Sunday

There is probably some saying about how the second half of a marathon is easier than the first, but when it comes to looking after Bluet, well that wouldn't be a very good analogy. Here is what happened today - you'll notice at some point I lost track of the time..... However, it was a very fun day and weekend, and we had some great moments - I hope that Bluet is not bored of my company. It is quite difficult to think of things to entertain someone who cannot speak or understand everything you say, and needs to be stopped from grabbing computers and other non-edibles we have around the house.

9:27AM It took a while, but Bluet is currently asleep, and I am showered and ready for whatever the day (or Bluet) may throw at me. "We" woke around 6.20AM. Whilst Bluet made happyish waking up noises, I made her bottle and my coffee. Then we enjoyed our morning beverages together. After that, I kept Bluet entertained with:

1) her toys (briefly)

2) her banana oatmeal

3) cheerios, entertaining enough that I used the opportunity to cook some parsnip for her. She watched. Like her cousin Della, Bluet loves parsnip and pear which surprises me as it is a weird combination, and parsnips are no where near the top of my personal vegetable rankings.

Cheerio!

Then we read several books, and Bluet practised her standing in her bed (she was supposed to be practising her sleeping).

We spoke briefly to Emily on the phone, and with a little fuss, eventually Bluet was asleep. How long this state of affairs will last, none can say.

18:57 Well, Bluet is asleep(ish) so while my dinner cooks, here is what happened for the rest of the day. Around 10.30 my brother called from the UK, and I chatted to him along with Angela and Della on the Skype for a while. Eventually Bluet got bored of sleeping and joined us - this was her first interaction with Della since they met just over a month ago, captured in screen capture:

Then Bluet ate her lunch and we headed out (it must've been a little before noon). First, to the park, where Bluet swang a little, but really she was hungry and devoured her bottle. Whilst drinking two boys (who could've been any age from about 5-7, I have no idea - when are you supposed to let your kids talk to strangers?) came up on their scooters and said "you have a very cute baby" and "she looks nice" which was very unexpected. One kid left, but the other stayed a minute, told me his name was Marley, then suggested that maybe he could hang out with Bluet "when my parents are around"; He then scooted off. Maybe he'll come and say "hi" to Bluet some other day in Charles Schulz Park.

Then we met Liisa for Brunch at a nearby bistro. Bluet shared my toast, and was impecably behaved (pictured). She was fascinated with Liisa's watch, I guess because we don't wear them.

Then Bluet got tired and we headed home, arriving just after 14:00. After another bottle she took her afternoon nap. And so did I.

Around 16:30, she was awake again for the home stretch. More standing, music and books. Bluet became fascinated with the trendy hole in my jeans - another cool dad point, I feel - the third if you are keeping track. This was extremely sweet. We played together with lego - I built a tower and Bluet unbuilt it. Then for dinner, butternut squash and courgette (with a manchego cheese starter). Another bottle, a prolonged bath as Bluet was very much enjoying herself. Another book, and it was sleep time, with no fuss or pain. Now, what shall I do for the rest of the day.

(Oh, and the brownie was delicious)

Saturday Part II

Well, I have no idea what happened this afternoon, but it must've been wild. You see, Bluet was so exhausted at the end of the day she could barely make it until 19:00. And when I say that, what I mean is that she was in bed before 19:00, and possibly asleep before then too. This is about 30 minutes earlier than the rest of this week. So like I said, the afternoon must've been wild.

Bluet at nap's end

Let's see if I can piece this together. From what I can remember, Bluet woke from her nap around 15:30 (as mentioned in the previous blog post). I read my book whilst she was sleeping (although there is a small possibility I took a short nap too.

Then Bluet drank her bottle, and full of energy, we played in the apartment, dancing to some of the hottest tunes of the moment (and collecting the second of the cool dad points of the day). I made the following video to celebrate her 9 and a bit month birthday, in which she demonstrates her climbing ability.

And then, because the sun was streaming in the window, I decided we should go to the park and enjoy the sun. I pictured Bluet frolicking in the grass, perhaps making daisy chains or blowing the blowy things off of dandelions.

Sadly when we got to the park it was too cold, so we went to the swings instead, walked around the great lawn, and came home around 17:30. On the way back we passed this crazy crane in our street stretching high into the sky. I do not think it interested Bluet that much, to be honest, but while it was dangling over the street it was a little worrisome.

Some small pieces of manchego cheese with rosemary did little to assuage Bluet's growing hunger. So I had to feed her her jar of food. Her pot of Yoghurt. Her bottle of milk. Then, quickly, to the bath. Washed and dried. Then we read some more books, but it soon became apparent she was ready to sleep. I put her in her bed, and with little fuss, her day was over.

That doesn't sound so tiring. So I have no idea what happened.

PS If you asked a baby what she'd make her dad for looking after her all day, she'd probably think for a second, and then say 'chocolate cake'. Bluet cannot cook yet, so I baked myself allegedly the best brownies in the world from a cookbook my Mum gave me for Christmas. They are cooling, and I will eat them after writing this. But I can confirm that the uncooked batter was delicious.

PPS And now, a free evening stretches in front of me. What to do? So many choices.

Saturday Part I

This weekend Emily is off to a conference in California, leaving me and Bluet to our own devices. Whilst some may be sceptical, I am confident all will be fine.

Here follows the diary of my first weekend in sole charge of Bluet.

Saturday morning, 9.06am: Bluet woke at 6.30 this morning. Usually this is annoying, as it would be nice to have a Saturday lie-in, but today Emily still needed to pack. After that, we headed to Le Pain Quotidian for some bread and coffee (see previous entry). As I write this we are back in the house, Bluet is trying to go to sleep, and Emily is leaving in 30 minutes.

So far, this whole weekend alone thing is going swimmingly.

12:57PM I type this delicious cheese and tomato sandwich in one hand, laptop in the other. It has been a busy morning. Bluet woke at about 10:42, a little over an hour into her nap. So then it was all action stations. We headed out to the farmer's market on 82nd Street, where Bluet helped me pick out some fruit and veg (an apple is pictured below).

Background Onions

On the way, Bluet was distracted by a dog, and then was surprisingly happy as we waited to cross the street.

Crossing 1st Avenue is fun

After the farmers market, I took Bluet to Charles Shultz Park, on the East River as we were half way there already. Here she swung, slid and finally played in the sandpit.

Sliding

I gained cool dad points here, as as we were leaving the sandpit, I overheard another dad say 'No, Ella, we're not playing in the sandbox* today'. For brief moments in the sun, we could almost have been at the beach. Today was clearly a good day.

Sandpitting

*American for sandpit

By this point it was time to go home. I unpacked my fruit and veg, ate an apple, then gave the core to Bluet to keep her quiet whilst I got her lunch ready. Some delicious home made butternut squash. That went down rapidly.

Apple Eating

Next, time for my lunch. I had hoped to go to the brand new upper east side branch of panera bread, one of America's finest sandwich shop chains, but sadly it hasn't opened yet. So what to do? We ended up buying a baguette and heading home, Bluet fell asleep just as we arrived back, and I carefully transferred her to her bed without waking her up. DISASTER AVERTED!

This is easier than I thought!

Now, time to finish my sandwich.

Just like her dad

Bluet loves bread

Snowbound Crawling

This weekend, it snowed. So instead of the park, we went to Barnes and Noble, a book shop and popular upper east side hang out for parents with small children. Also they have carpeted floors, upon which Bluet can crawl more easily than our wooden ones. Here is a video of some brief crawling episodes. As you can see, it is more forward-orientated than previous episodes.

Bluet can also recognise a few words - if you say 'pat-a-cake' (as in the children's rhyme) she starts to clap her hands. And I am pretty sure if you say 'Sophie' she knows to grab her giraffe.

Apples and Slides

To a child, the world is a marvellous place filled with treasures at every turn. What we may discard as unwanted rubbish can fascinate a small baby for hours.

Viz, here is Bluet eating my discarded apple core, feasting as if it were a Michellin-starred desert (although perhaps less elegantly than decorum would require if that were the case).

Also, from a couple of weeks ago, here is Bluet enjoying sliding for the first time

Live from the doctors

We are at the paediatricians for Bluet's 9 month check up. This always involves a lot of sitting around waiting, so here is a blog - some pics of Bluet playing. And also a height and weight update - 28.5" and 22lbs 5.5oz. A translation into decimal measures, and her location by percentile to follow

UPDATE that is 72.4 cm (so 3/4 of a metre!) and 10.23 kg

Bluet's Blocks

In Block news, they are practical AND educational. Plus they make a good noise when banged together.

 

In fever news, she seems to be almost back to normal. She's been waking up around 10ish (probably as the baby pain killers wear off) and then after some comforting, returning to bed and sleeping through to 6 - this morning, she made it through to 7, so that is good).

In teeth news, she still doesn't have any.

In talking news, she is fond of saying ta-ta-ta-ta-ta; it is very sweet. I will try and capture it on audio. In the mean time here are two recordings from a couple of days ago. I like to think I can hear her say 'Dada' (if you listen really, really hard). Now if only she was actually looking at me when she said it.....

Talking at New York, NY by Ben Collins

Sounds from Wednesday morning by Ben Collins

Feverish

Poor Bluet has her first fever. 100.5F, or, for those who prefer non-cow based temperature systems, 38.1C. Whilst this slightly affected her sleep (she woke up a little early, and also had trouble getting to sleep in the first place, with some tears before bedtime), her voracious appetite remains intact. This may or may not be related to the emergence of Bluet's first tooth. Her gum is swollen so soon our beautiful gummy smiled baby will be a beautiful gap toothed (or just toothed) smile.

Update: 8:30am

Thanks to baby Tylenol, Bluet has rallied and is now eating the remote control

Bluet Slides

What an afternoon in New York

World Tour

Here is a representative sample of the different tickets required by Bluet and ourselves to travel over the last few weeks. You will observe plane tickets (required to get to and from theUK), bus tickets (required to get to and from Newmachar, and from Cambridge station to Bluet's Gran's house) and train tickets (lots, required to get everywhere else).

But I guess that is what you need if you want to embark on a world tour such as Bluet's. Along the way, the tour took her to places such as Aberdeen. Here she met some of her fans, including Martin and Gina, pictured below with Uncle Nick and Bluet. Martin and Gina are old family friends, as well as heroes in the noble fight against the ignoble Donald Trump and his plans to destroy the coast of North East Scotland by building a golf course, just because his mother was Scotch. 

They had a car (no ticket required) and took us on a brief drive from Newmachar to visit Fyvie Castle. It was a gloriously beautiful sunny snowy day. Whilst you cannot tell from the pictures, Bluet was thoroughly nonplussed by the castle. In fact it was probably her least favourite place we have ever taken her*. So sadly we shall not be moving into a Castle in the immediate future.

*either she hates castles or got hungry because we forgot to pack food for her. Difficult to tell.

Emily checks out the feel of entering your own Castle

Then it was back on the bus. Here is Bluet waiting at Newmachar Bus Stop in advance of a long train journey to York. In general, I think a good time was had by all in Aberdeen.

In more recent Bluet news, she has perfected rolling from back to front, and front to back. She rolls with ease, then rolls right back again. In this fashion she can slowly transverse the floor.

When not trying to walk or move in some way, Bluet also likes to practice talking. To my great delight she can say 'Da-Da' and 'Ba-Ba' so her first words (either Dad or Ben) can be only weeks away. She is also perfecting her debating skills - here Emily and Bluet discuss the finer points of Wittgenstein's philosophy of language:

Intense discussion at 225 East 79th Street by Ben Collins

 

You can teach a young baby new tricks

Over New Year, Aunt Abatha, whilst juggling 3 kids, found time to kindly teach Bluet how to clap her hands. At 5.30AM on the 2nd of January, I took this video.

Bluet was happier to be awake at this time than I.

Catching Up

Well, we certainly were busy over the festive period. Which means there is plenty of catching up to do. I'll do my best over the next few days to deal with the backlog - I expect we'll be caught up by June (approx). Still, in the meantime

You'll swoon at Bluet's new tricks*.
You'll be awed at the amazing places Bluet has been.
You'll cry with laughter with Bluet (not at her).

*Check back tomorrow

For starters, here is Bluet going a little bit mentile on the 8 1/2 hour train ride to Aberdeen. As you can see, so much time on the train had interesting side effects effects. Usually 'That's Not My Monkey', whist good, is just not that funny.

(This video also serves as a record of her 8 month birthday, filmed on December 17th, somewhere in Scotland).

And as the old saying goes, New Year, New Feature - Today we introduce the audio section of the blog. Basically, I discovered how to record sound files and put them online, which is great as Bluet is now talking much more than before. (And you can even download them as mp3s to listen to at your convenience).

As an introductory offer, here is the response Bluet had yesterday to seeing an iPhone; clearly Steve Jobs understood how to create universal appeal.


 
  Baby sees iPhone at Ryan Hummert Park

Happy new year

We've just returned from our river trip to find Bluet safe and well with her Aunt Abatha back in St louis. Indeed she seems to have benefitted from her first full day away from both parents (31st December 2011, fact fans) and learned how to sit up by herself AND how to clap her hands.

Initially she was confused by our reappearance, probably because we smelt funny after two shower free days on the river - a tasty blend of woodsmoke and sweat no doubt. Once we'd showered, she was happy to have us back, talking and laughing. For a while. Now the magic of reunification has worn off and a tired Bluet is being fed dinner before bed.