One Size Does Not Fit All

I'm not sure this is quite what Peeper had in mind when she brought me a doll and a diaper.


There, that's much better!


She still seems a little uncertain about it.


But she's cuddly.


Watch out, GirlCat! I think she's sizing you up for it!


Which reminds me of a couple of stories:

BabyBro and HisLovelyWife have three cats, all of whom like to nap in the changing table portion of the twins' pack and play.

I hear tell that BabyBro has told the Maine Coon that, "If you're going to keep getting up there, you're going to get a diaper!"

And, Anonymama tells me that one of the other cats might have learned by now that it's really best to move out of the way when it's DaNephew's turn for a diaper change - she's been sprinkled at least twice.

Daily Peep: Snow Bunny

Daily Peep: Mmmm, Boppy

Daily Peep: Upgrade

That's not a spoon . . .



. . . now that's a spoon!

Daily Peep: That Poor Cat

Hey Peep, whatcha doin' over there with kitty?

Oh, no - don't . . . .





. . . move until I get my camera.

Bottomless Pit

For about the past few days, Peeper has been eating non-stop.

I know it can't have been going on for very long, because at her doctor's appointment last Wednesday, when we were discussing her weight plateau (actually a bit of a loss since a month ago), he asked how her appetite is when she's not sick.

I said that "She's willing to eat all sorts of things," and "She has her good days and bad days," and things along those lines, but to be honest, it sort of felt like I was stretching the truth a bit.

She's had a lot more days over the past several weeks when she's not so much about the chewin' food, and because we really don't usually pay a lot of attention to how much of the food actually goes into her, and how much goes, well, into BigGaloot, usually, it's hard to really say that she's eating very much at all.

She is still open to checking out most foods, I think, but she often tosses them overboard as quickly as we give them to her.

And, she's been sick off and on so much that, honestly, it's hard to say what her appetite's like when she's feeling great.

I haven't really worried about it, because she's still nursing as much as ever, so I figure she's getting most of what she needs that way, and the one thing she's always happy to eat is Cheerios, which are iron-fortified, so I suppose that's good.

But, then she immediately started eating like crazy.

The day before, I'd served some veggie garden something or other baked Wheat thin chips (??) at playgroup, and she loved them.

Pretty soon, she was standing in front of the cabinet where they live, signing "more" over and over.

When those ran out (No, she didn't eat the whole bag. That was me.) we gave her some Ritz crackers, and she kept coming back for "more" of those, too.

When I realized how often she was asking for a snack-on-the-run, I bought some cheese sticks, since I wasn't so thrilled with the constant carbs. She didn't so much like the rubbery cheese sticks, but is digging the rectangles of Colby Jack.

In between, of course, we've been plopping her in her highchair a thousand times a day and giving her more substantial, nutritious-ish fare, much of which she's eaten, and then come back a few minutes later for more crackers, or cheese, or whatever we've got to offer.

(That's not even counting any of the mushy stuff with a spoon, because that's going more on her than in her.)

I don't know if she's catching up from being sick a couple of weeks ago, or if her gums are less sore now that the first molar has cut through, or maybe they are more sore and chewing food feels good, or maybe she's just hitting a growth spurt, or gearing up for one, or her body's realizing it needs more fuel for all this running around that she's doing, or what, but holy crow, kiddo.

A Hairy Situation

You may have noticed that Peeper's hair is often rather, um, dishevelled.

Often what you're seeing is her "I just got out of the tub and towel-dried my hair," look, but not always.

Other times you're seeing her "I just woke up" or "I just took off the hood of my very staticky fleece jacket" or "I don't know what happened!" looks.

The bit sticking out over her ears are just awkward toddler hair, and we just have to wait them out, but the back.

Oh dear.

What is going on back there?!

The moment she lays her head against anything and picks it back up, all the hair back there is standing straight out, and then it does all sorts of things.

This evening, we noticed that she actually had a little tangle in it. I was afraid we might have to get professional assistance (we have haircuts scheduled for tomorrow - two weeks late, because she's been sick), but with the help of some detangler and an actual comb (we usually use a soft brush on it), I got it out.

The detangler, by the way, was a shower gift. Thank you thank you thank you, to whomever looked at Shrike's straight, fine hair (or mine, if it was someone who didn't know the whole story) and thought, "That poor child is going to need some No-More-Tears!"

So, detangler, and a comb, while she was in her high chair, distracted by food, and the tangle came right out, and her whole head was smooth and beautiful.

These photos were taken about fifteen minutes later:

Daily Peep: Book Chat

I don't know.

I can't make out a damn word of this.


Hey, this isn't even in English! Those bastards!


¡Pero este queso es delicioso!

Date Night: The Sequel

I guess I never really reported on our date night a couple of weeks ago, because it segued so quickly into the Night of a Thousand Vomits.

But, right up until that point, it was rather nice.

We dropped Peeper off with Shrike's parents and went to dinner at one of the less child-friendly restaurants in town.

We've taken Peeper there a couple of times - for our anniversary / Valentine's Day last year, and another time when she was maybe six or seven months old (maybe for one of our birthdays? Mother's Day?) - and didn't really feel comfortable; a little too worried about her disturbing people.

Of course, what's the first thing we saw when we walked in this time? High chairs. Kisd. Coloring on their kid's menu. That comes with colors.

When did that happen?

Anyway, so we had a lovely dinner, of shrimp bisque and three-cheese garlic bread, and a bit of wine. (Woo hoo!)

When we called to check in, they told us that Peeper was doing great, but starting to get a little sleepy, and when we got there to pick her up, we peeked in through the window in the door, and saw her playing happily.

Tonight's date went more or less exactly the same, except that we also ordered some food to go for a MOMS Club family that's got a new baby (we used our "buy one entree get one free" coupon on them, because we prefer bisque and cheesey bread), and after we picked Peeper up, we dropped that off to them.

They live a little ways away, so Peeper had herself a power nap on the way, and is still up - but unlike two weeks ago, she's happy and, more importantly, not puking, so we'll deal with it.

Daily Peep: Bedtime Stories