summer bean

wow! almost a month without posting.
i suck

bean has been up to a lot...and so have we.
summer camp is finally over
and we are back in one house

and bean...well...
she pooped in the potty!
ok...
it probably doesn't really count.
she was in the tub and making that face
you know...
the one right before she does her business.
so i grabbed her
and held her over the potty.
and she went!!!

she claps
she loves to clap when she hears clapping
or if we yell "yay" like morons.

she is crawling around more now.
she sometimes uses the one stiff leg
because that leg doesn't want to give up the dream of walking.
but she also tries out the traditional crawl now and again.
she creeps across everything.
if you are sitting on the floor she does laps around your body.
she can stand unassisted for stretches of 30 seconds at a time
this solo standing can include clapping, squatting, and dancing
until she notices she is standing on her own
she laughs all the time
often when she is playing all by herself
i cant wait til she can share her little jokes
and she has developed a fake laugh that she uses
whenever she hears someone else laughing

she loves to wrestle
and eat random crap off the floor
she is the best vaccuum
and everything is "mama"
twice we thought we heard her say "baby"
could that be her first word?
daycare thought she said "ball"
grandma nancy has been hearing her say words for months now.
hmmmmmm...
i think we need to keep waiting

the terrible horrible no good really bad day

yesterday was terrible.
first i drive to day care.
as i pull down the road i find there is construction going on
they are repaving
go ahead lady they say
i do
thwap thwap thwap thwap
there is a giant metal object lodged in my tire
pssssssssssssssssssssssssssssss
looks like i'm gonna be late for work

AAA and my donut later and i finally get to work
i am in charge of afternoon program for 400 campers
crack pop crack
is that thunder in the distance?
time to fit 400 campers into 3 way too small indoor spaces
and random staff are absent who i have leading activities
and a whole group is stuck in boston even though their leaders
are leading new activities that no one else knows how to do
like quidditch
oh joy

i pick up bean and we head home
sans daddy
we are sitting and playing when
cough sputter cough
oh bean did you eat some lint?
cough sputter cough
bleeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeech blaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah
projectile vomit covers me and bean and the carpet

time for a bath to clean up
scrub and dub
isnt that better?
grunt grunt
ploop ploop plooop
bean poops in the tub

oh...and then she was up all night screaming and crying
and carrying on
did i mention we are teething?
sprouting not one
but two new teeth

and daddy's cell phone was dead
and there was a storm so the internet wasnt working
i couldnt even get sympathy when i needed it

but as my mother (who i was able to call)
so nicely pointed out

this is not the worst day we will ever have.

as you can see i didnt get sympathy from her either

and in the morning
after not sleeping more than an hour at a time
bean wakes up
opens her eyes
looks at me
and says
clear as a bell
MAMA
she's said it before
but it's usually more of a
mamamamamamamamammama
at whatever is around or whatever she is holding
but this was at me
did it make up for the
terrible horrible no good really bad day?

you bet it did.

this bean was made for walkin'

well...she's not quite walkin on her own

but she wants to walk so badly.
she practices every chance she gets.
even when put on her belly
she reaches out and wants to be pulled up to standing.
she rolls places
she scooches on her back
she dives
but she refuses to crawl.
she has started moving along things.
she'll make her way down the table.
i've seen her reach out for things
and then plot how to get from one item to the next.
any day now and she is just gonna take off.
lord help us all.
we are so not baby-proofed.
and boy does this girl like electric cords.

apparently they are delicious.

splishin and a-splashin

grandma and grandpa k visited bringing the requisite ridiculous amount of food.

my mom is the only person i know who comes to visit for the weekend and

brings all the fixins for all the meals with her

down to the oil and salt

and even the pans to cook in.

it's quite impressive.

and of course she knitted.

grandma is awesome!

during the visit we took bean to the pool

she loved it

she stayed in until incredibly pruney.

i actually dont know how much she liked the swimming part.

she was moslty in because of all the other kids who were swimming.

bean loves to people watch

adventures in daycare

bean is in daycare and
it wasn't as traumatic as i thought it would be
for either of us.
she actually loves it
there are kids for her to stare at all day long
she loves other kids
they fa-sci-nate her
and i am way too busy at camp to think of much
bean naps better at daycare than at home
she eats better at daycare than at home
she poops better at daycare than at home

the only "problem" is that bean is afraid of men
apparently anytime a daddy comes to pick up their kid
bean cries hysterically until they leave.
she did this when my friend martha watched her too
she cried as soon as martha's husband walked in the room
bean had met him a few times before with me and been fine
but when away from me and her dad
she doesn't like the men so much

when with us...
she flirts like a fiend.
at the grocery store...
flirting
walking downtown...
flirting
at friend's houses...
flirting
but without mom and dad...
hysterical crying

i read that this is normal
that now is the time for stranger anxiety to rear its ugly head
and more anxiety towards men often occurs
i hope this continues when she is....oooohhhh...
13.

swing low sweet beanie

bean hates swings

she loves her jumpy...
bobbing up and down like a crazy person in the doorway
but swings
not so much

when we were in nj
grandma insisted we walk down to the park
because they have great baby swings
bean screamed
bean wailed
bean cried
we walked back from the park
grandma apologized the whole way
it seemed like such a good idea at the time

we thought....
maybe we put to much pressure on bean
maybe the seat was too hot
why do they make the baby swings black so they absorb the sun anyway
maybe she had just eaten
maybe she was tired
maybe she was teething
(we seem to always blame teething when bean is cranky... and still we have yet to see any semblance of a tooth)
maybe she was wet

but then i took her to the park the other day
we played in the sandbox
we tried to climb the ladder to the slide
we watched other kids run and frolic
and then we headed over to the swing
i managed to take this picture of bean
and then
cue the tears
bean hates swings
it's official
for now

green is our color

we love avocado!
being that it is my fav-or-ite food
i couldnt be happier that bean is a fan as well.
but who wouldnt love eating any kind of food
in their new
super-70s-stylin'
highchair
note the happy orange and brown mice
so cool
and perfect for our family since we tend to eat picnic style
the high highchair wasn't cutting it
and it has one leg that is shorter than the others
(don't ask)
the little chair that latches to the table doesnt fit right
and our table is usually full of drying baby bottles
which leaves little room for food
we usually end up eating everywhere and anywhere
which results in food on the couch
and food on the rug
and food on the chair
a designated eating spot seems like a better plan
and then this bit of gorgeousness called to me from under a table
at the town wide yard sale extravaganza
i thought it folded up
it doesnt
it bounces
or it will when bean's feet can touch the ground
it has no safety strap
they didnt care about that in the 70s
they were all too hopped up on lead paint to care
she seems to like it
she has her mama's sense of style
uh oh