Stair Climber

Since I am inept at posting a video, here are a few 'sports composite' shots of Luca climbing the stairs. This is a handy feature our camera has, where it takes 16 shots rapidly in succession. Please note that since I turned the camera vertical, you need to read this like you are Japanese....start in the upper right corner and go down the column, then go to the top of the next row.

They're all staring at me.

As a chubby girl (we'll go with chubby, which sounds much more jovial and cute than saying I am fat), I have noticed that I have a strange breed of paranoia. Allow me to give you some examples:

1. The Innocent Comment from a Co-Worker:

This happened to me the other day when my co-worker and I were both in the breakroom at lunch time. He was getting an orange, and I was prepping a Lean Cuisine mac and cheese to be microwaved. Let me preface this by saying that this co-worker is someone I get along with really well, and is a former chubby person himself. Anyhow, I made a self-depriciating joke about my delicious mac and cheese lunch (self-depriciating humor being a specialty of chubsters), and he paused then said, "Are you getting much excercise in the nice weather we're having?"

Now, normal people would assume he meant "Sure is nice out. Been on any hikes or anything?"

But I am not normal, I am fat. So my thought process went as follows:
Thought 1: "WTF is that supposed to mean?!?!?"
Thought 2: "Did he notice how big my butt looks today? Maybe I should angle myself so it's facing the wall more and he won't notice..."
Thought 3: "Wait....maybe he is just making conversation."

2. The 'I Know They Are Talking About ME' Moments:

This one is less specific and more just one of those things that comes up from time to time (much like Seinfeld-isms). I'll overhear someone talking about people being fat or about obesity or about fatness in general, and my first thought is either "I know they are talking about me.", or "Please don't notice I am fat.", or "They are saying this in front of me as their passive aggressive way of letting me know how much my fatness disgusts them."

A rational person would realize none of these is likely to be true. But, we all know I'm not rational...I am chubby.

3. They're All Staring At Me.

The scene of this one can be most anywhere, but it always involves food. Most recently, I had one of these moments when I was in Chicago with my Torso Twin Meredyth. We're torso twins because, well, she is also blessed (har har) with the same kind of torso as am I. She feels my pain, quite literally. So there we sat in a restaurant in Chicago. I was on vacation of sorts, and had forewarned her that I planned to eat like the filthy piglet that I am. As such, we had an appetizer (Spinach and artichoke dip. What? You're surprised?), then each of us had our own meal. Lastly, we wrapped things up by ordering a dessert. As we sat waiting for the dessert to arrive, Mere turned to me and said, "Whenever I eat like this in public, I'm positive people are looking at me and saying to themselves 'THAT is why she's fat!'." And it's so true. Even if people aren't thinking that (which...give me a room of 10 people and if one of them is chubby and chowing on a brownie volcano with vanilla ice cream, I guarantee 4 of them are thinking about it) we FEEL like they are. We're just sure that they're all staring at us.

I need this.

As you know, I have an obsession with photographing my kid. My camera is good (a Nikon), but I want more, more, more!

I wonder what it would take to convince my husband that I need one of these?:

D.C. Princess

Too cute not to share. Shirt courtesy of a shop in Washington D.C. Flowers and lovely spring day courtesy of my mom and Arizona.

"Here, eat this."

10 Months Old.

I have a 10 month old. I have a 10 month old.




The scary thing about this is, I almost have a 1 year old. Holy hell.

Anyhow, this last month has been a flurry of activity and milestones for Luca. First, she finally figured out how to get herself sitting upright. For the longest time, she didn't seem to understand how to get from lying down to sitting.





Once she had that down, she quickly progressed to pulling herself up with ease. She has always loved standing and been pretty strong, but until she could sit up on her own she wasn't very good at pulling herself up. How quickly that changed: she has officially ordained us both as human jungle gyms.



She also learned how to climb up the steps. Yes...you read that right...UP the STEPS. We're so screwed. It's actually pretty adorable, though, because what she does is plays a game with herself. She'll take her bop (pacifier for those unfamiliar with Luca-language) or a toy over to the bottom of the staircase. The she pulls to standing, using the bottom step for leverage. From there, she reaches up and places or tosses the bop or toy onto the second step. Then, she climbs onto the first step, reaching for the toy. Once she has it in her hand, she puts it on the next step and goes up again. I'm quite convinced she'd keep this up for more than 3 steps, but I'm too freaked at the thought of her tumbling down 5 or 6 steps to let her try. Fortunately, she is a genius and has also learned how to back herself down to the floor. Sometimes, she gets back to the first step, lies on her tummy, and slides off the step. She has also taken to climbing through the rungs of the barstools in the dining room and trying to get onto the couch to see the 'Dod' (dogs). (photos or video of the stair-climbing to come soon)







She's also extremely obsessed with 'sharing'. That typically means she tries to hand us food or her pacifier. And it typically means she wants us to put these things in OUR mouth. Yum.



The other things Luca has started to do: clap, wave, and screech. I just got back from a work trip to D.C., and I had a layover in Chicago for a night. Lucky me, my good friend Mere lives there, so I got the chance to hang out with her for the night. In keeping with my tradition for traveling without Darrick, I stopped in a gift shop in Midway and got him a shot glass (funny side note: I always get him shot glasses, and they rarely, if ever, get used). I also picked up a gift for Lu. They were selling those stuffed monkeys which have velcro on their hands and feet so you can attach them to something. I got her a yellow one wearing an "I <3 Chicago" t-shirt. Well...fast forward to when I get home. I give it to her, and she loves it. She chews on it's face and flings it around (add throwing things just so mommy has to pick them up to the list of new milestones reached) and snuggles it up. So there I am playing with her and the stuffed monkey, and I touch it and it begins to SCREAM! It's clearly intended to be a monkey sound, but instead it sounds more like someone's being attacked by the monkey. Despite my unease at the monkey holler, however, Luca LOVES it. The monkey screams 3 times in a row, and whenever you press his belly to set him off, Luca screeches right along. Baby Genius, I tell ya. I also got her this t-shirt, which I know some of you will appreciate very much:





We did some fun activities this month, including going to the Rennaisance Festival and the Phoenix Zoo. The weather is SO amazing here right now (I know, I know...all your cold-weather people will be rubbing it in my face come June)!









The other big news in Luca's world is the breakthrough of her first tooth. It happened when I was in D.C., but this is one milestone I'm not that sad about missing (sorry, D). It is the CUTEST little snaggle, right up front, and she's doing really well with it. I am a little sad, though, because I know this means the Gummy Smile is officially a thing of the past. I loved that Gummy Smile, and wanted to say goodbye to it with a photo montage of sorts:















And, of course, her love for our other 'kids' remains strong. And they remain naughty.



FYI, if you ever wonder how I can tell when my dogs did something naughty, it's because they look like this when I come home:



Here are other random pictures from the past month: