Day Three Hundred and Thirty-Five

Brief

I love CL shopping. I found a jungle-gym type dome on there for a really good price! So tonight we went and picked it up. I think Chase is more excited than I am, but I think we’ll all have fun climbing on it once we get it assembled in Austin :)

Milo had a good eating day today. She ate most of a peach, some crackers, nearly 2 jars of baby food, and a cheese stick - all before dinner! Maybe she’s going through a growth spurt.

Notes:

• Milo still loves playing with bins of any shape and size. She pushes the stool around (when it’s turned over with the legs sticking up in the air), and she still loves getting inside her toy bins and just sitting there to play.

• The futon climbing (futon - boxes - chair - sofa) continues. M gets so fussed when I put her back on the floor from the sofa, but hey kid, them’s the breaks!

• Park life is the same; lots of sitting and watching, followed by swinging. I always encourage her to walk around, and we spend a lot of time in the sand, which mostly involves Milo trying to eat everything and me preventing it.

Day Three Hundred and Thirty-Four

Prime

Today is my birthday :)

It was also Amazon Prime Day, which means that Chase and I did some shopping. We weren’t over the top; we just saw a few things that we wanted to buy anyway, waited to see the sale price, and then purchased.

• Chase got us an Echo, so hopefully that’ll be fun to play with.

• We bought ladder golf to play at M’s birthday party next month.

• We bought some glass tupperware (so that we can actually see the food we put in the fridge).

• We bought Milo kid’s bento box, a sheet for the crib, a xylophone toy, and an inflatable jumping horse thing. She cleaned house, I guess.

M was pretty fussed in the morning, so we gave her some tylenol in case she’s teething. It didn’t really help, so who knows where the fussiness came from. At some point, there was nothing I could do to calm her, so I just held her close to me for a little while and hummed. It worked! She was pretty happy after that. My theory is that she needed some extra one-on-one time with me since I’d been focused on the computer in the morning.

Later, Milo totally made my day when she brought her snack cup to me to open for her. It’s got a screw-on cap, but she knows there’s food in there that she likes. So she brought it to me and made a noise like “guh,” which I think means “I’d like some food, please.” In my mind it means that.

In the evening, we all went out to dinner at Sutro’s Diner by the ocean. The food was so good! Milo wasn’t really into her fish sticks, but she did enjoy having her first taste of french fries, along with lots of Annie’s crackers, mashed potatoes, and some bread. All together, such a good day.

Day Three Hundred and Thirty-Three

The Book

For the first time in a while, Milo’s first nap was very short today. It was only about 30 minutes, so I was pretty disappointed that I didn’t get a little extra time to myself because I was working on planning her birthday party. She was super cute upon waking, though!

At the park today, Milo met a boy named Darwin. She also worked on her sitting routine and paired it with some leaf tearing, followed by leaf eating. Swinging is kind of a given at this point because Milo just loves it so much. So we swung, and after ~1hr we went to the store and home.

At home, M discovered that one f our side tables has wheels and, thus, can be moved. So that was diverting for a while. For M, anyway. I just kind of followed her around and made sure she didn’t roll the cart too far.

Milo really loves books, and her favorite has turned out to be The Foot Book. She found it among her toys today and sat down with it, opened it, and looked at all of the illustrations. It melted my heart. She’s still not crazy about Goodnight Moon, though, which we read every night before bed. Maybe that will change with time.

Notes:

• M generally tolerates being in the stroller well at this point. If we have her in there too long, she gets fussed.

Day Three Hundred and Thirty-Two

SFMOMA

So, since SFMOMA reopened in May, we’ve been meaning to make a trip. We were also eager to see how Milo likes art, which is why we took her to the Legion of Honor last weekend. The tricky thing about visiting the new SFMOMA is that it’s absolutely huge! It’s 7 floors! Factoring in the fact that Milo still doesn’t do well when she’s awake for more than ~3.5 hours and the trip to and from takes ~40 minutes, that didn’t leave much time for the museum.

We did our best, though, and got to see several floors of amazing art! We carried Milo in the ergo again so that she could get a good view. She was great through the first few floors and lunch. She stared at lots of pieces, and she really loved the living wall. Unfortunately, we had to speed through some installations that we really wanted to see because Miss M got fussed and we didn’t want her to disrupt the experience for others.

Milo still enjoys bus rides, and she smiled and waved at the other passengers. We bought her an interesting ball at SFMOMA, and she played with it while we rode home.

Once home, she went down for a nap quickly and slept well.

I should also mention that M loves the futon. She can climb on it easily, so she gets up there and I think it makes her feel good to be able to climb on something. She then goes from the futon to the boxes to the chair, and she flops over onto the couch, where she’s not allowed. It’s really exciting for her.

Notes:

• Milo likes to put things in other people’s mouths. She especially likes to jerk said item out again. She thinks this is a good way to pass the time. I don’t always agree, but I go along with it most of the time.

• Milo is ticklish all over the place! I like to play the “I’m gonna get you…” game where I slowly move my hand closer before tickling her. She loves it! Her most ticklish areas: collar bone/neck area, upper thighs.

• Milo still loves it when I pretend that her feet are really stinky. Slowly bringing her foot to my nose, sniffing carefully, and then exclaiming “Woooo, that’s stinky!” It gets her every time. She has even started raising her foot to my nose!

Day Three Hundred and Thirty-One

Giants

I bought Chase some Giants tickets for Father’s Day, and today was the game. We left after Milo’s first nap, and we had a pretty good time while there. I packed heavy on the food for Milo, and she ate well while we watched the game. She was also very active during the game, which was challenging. She wanted so badly to walk around and climb on things, but it was a little scary up there! After the seats in front of us filled in, it became harder to keep her from trying to climb on people.

We didn’t end up staying for the whole game because Milo needed a nap and we didn’t want her to get too fussed. So we took the train home, and Milo was very good. On the way home, we split up so that I could get some groceries and Chase could put Milo down for a nap. On the way home, Chase found a bookshelf and futon that someone was giving away for free, so moving those items to our apartment took up a pretty large chunk of the afternoon.

Eventually, Chase got them to our building, he and JP got the futon up the stairs, and then we worked on packing, reorganizing, and tidying up to get the futon into place in the living room in such a way that leaves room for Milo to play. We have too much stuff in this living room now.

Notes:

• Milo chowed down on hummus and flatbread today. So glad she likes it!

• Milo’s balance is getting so good! I’ve seen her crouch and stand without bracing herself. For an almost 11 month old, that’s pretty good!

Day Three Hundred and Thirty

Friday

Brief Notes:

• Milo did her sitting trick at the park again today. She grabbed on to her leaf and just sat and watched everyone. She swung a bit, but no real playing on her own.

• New snacks Milo loves: peanut butter cracker sandwiches, Annie’s bunnies.

• Milo is generally eating well, though she still has bouts of refusing some foods sometimes.

• Chase got home super early, and we all spent some time playing and having fun together. I love it when he gets home early!

Day Three Hundred and Twenty-Nine

Park

At the Park: Milo has a routine of sitting when we get to the park. She walks a little ways and then sits down and stares at all of the other kids. I think it’s a little overwhelming for her to see so many kids playing and running around. So she sits, most of the time on the walkway, but sometimes in the sand. She only moved to grab a leaf and hold onto it. I don’t know what to do when she just sits and doesn’t want to move, so I just let her sit and take it all in for a while. After 10 minutes or so, I moved her to another location where she could climb, and then we were joined by a group of young girls.

The girls were probably 4-5 years old, and they were very interested in Milo. They surrounded her, one cleaned some sand off Milo’s face, and they asked me questions about her: how old, is she a boy or girl, why does she just stand there, etc. After a few minutes, most of them left to play, but one girl stuck around. She really wanted me and Milo to go play with her. I tried to explain that Milo is too little to do most of the things she wanted us to do, but she just stayed right by our sides. It was very cute.

Eventually we left the park, and I gave Milo some snacks to munch on so that she didn’t get too fussed as we strolled away. We went shopping at Whole Foods, and I got Milo some olives at the olive bar, along with a couple of other veggies for lunch.

Lunch recap: Milo didn’t like the olives, but she kept trying to eat them. She put them in her mouth, spit them out, and in again. She ate very little of what I prepared for her, so I ended up giving her some baby food.

In the evening, Chase and I went to meet a lady about some wood toys she was selling on CL. I thought I was getting some puzzles and shape sorters, but when I got there, holy crap, there was so much more! I was in heaven. I really had to practice some restraint. I walked out of there with about 3 bags of toys and spent more than I’d planned, but we got so much good stuff!

When we got home, we immediately packed the toys and gave only 1-2 to Milo to play with. We also packed most of her other toys, so there’s a little bit less mess in the living room.

Day Three Hundred and Twenty-Eight

Michelle & Orna

Chase took the day off so that he could accompany us to music class and have a farewell lunch with Michelle and Orna.

Music class was a lot of fun, and Chase finally got to meet the babies I’m always telling him about. One of the boys kept going up to him and holding out a hand, Iron Man style. We couldn’t figure out what he was trying to tell us, but it was super cute. Milo was also super happy to have both of us in class. She was extra clingy, but she still had fun with the other babies and the instruments.

After class, we headed straight to the restaurant to meet up with Michelle and Orna. Milo was the star of the show, and she made one heck of a mess with the food we tried to giver her! She ended up eating a bit of rice and beans, along with some sour cream and whatever else we each decided she should try from our plates. Michelle also told us about some midwife friends who live pretty close to us in Austin who she said she’d put us in touch with, which is super nice.

Orna showed up and we all talked more while the ladies got their baby time in. It was really nice to see them again, and I hope we don’t lose touch now that we’ll be living so far away. I love them.

In the afternoon, we played and enjoyed each other’s company. Milo was all smiles and so full of energy. It was a good day.

Day Three Hundred and Twenty-Seven

Tape

In my paranoia about there being too much light in Milo’s room, I decided it was a good idea to put painter’s tape around the edges of the curtain so that less light would come in at dawn. It’s a little much, I know, but it’s worked well so far. Lately, though, Milo has been pulling the tape off the wall. I don’t mind it except that she then tries to chew on the tape. So we have to be super vigilant about it.

This morning, I thought I heard her pulling tape off the wall at around 4:30am. Chase and I tried to let her put herself back to sleep, but when it became apparent that she wasn’t going to do that, I went in to feed her and take the tape away. I discovered that the sound I heard was not the tape but her diaper. She had unfastened one side of her diaper. That’s a first. And hopefully a last.

Notes:

• Milo climbed in the clothes hamper today, and it was adorable.

• She continues to climb on boxes. Today she scooted her little bottom right to the edge and kind of pushed herself off/jumped. Luckily, the stuffed sheep pillow was on the floor to break her fall.

• At the park today, Milo actually walked around and played a bit. Mostly there was a lot of sitting in the sand, but there were spurts activity. It’s an ongoing battle keeping the leaves and sand out of her mouth, though.

Day Three Hundred and Twenty-Six

Laughter

Notes:

• Chase is at work today so that he can take Wednesday off as a flex day. He’s going to come to music class! But since he wasn’t home with us, and since Milo’s bed time is before nightfall (hence, we can’t go out to see the fireworks), it didn’t really feel like July 4th.

• Milo thought I was hilarious today; she laughed and laughed at me when I put a yellow towel on my head and then quickly pulled it off and made a shocked expression. She also laughed at me as I walked around and moved my legs weirdly. She thinks I’m hilarious. It does not get old. I’m going to miss days like this when I got to hear my girl’s uncontrolled laughter at my silliness.

• She was in such a good mood when Chase got home! She squealed with delight when she heard him come in the door! That reaction never gets old, either.

• That 6th tooth finally broke through.

Day Three Hundred and Twenty-Five

Babbler

• Milo stuck her finger in my nose this morning. She’s such an explorer.

• We went out for breakfast at Bacon Bacon, and it was pretty good. Milo ate some of my eggs and was pretty satisfied with that.

• Milo had a short nap (45m) and then we left for the Legion of Honor; while there, Milo talked the whole time and kind of embarrassed Chase. She was forward-facing in the ergo, and she just babbled and babbled so loudly while we looked at all of the amazing art work. I snuck some bits of string cheese in her mouth as we walked around to keep her happy, and it worked.

• On the way home, we stopped for burgers at one of our favorite places: Roam. I’m going to miss that place, but I trust that we’ll be able to find good burgers in Texas.

• Miss M had a long nap in the afternoon, which was good for everyone. When seh woke up, we played with her until bath time. Chase added a few items to the busy board and Milo seems to like the new additions (different latches).

Notes

• Milo loves rice, especially risotto, and she had some tonight for dinner. I don’t know why I don’t make her rice more often.

• Milo talks a lot. just a ton. Always. I don’t think this trend is going to stop, nor should it.

Day Three Hundred and Twenty-Four

Art

In our attempt to be proactive about the move, we found some advertisements for free moving supplies on CL today. We went out to get boxes twice, and we ended up with just a ton - more than enough for the whole packing job. We also got a pile of packing paper. It all stacked and stashed away in Milo’s room and the kitchen.

Then, of course, we started packing, mostly books today. The boxes are already everywhere, and Milo loves to climb on top of them. She slings her body over the top and grabs the other end to slide herself right on top.

We also took Milo to the park today and let her walk around a bit. She’s always reluctant to do anything at the park, but she did get a little bit of walking and climbing and swinging in.

When we got home, we decided to try a little art project with her: we put down some towels then put some packing paper on top of that. We took out the ice cubes I froze a while back with food coloring in them, and we let her slide the colorful ice around on the paper. It was a lot of fun, but eventually the paper disintegrated, and mostly Milo just wanted to eat the ice. So, while the process was fun, the final piece of art was sadly not salvageable.

Day Three Hundred and Twenty-Three