The great shopping cart cover shopping expedition.

To avoid packing my suitcase for my upcoming business trip to Tahoe, working, or doing my yoga workout, I decided to waste my lunch time shopping online for a shopping cart cover for Daisy.

Ever since we've had her, it's been a weekly dilemma about how to bring Daisy along on shopping trips, most specifically grocery shopping. When she was really tiny, we could leave her in her car seat and just prop it on top of the cart but neither of us ever felt really happy about the lack of safety involved in that. Now that she's more mobile, she's not so keen either (think wild cat in a cage.) So, most often, I pop her in the front pack and attempt to shop with her bouncing around on the front of me.

Sometimes this is fun, other times it's back-breaking and just too awkward. For instance, if I drop something on the floor, it's hard to pick it up as I can't just tip her upside down as I bend over. (No, really? I know! What an uncooperative baby!) Crouching isn't much fun either, especially with my bad hips and knees. Also, if I'm trying to do anything directly in front of me, I'm somewhat hamstrung. Not to mention the fact that Daisy now wants to grab and naw on pretty much anything I have in my hands these days. I have already lost a few shopping lists and coupons to her mega-drooly chops!

In short, the front-pack is working less and less well. And, with her sitting up now, I thought it would be beyond awesome if I could get her sitting in the child seat on the shopping cart. Of course, there are all kinds of nasty germs on those things (if you're one of those worrisome mothers, do not read this article about how your local shopping cart is more germy than a public restroom!) and they're not exactly a soft landing place for a wobbly infant. HENCE, the great shopping cart cover shopping expedition.

FACT: I am (usually) extremely good at researching the best product at the best price online. Almost everything I've found and bought for Daisy so far has been a hit. I wish there was a job doing just this all day because I would nail it.

DILEMMA: There are a lot more choices out there than I ever thought imaginable. I am now stuck in analysis paralysis. Yes, for a shopping cart cover. I know. It's ridonkulous.

Of course, I did find the one I wanted. I did a Google search for "Best Shopping Cart Cover" and found KozyPal. Unfortunately "best" also translates to "most expensive" - $68+ - and if you want to get all the optional accessories - pillow, cup holder etc - which of course I'm now thoroughly convinced I can't live without (despite the fact I do realize this is a cart cover, not my next car), you have to customize your order. Not only does that cost more bucks but you have to wait for them to slot it into their next production which, now, isn't until late November! Who plans their shopping cart cover purchase that far in advance, for heaven's sake?

ItzyRitzy in the Central Park West fabric was the next most popular on my list. Again, a whopping $68 but this time it doesn't even look as though there's as much padding for the shopping cart function. Looks a bit flimsy for the $, no?

Then I went to Amazon.com. Unfortunately, I was now ruined by KozyPal for just about every other shopping cart cover out there. Is it puffy enough? Does it cover all sides? Does it have a pillow? What about a bottle pocket? How about mommy pockets for keys and cell phone? Are there loops for favorite toys? And, most importantly, does it come in a cute but stylish fabric that will leave us the envy of every other shopping mommy we encounter?

This has become a serious business!

So, I'm asking for some help. Mommies, (or non-mommies - you're not disqualified by having a un-used uterus or even no uterus at all) here is my criteria. Do you have recommendations?

MUST HAVE

• Puffy and soft - provides padding for the falling-sideways new sitter
• Has loops for favorite toys
• Also doubles as restaurant high-chair cover
• Easily washable
• Attaches to shopping cart w/ straps
  
• Comes in choice of fabrics that don't include bunnies and teddy-bears. Oh, and no Disney characters purrrrlease!
  
• Doesn't cost a bazillion dollars. (Under $50 would be great.)

NICE TO HAVE

• Pillow
• Reversible fabric
  
• On-board toys
• Straps for baby
• Easy-carry case or bag
• Pockets for mommy's toys (cell phone, coupons, keys etc...)
  

If you have absolutely NO IDEA what I'm rambling on about, here are the most popular options out there right now. Which would you buy?

• Boppy
• Infantino
• BuggyBagg
• Floppy Seat
• Babe Ease Clean Shopper
• Leachco Prop 'R Shopper

Right now I'm torn between the Floppy Seat because, well, it's so floppy and soft looking, and the BuggyBagg because it's so useful looking. All those pockets! Who can resist?!

Also, I'm well aware that this could be cause for me to be committed to some kind of mental institution. Does being self aware mean you're actually NOT mad?

Daisy's last weekend as a 5 month old

I figure you guys have enough of me prattling on, so this week's update is in pics - moving and static.

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Man, It's a tough life being 5, soon to be 6, months old!

Big girl's bath

It's been coming on for a while now and, as usual, Daisy's parents were the last to jump on the developmental bandwagon.

Up until last week, we were still bathing Daisy in her luxury, soothing baby bath. Hubby would fill the bath up in the bathroom and carry it into her nursery where we would plop her on her back in her bath sling, turn on the jets and lather her up.

About two or three weeks ago, Daisy decided that she didn't want to lay back any more. Instead of complying happily as she has done for the past five months, she put her elbows down before her back in a sort of uncomfortable-looking, half sitting position. Her legs were all-but touching the bottom of the baby bath but still her parents persevered with the baby bath.

Finally, when she started sitting up on her own last week, it spelled the beginning of the end of this ritual. The final straw was when she discovered a new aptitude at splashing, frequently leaving us and her nursery floor completely soaked.

But what to do? Too big for the baby bath. Too small for the regular bath and not stable-enough sitting up to avoid smacking our head on the edges.

Welcome Quacky Ducky to our bath-time ritual.





















You blow him up, pop him in your tub and hey presto you have a soft baby bath for your little one to roll around in. He even quacks when you squeeze his beak. He's also supposed to let you know when the bath water is too hot but so far we're not impressed with his sensitivity - Daisy would be bathing in cold water if we listened to Mr. Ducky!

Anyway, Daisy loves it. We can now sit her up and give her toys to munch on, which is especially helpful given she is going through a bout of teething pain.

We, on the other hand, are pretty grossed-out and are being forced to address the sorry-state of our guest bathroom (now, I guess, Daisy's bathroom) up-close-and-personal. We knew all this before, of course - the floor tiles are old, poorly-laid, and the grout is cracking; the wall tiles are hideous; the door is a disgusting blue on the back side; the accessories/fittings are a yucky 70s gold - but we've been able to turn a blind-eye until now.

So, I guess our next project is to give the bathroom a make-over. I'm thinking a fun "beach" theme that will look exciting for Daisy but not force guests to shower with a pink teddy-bear shower curtain.

Before I sign-off I have to share this picture of a "European" style baby tub that I found on Amazon.com. Have you ever seen anything so crazy in your life? And what's funny is, I betcha babies love it. Although, for $60, I think I could find a nice salad bowl in the cupboard...

(Incidentally, despite being European, I've never seen one of these in my life.)


















More pics from bathtime here.

Is signing sending the right sign?

I'm conflicted about sign-language for babies, quite frankly.

Sites like www.babies-and-sign-language.com paint a wonderful picture...

"Familiar with a scenario like this? -- At 3am your 10-month old baby is crying inconsolably at night. “What’s wrong? -- you ask, wishing you REALLY COULD understand her thoughts and attempts to vocalize to tell you what she wants.

3am quickly becomes 4am, 5am...

Now, imagine THIS scenario

Around 3:00am you ask your 10-month old infant “What’s wrong?”; she immediately forms her hands to sign “teddy bear”! (Tapping her chest with both hands signifies the act of cuddling a teddy bear or other soft toy. You hand her Mr. Teddy, and gratefully, your baby grabs and squeezes her comforting little bear buddy, and immediately lies back down to sleep.

Yes, this is truly possible!"

It sounds great but here's my concern - who is this ultimately helping? A frustrated parent OR a baby who is trying to learn spoken language? I've done some research and I'm finding arguments for and against.

Quite frankly, from a purely personal perspective, when I see a baby use sign language it makes me irritated. There's nothing more annoying to me for some reason than a frustrated infant smacking it's hands around in demand for something or other. It just comes across as rude to me for some reason, I don't know why. Plus, as I think I indicated in my reaction to the website excerpt, I see this more as giving an impatient parent something to work with than really helping a child learn to speak to you, which is ultimately what we're trying to achieve.

If you're a believer in sign-language, I hope this doesn't offend you and, don't worry, I'm not going to get red around the gills at your kid if he/she signs around me. I'm just throwing this out there to see what other people think.

Did you teach your infant to communicate through sign-language?

Do you think it helped or hurt them with their language development?

Do I need to get over this and incorporate signing into Daisy's development or does it really not matter one way or the other?

Intrigued...

Sitting Up

Daisy is sitting up all on her own.

4 minutes today without a topple. Woohoo! Although I never want to rush her development, I have to say that I'm breathing a huge sigh of relief right now. Holding a 15lb baby that doesn't want to lay down all the time can get pretty exhausting!







More photos here

Daisy is ahead of the curve?

Got this in my email box this morning regarding development of 5 month olds:

"You've got to hand it to your baby — his hand control is definitely improving. You may see him rake objects toward himself and try to pick them up. Most 5-month-olds grasp an object for just a short while and then drop it. Yours will spend a long time doing this over and over if you play along by picking up the objects and handing them back."

Rake? Try? Drop? Are you kidding me? This kid has a vice-grip on her toys and can roll around on the floor while holding on to them. She's even more determined if the object is something you don't want her to have, like a tissue, your shirt, the remote control, or your cell phone. She can grab her binkie from afar and put it in and out of her mouth. If by "drop" they mean fling forecefully across the room in tantrum, then perhaps we're on track.

All that I've chosen to be left behind

After reading the comments to my last post, I started to respond in the comments section myself but then realized that my comment was becoming a post in itself. So, I decided to go-with-the-flow.

(Obviously, if you haven't read the last post and comments from friends, this is going to make little sense to you. Sorry! What can I say? Keep up!)
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Elena - You know, I would have put myself in the first category FOR SURE before she was born. And, the truth is, it's not impossible to pick-up where I left off and fold Daisy into that. BUT, I think Linh hit it on the head - they're only a baby for so long and I truly enjoy the majority of time I spend with her - she's fascinating!

Of course, I could have her spend more time with her grandparents, but they already help out enough (no complaint or problem with that, btw), or add hours to my nanny's day, or put her in childcare at the gym while I work out, or have people babysit more often, but the reality is that I don't want my kid parented by someone else. Get used to being with different people and different environments, sure, but I (and Hubby) want to be the major influencers in her life. I already work 8 hours a day, meaning I only get a couple of hours in the morning and night with her and then weekends as it is.

So, I figure, as she gets older and more independent, I'll add things back in - maybe from the old days, maybe new things altogether, maybe even tagging her along. In the meantime... pah, I'm not feeling short-changed and I recognize I've made a CHOICE in most of these things.

On the other hand, I have to say, for as much that has changed, many things have stayed the same.

I work, I Facebook, I blog, I watch my favorite tv-shows, I shop on weekends, I go out to eat, Hubby and I have date-nights... my life wasn't that interesting and dynamic before missy was born.

I actually probably go out now MORE than I did before, especially with my new mommy friends. Last Friday, for instance, we got together for MNO (Mother's Night Out) and had margaritas and bad-for-us Mexican food while next Friday night I'm off to a fashion party at one of their homes. It's almost like having Daisy has made me make even more of an effort to get out and have fun.

As we all know, I also haven't stopped traveling and don't intend to.

Plus, I have a 3rd factor to consider right now - my hip. After I put Daisy down at 8:30pm, instead of doing laundry or reading, I lay on the floor in front of my favorite TV shows and stretch, usually for almost an hour. I could read, I could download songs onto my iPod but (as I know Elena knows) the need to be pain-free trumps all other things.

So, in short, I guess what I'm trying to say is that I've consciously made choices about where to spend my time differently these days, rather than being unwillingly swept-up in the wave of motherhood. I wouldn't say Daisy controls my life (if something needs to get done, it needs to get done and we figure it out) but I would say that I've chosen to let go of some things for now.

All that you can leave behind

Since having Daisy, it goes without saying that my life has changed immeasurably. But it only occurred to me today, as I was forcing myself out of my chair and onto my Total Gym, how many things that used to be such a big part of my every day existence, have suddenly been thrown by the wayside out of necessity and in favor of time with Daisy.

• My iPod: I used to use the thing religiously. I even took it with me to the hospital and used it there. In fact one of our favorite memories is falling asleep, just the three of us, in the hospital room, listening to John Mayer. Now, I have to be honest, I don't even know where it is, let alone use it on a regular basis. I certainly haven't downloaded any new tunes to it in a loooong time.
• The Gym: The what? I know I'll get back there eventually but, right now, it's a pipe-dream. With the exception of a couple of aqua aerobics classes here and there, I haven't seen that place since Daisy was born. The time commitment is just too great.
• My yoga DVDs: Ditto the gym. They're at least 60 minutes long each and I just can't find that time in my day to exercise right now.
• My Twilight Books (any books!): Read? Yup, right. The most I have been able to achieve is flicking through a parenting magazine while facebooking while Daisy is napping. I used to read non-stop when I was pregnant with Little Missy.
• My car: It used to be pristine, clean, and always regularly serviced. Now the thing is dirty, full of trash, the windshield water jets don't work, and it hasn't had an oil change since March.
• My poor dogs: I see them in passing these days when I used to spend every evening cuddled up on the couch with them. They're coping remarkably well with their demotion but I do have a moment, daily, where I regret how little attention they receive.
• My personal blog: Who has time to keep up this one and that one? And, honestly, I just don't see a place for my political rantings on Daisy's blog. The two don't mingle. Some people manage it, to me it seems wrong.

Of course, what I have gained in return can't be measured but it is interesting to see how quickly that which you consider to be ridiculously important can be tossed aside without almost a second thought. In many ways it's a lesson that, although you think you can't live without it, the reality is you can; it's not that important.

Daisy's Namesake

For those of you who don't know, Daisy is named after the grandmother I never met - my father's biological mother who died when he was just 9 months old of TB. At the same time (or shortly thereafter - the details are fuzzy) his elder brother by two years, Martin, also died of the same disease. My father obviously escaped serious sickness, although I believe he was left with some TB scarring on his lung or something.

I only found out that the Grandma that I had known all my life was not my real Grandmother, when I was about 7 or 8 years old, possibly later - I don't remember the exact date. Unfortunately, the relationship with my dad's stepmother has been problematic; she never liked my mother and that pretty much put the nail in the already-closing coffin of my dad's relationship with her. As a result, there were some pretty uncool things that happened when I was a kid, one of which I remember personally being that she would invite my cousins into her bedroom to view her musical jewelry box and give them sweets (candy), while leaving me outside. At one point (for no good reason any of us can remember) my mother was banned from my grandparents' house and my dad and I would have to go over there without her just so we could see my Grandpa (or, more specifically I would be dragged over there.) Once I was old enough to assert my own wishes, I decided that, if my mother wasn't welcome, then I wasn't either. All of this was very sad because my Grandpa, George, was a lovely man and I only have great memories of him. I'm sad that he died with us estranged. Anyway, there were many more slights but that's not the subject of this post.

The reason I found out was because my parents decided it was about time that I learned the reason for this feeling of alienation that I had with my Grandma, presumably so I didn't grow up with some kind of complex about myself. So, they brought down my Dad's birth certificate one night and plopped it in front of me. Of course, I saw that his mother's name was Daisy Carpenter, vs. the lady I had known all my life as his "mother". (We also found out that my Dad was a year younger than he thought, but that's another story!) Ever since then, and especially since I saw the first pictures of her kind eyes and soft smile, I've wished that I could have known Daisy. My Dad looks so much like her, as do I in some pictures I have of myself at a younger age.

During the process of my parents applying to come out here to live, my Dad had to do some records searching to find out when and where his mother died and was buried and I still need to write that down somewhere. It's odd to me that he has never really been interested in finding out himself but I guess that's his choice; he never really knew her and so in some ways it makes sense. All I know is that my curiosity would have been (is!) greater as a result. I wish I had known about her sooner as I would have loved to have caught my Grandpa in a moment alone and asked him more about her. Unfortunately, everyone who would have known her personally at this point is now dead and buried and the most I can hope to find out is cold facts and dates.

So, this is why I named my daughter Daisy. Some part of me hopes that, in naming her Daisy, she might get to inherrit some of her qualities by-proxy, and I'll get to know a smidgin about the grandmother with the kind eyes that I never met.

Play Date

One of the best things about being a mom/mum so far is that I have met lots of other wonderful new moms who, I think (and hope) I will continue to remain friends with as our kids grow.

Although the pre-baby class (formerly known as Lamaze but ambiguously called "Great Expectations" these days) was actually not all that helpful in the end (especially given that I had a scheduled c-section) the one thing it did do was to introduce Hubby and I to other couples who were expecting babies at about the same time as us. Out of about 15 couples in the group, I have managed to stay in touch with three moms and, through them, have met a whole lot more.

On Wednesday, four of those moms and their kiddos - Natalie and Mackenzie, Lisa and Sydney, Krista and Joshua, and Renee and Mady - came to my house for a play date, our second since the kiddos were born.

To provide some perspective, here is, from L to R: Daisy, Syndey, Joshua, and Mackenzie in late June when they were just 2 to 2 1/2 months old (they're all about 3 weeks apart with Daisy being the oldest and Josh being the youngest. Mady is almost a year now and joined our group as a friend of Natalie's - and we're all glad to have a more experienced mom to talk to, believe me!)














Now here are the same four babies at 4 1/2 to 5 months:
L to R: Syndey, Joshua, Mackenzie, and Daisy









And let's not forget Ms. Mady herself, who recently learned to crawl



It was so fun to see how much the kids have grown and to catch-up with everyone, although we each had our share of mini-meltdowns. Daisy got to experience the power of sharing her toys for the first time, although that did not go well - sad faces and tears, so we need to work on that.

It was also Natalie's birthday and we thank her for spending it with us!


Natalie and Mackenzie (aka: Mack Attack or Buggy)

Natalie will be attempting to set a date next month that works for us all again and hopefully I'll be able to post more pics of the 4 kids at 5 1/2 to 6 months old!

For all the pics, click here

The McDaids and Tings doo the zoo

Wow... catching up on posts here finally. So much has been going on that I should be blogging about but, of course, I'm busy being in the middle of it rather than writing about it. I'll have to start getting in the habit of posting after little missy goes to sleep.

So, right after we returned from SoCal, we booked-up more activities for our little Daisers...

SATURDAY - First Swimming Lessons at Sea Otters

We already know that Daisy loves to "swim", so I'll save the exhaltations. She loves it, yeah, yeah, yeah. However, now we have official lessons every Saturday at 10:30am. and I have to say that her level of excitement was at an all-time high when she saw the water. We got there early and had to wait for the lesson to start, so we were watching older kids from the other side of the fence. Daisy literally grabbed the bars like a monkey, with hands and feet, and squealed at them. If she had words, I'm sure they would have been "Let me in! Let me in!"



It looks like the major milestones we need to cover are:

• Dunk (which she has little choice over - I dunk, she suffers through it)
• Blow bubbles under water (which she did quite unintentionally - she's a spit-bubble blowing fiend lately.)
• Jump off side into Mummy's arms (less of a jump more of a swoop via mum)
• Scoop arms (assisted, of course)
• Kick legs (again, assisted)

The funny thing was that, for once, I was the only mummy in the pool - it was all Daddies! This gave Hubby a serious case of catholic guilt and so this coming weekend he'll be jumping in with Daisy and the other baby-poppas. The water is nice and warm (in the 90s) so we won't have to worry about him taking 30 minutes to acclimatize his "bits" (which is his usually beef with the whole swimming thing and why you don't see many father-daughter pics in the pool.) He'll hate me for saying that but, oh well, anything for entertainment. Unfortunately, he won't be able to go every week because, as a Realtor, his primary work days are on weekends. Boooo!

SUNDAY - First trip to the Folsom Zoo

Since Daisy is now most happy when being stimulated while out-and-about and because the weather was unseasonably cool up here on Sunday, we thought it was the perfect time to visit the local zoo.

Folsom Zoo Sanctuary is a small little zoo about 5 miles from our house and has been recommended to me by many a mother as the perfect place to take a youngun. Since we hadn't seen Daisy's cousins Ezra and Adah in almost a month, we invited them too.


DAISY AND EZRA (ONE WEEK APART TO THE DAY) CHATTING ABOUT WHICH IS THEIR FAVORITE ZOO ANIMAL PRIOR TO DEPARTURE. The concensus was definitely monkey.

Folsom zoo turned out to be perfect. There were lots of trees for shade and you could get much more up-close-and-personal with the animals there than you can in bigger zoos -this is helpful when you're trying to point out a single, unfamiliar animal in a cage to an easily distracted 5 month old and in a sea of people!

After visiting with the animals, we enjoyed corn dogs, pretzels, and sno-cones in the adjacent City Park. Unfortunately, a rather naughty rooster snatched cousin Adah's corn dog as we were heading out, ending the fun rather abruptly.

COUSIN EZRA. DON'T YOU JUST WANT TO SMOOCH THOSE CHUBBY CHEEKS???



COUSINS ADAH AND EZRA IN THEIR NIFTY SIT-AND-STAND STROLLER.

More pics here

The incredible traveling baby

BEACH BABY BEACH BABY THERE ON THE SAND!

CONCLUSION: Daisy loves to travel. Yes, this is a HUGE relief to her mother, yours truly, who gets cabin fever and begins downing bottles of wine routinely if she doesn't have a vacation on the near horizon.

Spending uninterrupted time with Mummy, Daddy, Nanny, and Grandad, living life on her nap schedule, heading out to see new things and new people twice a day, and a daily swim really seemed to put our little munckin into the best mood. (Given that statement, it's hardly surprising, huh?) She was the least cranky she's ever been and the best napper, planted smack-bang in the middle of a cushy king-size bed.

TUCKERED-OUT AFTER HER SWIMMING SESSION

Unfortunately night-time sleep wasn't perfect but then it hasn't been much better at home either; we haven't routinely slept through the night now for quite some time. Honestly, it impacted Hubby and I more because she moves around so much in the night and woke us up with every little meep and grunt from her crib just a few feet away. Ack!

Even the airport and plane journey was less stressful than anticipated.


ON THE PLANE READY FOR TAKE-OFF

There are now "Family Lanes" at the security check-points which definitely takes some of the stress out of carting a baby and all her associated contraptions, through the scanners. Basically everyone's in the same boat - sweating to get it all right and not lose their boarding pass in the process - and so nobody gets mad at you for behaving like a monkey screwing a football.

We did buy a seat for Daisy this time around (hey, Southwest - $69 each way, why wouldn't we?) and so she got to take off in the comfort of a familiar environment. However she was so bored and over-stimulated by the time she got settled in her seat that she fell asleep shortly before take-off and stayed asleep until about 1/2 way through the flight. That left me with only 45 minutes or so of nursing her through the rest of the flight with assorted toys, songs, and funny faces. (I've completely lost my fear of singing in public now, by the way.)

Our favorite activities while away were:

• Hanging out in the front pack, people watching. Daisy LOVES to be around a ton of people. Guess she's her mother's daughter there. I think she's going to LOVE the big cities! I'm thinking London next year?
• The beach. She squealed with delight at the waves and wriggled her toes in the sand.
• The pool. We swam almost every day and her squeals definitely woke up all those OC-types lounging around the Hyatt Regency pool!
• Rolling around on the king bed. I get that. I like to roll around on the king bed too, although I didn't get to do much of that this time around ;o)
  

Developmental Milestones

On vacation we turned 5 months old - I know, NO WAY! So, time for some developmental updates:

• Smiling: Yes, lots. Daddy, Mummy, Nanny, or Grandad only have to look at her now and she beams right back at us with a big grin that turns into a shy smile as she hides her face.
• Giggling: Yes, especially if Daddy kisses our naked tummy or plays "Boo!" really loudly at us when we're on our tummy.
• Squealing: Oh God, no problems there. She can clear a restaurant in minutes.
• Rolling: Back to front and front to back. Yes, we do it all now.
• Forward Motion: As a 1/2 step to crawling, she can now get our knees under her and propel herself forward. Unfortunately her face is still planted firmly on the floor so she sort of pushes her head across the carpet like a broom.
• Tummy Time: She spends most of her day on her tummy now. Even when she doesn't want to be there, she rolls over. She has such great neck and back strength at this point that she can actually hold a toy and play with it underneath her while she lays on her front. She even naps on her stomach.
• Sitting: Daisy can sit unsupported for a second and lightly supported for a lot longer, although she tends to either flop sideways or lurch forward onto our tummy.
• Hand-eye coordination: She's come along leaps and bounds here. She can do fairly advanced things with her hands. At Macaroni Grill recently, she completely ripped apart and demolished the paper table cloth. She LOVES paper and loves to transfer it from hand to hand, rip it, and then suck it. We also have a new skill, which we lovingly call "The Paddy" (an Irish/English way of saying a "fit".) Daisy loves to fling her arm up-and-down-up-and-down from the shoulder, smacking herself on the forehead and thigh alternately. Sometimes there are things in her hand (like the plastic keys that hit Daddy in the head) and sometimes it's also accompanied by a frantic side-to-side shaking of her head. She looks like she'd having an epileptic fit but in reality it seems as though she's just getting out some pent-up physical energy. However, it does sometimes mean that we end up with a red spot on our forehead at the end of the day. Between that and the marks on her face from face-planting onto the binky during her naps, someone is going to cal CPS on me any day now! Although, I'd have some justification - oh the hair pulling! Who knew a 5 month old had such strength and grip???
• Eating: Still on the ceral. At a play date today she discovered a love for Puffs and some kind of Yogurt treat, so I guess I'm off to Safeway tomorrow to buy that. As for drinking, she loves iced water or apple juice from a straw but I have to be careful when I give it to her because, once I start, it's hard to stop. Daisy now throws fits when you take something away from her that she wants or enjoys even if it's not good for her. So, moral to this story, don't start something you can't finish.
• Sleeping: Overall, this is the only area where we're still experiencing some regression. Our solid night-sleeper has turned into a one-a-night (at least) waker. She wakes usually around 2am and 90% of the time will put herself back to sleep but 10% of the time cannot and requires us to go in, reposition her (she's usually all the way in the corner of the crib with her head banging against the bumper) and sometimes even stick in the binky. 50% of the time she also wakes up at 4 or 5-ish too. Sometimes we have to give her a bottle at this point and sometimes we don't. Needless to say, we're still working on this new night-time Daisy. All advice appreciated. As for naps - don't get me started! Although she napped great on vacation, as a general rule she has cottoned-on to our tactics for getting her to sleep at all other times and steadfastly refuses to yield. It's back arching and tears all the way. It doesn't help that she now has the power to remove the binky (our tried-and-true nap tool), stick it in backwards, make herself mad and then fling the binky across the room. Again, we're in the process of trying to figure this one out.

For more pics from our vacation click here

Ok, over and out before this post becomes too long for anyone to read it...