Me and My Shadow

Well, this post is just a week-ish late. The Bean is officially just a smidge over 8 months old which means she is now officially out of the world longer than she had been in the womb. Pretty mind boggling from when the Dr. first pointed out this little flittering grey speck on the ultrasound and told me that was the baby's heart. I thought it was the computer cursor. At all of just over 4 weeks old, she already had a little working and beating heart that would be ticking along hopefully until she reaches a ripe old age, after a life filled with much adventures (no Bungee jumping, please) and happiness. And now 8 months after her big debut at NY Presbyterian, she is a lovely baby, sitting on our bed, wearing nice cozy pjs, and playing with her toes. I think back on the big trip she has been on these last 16 months, and it is amazing. From a blob to a baby. From sleeping in the dark warm womb, to now, waking up and singing and muttering softly to herself, to her just so happy to see you in the mornings, to Niagara Falls like vomiting spells after she drank her bottle much too quickly, to her playing happily with her LeapFrog muscial table, to her fast asleep w/ Pinky tucked under her arm. It has been an amazing year and 4 months and I am (as her dad) delighted she decided to finally make an appearance after so many years. She showed up at exactly the right time!

Eh....What's up Doc?

Yes, The Bean is a fan of the pureed foods. In order of preference: Bananas, Pears, Sweet Potatoes, Carrots (she is wearing it on the photo), Applesauce and like her Aunty J, she dislikes Peas. No peaches or prunes yet for her. And the one venture into the food of (half of) her people, rice cereal was met with disapproval. I guess compared to all that other sweet stuff, rice was too boring. She is a pretty good eater and is pretty good about not getting too much on herself, thanks to Aunty Miriam's bib! We can't believe she is now a regular at the dinner table.

It seemed like yesterday she was in her little swing seat, at dog/cat level. It'll be no time before she is wrestling us for the dark meats on the roasted chicken. Sigh!

Swing Low, Sweet Chariot!

Look who's gone for her first ride in the swing. We had first thought she might have been alittle too wee for the swingset, but Roan proved us wrong. At just 8 days shy of her 8th month birthday, she went for her maiden voyage on the bucket swing. It was a rare 60 F degree day in February and we couldn't stay indoors. So off to the park, we went. These are the kind of days you are sort of pleased to be part of the ranks of the unemployed while everyone else is basking under the buzzing white lights of fluorescents, indoors. She had a great time, and treated us to the slightest smile. But strangely enough she was more interested in checking out the other babies on the swingseat next to her. I guess she is a pretty young baby still as after 10 minutes, she tried to stand up on the seat to let us know "Enough, let's blow this clambake!" I am sure in a few months time, she'll want to stay till the moon is out and we would be hard pressed for her to want to ever come indoors ever again.

Head Shoulders Knees and Toes! Knees and Toes!

And for those of you who have Fisher Price's PUPPY!
You can just about hear that song in your head, kind of catchy tune, really! Here's little Roan in her sitting lotus pose. She was busy having her toes for lunch before this picture was snapped. She's still smacking her chops.
Yum. Yum.

Jean Genie

She's officially an American now....at 7 months, she has donned on her first pair of blue jeans. And with BFF, Pinky in hand, what more does a gal need? Not much.

Those easy fit, elasticized waist band, flanneled lined jeans are just right for her. Kind of like those maternity jeans her mom hated giving up.

Can't get more patriotic than this get up...














Brooke Shields, eat your heart out!

Hasta La Vista, Baby

So long Year of the Rat, we'll see you in 12.
No offense to my beloved rats, Roan and her dad, but this year was a pretty rough one and I'm ready to mooo-ve on to the Year of the Ox.

Time really does fly when you have kids or in my case, kid. I was watching the new shows with complete fascination when they had the story about the lady who gave birth to Octuplets. And I thought, wow, crazy! I can't imagine how they will manage since one, Ms. Roan, has completely kept me hopping between the formula and diaper runs, to feeding her her first solids, to the middle of the night wails to now being able to scuttling along on her back with her little flipper legs. There are days I think she can propel herself quicker than we bipeds who can walk upright. I put her down on her bed and within a nanosecond, she has crashed her big head against the bumpers. Thank you, Uncle Richard and Aunty Shirley, for the extra cushy Pottery Barn crib guards. The cheap ones I bought at IKEA would have resulted in her having some nice divets on the top of her skull.

Back to time flying and the light speed metamorphosis of Roan, we can't believe it is practically February, and we are definitely well into the new year. There have been no posts since October because I took my friend, Miriam's advice, and stopped pressuring myself to write this blog, as I had plenty of other stuff to attend to, some wonderful (like delightful visits from our families from the UK- Aunty Morag, Uncle Sam, Cousins Mey, Beinn, and Ella and the flying grandma, Grandma Brown (2 months fresh from her 28 day journey across the Pacific via Alaska, Vladistock, Japan, Korea, China and Hong Kong Her wings were still warm!)


Uncle Sam, Aunty Morag, Mey the Tall, Beinn aka Li Po, Ella aka Sesame Chicken
(the latter 2 have been nicknamed those because of what they ordered for dinner one night,
we were pleased over Beinn's adventurous selection...)


Beinn, Morag, Mey feeding Roan aka Milkmeister, Ella


Aunty Morag and Uncle Sam with Chubola


Daddy with a land-bound Grandma Brown with Roan at Juniper Valley Park



Grandma Brown with Roan just about to settle into a cozy dinner.

Slews of birthdays which spanned October till January-yours, truly, Ying, Janet, Goober, Dad and Grampy, Roan's first Halloween, Voted in the historic elections, the Thanksgiving holidays, the Christmas holiday, the tree trimming, the tree untrimming, the birthday decorations up, the blowing up of balloons and birthday decoration down, watched the historic inauguration ....ya'll know the drill) and some less fun (like loads of drs visits for mom, runs to BJs to buy baby/household provisions) cleaning the house and attending to the extensive grounds....ok, not the 2 strips of lawn out front and 5' semi circular planting does take work, going back to work and then subsequently being laid off a mere 3 days later, learning to file unemployment, updating one's resume, trying to think of how to get a job in this god awful economy, meeting w/ my outplacement"counselor"- I feel like Dexter and how he had to have a "buddy" when he was going through his fake drug addiction, I have to meet w/ Colette and work with her about "launching" the new me and not a makeover in sight.... so all and all...I need to eat my Wheaties but have decided on Nick Malgieri's low fat banana bread with full fat chocolate chips. No wonder I am fortified enough to write this blog.)

Well, so that brings us up to date as to why it's been only 3 months since my last post, at this rate, Roan will have all of 90 blog entries between her birth and when she flies off to college.
Sort of not acceptable, because she is such a fun little gal, I need to document her progress...I am at awe over this baby business. Still. 7 months in and she has not ceased to fascinate me...

I can't believe she actually does meet those little critical developmental stages as outlined by those baby books (not that that makes Roan an exceptional or normal child, she just is a human being, wow). Like, when I was a kid, and watched the xray film of a person eating and drinking and you can see the food getting chewed, to it going down the throat, to going into the stomach, and I thought, neh, my body doesn't do that. Striving to maintain our own sense of individuality and not be part of the biological hoarde.

Since I wrote in October, her big milestones/realizations are (in no particular order and some documented and some not...sadly):

-She can pretty much sit up on her own (but when she leans over to one side, it's TIMBER!!!! and I have to pick her back up).

-She can play happily on her own. Some mornings we hear her babbling away to herself and BFFs, Pinky or Millie...and admiring herself in the mirror.

-She can actually turn over now, she lies oh so casually on her side, like those 1940's pinup gals and then flops over on either her back or stomach (eeewww..tummy time, the much detested tummy time)and then is immobile for a good long time until she realizes she can turn herself around. Talk about the look of empowerment on her face.

-She is like Isaac Newton and wants to test whether gravity is a constant or a variable, by always dropping her bleating moo cow or her binky or Frankie the firefly on the floor. Grampy is always freaking out when she does bec. then she promptly puts the toys back in her mouth and he is muttering, the salt (from the outside.....as it is winter out, the cats- fur and litter tracking paws....etc. etc.). So now, I tie everything she plays with to her highchair as a safety feature. Although The Times noted that perhaps alittle dirt only builds up the immune system. In which case, Roan, should be the Hercules of the Immunity Community.

-That she makes a very cute pumpkin. Thank you, Aunty Angela, for that cute outfit.


-That sleeping in, is a very good thing.


That tummy time isn't too bad as it results in killer biceps.



That with killer biceps, she looks good in tropical prints.
Thank you, Mrs. Won, for that cute number.



-She's put on her first skirt ever on Christmas and then second one ever on Chinese New Year's.
And she likes wearing tights, wierdly enough, even as it is worn over bunchy diapers that are sometimes clean and sometimes, well...... Perhaps a whalebone corset is in her future?
And that she looks good in Santa hats....



Better than a Santa hat, she looks damn good in a tiara.



And that no one looks good in passport photos.



-She's learned pearls make her look old.


And that you are never too young to exercise your civic responsibility,
as mommy held her little hand as we pulled the lever for PRESIDENT Obama!!




That once you've exercised your right to vote, you should work out
your chubby legs in a good hour of bouncy seat mania.



And that no one likes a sweaty smelly baby, and that baths, as
traumatic as they are, must be taken.
.


Well, when you are 7 months, those are about all the accomplishments/realizations one can be proud of. As fun as she was at 3 months, nothing beats how she can totally recognize people these days and is so happy to give you the most beautiful smile first thing in the morning. I think Grampy needs to go to BabySmiles Anonymous these days. He is perfectly addicted to her smiles as am I, and her dad, Aunty J and Grandma.




Okay, a big one for the road.

And an understated one to leave you yearning for more!

And with that, I sign off and wish you all a happy, healthy and prosperous new year!!

Mona Lisa Smiles

T he Bean does not smile much. This was the first smile ever captured on camera. She was waking up from an afternoon nap. Her smiles are about as rarely spotted as the Loch Ness Monster and even when I manage to spy the corners of her lips lift, I think it is my imagination. Or even more cruelly dismissed by Dr. Smith, as "Just gas.", during her first few weeks of existence.
I'd like to think it wasn't that she was going to be humorless but that she just lacked the muscular strength to actually pry apart those big cheeks in order to eek out a smile. Like parting the Red Sea. I wonder how many little smiles she has been throwing the universe at large and how many I have missed. I am like a big game hunter, forever carrying my trusty Sony Cybershot in pursuit of the ever elusive smile.

These days she seems alittle less stingy in the mornings and her smiles flow more freely. Nothing beats looking into her little bassinette and having her look up at you with all the expectations of "They did remember me. Whew. Maybe I can get some breakfast now." And then a sweet little smile of recognition. Since the photo of her first smile was taken, she has been smiling alittle more with each day, but still eyes the camera suspiciously. Why can't my mom look at me without that funny little black metal thing with the blinking orange light. To which, mom would say, one day when you have your life so well documented, you'll have me to thank, that each precious nanosecond you were in existence was relished and adored. As evidenced by these 1000 volumes.
















Sometimes she flashes us a smile downright baroque in its exuberance, big brown eyes, drippy saliva pools on the edges of her mouth, big pink gums, and flared little nostrils and we just can barely stand not giving her the kind of hug which would crush her little bones. Brochures should have been printed out warning new parents of the dangers of a baby's smiles.


The other day, not only did I witness the full fledge smile, but I actually heard laughter emanating from those cheeks. A full 5 seconds of bubbly infectious laughter, pure joy. It was the most amazing sound I had ever heard. The Bean actually laughed, not exactly a full bellied guffaw but a beautiful little giggly laugh of complete joy. It's been precisely a week and I've been trying to recreate the circumstance that lead to that first little laughter (namely kissing her 4 times on each fat cheek) but she is no performing monkey. Sure, her mouth opens and closes in the shape of an O and she smiles but no sounds come out of it. She has teased me so with the voice she has yet to reveal. Our days are often filled with words in every medium imaginable- and circumstance. They have become the white noise of our lives, it takes so much for us to really begin to appreciate the significance , beauty and sound of each little word. When I heard her laughter, and her starting to utter little sounds like "El-la", "Ewwww", "Eahhhh", "Owwww", she makes me that much more excited about what are the things she will one day say, and for her to finally reveal to me what she is thinking, if I am lucky and she thinks me worthy.