Bath time for baby :)

So Piper's favorite part of the day - by far- is bath time. She loves water, which is no surprise given that both her parents do too. She's absolutely joyful in the tub - splashing, shrieking, playing, grabbing, climbing! Occasionally she even goes under (not intentionally), but when that happens she just rubs the water out of her eyes and shakes it off (with a little help and encouragement from mom and dad). It's great to see her being so fearless. I could be looking ahead too far or reading too much into it, but to me it foretells a lifetime of a wonderful relationship with water. And I believe water can be a hugely therapeutic and nurturing force, so I'm excited to think that Piper might be able to appreciate its benefits.

One of her favorite activities in the tub is checking in on the baby in the 'mirror' over the drain. Sometimes she crawls up so close to it that she even bonks her nose! She loves to lick the reflective circle and stare directly at her eyes. It's really quite funny, and precious. And hey, who can blame her? When you're that good looking...

Of course, she also loves to gaze at herself in the bathroom mirror after she's all dried off :)

One of the many great qualities Piper has is her ability to find wonder and excitement in almost anything. So most activities throughout a given day make her list of favorites. My point is, Piper can love just about anything. But it's a real pleasure to watch her in the bath. It can change your entire mood or mindset. You can't stay grumpy or tired or apathetic about life when you're in the presence of someone living it so fully.

Pink Eye Piper

Yup, she's got it again.

:( :( :(

Hoppy 1st Easter, Pipes

Egg hunts are fun!

Look I found two all by myself!

I wonder what these things are? I'd better...

...put them in my MOUTH!!!

To the victor go the spoils!

Not a bad haul for my first time out!

Be careful what you wish for

These words of wisdom are meant for Hero. Shortly after Hero came to live with us a few years ago, he was introduced to our next door neighbors. Two young boys - Sam and Jackson - became playmates and, before too long, the objects of his infatuation. Hero would watch out the window for them to come home from school. If Sam and Jackson were in their backyward, Hero was in ours - running alongside the fence barking and whimpering. When he was invited over to play, it was the highlight of his week.

So sometimes when Hero would stare at me dolefully, I imagined he was asking me for kids of his own.

Well, now he's got one and I sense it's not exactly like he was fantasizing it would be. Instead of Hero being infatuated with Piper, Piper is infatuated with Hero. She loves to watch him, throw food down from her highchair for him, and most of all chase him everywhere he goes. And she can be relentless. She'll spot him, and then start to crawl: thump...thump... go her hands and feet on the carpet. And then he'll begin to move away, eyeing her warily. And she'll pursue: thump...thump...thumpthumpthumpthumpthumpthump! Poor Hero. He always manages to evade her, but she just doesn't stop coming. You'd think she'd get frustrated and give up or cry. But she doesn't. She just laughs, turns around, and thumpthumpthumpthumpthump!

The thing is Hero, someday she'll be like Sam and Jackson. She'll run, and scream, and play in the backyard. You'll follow her around, instead of her always being hot on your tail. I did get you what you asked for, she just needs to grow into it a bit. You'll have to wait it out. And sleep with one eye open in the meantime.

On the mend

Piper's making a good recovery - the pink eye seems to be cleared up, and her 'complicated cold' seems to be simplifying. She definitely seems to be in less pain from her ear infection. So all's righting itself in her world :)

Fighter

Yes, Christina Aguilera originally, but also Piper. Dan ended up taking her to the pediatrician last night during evening office hours. Turns out, she has a 'complicated cold', an ear infection, and pink eye! Give a kid a break!

She's on an antibiotic and round-the-clock Tylenol during the day and Ibuprofen at night for the pain in her ears.

One of the problems with Piper is that she's such a trooper that sometimes it's difficult to know how sick she really is. The pediatrician assured Dan that we brought her in at just the right time though - he said a few days earlier and he would just have diagnosed it as a cold.

So... she's on the mend and her spirits are still remarkably high. She got to stay home with Daddy today, so I'm sure that helps her cheery disposition :)

As for the rest of us... our eyes are feeling suspiciously itchy since Piper's diagnosis was received... Especially since her favorite pastime is trying to poke my actual eyeball. Sometimes she'll even go as far as to lift up the lid if I squeeze them shut. Guess we'll wait and see what happens!

Piper's newest, bestest friend

Adventures in food

As you may have been able to tell from her stellar stats at her 9 month well visit, Piper's a good eater! And it's just adorable to watch her shoveling food into her mouth. She's pretty good at using her pinchers (pointer and thumb) to pick up pieces of food, but every once in a while she just grabs a handful of something and puts her whole fist into her mouth. She tends to do with shredded cheese and broccoli :)

Her favorites so far are ham, shredded cheese, toast and avocado. She'll eat peas if they're very mushy, but she's not wowed by them. She's getting used to egg. She likes whole wheat pancakes well enough (in her defense, when I made them for her I added pured squash and corn to hers so they didn't taste as good as mine). And she's a huge fan of the fruit smoothie that daddy makes. On Sunday we were making smoothies for ourselves and so we poured ours out of the blender and then added pured green beans to Piper's helping. She was decidedly less enthusiastic about that smoothie than she has been about previous, non-veggie-infused smoothies. But... it's hard to find veggies soft enough for her to eat, and she is the daughter of a health fanatic so I have to be creative.

It's really fun to see her try new things. She always looks really proud when she's feeding herself, which is super cute. And super messy. But worth the cleanup.

And... blast off!

CRAWLING!!!

And loving every minute :)

Especially the much needed breaks ;)