Micki drove from south-eastern Ohio to Indiana to visit this past weekend. We all had a lot of fun. I wish she lived closer and could come by more often. 

Mike's book of home remedies (a gift from his mother) suggests using a tea bag on a canker sore. It feels good, but boy does it look goofy! 

Amelia's new stats...

Well, Amelia had her 15 month "well baby" check up this morning and seems to be doing well. Her measurements have all gone up on the percentage scales. She's now at 30% for weight (up from 10%), 80% for height (way up from 55%) and at 60% for head circumference (up from 45%).

In other words, Amelia weighs 21 lbs. 7 ozs. and is 31.5 inches tall. She's still a tall, thin baby. In fact, this past drill weekend while showing pictures of Amelia to my shipmates in the office one of them pointed out, "Boy, she's a long girl; isn't she?" I had never really thought about it before, but in photographs she does look really tall and thin.

During our visit the doctor took a peek inside Amelia's mouth to check her teeth. After looking at her gums he told me, "She's getting her molars and her canines at the same time. If she's been grouchy, this might be her excuse." I took a good look in her mouth when she was crying on the table (she got her last shots today) and she's got a whole mouth full of teeth erupting all at once. This explains why she's been biting her toys so much lately.

So, the semester's almost here. I will, of course, do my best to keep everyone updated on baby's goings on. We may have a guest visiting this weekend which will allow for many opportunities for fun baby photos. Keep checking here for more baby news.

Lisa

Amelia's duck encounter at the UC Davis arborium.

Extreme Animal Encounters

I am safely back in Indiana. There was a lot of rain on the road from Indianapolis, but I am safe at home tonight and ready to add a story to the blog.

I reached my apartment complex around eleven tonight (Hoosier time). Driving through the apartment complex, down to my usual parking spot, I eyed a small group of deer in the grassy patch at the end of the pavement. A couple of the deer looked pretty young, so I wondered to myself if I could tiptoe out there in the rain and get a closer look at them.

Well, no sooner had I shut off my car engine than I heard an ominous "pop" in the road. When I looked I saw a small deer scrambling to its feet from the side of a pickup truck. The deer ran back across the road to my side of the street and disappeared as the driver of the truck got out to inspect the damage to his vehicle.

Concerned about the deer, I wandered over in the light rain to see if he (or she) was okay. I found the deer standing in the grassy patch beside the lot, crying (actually, he was making a sort of bleeting sound - never heard a deer cry up close before). The deer was young, in fact, it still had it's spots. I stopped, stood still, and watched the deer looking for signs of injury. The deer seemed upset and frightened, but was moving as if nothing was seriously wrong (I have no idea what I would have done if the deer was injured, but I guess that's beside the point).

After a few seconds the deer actually started to approach me. I never imagined a wild deer would start walking my way and bleeting for any reason, but the deer seemed to want help from anyone who could give it. At that moment, I guess I was the only help available.

I started talking to the deer in a calm, matter-of-fact tone of voice and told the deer that he could cross safely if he moved quickly when there were no car lights anywhere to be seen. I then saw the deer's mother across the road with the other young one and pointed her out saying, "Look, there's your mommy."

I started walking forward slowly, but that made the deer skiddish. Then a passing car caused him to sprint around the grass in an arc, but he was still afraid to cross the street. Once the car lights were gone, and the fawn saw mommy across the road, he took off and rejoined his family.

So, it was a really neat experience. I hope the deer truly is okay and doesn't decide people are nice and friendly in general. After all, hunting's awfully popular in this part of the country.

Lisa

Two dears (a neighbor who was moving gave Amelia this new friend - which was very sweet of her). 

"I'm feeling much better now."

I just wanted to let all of you know that Amelia is feeling 100% better today than she was on Monday. She still has a runny nose and a lot of conjestion that bothers her, but I'm sure that has nothing to do with her strep throat. In fact, if one thing bothers her more than her runny nose it's continually getting it wiped by mommy or daddy. But, in general, Amelia's back to her ususal self: eating pretty well, playing and having fun.

Speaking of fun, Amelia and I had a fun experience at the shopping mall yesterday. She has been dying to go out and explore, but the 95 and humid weather isn't much fun for mommy to play in, so I thought she'd enjoy a trip to the mall. And, of course, no trip to the mall would be complete without visiting the pet store. Boy, did Amelia love the pet store! She was so happy watching the puppies play at the store she laughed with glee. She also got to see bunnies and birds. She really liked the love birds, but then we found a large cockatoo at the back of the store outside its cage. The cockatoo, we were told, was a friendly bird, so we went over for a better look.

When Amelia saw the cockatoo, she bid it a friendly "Hello" to which the cockatoo replied, "Hello." This was followed by a couple more back and forth "hello"s that struck me as really funny. This was one of those times I felt really bad about not having a camera.

Bottom line is: Amelia is doing much better.

Lisa

P.S. I hope to have the web page updated very soon.

Even when you're sick, there's time to smell the flowers. 

Not just an outfielder

Sometimes it's difficult communicating with a toddler. For example, yesterday Amelia starting getting very irritated and fussy and kept repeating "Dye, dye."

It's possible that Amelia felt bad that I had not played Jermaine Dye last week in fantasy baseball. After reading reports about his infected spider bites I thought it wise to keep the former "A" out of the line up. He then proceeded to kick ass - of course.

After giving it some more thought I decided it was unlikely Amelia knew about my fiasco with Jermaine Dye. I tried putting her to bed and she became hopping mad saying, "Dye, dye, dye" and pointing to the door. I picked her up and asked her to show me what she wanted. She pointed out the door, down the stairs and out into the hot August sun. I was pretty surprised such a sick girl would want to go outside, but I obliged.

Once Amelia was outside (in the shade) she seemed pretty happy. She loves exploring: picking up rocks, pulling grass, patting bushes. And I'm glad that I finally figured out that "dye" is Amelia talk for "outside."

The linguist in me wonders what it is about the diphthong + /d/ combination that makes it stand out in the mind of a baby girl. Is it simply easier to say than "out," for example, or more sonorous and more memorable? This might be a good research paper for next semester's course in first language acquisition...

Lisa

Baby update

Amelia tested positive for strep throat at the doctor's office. This is actually the second time little one has had strep. I guess this explains why she's been wanting refrigerated watermelon pieces (and not much else) to eat at meal time.

Lisa

Sick and tired.  

Sick baby - AGAIN

Poor Amelia sure does seem to get sick often. She started with a 99 degree fever on Friday, and it's gone up from there. I guess she must be catching it from kids at the park, shopping carts, and who-knows-what else. But, shutting her up at home wouldn't be good for her either. I guess it's time to invest in some disposable hand wipes since getting a little toddler to wash her hands, even with assistance, is difficult at best.

Sweet baby fell asleep on the floor today watching Teletubbies. (I can hear her snoring softly behind me now.) I'll have to wake her in a minute to take her to her doctor's appointment. I feel bad about that - she's not going to be happy. But hopefully the doctor will know what's wrong and Amelia will get better soon.

Lisa