Shout Out to the 70's

Miss Genevieve is ready for her disco lessons.

The Great Outdoors

Here is Genevieve enjoying her Pack N' Play. Thankfully she really likes being outdoors. Unfortunately this is probably because there are so many more things outside that are fun to put in your mouth, but you probably shouldn't.

Road Trip

Genevieve took her first road trip this Memorial Day weekend. She went to Connecticut to see some of our friends and family. The trip went very well, although Genevieve wouldn't nap with so much going on around her. She did enjoy showing off her tricks to anyone within a 10-foot radius: rolling over, squealing to the top of her lungs, smiling that big toothless grin of hers, and inhaling food as quickly as Danny or I could give it to her. My family was very impressed with the size of Genevieve, which is understandable since she is as big or bigger than the average baby twice her age.

Below is a picture of Miss G with her Great, Great Aunt Antionette who just turned 90 this past January.

Apologies to Shakespeare

To roll, or not to roll: that is the question:
Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer
The indignities of a diaper change
Or to roll about on the changing table,
And by opposing end them? To squirm: to cry;

Genevieve is so good at rolling now that she has become difficult to change. After placing her on the changing table she will rock from side to side the entire time causing no end of difficulties. Carrie likened it to putting a diaper on a cat though I'm not sure when she might have tried that. Genevieve doesn't limit her squirming to diapering. While trying to change her clothes for bed time she squirmed so much that I eventually pinned her down with my leg so that I could use my arms to maneuver her limbs into the appropriate openings in her sleeper. It is a good thing I'm a lot stronger than her because otherwise I think that these tasks would be nigh impossible.

The Fast and the Furious

Genevieve recently started rolling over on a regular basis. She had proven her skills quite some time ago but never really got into rolling over. Now she rolls over non-stop. It is no longer safe to leave her unattended on anything other than the floor. She can roll over so quickly that she has almost rolled off the bed a few times.

She has also been very testy lately. Carrie says it is because she has started teething. She has an upper and lower incisor coming in. The upper seems to be coming quicker than the lower but neither have erupted yet. I'm not sure I agree with Carrie's conclusion. Genevieve has been cranky and testy all along. I don't think this latest bout of crying is any different than the last bunch. Either Carrie is an apologist for our daughter or babies just go from one screaming hardship to another.

This afternoon she learned how to zerbert. Due to a strange series of events involving her falling, crawling, screaming and spitting all at once she ended up on my forearm making a clear zerbert noise. This caused us to laugh uproariously. She was very proud of herself for making us laugh and tried to do it again. Genevieve not knowing exactly how to repeat the performance began to franticly mash her face against my arm blowing as hard as she could. She managed to zerbert me 3 more times before tiring of the whole affair.

Pictures, Pictures, and More Pictures

I got the cable back for our digital camera today, so here is your Genevieve fix as promised!

Genevieve and Carrots




Yeah, I think we got a real winner here.

Kids and TV

A lot of parents swear by educational videos made for toddlers and younger. "My child will sit quietly in front of the TV for hours!" some will happily exclaim. I don't think this is really a good thing, nor do I think it has anything to do with educational videos made for kids. You can put anything on and they will turn into mindless zombies.

The pictures below are from my parents house, which means Genevieve is watching the Weather Channel, the History Channel, or possibly Extreme Makeover Home Edition.



Notice the vacant look in her eyes...




Hopefully this means I will be spared the hell that is Barney and Teletubbies.

Some Day I'll Get Out of This Cage

Ramblin' Wreck Waiting to Happen

Feeding Time at the Zoo

In addition to her rice cereal, the doctor recommended that we give Genevieve a different food every three days. Needless to say this makes meal time a constant source of amusement. Some things she likes, some things she hates and others...well, they just confuse her. She loves her rice cereal now and goes beserk for it. She attacks the spoon when you bring it near her face. Unfortunately she doesn't have very good coordination skills and ends up with rice cereal up the nose.

We tried feeding her apple sauce. She was very confused by apple sauce. The spoon would go in. Her mouth would move for a second and then this incredible grimace would come across her face. But she would open her mouth wide for the next spoonful. She looked absolutely pitiful yet kept coming back for more. After three days the reaction was still no different.

Tonight I mashed up some boiled carrots and tried feeding them to her. Boy was that a mistake. I put the little spoonful of mush into her mouth and she proceeded to push the lump of orange right out. I quickly scooped it up and put it back in only to have it come right back out. I tried a third time and she broke out in tears. Methinks she doth not like it. We tried mixing it with milk but had no better results. Kinda sucks for her because Carrie will probably keep trying to give her carrots for three days. She had a similar experience with bananas. I think peas are next up on the menu.

Locomotion update:
She rolls over like a fiend but still cannot sit up. We can no longer leave her unattended on the bed or changing table. She hasn't fallen off anything yet but I'm sure she is just biding her time. Her leg muscles are still incredibly strong and when she lays on her belly she can proto-crawl. By this I mean her legs are doing the proper motions but she doesn't consider using her arms. She drives her head into the ground and pushes it forward like a broom. It is silly to watch but she gets to where she wants to be. Carrie has started stealing her toys and moving them a foot in front of her. This gets G a little pissed off and she'll grind her head against the ground and start to crawl until she bumps up against the toys. She picks them up and gives Carrie a dirty look. Carrie says she is trying to teach her to crawl. I think she is just having some fun with her.

Judging by the way things are going it looks like she is going to be able to crawl before she can sit up.

Carrie left our USB cable in Georgia. We've got lots of pictures stuck in the ether of my camera's memory card. It was mailed last week so it should show up soon and we'll have some new pictures up.

Baby Cleavage

I'm starting to believe all of the hype about there being too many hormones in the foods we eat today. Isn't Genevieve a little young to have cleavage?

Well that does it

Genevieve has now officially outgrown her car seat. We've already bought a larger one and when she comes back from her trip to Georgia this weekend she will start using it. What amazes me -- and apparently all the bookmakers who were laying odds on this -- is that she is not too heavy for her car seat; she is too long for it. Who would have thought that her meteoric weight gains would be eclipsed by her growth.

We are still getting comments about her being a very big baby at least now she is a big baby in all aspects as opposed to just one. She is now a well rounded big baby when before she was just...well...round.

The doctor also said that her crankiness of late is probably due to the fact that she is ready for solid food and that milk just isn't keeping her sated. We had our first attempt at a feeding tonight. She did really well, all things considered, but she still doesn't have the whole concept of eating down.



Here is G just starting out.


Basically we are feeding her rice cereal mixed with milk. It looks a lot like porridge but very thin. At first she didn't understand the concept of opening her mouth and almost everything ran down her chin. Then once she started opening she attempted to block the spoon with her tongue.


Most of the food ended up on her bib or chin but she did eat some of it.



She made some horrendous faces though. Maybe it was the taste, maybe it was the food but she certainly didn't seem to be enjoying it. However we were laughing so hard during the entire feeding that she couldn't help but grin and giggle along with us.

5 Month Weigh-in, Er... Check-up

Head Circumference: ?" (75th percentile)
Height: 27" (97th percentile)
Weight: 19 pounds (97th percentile, and a true 97th percentile, not a 97th+ she's-really-just-off-the-charts, our-numbers-don't-go-that-high percentile)

Genevieve is starting to have mixed feelings about going to the doctor. While she really enjoys getting naked and having various people tickle her (something she'll hopefully outgrow before she hits the job market), she really wishes that they'd stop sticking long pointy objects into each of her thighs.

One more bib shot

Here is another picture from the second Passover seder of G eating her bib.