The Wayfaring Wordhack

Last week, we celebrated Sprout's fifth birthday. All parents say this, but, Wow. Where did the time go?  A little update on the not-so-little Miss:

( Read more... )

I didn't forget my snippet yesterday, but we had dinner guests. I cooked all day and went to bed immediately after they left.  I had plans to post today, but Mondays are very busy here.  I'm just basically posting to reference, for posterity, that I've been diligent with my sketching and searching out reference material.

And now I must go for I have a sick baby to nurse. To top it off, he is teething. Always seems to happen in conjunction, that teething and the ick.

G'night, LJ.

With a big sis like Sprout, Junebug has to learn fast; he has to get mobile!

To that end, this has been a very busy month for him.  The day before we left France (Aug 29), he pushed up onto all fours.  He was moving about then, but only backwards, not having figured out how to advance.

Our first day back in Egyt, he pushed up onto hands and toes. He can take wee "steps" like that, but prefers "the wave." He has mastered an inchworm or seal-flop type motion and gets about really well, following me around the house.

On September 24th, our first day at Anafora, he pushed himself into a sitting position. The 25th he pulled himself onto his feet. He's been practicing every day. Sprout walked at 1 year and 10 days; I think her bro will beat to that milestone by several months if he keeps this up.

In other milestone news, he cut his first tooth today.

asakiyume, last night, I dreamed we were shapeshifters. You were a veteran who knew what shapeshifting was all about, but I "lost time," and it was you who explained to me that I had shifted...into a bunny!  I wish I would have posted about it right away because there were so many details, fresh in my mind, to record. I know you had two shapes you could do, but now I can't remember them. I believe one was gazelle/deer/antelope... And I know there was a guru and an island and raiders and a penalty for running from the raiders (they were promised a kind of tithe according to the number of people on the island, and when I got frightened and escaped with the guru, they were shorted...) Yeah, it all made a lot more sense in dreamland. :P

But the day happened, and I'm only sitting down now at the laptop.

Julien was supposed to go the Farmer's Market and I was supposed to go to the store this morning, but as we were getting ready, I noticed a putrid smell coming from S's nose, the kind of smell tha that J had when his incisions got infected after his surgery. So, plans changed, and J took S to the doctor. The doctor didn't dare touch whatever it was and told J to get an otolaryngologist (hereafter ENT) appointment instead.  The ENT could only see S at 5pm, when S had an existing appointment to see a dermatologist about a rash on her scalp, possibly eczema, . Thinking an infection trumped itching, we cancelled the dermatologist (who was angry about it and hung up on J).

The unplanned morning visit to the doctor comprised J's trip to Pau (1.5 hrs away) to get his and S's diplomatic passports for our move to Egypt, so he had to reschedule to tomorrow. 

Instead of spending a day alone, relaxing and writing, I had to nap to try to nip an oncoming headache in the bud. It helped only marginally, and at the ENT's office, the headache came back full force.  Not because of anything seriously wrong with S, though, thank goodness.  The little squirt had stuck some stuffing from one of her toys up her nose, and the ENT was able to pull it out in no time.  We were very relieved that the problem was quickly taken care of.  She has to wait until Saturday now to see a dermatologist about the itching.

In other Sprout news, I bought her her first pairs of underwear today. They are too big for her, intended for 2-3 year-olds, and she'll only be 22 months tomorrow. She is very excited to have undies and has had no accidents. She hasn't had any accidents for a while yet, and she often goes to the bathroom by herself without us offering her a potty opportunity, just goes to sit on her potty and does her business. We've been taking her out without a diaper for several weeks now, even in the car, which we didn't dare do before (even though she is diaper free at the house, if we were going to the doctor or the store, etc. we'd put on a diaper just in case). She is not completely potty trained, but she also had her first diaperless nap today.

Whenever people hear Julien and me speaking to Soëlie in French and English, respectively, they often ask about her learning two languages. At her age, they ask less about which language she speaks and more about which language she *understands.* She grasps both equally well and is starting to have her own vocabulary, a nice mix of both momma's and papa's languages.

Her first word, besides "papa" was bye-bye, which she said at 13 months.

Since then, she's added, in no particular order:
( Baby talk )

bobby (she has a red car called Big Bobby, so all tricycles and such rideable vehicles are "bobbies")

Plus a bunch of other words that she will repeat, but she hasn't appropriated them yet.

ETA: frigg reminded me that the Sprout also knows how to say manana (banana), appo (apple), and weewee (kiwi). :P

My first ever video. 18 secs long. Not art. Not high-quality*. But I know a few people who will be happy to see the little Sprout in action, namely her papa, who, sadly, missed these first steps...




___________
* The camera's automatic focus does not work in video mode, and it is impossible to hold a camera in one hand, hold the other hand out to encourage her to walk, AND adjust the focus.

Like most people I know--ok, I'm exaggerating an assumption--I have a million and one things I'd like to blog about.  I fully intend to share things that I find interesting, beautiful, moving, things that make me wonder, that make me smile, things that irritate me, or things I want to record for my own memory.  But the days slip by and I don't get around to it.  Tonight, though, I want to do one of those record-for-posterity's-sake posts, though, so that, someday, when Soëlie asks, I'll be able to tell her when she did such and such.


( Pics and motherly ramblings )



frigg, footlingagain, I know I'm supposed to be in bed, but my love called and delayed my posting. :P  Tomorrow, I'll be in bed on time for sure!

I forgot to post a couple of weeks ago that Soëlie started crawling in earnest, two days shy of being 8 months old.  Instead of wiggling and pulling and rocking herself along, she now hightails it around on all fours, making for interesting times in the Faure household, times which will be even more interesting now that I have to pack and foresee all manner of things lying about... Oh, and did I mention the two flights of stairs this apartment boasts?

Yeah, fun times.



No, this post is not an excuse to put up photos of my daughter; why would you say that? ;)

Welcomed back home by spring in full swing. Lovely!

The accompanying allergy attack, not so much.

Jetlag, heat, humidity, mosquitos, and ants aside, Soëlie seemed to like her first vacation*, especially the pool:

After getting her acquainted with the water, J decided she was ready to graduate to full immersion or "jumping" in.

Link to video:


Julien had to add the last bit because it looks like Soëlie is practicing how to say "Papa." She is already making the pa-pa sound, more than she makes ma-ma. I'm thinking papa just might be her first word. We shall see.

_______________
* For my part, I'm not sure Martinique was the best destination with a 5-month-old. Maybe it would have been better if we had been equipped to deal with the sunlight.  I stupidly thought we would find a baby sunhat there and didn't search more vigorously for one before leaving.  Not really the season for such accessories yet...