Day Two Hundred and Ninety-Seven

BBQ

Behind the house, there’s valley that has a creek at the bottom. It’s been really lovely to wake up and hear birds chirping and the creek flowing instead of cars and crazy people screaming outside. Before coming on this trip, Chase promised that he wouldn’t go exploring in the valley until he has some good boots to wear. Well, so much for promises.

Chase hiked down to the creek and took some pictures and videos. It looks nice down there! He found a crawdad and discovered that the creek is very clean and clear. He also discovered that it’s pretty steep and thus difficult to traverse the hill. He’s going to work on finding a better way to get down there, and in the future, he’ll probably put in some stakes and ropes so it’s easier for others to go up and down, too.

For lunch, we all went out and got Salt Lick BBQ over in Driftwood. We’ve been there before and were pretty happy with it. Dad still loves giving Milo food, so we let him give her some bread and pickles. She liked both. I also gave her some potatoes and a little bit of brisket. She ate pretty well.

After lunch, Dad had to head back to Rockport, so we said our goodbyes. Milo had a good nap and then spent some more time exploring the house and pushing her car seat around like a walker. That girl never gets tired of exploring!

Day Two Hundred and Ninety-Six

Volt

We spent most of the day at a car dealership. We intended to go and check out the Chevy Volt, maybe do a test drive and talk to a dealer about price, features, etc. But we got a good enough price that we thought it was worth it to buy today. We just didn’t expect it to take 5 hours.

Milo was pretty good. She had her first nap while I walked around in the ergo, and it was about 40 minutes. After that, she spent a lot of time walking around (still holding on to things), crawling around, playing with some toys, and smiling at everyone. She got a lot of attention from staff and other buyers, but mostly she was quiet and content with me and Dad. Milo, Dad, and I snacked and waited while Chase took care of the paperwork.

We ended up separating, and Chase stayed behind to get the lowdown on the car and drive it home, picking up lunch on the way. Dad, Milo, and I headed back to the house so that our girl could have a better nap in the crib. Once we got there, we realized that we didn’t have a house key and were locked out. Luckily (?) Dad found a door that he could pop open with his knife, so we were able to get inside and get Milo napping. And now we know that we have one door that is not safe when it isn’t deadbolted.

In the afternoon we went to the Habitat ReStore to see what they had to offer. It was kind of disappointing because there didn’t seem to be any really good deals on things we needed. Oh, well.

Notes:

• We’re dressing Milo almost exclusively in shorts on this trip, and it’s so nice! We finally don’t have to bundle her up to go outside!

• Milo loves outlets. We remembered to bring outlet covers on this trip, luckily.

• Milo might be regressing on baby food. She still likes to eat it from the pouch more than the spoon, but she’s been refusing it more often lately.

Day Two Hundred and Ninety-Five

The Hutch

I took Dad to the store while Milo was napping and Chase stayed behind with her. This marks the farthest I’ve travelled from Milo ever. It wasn’t too bad. We weren’t gone too long, and Chase had some fun playing with her while we were out.

A few weeks ago, we made a reservation at Hamilton Pool for today, thinking it’d be nice to let Milo swim in a natural body of water. However, when we arrived, we were told that the water wasn’t safe for swimming due to the recent rainfall and the bacteria that might be in the water. We were pretty disappointed, especially because we couldn’t get a refund for the reservation. Hopefully we can head out there next time we’re in town.

In the afternoon, Dad stayed at the house while Chase, Milo, and I went to check out a daycare that we found online and are pretty excited about. The daycare is called Habibi’s Hutch (I may have written about it before), and it was every bit as amazing as we hoped it would be. There were kids of all ages running around, playing together, exploring their environment, using their imaginations, problem solving, and just having fun together. So much dirt and mess, but those kids were having fun! We put in our waitlist form and feel confident that it’s going to be a great place for Milo.

On the way home, we made a pit stop at Target and picked up a toy for Milo. Then, when we got home, Dad had dinner all ready for us! It was very nice.

Notes:

• Milo loves to climb up on the fireplace ledge, which could pose a problem later on.

• Chase was feeing Milo some banana, and she insisted on holding the whole thing. She ended up eating most of it by herself and even chewed on the peel a bit.

• At some point today, Chase and Dad went to Home Depot and bought a lawn mower, though they didn’t mow the lawn yet. They were both pretty excited about checking it out, though.

Day Two Hundred and Ninety-Four

To Austin

Today we flew to Austin. Our flight was early, and Milo dined on raspberries at the airport, which she happens to love.

The flight: pretty good, Milo slept a little bit and was playful the rest of the time. She lounged in Chase’s lap, put her feet up on the seat like she was reclining and played with her toys, not a care in the world. We get such a kick out of it when she does this.

Once in Austin, we ended up making about a thousand trips to the store, which is about 15-20 minutes from our house. Since the house is empty, we needed to get food and miscellaneous household items for our stay. Milo was pretty good in the car, and of course she loved looking around at all the new stuff when we walked around.

At the house, Milo loves opening and closing the cabinet doors in the kitchen. We were scared that she’d smash her fingers, and when she did close her fingers in the cabinets, she fussed and either got them out herself or with our help. And then she just went right on playing. She also loved crawling and walking around the place and exploring the back deck. It took her about 2 whole seconds to crawl up on the fire place. I think she’s going to have fun here.

In the evening, we got tacos from Torchy’s and spent some time on the back deck. Dad arrived in the late evening, and we got Milo in bed at a reasonable time, though Dad and Chase had to make a run to Wal-Mart for a pump for his air mattress.

Milo is sleeping in our room this first night, but we are planning to have her in a separate room (down the hall) for the rest of the trip. Hopefully it will go well.

Day Two Hundred and Ninety-Three

Climber

Notes:

• Milo successfully climbed up on the bed by herself! I was so stinking excited about this!! She got up on the stool, then she hoisted herself onto the bed and sat triumphantly with a huge smile on her face. It was magical. However, Sophie now no longer has a safe place inside the living room.

• I spent a good deal of time packing for our trip to Austin. I’m incredibly excited about going there and spending time in our house! Dad is going to drive up and meet us, so we’ll get to spend time together and he can see what a big girl Milo is getting to be.

• Music class was good today; it was the second-to-last for the session. We re-enrolled for summer so that we can continue for a while longer. Milo loves it and is starting to come out of her shell more around the other babies and moms. She still pretty consistently sits and lets herself get adjusted to the room and the people before coming out of her shell. But it’s taking less and less time the more often we go. So summer will be fun.

Day Two Hundred and Ninety-Two

Music

Notes:

• We went to another make up Music class today- again the nannies and moms weren’t great. The kids were all over the place, sometimes interfering with the songs; moms/nannies were not watching them or singing along. The instructor had to explain why she does certain things and why we should all participate. I felt bad for her.

• Milo continues to love being sung to. We regularly sing the hello song while we’re walking anywhere, and singing the tune while moving around is, we’ve discovered, a good way to get her to eat her baby food without much fuss.

• We bought a second travel crib since we’ll be taking (and leaving) one in Texas. Chase got home late since he had to pick it up.

• Gave Milo string cheese today. She loved it.

• Made an amazing dinner of scalloped potatoes, green beans, and pork chops today. Realized too late that it was a bad idea since we’re leaving for Texas soon. We’ve got a whole lot of potatoes to eat in a short amount of time!

Day Two Hundred and Ninety-One

Memorial Day

We headed home early and made it kind of a lazy day. Chase dropped us off and returned the car, then we met at Divisadero St. and got some lunch. After picking it up, we walked home, which was really nice.

Chase was feeling a little sick today, so we took it easy and spent the afternoon listing things on CL and resting. Milo played hard with her toys, probably having missed them for a couple of days, and she napped well in her bed.

Notes:

• Milo pretty consistently pulls everything out of the clothing bins and scatters stuff across the floor. I don’t like to discourage her exploration when it’s so harmless. We do try to keep her out of the books, though.

Day Two Hundred and Ninety

Sacramento Zoo

The zoo was pretty small, but we still had a good time. Milo was great the whole time - she was facing out in the ergo, and seemed interested in the people and the animals. We took some pictures of her face sticking through some of those holes in murals; in one she looks like a very sinister spider; in another, she looks like a cheerful zookeeper.

Sleep was ok last night and naps have been pretty good, as well. The down side is that we have to be super quiet and go to sleep really early at night because she’s sleeping in the same room as us. It wasn’t bad, though. We got a lot of sleep.

Sacramento, as it turns out, is pretty hot. We went for a walk in the afternoon and I threw in the towel pretty early. There was just so much sun, and it was so hot, I felt like I was frying. Milo was lounging in her stroller while Chase and I baked. She was covered and just sat back and ate her snacks. However, it was really nice to walk out by the river and see all of the people swimming, BBQing, and hanging out.

Some time during the day we made our way over to Once Upon a Child and bought some clothes and a couple of toys for Milo. In music class, she always goes for the rainmaker instrument, so I was excited to find a rainmaker ball in the store! We also got a pull-along zebra and some 12-18m clothes that will probably fit better than her 9m clothing, which is already getting kind of small.

Notes:

• Milo has been really interested in her wheeled toys lately. We have a little hedgehog with wheels, and she’s been trying to push it around. We’ve showed her that if you pull it back and let it go, it will go on its own. She hasn’t figured this out yet.

• She’s still very much the explorer. She spent much of today and yesterday’s hotel time walking around (while holding on) the room, opening and closing doors, and trying to climb on things.

Day Two Hundred and Eighty-Nine

Sacramento

Chase got a good deal on a rental car, so we decided to take a trip to Sacramento since we’ve never been. We didn’t really plan anything, so we didn’t do much today. Milo had a short nap in the car on the drive up and wasn’t too fussed in the carseat. We ate lunch at a burger place, and Milo was very smiley at all of the ladies.

After lunch, we went to the ReStore and looked around while Milo was in the ergo. Afterward, we drove around just a bit and made our way to the hotel to check in. We set up the travel crib and put Milo down for an easy nap.

In the afternoon, we took Milo down to the pool, which marked her first time in a body of water larger than her little bath tub. We even bought her a little float. Milo was skeptical, the way she is about most new things. She wore a stern face and didn’t do much in her little float. I feel confident that she’ll like swimming more when she gets to do it more often.

We went out to dinner in the evening, and man was it delicious! Milo munched on her snacks and some baby food, but it was kind of difficult because we had to hold her in our laps most of the time, as the restaurant had run out of high chairs.

For bed, we arranged the room so that Milo’s travel crib is kind of hidden behind the sofa and gets as little light as we could manage. We’ll see how sleep goes tonight.

Day Two Hundred and Eighty-Eight

Super Duper

Milo and I went to lunch with Chase at Super Duper. I put a jar of baby food in a pouch, and Milo ate a lot of it and some baby snacks while Chase and I had our burgers and fries. She’s becoming a really great eater, especially now that she has teeth and can bite things.

After lunch, I stopped by ILSC and saw some of my former coworkers. I finally had a chance to catch up with Jeff and Jeannie, which was really nice. Milo walked around a bit and was generally cute and amazing. As expected, everyone was amazed by how big she’s gotten since my last visit, which was ages ago…maybe December? I stayed a while, way past Milo’s nap time, but she remained awake until the ride home. She fell asleep on my chest in the ergo while we rode the bus, and I realized how much I’ve missed that.

Day Two Hundred and Eighty-Seven

Day Two Hundred and Eighty-Six

Three Teeth

I accidentally discovered that Milo has a top tooth. I don’t stick my fingers in her mouth very often anymore because those bottom teeth are razor sharp and she likes to bite down on my finger. But today I did, and that’s how I discovered her third tooth. I was stupidly excited and texted with a lot of punctuation about it.

This morning also brought another exciting event: Milo nearly climbed onto the bed from the stool. The exciting part is that she got her feet off the stool, so her whole body was stuck to the side of the bed like a tree frog because she couldn’t quite pull herself up. It was hilarious! I didn’t get a picture because I was in such a rush to get her down before she fell.

In a less exciting turn of events. Milo also started biting and thinks it’s hilarious. However, I think they might be love bites. She still gives open-mouth kisses, the way babies do, and she’s now combined this with biting down a bit. They don’t hurt - yet.

Day Two Hundred and Eighty-Five

Food

Chase made breakfast this morning, and we gave Milo a taste of potato and egg (with seasonings). She liked it. We’ve been steadily introducing Milo to new foods, but I haven’t been recording everything she’s eaten. Oops! It’s a lot, though. She loves to eat what we’re eating, though it’s harder to get her to eat the baby food.

She really likes the teething crackers and baby snacks now that she has a couple of teeth. It’s so crazy to hear her bite on them - she really has teeth in that mouth now!

Notes:

• The computer that I just got has a broken charging cable, so Chase took it in and got a replacement.

• We made chicken fajitas for dinner. Milo, of course, scavenged for food while we ate. She got tortilla, rice, refried beans, and cheese. She enjoyed all of it.

• We went to a make-up music class today, and I realized that the class we normally go to is awesome compared to this different class. The other moms and nannies were just awful and didn’t watch their kids. Many of them didn’t even participate in the songs, just spent time on their phones. Moms and nannies at our regular class are much more attentive and rarely have their phones out. It really made me appreciate our regular class.