind labor took about 25 hours, depending on when you start the clock).

Steele: "She took so long to come out. I was tired."

I don't think I even have to tell you what my reaction to that statement was.

The Omnivore's Dilemma

Betty is 10 months old today. Double digits. Holy smokes.

Despite being 10 months old, she still wants to drink out of a bottle, and she wants us to hold the bottle for her. She can drink out of a sippy. Heck, she can drink out of a regular cup held by her own two hands. I've seen her do it. She just doesn't want to. And she'd rather starve than do something she doesn't want to do.

We had every intention of breastfeeding for a year, and when that idea went down in flames around month two we at least were going to make all her baby food from organic produce. Now we're just trying to get her interested in food, any food, any way we can. Today I put Kraft mac-n-cheese on her tray and implored her to eat it (she did not), and here I am letting her play with an apple in her nursery.

If You See Kay

I took this pic yesterday. We didn't get any pics today because of yet another house-buying-related paperwork emergency. I was going to post a pic of Betty with her finger up her nose to show exactly what I think of said paperwork emergency, but luckily I'm mature and wouldn't do a thing like that.

Speaking of which...Betty got a fun Easter present in the mail today from Papaw and KK. It's a centipede with 26 legs, one for each letter of the alphabet. When you push the appropriate leg the centipede says "A," "B," etc. or, if you switch it to phonics mode, "Ah," "Buh," etc.

Heh heh.

What do you think the first thing I tried to make it say was? B-E-T-Y? No. M-O-M-Y? No.

I spelled F-U-C ... and then the clever centipede thwarted my mischief! When I hit the C key it giggled and said "hee hee that tickles!" We experimented and it did that with most of the cuss words we could think of, but it didn't do it with any normal, wholesome words. It's on to us! It will, however, let you spell "shit."

There is no moral to this story whatsoever, and that's probably the problem.

Sunday Schooled

When Steele and I got married we promised the pastor that we would live together (and we did, almost exactly one year later). And when we baptized Betty we promised the same pastor that we'd raise her in the Christian church. I want to keep that promise too. Except for her baptism and her cousin's dedication, however, Betty hasn't been to church. I figured today was as good a day as any, being Easter and all, so I dressed Betty up and we went to the College Church. It was not a successful outing. Betty drew many oohs and awws before the service began, but her happy shouts were less adorable during the prayers. We took off during the Peace. We'll try again soon...finding a Lutheran church is one of the many things we want to do when we move to Richmond.

Here's a family self-portrait. We sure are glad to have Daddy back home!

Tigers and Bunnies Oh My

When we got the invitation to the college president's Easter egg hunt it said that the "Hampden-Sydney Bunny" would be attending. We have speculated all week as to what that might mean...as it turns out it's the Tiger mascot dressed as a bunny (and let me add that he is wearing a cotton tail in back). Inexplicably, Betty's sense of stranger danger doesn't include a student dressed as a tiger dressed as a rabbit.

Work Hard, Play Hard

Betty's totally over her shyness now and had a lot of fun playing with Grandma and Papa all day. I'm not sure who was more exhausted by the time 8:00 rolled around. (But for once, it wasn't me.)

Sugar High

This photo probably requires an explanation. It got pretty hot here today and we haven't put in the window AC units. Betty was too warm*, so I took off her clothes and gave her some grape juice which she guzzled. Half naked and on a sugar high she then went a little nutty crawling around the room as fast as she could and waving her socks around. I ran to get the camera, and this little beastie greeted me as I came back up stairs.

*Thanks to Grandma for pointing this out. I am a reptile myself, and was still very comfy in a sweater.