babies and cell phones are a dangerous combination

...for the phones!

sometimes i let bean play with my phone.
she likes to push buttons.
she likes to open it and close it.
she likes to look at her own image.

what harm can it do?
i always check to make sure she isn't making any long distance calls
or calling 9-1-1 by accident
(they frown upon that...no matter how cute the baby is)

today i tried to call a co-worker on the way in to work.
"hello" she says
"hi sarah...i am on my w-"
"hello?...hello?...hello?...erica, are you there?"
i assume i don't have good service, hang up, and try again.
"hello" she says.
"hi sarah. it's me again. i was c-"
"hello? erica? i can't hear anything"
this went on for 3 more calls before i finally gave up.

a trip to the sprint store was necessary.
maybe bean pressed some kind of mute button.
they couldn't find the mystery button and sent me on to the service center.

after taking the phone apart the service guy concluded that
baby saliva killed the microphone.
apparently phones weren't designed to be licked profusely.
so now i cant talk to anyone and need to spend money
and a few phone-less days
to remedy this beantastrophe.

who woulda thunk it?

this is a repeat after me bean

we have discovered that bean is the biggest mimic.
at daycare she copies the noises the little babies make
and the other day when i arrived to pick her up
i thought she was very excited to see me because she kept repeating
"woo woo woo woo"
but then i realized she was continuing to make the sound over my shoulder
when i turned around i saw that the dog had followed me into the house
all dogs go "woo"
bean is very advanced

she has taken one unassisted step.
one step here
and one step there
one step on numerous days
but in the grand scheme of things it still only adds up to one step.
before step two i knock her over with my eyes
because i am not ready for her to be walking yet.
we have far too much baby-proofing to do for that.

bean has a cold
we visited friends this weekend and after we had arrived
as their daughter is sticking her finger into bean's eye they say
"we are just getting over a cold we hope you don't mind"
do we have a choice?
we are already over.
this info would have been useful YESTERDAY!
and sure enough...we woke up the next day with running noses and puffy eyes of our own.
so glad the cold is almost over FOR YOU.
ugh.
i look forward to the days when i can hold the tissue up to her face and say "blow."
but for now we just play catch up
trying to get the escaping mucus before she wipes it all over her cheek.
and you know how much little kids like to have their nose wiped!
we look forward to passing this on.

these pictures are from a recent-ish photo shoot.we have been taking pictures with kermie since she was born.
one a month.
it was a challenge...to say the least
as you can see...she is less into the event these days.

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.