Bouncy Balls, Drowsy Dryers, and Calming Commodes

The quest continues for improved baby relaxation techniques. Today's installment, we'll cover three nifty tricks: the Bouncy Ball, the Drowsy Dryer, and the Calming Commode.

Bouncy Ball
So, the bouncy ball is a large inflatable ball (about 2.5 ft dia.) that is more commonly used to do floor exercises, build your abs, etc. But when you hold Julia in your arms and sit on it, it provides just the kind of bouncy action that gets her energy down. Ahhhh... another soothing scheme!

Drowsy Dryer
This may be obvious to some of you, but a clothes dryer is an amazing device for those late-night, Dad's-turn-to-calm-fussy-babe-so-Mom-can-sleep-for-a-change-and-nothings-working-help! episodes. All you have to do is turn it on (best to set it for 50 min, since if the buzzer goes off while you're doing this, all is lost!) and lay a towel on top. Put baby fussy-girl down (actually, even screaming monster-girl eventually gives in) on towel. Say soothing sweet nothings. Miraculously, within about 2 minutes, she will be asleep! If you do this in broad daylight, maybe she'll just be relaxed. Whatever it is, it's the most powerful trick in the book (next to maybe going for a car ride).

Calming Commode
This one might be specific to our house, or our baby, but it is working great! We have a pretty loud exhaust fan in our bathroom, and this sound (I've heard hairdryers have the same effect) seems to really relax her. It also happens to be a nice deep green color, so maybe it's a combination of the sound and the soothing color. Whatever it is, it works!

The Pinky Panacea

On of my obsessions of late is finding new ways to soothe the savage spawn (that being Julia of course!). And of all the tricks, my favorite so far is the careful insertion of one of my pinkies into her little mouth. It works better than anything except the genuine article (i.e. Momma's breast).

Pacifiers are passè, the Pinky Panacea Prevails!

More friends visiting!

Today, "Uncle" Jack and "Aunty" Dana came by, who are pregnant (due in Feb) with another potential future husband. They brought some girly things for me to wear, and I gave them some of my more boyish stuff. But the coolest thing? These awesome shoes! I can't wait to wear these out to my first formal shindig!

Another highlight for today: we went for food at something called a restaurant. I'm not sure what that is, but it looked like it made Mom and Dad happy. They were putting things in their mouth but they didn't have to visit the kitchen beforehand like they usually do. I'm thinking this may be related to the fact that I did not let them sleep for more than about an hour each last night. I'm not sure what it was, but something in Mom's milk really ticked me off. I was miserable. Maybe it was the cucumbers? Anyway, I wish kids my age could eat TUMS.

"Aunty" Taleese came by too today to say hello. We all hope her foot gets better soon...

Aunt Sandy arrives

My first visit from Dad's family. Aunt Sandy is really fun. She makes funny faces and noises, and seems to like copying what I do. But when I poop in my pants, she draws the line. She really likes my tiny feet. Who can blame her:

So long grammy and grampy!

Grammy and Grampy left a few days ago, and I miss them! We had so much fun together. My favorite was when we all went to pick out a Christmas tree together. Boy, did I sleep well that night! Since then, I've had some trouble in that department. Sometimes, I only let Mom and Dad sleep for a few hours before daylight breaks. Well, Mom, mostly. Dad tends to get the easy part of (sometimes) waking up briefly to burp and/or change me. Mom has the more time-intensive task of feeding me, and man can I eat! It's great having a 24-hr diner so close at hand. Since Mom is usually pretty darn tired by 7 AM, I usually give her a break and pretend to sleep until 11 AM or so. This way she can catch up on her sleep before my next visit to the diner.

We've had lots of visits recently: Corwyn, Margaret, Olivia, Cory (my future boyfriend!), Sol, Jean, Shari, Sloan, Mark, Jessica, and Ness. We also went to our first birthday party!

Dimitry's First Birthday Party

Today I got to go to my friend Dimitry's first birthday (see picture). It was really fun! Lots of kids there, though I was the youngest (unless you count Amy's little Sesame Seefeldt, who's not born yet). We had yummy snacks and a pretty great time all around. They tell me the birthday cake was really good, but I didn't get to have any, other than indirectly via Mom's milk...

For a link to a video Dad filmed, click here.

Oh, and here's one filmed by "Uncle" Kurt (Dimitry's Dad). Click here. Evidently, I slept through most of it! Musta been the cake!

Promised Bath Video is on YouTube

Sorry it took so long for me to post this, but at last I've gotten around to editing and publishing a short (3 min) video of Julia's first bath. Comments welcome! I could repost with higher quality if people think it appropriate. Anyway, click here to see the video!

Here's another first: she just grabbed her pacifier for the first time. Starting to control the world already!

First Bath and Bare Hands

Yesterday was Julia's first bath. She really seemed to enjoy it (or was it just the lactose?). I will be posting a video later on tonight, assuming I can get a decent edit done. I also went to a "New Dad's" class last night, taught by our pediatrician, Bruce Block. It was held at a Montessori School so that we could see some of the things montessorians (it should be a word if it isn't) would have parents do to prepare their homes for infants. It was a great experience: I came away with many great ideas, some of which I'm sure we'll actually do. For example, a low-lying play pad with a big mirror next to it so Julia can lie on her stomach and watch herself in the mirror. The Montessori folks really have it together and have many great materials to read. The basic idea seems to be to let your baby figure things out on his/her own even if there's some crying involved, rather than always intervening on their behalf. Also, give them lots of time to just play with their hands and feet and don't keep 'em wrapped up all the time. Obvious to many perhaps, but not me, was the fact that touching things with the hands at this age plays a key role in brain and cognitive development.

She's official...

I don't know why this seems so significant, but Julia got her Social Security Card today. I guess it's just to know that she's now a member of American Society and has a chance to participate in our democracy. Maybe it's just knowing she might get a good job and pay for Dad's nursing home bills one day. Either way, we're excited to welcome her to our system, warts and all...