a crawl before leaving

Ahh... mornings. The crispness of the dewy air. The buttery dawn sunbeams flooding the porch. The dulcet shriek of an eleven month old who doesn't want her diaper changed. Or her clothes changed. Or pretty much anything that gets in the way of her monomaniacal desire for breakfast immediately after waking. Her father too shares this desire for breakfast. Sometimes her mother does too. Sometimes there are three shrieking, desperate-for-breakfast humans plus two breakfast hungry dogs. If only there were a food delivery service that served breast milk and eggs benedict with a side of dog food. Gap in the market, people! Let's get on it. Before the Mornings of the Shriek begin again.

food glorious food

a typical delicious dinner of squash and green beans... mmm.

We make a lot of Schuyler's food (well, her mom does). We do this partly because we think it's healthier for her but mostly because it makes us feel better when we give her crap like Gerber Puffs to eat. AKA "baby crack"

The ever popular "biter biscuit" (also courtesy of the kind people at Gerber - "it's junk food for kids"). If you need time to rush a meal down your throat while dining out, give Schuyler a biter biscuit and you've bought yourself a reliable five minutes. CAUTION: Be careful when giving children biter biscuits around dogs. Especially hungry Silky Terriers with no shame. Especially when Schuyler realises she can make the dogs very happy by feeding the biscuit to them. Especially if this is done while Dad has turned his back.

A fun feeding time. We're trying to let her sort of feed herself. It has led to some compromises. Schuyler doesn't appear to be a compromising kind of baby.

party on

To celebrate Theo's first birthday, Alex and Priscillia put on an amazing spread complete with Teddy Bear cake... sadly, Schuyler showed little interest in her one time suitor or his happy cake as she was enthralled by this big blue dog thing that her dad pushed her around on (man, i hate ending sentences with prepositions).

road trip

If Daddy really loved me would he let me wear this bib?

denim day

We know it is a normal and natural evolution for humans to slowly learn how to walk but seeing that process in action really knocks us out. I'm not sure who is prouder of her assisted walking: Schuyler or her parents. In any case, we all dig it.

cleaning up

the walker

Schuyler is now a biped. Sort of. She can't walk but she cruises wherever possible. So with this in mind, we bought her an early birthday present: a wooden walker trolley thing. The very first time she saw it she was able to walk with it. I'm wondering how i can leverage this new behaviour from simple menial tasks such as pushing a small shopping trolley to small roles in commercials. This kid has got to start earning her keep after all.

See her in action (note: she's just now wearing shoes sometimes! Thanks to Aunt Cecelia and Uncle Chris):

high five

Schuyler has learned the most essential of all Western cultural skills. Sure, it is also something i have managed to teach dogs in the past but still a crucial skill. Now, we just have to get her going on the fist bump.

you ain't got a thing, if you ain't...

A Schuyler first: experiencing centripetal force. The force is strong with this one. Despite the chilly March weather (he dad was a little under dressed), she giggled, snorted and at one point gave a look of mild concern.

the Sarah Palin library

Schuyler loves books. Not so much in the way her Mum and Dad love books but more in the way Sarah Palin loves books. Schuyler's goal when she meets a bookshelf is "how many of these books can i remove before people start stopping me?". It provides seconds upon seconds of fun. Now if we can just get her to enjoy restocking ("let's play Dewey Decimal!")

round round round round i get around

So we've hit another milestone: the girl can cruise. For those of you that don't read books on child development for fun these days, cruising is when they walk the way you would if you were in a strange room and all the lights went out... they basically, find something to hold onto and make their way carefully along the object until they find a near enough object to transfer to and eventually they make their way to their destination (usually something harmful if touched or swallowed or tipped over). It is strange how these little steps can make you happy and sad at the same time - i guess that's called bittersweet - in that it is thrilling and fascinating to watch her learn all these very human skills but at the same time it highlights the passage of time. She won't be a little girl for much longer and that breaks my heart no matter how excited i am. i guess we'll just have to do some of that enjoy-each-moment stuff.

girl in the bubble

Who doesn't like bubbles? Well, nobody. Except ardent environmentalists who point out that we are releasing pollutants into the air just for the sheer fun of it. Well, if i'm gonna do my bit to destroy the planet, i'm going to do it by making this little girl giggle. Uncle Dave seems almost as interested. In fact, i think Liz could have kept them both enthralled (and out of trouble) for much of the day: Schuyler watching bubbles and Uncle Dave watching Schuyler watch bubbles. And, of course, i'm talking about the bubbles in the picture, not Bubbles the Chimp. Although, frankly, they are both fascinating in different ways.

second coming

Although you would need a powerful zoom lense to capture it, we are proud to announce the arrival of yet another tooth which, combined with a fever and an infection in both ears, is not making life easy for our little cub. Despite it all, she manages to put a brave face on and gum her way through yet another maple cookie.

narcissus ain't seen nothin'

So during the 3,495,945th visit to the Bermuda Museum, Aquarium, Zoo and Parenting Centre, Schuyler found that she could combine her new love of standing (assisted) with a fascination with mirrors. I was pretty pleased when she saw the Daddy in the mirror and then turned around and she seemed also to recognise that the baby in the mirror was also her. This means that she is at least as clever as Happy the elephant.

jammin'

Schuyler is already displaying superior dancing skills to her parents. She really dug Uncle Dave's grooves which is a pretty good sign considering she is shy of a full year on this planet.