No Pictures, But Great Memories

Well, I'm home again and pretty much recovered from our travels last week. We arrived home Monday night, having spent a riveting three hours waiting to get on the ferry. I actually read all the questions on the touristy forestry display, and Tango helped me turn the little log slices around to read the answers (have I mentioned she's a pretty strong girl for under 7 months?).

Since we left the Okanagan Sunday, I've had so many photographable moments (can you call them Kodak moments when you don't use film anymore?) Sadly, it was en route to my mom's that night (4 hours too late) that we realized the camera was still at our friends' place, on the piano. Otherwise, I'd be able to share with you pictures of the Bear's mounted buck (a good size - we've still got sausages from two years ago) riding in the passenger's seat of the truck. That got a few double takes along the road, and some folks we met on the ferry posed with him. There'd also be a picture of my little clone demonstrating an early capacity for multi-tasking: holding her bottle up with the crook of her elbow so her hands were free to play with a toy. I'm sure it was a pure accident that she pulled that off, but it was worth a good laugh! There'd perhaps be a (tastefully cropped) shot of her reaching behind to the flush handle from her potty seat. She was probably looking for a shower curtain, which is her favourite bathroom distraction at home, but she still used it right when I gave her the chance.
And lest you think this is a proud mama with rose-colored glasses post, I might also have tried to capture an audio clip to highlight her new vocal skills. Seems that all the extra social attention she received last week went to her head, and on our first day home again, while I was still pretty fuzzy, she decided to voice her objections to having just me to entertain her - which means entertaining herself at least some of the time. Jem, our Okanagan host, got to hear a live rendition over the phone. It's the first time she's combined all the babbling - which increased with all the conversations she sat in on last week - with crying, and it sounded rather comical at first. "MBwah-mbah-mwah-mbah-...."
The only thing there'd be no pictures of would be the great party we all had Saturday night to celebrate anniversaries. We were too busy laughing ourselves silly! A great time was definitely had, and I'm hoping we can all get together again soon.
But now, I must pick up my little diva and take her for her six month shots, which we missed before the trip. Perhaps we'll learn a new song on the way...

Road Trip!

So, since the addition of Tango to our clan, we've made a few hops off of our island, mainly to my mom's and back, and she's been a pretty good traveller all things considered. This week put her to a real test, though. We were heading inland. It seems that whenever we have a chance to go somewhere inland, there've been a list of things accumulating that we 'oughtta take care of the next time we're out that way.'
This trip is no different. We have our family wagon to be serviced in the interior, the Bear's bachelor days sports car, 'The Rocket', to be picked up and trailered from there to the Kootenays til it can be restored and sold, work for the Bear to do in the Kootenays, and of course lots of visiting back in the interior.
Day One. Drive two vehicles with a week and a half worth of baby care and entertainment supplies, several bags and bins of work gear and a generator keeping the pickup well-weighted, two dogs and their requisite gear to my mom's on the mainland. Mom's looking after the hounds while we're away, so everyone there'll get their exercise. The ferry trip is old hat by now, and the break in the middle of the drive makes it relatively easy on Tango. She successfully tested out the high chairs in the buffet. It was a hit, 0r at least she thought the rail was rather tasty!
Day Two. Drive the same two vehicles, minus the canines, to the interior. Pickup a trailer, fetch and load the rocket on said trailer (which unfortunately involved a locksmith) and squeeze in a little visiting. Pushed past several rest stops as she was still quiet in back. Finally decided to stop about an hour short of our goal - by this time I had to pee - and changed and fed her. Unfortunately, she wasn't too keen on getting back in the car and fussed a fair bit on the last leg and after every stop we had to make once in town. Pretty relaxed once the driving was done, though.
Day Three. Convoy the family wagon behind pickup towing trailered HSPPV (ask the Bear) to the dealership and drop off the family wagon. (Yes, this means that all the baby and travel gear is now stuffed into the tiny sports car cockpit) She obliged by filling her diaper before we left the dealership so no-one had to endure foul odours while we searched for a trailer-friendly pull-out on a one-lane highway later on (that's my girl - always considerate). Now, Tango likes riding in the truck. She gets to be up front (not much of an option, there) instead of alone in the back seat. And apart from showing signs of hunger a little sooner than we were able to stop, she was pretty cooperative. She'd just watch everything that was happening. And sampled a little finger-tip of garlic coil when the bottle wasn't available. "Interesting."
We are getting signs that she may be a little too smart for our own good. One of these came when we got to the little ferry crossing en route. She'd finally had her bottle and was free now to get out of her seat for a stretch. I was going to take the opportunity to change her, and handed her over to the Bear in the driver's seat so I could get geared up for the job. He picked her up, sat her on his lap, and I swear within two seconds she had both hands on the wheel, trying to turn it and, by the look on her face, wondering why it didn't move the way it did when Dad worked it. A very dangerous sort of girl.
The trip out ended with perfect timing. The Bear's family had got back to their place just a short while before us, as had their friend with the backhoe clearing the several feet of snow off the driveway. Rocket and engine were safely unloaded and we all came in to warm up.

In a few days we'll start the trip, a little more lightly loaded, in reverse, stopping in the interior for a few days and celebrating anniversaries with some good friends. Any excuse for a party, right?

Laundry

You know you're behind when your siamese determines that the heap on the floor beside the bed is more inviting for a nap than the sunspot on the duvet over the memory foam.

Growth Spurt

You more experienced parents out there know that, just as these little ones have physical growth spurts - greatly increasing their consumption to support a speedy bit of growing, they also have developmental spurts, where all of a sudden there's a whole pile of new skills and behaviours in their repertoire.
Lately, Tango's been doing both. She's now over 19 pounds or 8.5 kilos, and as best as I can measure as she squirms around, she's 27.5 inches or 70 cm. I think only the boy 'round the corner is bigger than her at this point. (His mom and I were dubbed the Amazon women by one of the other moms at Baby Talk the other week.
But the fun part, of course, is all the new stuff she does. She rolls over on her own now - mostly onto her tummy. She'll spin on the floor, too. She's been doing that for awhile, finding her turned around in the morning in her crib, but she's getting much more efficient and deliberate about it. Harder to describe how she gets better at manipulating things (that's 'things' not 'moms', though the Bear might argue that :). The other day she was just looking at her hands, a toy in one, and rotating them: clockwise, counter-clockwise, clockwise, ... She'd look down at her hands intently with this look of concentration, "Hey, they move that way, too." She sits with support, but would rather use you for leverage to roll or reach to her next target. If you pull her to sitting from lying down, she'll push up to standing while you hold her hands, and she'll stand on her own with just a finger. The Bear says he had her supporting herself against the couch the other day. But my most favouritest new development is self-feeding with the bottle. The first few docking attempts were great to watch, as she bounced the nipple around nose, cheeks and chin before finally stretching her mouth wide enough to snag the tip with her lips and reel it in. She's improved with every 'round and yesterday she not only executed a perfect dock, but she continued to hold the bottle for the full feed.
She's far more interested in checking out everything around her, especially textures, she'll scratch at the material on the chair or your clothes. Even happy to meet new people and be passed around so long as mom's around when a need arises. And showing signs of recognizing words and phrases, with a few good babble sessions whenever the recorder isn't around. The first phrase recognized is repeated a lot. "Let go."
Go, girl!