The Gypsy Family

Here is the run down of the Gypsy family that has been on the road since Thanksgiving. We started off our trip with a visit to Utah for Thanksgiving (and interviews). This happened to coincide with the famous Pugmire chocolate-making weekend. The Chocolatiers were delighted to have Eole and her mama there working in the quality control department. I’m sure they will try and get us out every year so we can perform our important taste testing task. On the Geary side, we were favored with private violin concerts, and art shows. Where was Daddy during all of this glitz, glam, and chocolate? Holed up in the garage with Grandpa Dave’s lathe.



It was hard to leave cold Utah for the even colder Wisconsin, but we were off to more interviews. While Daddy interviewed, Mama and baby girl checked out the local mall and purchased these darling squeaky shoes for little Booh. These shoes are guaranteed to help Little Girl learn how to walk, and guaranteed to reduce the scowls her mama gets from other concerned mothers when they see Little Girl out in the cold with no shoes on her feet.



 We hit warmer climates with a trip to Duke where we enjoyed the southern fried everything platter.



Then we caravanned through South Carolina, where we pulled off the road to sample “Southern Delicacies” such as fried pig skin (Daddy refused to try it) and real ginger ale (super hot). The shop keeper was excited to introduce us to “Boll Peanuts”. “What’s a ‘boll peanut’?” we asked. “No, no a BOLL peanut. Like when you put it in BOLL’N whutar!” “Oh, a BOILED peanut.”



With our arteries just a little more clogged we finally arrived in Birmingham, Alabama, and just in time for their record cold winter of 56 degrees. So what did mama and the little Booh do? Hit the Zoo, which was deserted due to the record cold weather.



Exciting news: Baby Girl turned one last month! And what, might you ask, is this big little baby mischief maker up to these days? Well, I’m glad you asked. Oca-doo loves to read her stories. I was trying to clean the floor but with little messer-heels following me around, I wasn’t progressing much. I plopped her down on a chair with an armful of books, and she happily read out loud (ooohh beep bo do wa looo wa noo) for a half hour. (Do I need to increase the monthly amount we put away to her college fund after all?). Eole loves to help in the garden. She’s really good at making sure the hose works properly. She is a mean-green-baby-machine who loves to help her mommy sort the recycling. Eole is also particularly fond of “peek-a-boo,” as the video will attest to. (The video will also attest to the fact that I don’t know how to rotate these darned videos to be upright!). And that’s our Baby Girl at one year.

and now presenting...

It's time for baby tricks! I'm sure no one will be as amused by these new tricks as I am, but I figured it had been a while since I posted videos. Eole has come up with two tricks this week. I noticed while listening to NPR that Eole would be busy with her toys until a music interlude played. Then she'd get a big smile and start dancing along. My attempts to recreate this are not nearly as darling as the spontaneous results. And for her newest baby trick, may we present the clapping monkey! I'm sure this will be her new favorite for sacrament meeting.

look at me.....

I agree with those few of you who haven't succumbed to the blog world that blogs have a tendency to be a little too self-centered. I completely agree. And now, I'm going to be self-centered and brag about my latest project...or at least show off my latest project. Recently, my mom gave me some fabric and old pillowcases embroidered by both of my grandmothers. I decided to awaken my long-dormant sewing skills. Here are some of my creations for Baby Girl. She's not crazy about these dresses as they greatly inhibit her cruising ability. She has even figured out how to untie the dresses and squirm out of her fabric prison.

the lies we tell ourselves

I am a clean person: therefore, I only need to clean my bathroom once a month. I am a clean person: therefore, I only need to sweep my floor once a week. I am a clean person, I never need to clean my oven. I have lived quite well with this philosophy for the past six years. But children-- especially babies-- have ways of seeing through your lies. You can tell yourself that your bathroom is clean but then Baby will crawl behind the toilet and reemerge with old toilet paper in her mouth as if to say, "Aha! Explain this if you will, "clean" Mom!" And you don't notice the pink rings around your bathtub until Baby starts emerging from bathtime with strange rashes on her body. You believe that your floor is perfectly clean, or at least clean enough, until you notice Baby sucking on a-- what is that....OH MY GOSH! WHERE DID SHE GET THAT SHARP SCREW? Or better yet, what happened earlier this week when I had finished changing Baby and came back to find her chewing on a little blueberry. But wait, we don't have any blueberries....is that chocolate...NO! THAT'S NOT CHOCOLATE! THAT'S POOP! And once again, I find myself asking how any baby survives to adulthood.

With Grandma Janet and Grandpa Ed, Eole proved to be her daddy’s girl by showing a love for the dog that only he can match. Chickens and cows were OK, but “Puppy” merited the loudest and longest squeals (comforting to know she wasn’t permanently scarred by the London dog experience after all). She also enjoyed gumming all the pea pods and picking strawberries. Eole was thrilled to finally meet her Uncle Stew. As many of you may know, Stew is so highly regarded in our family that we considered naming our baby Stewartina. But then we thought she might follow in his footsteps and settle for the inferior Ivy school: Harvard. It was so fun to play with all the cousins. Eole especially loved being fussed over by Elizabeth, Russell, and she even got some curious glances from James.

Zion and Moab

We had a wonderful time with Nana Anne and Papa Dave down in Zion’s National Park and Moab. Eole proved once again that she is more Dan’s family than mine with her refined and adventurous taste in food. She fell in love with pickles at Zion’s, and was furious, absolutely furious, when we had to leave the flaccid remains of pickle behind. At Moab Nana Anne fed her small crumbs of ginger pancake. But this was not enough for our dainty little girl as she reached her baby hand out and grabbed a large fistful of pancake to stuff in her mouth. She loved being outdoors and squealed with delight at any morbidly obese squirrels who waddled after us. And of course, she particularly relished tasting the Southern Utah red dirt.

lewis and clark

Never mind that it has been a few months since my last post. I figured you would all rather see us than read about us, and we had a lovely time seeing many of you on our Utah trip. So much has happened for Eole in the meantime, and I’m glad many of you got to witness it. I felt like Eole really leaped forward (and not just with that worm crawl) in her progress while in Utah. Here are some highlights: As far as her motor skills, little Oca mastered what it has taken mommy 30 years to master: yoga plank position and down-ward dog. This was a really big step in what I hope (only sorta because I don’t own any baby gates yet) will be real crawling. Papa Dave taught Eole how to waive within a day of our arrival. Eole also daily demonstrated her pincher (pointer finger and thumb grasp) abilities. We saw so much of these little exploratory digits going out for adventures that Nana Anne named them Lewis and Clark.

the horseman known as Zorro

Do you know what I like about my husband? Many things. Here is one in particular: the really strange way out there never heard of before movies that he loves and makes me watch. I'll admit, I fall asleep mid-way through most. But he recently introduced me to a gem, Zorro: The Gay Blade. If you have never heard of this before, don't feel bad as it took Netflix three months to ship it to us. This is the fantastic tale of Don Diego's twin sons taking up their deceased father's mask of Zorro. One son sticks with the traditional black costume while the other- how shall we say- more flamboyant son goes with plum, avocado and gold colored costumes replete with feathers and beads. "Two pence, four pence, six pence, a peso. All for Zorro stand up and say so!"

World Traveler

Apologies for our lack of blogging in the past month! As many of you know, we went to England with Grandma Janet and Grandpa Ed in April. We would never bore you with all the delightful details, but want to share some highlights from our trip:

Eole and Daddy loved standing on the Prime Meridian line at Greenwich. Mommy took Daddy and Eole to one of her favorite places: the Peter Pan Statue in Hyde Park. However, Mommy and Daddy took precautions to hold on tight to Eole's stroller and to NOT talk about all the grand things she would become when she grows up so that she wouldn't run away with the fairies to Never, Never Land. Mommy and Daddy loved all the tasty pub food, even though some of it even resembled Eole's mushy peas. Speaking of peas, we took a break from the commotion of the city to rest on the grass of Kensington Gardens. Eole was enjoying some mushy peas when a curious golden retriever came trotting up and licked the pea mush off her face. While Eole thought this whole affair terrifying, Mommy and Daddy had a good laugh. Mommy took Eole and Daddy to Hamleys, the greatest toy store on earth. Daddy may have even
had more fun in the toy store than Eole. And finally, we mustn't leave out the episode where our baby girl showed a new skill. We were riding on the busy tube line at rush hour with Eole sitting on Daddy's lap. Daddy was busy talking with Mommy, and so neither one noticed when Eole reached her little fingers into the pocket of a man standing nearby. The man, believing that he was being pick-pocketed (as indeed he was) whirled around to confront his tiny nemesis and we all started
laughing when we saw the guilty Eole with a fist full of papers from the man's pocket. All in all, we had a delightful time.

not abandoned...

I realize that the last few pictures and video clips have all featured Eole on the playmat. In case you think I carelessly abandon my baby to live out her days on the mat, I have posted the below clip to prove you wrong: I also abandon my baby to her bouncy seat. I figure since we've been slow at learning to crawl, maybe we should just go ahead and get a head start on walking, right? So bouncy seat it is. She has recently discovered the beloved turtle on the bouncy seat. Let the below clip be a warning to all you bald turtles, or bald turtle-looking folks. You might want to stay clear of our baby girl for a while.

scooting along

I received some concerned emails and messages about Eole's delayed motor skills, so I am happy to report that we are finally begining to chug along. While we are still not really great at rolling from our tummy to our back, we have, in one short week, become a pro, or at least a semi-pro, at rolling from our back to our tummy. And while we aren't attempting to crawl on our hands and knees, we are very good at scooting around on our back. In fact, a couple of times now I have put Eole on her playmat and only mintues later, I find that she has scooted off the mat and under one of our rocking chairs (see clip below). I'm not sure what fascinates her about this secret world of "underchair." Is it the fact that Mommy and Daddy are forbidden access? Is she now considering a career working under car chassis?

attempting to roll...

... attempting to rollover on our playmat we had an unfortunate collapsing incident. No babies were harmed, however.

the silver lining

Eole had her 6 month appointment with the doctor last week where it was confirmed that she takes after her mom's side of the family. In other words, she is "severely deficient in her gross motor skills." She should be rolling all over the place and sitting on her own. I thought rolling counted if you whipped the blanket out from under her; apparently it doesn't. We all know where this is going to lead: having a mortal fear of P.E. and being picked last for all sports teams. Yes, it's a tough reality that I am passing on to my offspring. But where there is weakness in one area, nature will compensate with a strength in another. Eole is very verbally advanced. I think we all remember that she said her first phrase (not even first word, mind you, but a whole phrase) when she was 2 weeks old: "ohhhh gollly." Now we have moved on to "dummmmb maaaa" Dumb Ma? Well, I'll take what I can get. She also likes to interrupt mommy and daddy's conversations with her own opinion on the topic: "blah, blah, blah, blah-" which is even said in that exasperated tone of a bored teenager. Daddy's afraid that, although smart as a whip, our girl will be so weak that she'll be forever confined to a wheelchair or crutches. He thinks we have mollycoddled her by holding her too much. This is what he says everyday as he interrupts tummy time to cuddle his baby girl.

Raspberries

(I tried to post this last week, but due to my cheap-o internet connection that keeps giving out on me, I was unable to finish!) Mommy also doesn't escape from Eole's disciplining methods. Eole has discovered the power of blowing the raspberry, and she is not afraid to use this new weapon. When she truly disapproves of your actions, such as when you momentarily put her down so you can do something truly banal like make dinner, she will call you on the carpet by blowing raspberries in your general direction. This new weapon is also used to call Mommy in the middle of the night to get her a fresh bum or a warm bottle. I tried to catch her on the camera when she was angry, but, whenever a camera is pointed in her general direction, the frowns are quickly replaced with her coos and glowing smiles. Maybe we're preparing for a career on the silver screen? Anyway, the clip below is the best I could do in capturing the raspberries.

To My Coy Mistress

That's right, Andrew Marvell, we have a new coy mistress for you. Although only few days shy of her six month birthday, Eole already knows how to pull at her man's heartstrings. Of course, we are referring to Daddy here. Eole knows that her Daddy should walk in the door around 6PM and then devote the rest of his evening to her. Should he dare dissapoint her by being on overnight call, she punishes him when he finally does come home. When Daddy walks in the door after a 30 hour call period, he'll sweep Eole up into his arms. She will be very happy about this, but direct all her smiles and giggles towards Mommy. Should Daddy try and hold her up so that she is looking him in the face, she will quickly turn her head away, looking for Mommy. She will give Daddy a few furtive glances when he is not looking, but will then quickly turn away so as not to give way her true feelings. This will last for a least a good three hours before Daddy is finally forgiven for abandoing his girl, and is let back into her good graces. By the way, she learned NONE of this behavior from her Mommy!

barley mush

The pediatrician and our auntie who is also a pediatrician, told me Eole was ready to start on solids-- if you can call barley mush "solids"-- over a month ago. In my heart, I knew she was ready as well. Just after her three month birthday, she started insisting on sitting at the table with us during dinner. Perched on daddy or mommy's lap, she would intently watch each bite we would take, and even look slightly insulted that the food-laden fork was not first offered to her. She may have been ready for solids, but I sure wasn't. It took me an extra month, two baby feeding books, and a carefully calculated feeding schedule before I felt ready to leave our strictly liquid diet. Last Sunday, we took the plunge. Don't let the video clip below fool you however. Although at first excited, now only three days later she will purse her lips and turn away from me when I approach with her spoon full of gruel. Can you blame her??

a few of my favorite things...

Taking after her mommy, Eole loves a good, long soak in the tub after a hard day's work of snuggles, cuddles, and naps. Life is so hard when you are five months old! The following clip will also show that Eole has recently discovered the upper range of her voice, moving from the deep contra-alto of her birth. **WARNING! Although we tried to "censor" the following clip as much as possible, there was a slight wardrobe malfunction.

Welcome!

Welcome to Eole's blog! My goal is to update once a week with what Eole-- aka Baby Girl, aka Oca, aka Goosey Girl, aka Angel Kisses-- is up to. However, seeing as I have never succeeded at keeping a written journal of any kind, this may end up being a feeble attempt at recording my precious baby girl's milestones. Wish me luck as we embark on this brave adventure, this brave new world...of babyhood, that is.