Bluet Feeds Herself

Well this is excellent. Bluet can feed herself, as evidenced by this video:

This increases our free time considerably:

Other things it would be useful for Bluet to learn to do (on occasion):

• Make own food
• Wash own bottles
• Change own nappies
• Throw said nappies into bin
• Empty bin down rubbish chute
• Make espresso in the morning for hard working parents
• Read own bedtime story

Other things she can do:

• Remove plug from bath, emptying out water. Can occur at the beginning, during or at the end of bath time.

11 in '11

Well the weekend started out about as well as I can imagine - the Cardinals won their 11th World Series Friday night. I stole this great picture from Twitter (via @athooks), where people are saying that the Cardinals are the Yankees of the National League, which is pretty funny, since I don't think there is such a thing. I sure do like when they win though.

 And, just like that, summer was over. We woke up yesterday to a snow/slush storm, and tricked out Bluet's stroller with a cozy sleeping bag thing to keep her warm as she cruises around the Upper East Side this winter. Even with this great item, our trips outside were short and few because it was truly nasty weather.

The sun came out today and we went to the Bronx Botanical Garden where they had record-holding giant pumpkins with zombies carved in them.

rally towel

I went to check on Bluet last night before the game,
and this is what I saw:

Don't worry, she was still breathing :)

Since my Game 2 World Series towel hanging on the chair
right side up obviously did not work for Game 5, I turned
it around for Game 6. So, feel free to thank me for what
happened last night. Go Cardinals!!

Oatmeal Face

That is all.

Bluet's Passport

Bluet has her passport, ready for travel to the old country. Here is the photo found within - I think the passport lasts for 5 years, so I am not sure how useful the photo will be for identification purposes by then, but there you go. Babies grow.

Getting the photo was an experience - I took Bluet to the pharmacist ("drugstore") and asked for a passport photo. The man led us to one of the aisles in the shop and moved aside a rack of baked goods (they sell crazy stuff in American pharmacists, but still they are not as good as Boots), exposing a bare white wall. I then had to hold Bluet up in the air, keeping myself out of shot and Bluet facing the camera. It took a while. But eventually we ended up with this picture, which is adorable, if not very useful for future identification purposes.

It's taken 6 months

But Bluet has now discovered her feet. They appear to be fascinating. And tasty.

It ain't easy

I thought crawling was easy, but it turns out it isn't. At first Bluet could only go backwards, but now she can go round in circles, so I guess that is progress. But as you can see from this video, although she has mastered staying in one place, she'd really like to be able to go forwards (and attain her goal of being able to pull records and books from their shelves when no-one is looking).

Note to self: must remember to hold the camera the other way around in future.

Today I am a 6 month old

That went fast.

So Bluet turns 6 months old as the cardinals clinch a world series berth. So much success so young.

Bluet occupies Wall Street

Amidst the anarchists, vegans, hippies, unwashed, bongo players, jugglers, elderly, youngerly, policemen smoking cigars, conspiracy theorists and hipsters, bluet found her place within the 99%.

But, no matter how noble your cause, you have to be weary when the jugglers turn up. Next, the people with the jesters hats appear and then all hope of affecting change is lost.

It's never too early to start teaching good habits and life skills

That is why we went to the bookshop today. Bluet was rapt and fascinated by all the books. The lovely jumper which kept her warm was kindly knitted by Bluet's Great Aunt Linda.

After a heated debate (we couldn't decide between the pop-up version of 'Anna Karenina' or the board book 'Ulysses (abridged)', we finally selected the classic from my childhood, pictured below. BTW the black and white baby in this photo (a random juxtaposition) is me, but it looks a bit like Bluet.

Finally, here is Bluet just after waking up this morning. A bit blurry, but what a smile.

Belated Thanks

A couple of weeks ago (or perhaps more like a month, we are becoming rather tardy) Bluet received two parcels in the post within a matter of days (something I can only dream of). One from Cambridge, England and one from Charleston, Missouri. Each containing a soft toy animal carefully selected by one of her grandmothers. Here she is enjoying (eating) her English elephant (they are the ones with the small ears) and her American butterfly.

Bluet also received a lovely jumper from her great Aunt in England - photos of that to follow, as soon as this indian summer is over and it is cold enough for her to wear it

I'm living in a box (living) I'm living in a cardboard box*

Great news, people with babies - it turns out that children don't need expensive toys, a cardboard box is enough to fill them with joy for days and days. Assuming we can find a steady supply of boxes in ever increasing sizes, we should be able to see off the desire for a pony at 10 and a car at 17.

It is hard to get video of Bluet 'talking' as as soon as she sees the camera she falls silent. However, there are some brief 'words' in this video. No idea what they mean - perhaps she is asking for a new box?

She also enjoys being dragged around the floor on a blanket, again something that should be already present in every home. Videos of that to follow, I expect.

*whatever happened to 'living in a box'?

Instablog from the roof

We're on the roof of the metropolitan museum of art, soaking up the culture, sun and the last of the summer beer.

New Noises Two

I've been at a conference all week, but it is only about an hour from New York, so I'm going home every other day, just so I don't miss out on too much of Bluet's development. Even so, it seems that after one night of my absence, Bluet masters a whole new sound - the raspberry - as evidenced by this video. If I go away more often, she will probably be able to speak fluently by Christmas.

here are some other recent pictures I took, just so I wouldn't forget what she looks like:

New Noises

This morning Bluet started emitting a high-pitched squeal that if it were any higher pitched could only be heard by dogs. But this is not the case and we can hear it just fine.

So we had to go for a walk.

This took us to MoMA and a retrospective of the work of Willem de Kooning, which Bluet kindly slept through allowing us to enjoy the art.

Then when she woke we left and fed her by the park. Here is a freshly sated, happy, non-squealing baby.

Let's play ball

We are in a bar, ready to watch the cardinals first post season game in what is sure to be a successful quest for world series victory #11. We need the fastest ever game today, or Bluet will miss the conclusion as she will have to go home to bed.

Here she is playing with her ball