Poems from the First Days of School

I shared these on Facebook during Taylor's first days of school at Khabele, but I didn't want to forget to post them here for Taylor to read when she's older. I want her to know that I was always thinking of her. Love you, little plum.

240/365:

The tender heart

in her eyelet shirt

walked bravely through

that open door

Delivered into the hands

of her gentle guide

She cried,

But somehow,

I think she knows

that she will find fulfillment there

She was half-willing to go

And that reserve, I’ll take,

I’ll hold,

and appreciate ten-fold,

When later we rejoin

And have ever more to share

242/365:

I am thinking ahead

to a time when

you won’t care to be carried,

when you’ll shy away

from comfort

A time

when you’ve hit your stride,

mannerisms set,

personality, evident,

And I will say

I knew you when,

and you will cringe

at my recollections

But I know then

that I will feel your gladness,

assimilate your sadness

even more deeply,

for I will have felt them

from your very first laugh

and your earliest tears

School Begins Today!

Clay and I just dropped Taylor off for her first one hour of school at Khabele. Just over two weeks ago, she met two of her Montessori guides for the first time, Madicyn and Paula. We greeted them at our front door and welcomed in their Zen energy with enthusiasm. T took to them right away and asked after them for days after they'd left. One week later, we went for a private visit to Taylor's classroom, Chickadee Casita. She was engaged immediately—especially with the one soft doll in the room and the aquarium of fish. Such is the female nature, I suppose. The question of nature/nurture has been answered for me. 

Last Friday, we followed up our classroom visit with a second date at the school in the company of a few other Chickadee students. Saturday was a potluck with all YCC (Young Children's Community) children and families invited. Then today, this very Friday morning, August 23rd, just 30 minutes ago, Clay and I left Taylor in the capable hands of her guides for her first hour at the school without us. Clay is working from home this morning and we're here in the strange and welcome quiet of our house. We're so excited for Taylor to have these mornings to learn, grow and socialize. She smiles and body wriggles when she says "We're going Khabele!!" How lucky we are to have this school so close by, and the opportunity to have her attend. We'll see you soon, Taylor!

 

I Need to Read!

At nearly 21 months, Taylor's room is full of books. I would estimate she "reads" for six hours a day. She wakes up asking for "Books?" and regularly calls out "I need to read!" to which I reply, "I know you do!" She will ask for individual books by name, or run searching for them. She will pick up a book, state the title, author and illustrator, then proceed to paraphrase what's on each spread, turning through each page and noting when she's missed a page or if a page is torn or missing altogether (as is the case with our first copy of Clara and the Bookwagon, a current favorite.) She often gets the text right. (Right now, she's really good at Sendak's Chicken Soup with Rice. Time to buy more rhyming books!) And she reads quickly, as if she's trying to speed through a volume to get to the next one. When she finishes one book, she will either reread it, often stating more or different parts of the text that she didn't state the first time around, or she'll put it aside and quickly pick up another book, then another, and another. These spurts of reading for and to herself usually happen first thing in the morning and then again in the late afternoon. In between, she wants to be read to. And she wants to lie down and comb my hair with her fingers and toes while she's doing it.

The house is quiet most of the day so that we can hear ourselves think and read. We still don't watch any television with her, and Taylor often seems to resent it when we do turn it on in her presence. I'm doing what I can to foster other kinds of activities, but my efforts are focused on supporting her current sensitivity to language. We found out last week that a spot opened up at Khabele, and T will start there next month. I hope this will give her what I imagine to be some much needed balance in the form of socialization and stimulation in other arenas. But I can already tell—we're going to need some tall bookshelves.

Sentences and Conversations

At 18 months of age, Taylor’s current favorite books are picture dictionaries, and she continually surprises me with her vocabulary. (I couldn't begin to count how many words she has.) But a few weeks ago, she started saying her first sentences. They began with “I need that,” followed closely by “I need shoes/blanket/juice.” Then came, “I can’t see it!” when referring to birds in a tree, lawnmowers, etc., that aren’t within view. The sentences of the past week include “That’s a-mommy! That’s a-daddy!” and the possessive “That’s a-mommy coffee!” and so on. I’m especially fond of “I like it!” (particularly when applied to food I’ve made for her). She uses please and thank you in context, and will answer with a very clear yes or no when pressed.

Language development is so cool, and I’m excited that we’re beginning our two-way verbal communications. Looking forward to years of great conversations with our daughter.

The New Year: 2013

On the first day of the new year, I sat Taylor down on the potty in the morning, she opened the alphabet book she was holding and pointed to the first letter and said "Aaaaaaaaayyeeeee". It's startling the amount of change from our October trip to California, where she first began walking in earnest, and now. While she may fall or trip, her gait is steady. Taylor is now handing us books in the morning, and pointing to the dogs, frogs, rabbits and such that are in each of the pictures while attempting to say them. She's doing this in particular with a book 'Each Peach Pear Plumb', which was a gift from Elisabeth Von Halem - a close friend of Christia's [and by the transitive relationship property, mine too!]. A few nights ago, Taylor was up in the middle of the night as she is regularly now due to teething, and she said 'teeth' to Christia, indicating the pain she was in at the time. Hard as it is to hear that, it's wonderful to have her able to say what it is she wants and needs [even if all she says 'juice' 5000 times in one day]. Looking forward to more of that. ;]

What Taylor Knows

Bellybutton. Head. Eyes. Feet. Toes. Shoes. More. Juice. Milk. Kitchen. Hungry. Eat. Toast. Table. Water. Broom. Bottle. Duck. Bath. Outside. Bird. Ball. Book. Cat. Dog. John Henry. Mommy. Daddy. Mia. Uncle John. Potty. Diaper. No. 

I know with certainty that Taylor understands these words, and that she understands so much more than she can say. Her most frequently used words these days are "more," "shoes," and "juice" (in addition to "mama" and "dada"). She just loves shoes, and proudly shows them off to whoever might admire them. She signs and asks for "more", "bath" and "all done!". The sign for "milk" was in regular use before she stopped nursing at just over 13 months. She talks regularly, in what seem to be full sentences. We can't wait until we can fully understand what she has to say.

The Atlantic, The Pacific and the Rocky Mountains

On September first, the day before she turned 10 months old, Taylor took her first steps. Over the ensuing weeks, in between cruising and crawling, she continued to practice walking and would occasionally surprise us with 10 or 15 steps at a time. It wasn't until our trip to California in mid October that she got serious: that's when walking really started to happen.

We flew into San Francisco and spent four days with Elisabeth, James and Frank the dog, then drove down Highway 1 along the Pacific to Los Angeles to meet up with John. I think it was likely interest in Frank that spurred on Taylor's locomotion. Frank, and the boardwalk among the redwood trees in Muir Woods; the sand on Dillon Beach along the Point Reyes National Seashore, Santa Cruz and Carmel-by-the-Sea; the fraternal twins at Uncle John's party and John's godson Spencer, who did a fine job of looking after Taylor throughout the afternoon. It was a full week, and one worth walking through.

Taylor has now seen the Atlantic, the Pacific and the Rocky Mountains—all before her first birthday. A pretty good way to start life, I think.  

Cookie Monsters, Swear Jars and Crossfit

Taylor mimics me [and cookie monster] at the dinner table saying 'NOM NOM NOM' as she eats her cheerios. It never fails to elicit a laugh out of me. It's priceless. The first rays of consciousness reflecting off, and emanating from, the mirror pool that that is my daughter. It reminds me - I've gotta get a swear jar. Years of being in the young male dominated game industry have turned me into a abject potty mouth. If I keep this up the only job she'll be suited for is a shrimp boat captain. That's no fucking good....oh dammit.

I meant to post about this as well about 4 months in - about how I put Taylor to sleep, slowly stepping away from the crib - my knees and ankles crack like rolling thunder. It's almost enough to wake her up. I turned 40 the January after her birth and the joints are feeling it. It's a dramatic contrast to a newborn that can fold herself like a piece of origami. I'm currently enrolled in crossfit twice a week to roll back the clock...and to keep up with a baby girl missing an 'off' switch. 

Bird, Ball, Book, Boogie

On Taylor's eight-month birthday, she waved goodbye to her dad as he walked out the door to work. Then she waved as his car pulled away from the driveway. It was an up and down, full-forearm sort of wave, always accompanied by a full smile. She continued this ritual on a daily basis, but only with Dada, and usually only in the mornings. Within the last week, at nine and a half months of age, she started waving to other people as they passed or to acknowledge them across the room. This wave is a wrist-only sort of wave—more controlled and directed—and as it usually elicits a response wave, the action is being positively reinforced. I had fun traveling with Taylor through the airport this past weekend, as strangers seem to enjoy this kind of communication with a baby.

We've just returned home from a two-week vacation in Mystic, and while we thought Taylor might take her first steps while in CT, she hasn't yet taken more than one that wasn't the result of forward momentum. She has, however, increased her cruising and crawling speeds, and will occasionally stand up and in place unassisted for 15 seconds or more.

Ever more exciting is Taylor's expanding vocabulary. She began saying a version of "bird" at nine months, after our repetition of the word when looking out the window every morning into the single backyard tree, populated as it usually is with doves and the occasional grackle. "Ball" (BA) preceded "bird" (BIR) and came along with "book," (BUH) and now "boogie" (BOOGIE!). I thought the latter might be a version of "birdie," but she uses it in differing circumstances. "WHOOTH" is also now in regular use, which I take to be an imitation of "What is that?," a question we often ask her while showing her around an environment. Taylor has been pointing at objects that catch her attention for about a month now. The pointing is often accompanied by the surprised expression "OOH!" and now "WHOOTH!" She seems to be both pointing out objects that excite her and telling us "Look! Do you see that?" And yesterday, Clay and I each separately had the experience of Taylor pointing to something while we held her, then pushing our chins in the direction of the object to ensure we were looking at it. She did it again with me this morning and I'll be interested to see if this behavior continues. Her development is so delightful to see!

The Live Music Capital of the World

I recently signed Taylor up for her first Music Together class, a classroom-based music program which requires us to sing and move in kid-friendly, age-appropriate ways. But her musical education has been enriched simply by virtue of our residency in this, the self-proclaimed "Live Music Capital of the World." We're a stone's throw from Central Market, which hosts free music on Friday and Saturday evenings, and The Hartman Foundation Concerts in the Park at the Long Center have been a Sunday staple. We usually bring along a picnic to the latter affair and meet up with a friend or two. In the past month we've seen:

• Three performances of the Austin Symphony (Brass, Woodwinds, Big Band; on the lawn at The Long Center)
• The Boogers ("The world's most dangerous kid's band;" Ruta Maya)
• Lucas Miller ("The singing zoologist;" Austin library)
• Graham Wilkinson ("A kaleidoscope of roots music, folk, rock, Americana, jazz and reggae;" Central Market)
• Charles Thibodeaux (Cajun; Central Market)

And Clay and I have happily discovered that it is indeed possible to swing dance with a baby between us.

Summer in the City

I try to fill our weeks with activities so that no day passes without some kind of interaction with others—for my sake and for Taylor's. On Tuesday and Thursday mornings, I workout at the CrossFit gym from 7:00 to 7:45 and am often home just after Taylor wakes up—by 7:30 on most days. Clay and I trade off time with Taylor for showers and a spot of morning tea, then we take breakfast at the table with T joining us in her highchair. Clay leaves for work by 9:45; Taylor, John Henry and I follow his departure with a 30-minute stroll around the neighborhood. Taylor is usually ready for a nap between 10:30 and 11:30 in the morning, during which time I try to sneak in some cleaning, laundry, emailing, phone calls—anything I need two hands or a quiet room to complete! In addition to the occasional social gathering via a Meetup group, our summer weekly schedule currently includes:

Mondays, 11:30-12:00 - Emler Waterbabies swim class (sometimes followed by lunch with Shelley and Jaylen until 2:00).

Tuesdays, 10:45-11:45 - Heartsong Music Together class


Occasional Wednesdays, 1:00-4:00 - Grandma Hoffman comes over to play with T (while I tackle house projects).


Thursdays, 2:00-6:00 - Jennifer watches Taylor (while I write, research and plan my next career phase).

Fridays - 10:30-11:45 - Spanish for Babies Meetup group with Aileen and company followed by midday lunch with Clay.

Clay's just come off of a few months of crunch time—12-hour workdays and a number of six-day workweeks. (Which means 12-hour workdays and six-day workweeks for both of us!) The first few nights that he was home by 7:30 in the evening felt like vacation. Wee Bear is still taking her time getting to slumberland, with bedtime falling between 8:30 and 9:30, so Clay is able to see her up and at 'em for a little while each evening. And he's patented his own go-to-sleep (or back-to-sleep) method involving the "chest rest" and "hand swaddle." It's quite effective, really, and a nice alternative to nursing.

Six Months and Standing

Six days after her six-month birthday, on May 8, Taylor decided to stand up—and I was lucky enough to see it. I had just walked back into the room to find her fully awake in her crib, pulling up on the upper crib rail with both hands, chest raised off the surface of the mattress. She had been doing this regularly, but this time she pulled her chest up high enough to be able to inch her feet under her body and place them, step by unsteady step, one in front of the other until she was in a standing position, hands supporting her on the crib rail. She smiled in that unconscious, gleeful way that only babies and young children are capable of smiling. My words to her at the time: "You just did that! You just stood up!" And we laughed together at her remarkable accomplishment.

A few weeks later, on May 26, I took Taylor on her first trip—a visit to see her new cousin Max and her Aunty Karen and Uncle Dave in Denver, Colorado. Taylor read the manual in advance and followed the recommended procedures: nurse on take-off, sleep, wake upon landing. Dave and Karen live in a sweet little bungalow in The Highlands area of the city. Unlike our mostly carpeted home in Austin, Dave and Karen's place has hardwood floors. An hour or so after our a.m. arrival, I put Taylor down to, presumably, scoot her way along the hardwoods in pursuit of a toy. As I began to look away from her for a moment, my head quickly snapped back in a double-take. On contact, Taylor had started crawling—a full and complete, all-fours crawl. No more launching forward for our little one. She had found a new means of getting around. And we hadn't even unpacked yet.

Word to the Daddy.

On Friday, April 27, around 8:30 in the evening I had just come home from a long day of work and Taylor was, according to Christia, finishing an epic opera of baby babble. I proceeded to make a series of 'town idiot' faces and sounds to make Taylor laugh, which she did....then she paused for a dramatic and deliberate moment and said clear as a bell "da da". No, I don't think she knows what it means, but I would like to think that she's imitating Christia on that one - we've been saying 'ma ma' and 'da da' while pointing to one another. We both had a good laugh about it. It was a *great* way to top off the day.

Gnah.

People comment on it frequently. It's one of the first things people notice: that adorable little nose. Most noses on babies are disproportionately large, but not yours. I find it adorable like everyone else, but something else about it really gets me - it's where your laughter originates. You smile quickly at people and a with great frequency, but your laughter is something rarer. You save it for those things that you find truly funny. When you laugh it is with a wide open mouth - from your tiny perfect little nose comes a 'gnah'.

Clay, can you go get my iPhone...?

Just before your November birthday, on a cold October 14th, 2011, to be precise, I waited outside an AT&T store to buy Christia and myself a pair of the new Apple iPhone 4S smart phones. 'Cloud computing,' a jazzed marketing term for server data storage, is an integral part of the phone's architecture. The latest of Apple's smart phone line was Steven Jobs' last creation before his death on October 5, the notification of which was the first thing to come up on the cover page of Christia's new Apple computer Safari web browser. As I write this, we are contemplating the purchase of an Apple iPad 3. Viewing your birth across the technology available at the time is like planting a flag in a set of historical experiences. Right now children are becoming confused by print magazines vs. the iPad. (Why don't these pictures move?) I often wonder what your experiences with technology will be; radically different from mine, I'm certain. I am constantly reminded that it's feeding time whenever Christia requests that I get her phone; she uses a simple iPhone application to track daily how much you are breastfed.

Getting to the Fun Part

I won't sugarcoat it: The first few months of new stay-at-home mommyhood offered infrequent moments of great reward. It's a challenge to entertain a baby who can't yet crawl or communicate, and I was reminded by one of my trusty baby books that those who ask moms of newborns, "Isn't being a mom just the best?" and "Aren't you loving it?" aren't, in fact, in it. Yes, I love my baby (and her father), but days expand and contract in curious ways, and slotting in weekly chores between changing the baby, feeding the baby, washing the baby and walking the baby does not necessarily make for a glorious sense of fulfillment. (Isolation is another issue, and in that experience, I know I am not alone.)

At four and a half months, however, things changed. We experienced a return on investment in the form of greater interaction, new vocalizations, stronger eye contact, willfulness and enhanced fine motor skills. The shift was notable for me in the day-to-day caretaking, and of that time, I said, "This is when the fun begins."

It's a full month later and Taylor is ever more interactive. On Easter Sunday, April 8th, 2012, she held herself up on all fours for the first time. Over the few days that followed, she began launching herself forward from this position, engaging in a somewhat laborious form of locomotion that has ushered in a new era of care and vigilance for us, her parents. Taylor is possessed of a positive disposition, preferring more stimulation to less, and displaying a strong sense of determination. She seeks out objects she wants and will advance on them as her skills allow, reaching out and drawing them to her mouth (my phone) or raking and grasping with a tight-fisted grip (the dog); dear John Henry has been highly tolerant of Taylor's new skills.

The six-month benchmark is nearly upon us and this little baby who, through the wonders of nature, has subsisted on breastmilk alone, will soon be sampling sweet potato and her first bites of banana. We expect she'll be walking before the year is out, and we're likely to hear her first words, too. The ROI just increases from here, and being in it is becoming a very rewarding place to be.

This Is A Cute Baby

Meals We Have Made

Between birthday and Christmas celebrations, I was the lucky recipient of both a slow-cooker and a Le Creuset Dutch oven. Both kitchen appliances have seen their fair share of activity thus far, and I thought it wise to keep a running list of some of the meal highlights and standbys I've cooked over the course of Taylor's early days—the meals that have indirectly fed her and, to date, resulted in a 25.5-inch, 15 lb., 2.5 oz. four-month-old little girl.

Coq au vin
Indian eggplant curry (bharta) and lamb chops with balsamic reduction
Baked salmon and slow-roasted sweet potatoes
Rotisserie chicken and leek soup with homemade stock
Braised pork ribs
Italian-style spiced beef stew
Indian minced lamb with peas
Pureed spinach soup (a standby)
Beef fajitas with roasted parsnips and pineapple salsa
Rosemary-garlic roast beef and potatoes with horseradish sauce

What's In A Name?

Muffin. Muffelin. Muffet. Tuffet. Nuppet. Button. Buttons. Bug. Bear. Little Bear. T. Ellie. Ellie-Bear. Button-Bear. Taylor. Chubs. Chubbles.

I have called you each of these names. What, I wonder, will you call me?

Of Festivals and Cook-Offs

Clay and Taylor at the Zilker kite festival

We've been making a point of getting out and about over these lengthening winter days, recently attending the fourth annual "Pair It With Claret Chili Cook-Off" at Spicewood Vineyards and the 2012 Zilker Park Kite Festival. Taylor spent most of the day pack-forward at the cook-off, admiring the color and body of the wines we sampled (in our commemorative glasses) and fielding compliments throughout a perfect breezy, blue sky Hill Country afternoon. The kite festival had similarly ideal weather and our first family flyer, a squat little frog, joined hundreds of other kites in the skies above the city.

During the weekdays, we've been attending the bilingual story time at the local library branch  along with a Friday morning "Spanish for babies" meet-up group gathering at the home of a second generation Argentinian American mom (sometimes attended by a Cuban American, a Columbian and a Mexican American or two, along with other Spanish-language beginners). Tuesdays is our baby love massage class at the birthing center, and between these various scheduled events we enjoy a daily constitutional with John Henry, weather permitting, and oftentimes an afternoon stroll through the neighborhood across the way, sometimes stopping off in Garrison Park to take a turn on the swings.

Taylor assessing the wine at Spicewood