She’s walking, y’all. Really and truly.
She’d taken a few steps here and there (especially at her Seattle grandparents’ house last month, although not for the camera), but on Friday night, she really started. We were at my colleague Gena’s for dinner, and after dinner, while playing and reading, Ronia just stood up and took off. She walked the length of the living room, over the lip into the foyer, and even turned around. She looked really happy and surprised.
She walked at shul on Saturday during kiddush. She walked in the afternoon at the family potluck. She just walked and walked. And didn’t sleep. She napped for about 15 minutes while nursing in my arms at the end of lunch, but then when I put her down she woke up and never returned to sleep. She fell asleep in the way home from the potluck (a 10 minute walk) and did sleep in her crib for 45 minutes after that. During that time I raced around cleaning up the kitchen, starting laundry, and sweeping the floor. Then I called Jesse to tell him the news, and after we’d talked for like 5 minutes I heard her fussing.
And then she didn’t sleep until 1am.
It wouldn’t've been so bad if I hadn’t been planning my evening from the time she finally fell asleep: I was going to drink a Guinness (so good for the milk, don’tchaknow) and watch a movie, ALONE. I was so frustrated that she wouldn’t sleep. I was so angry at her for not sleeping, but it wasn’t her fault! It was our fault for not putting her on a bedtime routine, which I now have started. But even then, I know babies have disturbed sleep patterns when they reach milestones, so maybe it wouldn’t have even mattered. But I so wanted that alone time! Oh well.
Sunday HannahB came over and played with Ronia for a while so I did get my alone time. It’s amazing to me how much I feel the lack of it sometimes.
I feel so lucky to have been able to stay home with Ronia for the first 9 months of her life, and to have Jesse taking care of her during the day. It makes me able to work at this amazing school and actually teach, plus learn a lot.
Ronia’s walking is such a huge milestone. I feel like she’s becoming more and more human by the day.
Talk with you soon.
Someone at the NTPRS conference informed me that roña in Argentinian slang means something dirty, unclean, or trash. And wordreference.com says it means dirt, grime, rust, or mange. So yeah, cross off Argentina on the list of places to visit! I mean really, who wants to go there? They talk funny.
However, in Mexican Spanish, roña means tag, like the game of tag. jugar a la roña = to play tag. It’d be funny if it meant tag as in a tag on clothing or a toy; the first thing Ronia goes for on any toy is the tag. Grandma Betsy noticed this and made her a toy that is basically a bunch of tags on a squishy cube. She adores it.
Um yeah, she weighs 18 pounds now. And she seems so huge and grown up! The nurse practitioner at Mt. Airy Pediatrics says she’s an average size baby.
Wow. Lots of changes and no writing. I’ll try to catch up.
We are so lucky to be in this beautiful house, welcoming community full of friends-to-be, and figuring out how it all works.
New city: We’ve explored Philly a little. We’ve been to West Philly several times, because I’ve been getting acupuncture for my New Mom Thumbitis, which has subsided somewhat. More importantly, West Philly (Where the Hipsters Are) is where PhilosophAuntie lives. We hope that she succumbs to Ronia’s charms and stays longer and longer here.
New community: We have been so welcomed by all the interlocking circles of community: our neighbors on the block, people at the synagogue, people at my work, people at the Coop, etc. We are wrapped up in neighborliness. Everybody I see in this neighborhood looks familiar, and there’s many ways it could be true. There is a Seattle-Mt. Airy loop, I think. Plus it could be someone I grew up with in Maryland, all grown up. Or it could be one of the many people who are so wonderful at synagogue but who I don’t know their names yet. Many people recognize Ronia, and by extension, us.
New house: How are we this lucky? I still can’t believe that we’ve been entrusted with this beautiful place to live. It’s incredible. The living room and dining room we painted a lively light orange, which lightens everything up to a cheery tone. And slowly we’re getting things put up on the walls. Upstairs the Rad Room is red, but a soft red that is relaxing, if you can believe it. The Rad Room is the guest room and the office and the massage room, etc. The bedrooms are all purple. Our housemate Iced Tea Auntie picked out her purple, and we are so sad that she can’t be our housemate anymore. She got mono, from being all run-down, and now she’s living back at home. We hope she gets back on her feet soon. In fact, the whole neighborhood misses her. Anyway. The 3rd floor is our nest, where our bedroom and Ronia’s are, and they are lovely. We also appreciate the back patio area with lovely tree/bushes and flowers around, plus the tomatoes and herbs planted by Iced Tea Auntie, and the garage, which we hope to put a garden on top of someday. And in the front we have the sun porch (soon to house the hammock I bought in 1997 in Brazil), and the socializing area out front where we hang out with the neighbors in the afternoons. We just love this place. And it’s close to the train line, a 15-minute bike ride from school, and a 15-minute walk from the Coop.
Ah, work. New job indeed. I am teaching on the other side of the looking glass, in a school where everyone works together to support the kids, and the administration supports the teachers to a degree I’d never thought possible. I am so lucky to be in this place, teaching these kids. It is amazing every day. I am becoming a stronger teacher, flourishing in this dreamy situation.
The only not-so-dreamy part of it is leaving Ronia every morning. It’s heartwrenching, especially when she’s awake. I feel terrible leaving her, and this morning I seriously considered calling in sick. It’s so sad to leave when she’s crying for me. We are so lucky that we can swing it so that she stays home with Jesse. I mean, obviously if we had her in daycare I’d deal with it, but I’m so happy that Jesse can be with her. He manages to get an enormous amount of housework done while taking care of her. I have no idea how he does it. I never was this productive (laundry, errands, cleaning, cooking, etc) when I was home with her by myself. It helps some that she’s a little more independent now, but still, he’s amazing.
It’s unbelievable how much Ronia changes from week to week. Just a short while ago, she sort of knew how to crawl, but didn’t really do it much, preferring to try to get up on her feet and then fall over on her butt sitting up. Then like a week or 2 ago she really started crawling in earnest. Now she’s mobile. She crawls around and pulls herself up on the couch, the coffee table, the butcher block, dining room chairs, our pants legs, anything. She’s interested in everything, every food, every sound, every person’s face. She talks a lot. She pats me on the chest. She burrows. She lays her head on my shoulder. She pushes away. She makes herself very clear… she wants what I’m eating, she wants to drink from my glass, she wants to chew on my finger, she wants to get down, she wants to stand up, she wants to be held, she wants to nurse, etc. She’s a good little communicator. I can only imagine what she’ll be like when she gets some words!
Check out the photo site http:picasaweb.google.com/loveandjustice/ for the latest pictures.
We love you so much. Let us know how you’re doing.
Shanah Tovah to those of you who are celebrating the new year next week.
first of all, stats!
this whole month we’ve been worried because last month the doctor said she wasn’t gaining enough weight. i didn’t post it, because i didn’t want people to worry. so he asked us to come back a month later (this past wednesday) for a follow-up. and guess what, she’s officially perfect again! no more worrying about why she allegedly wasn’t gaining enough weight while wondering why that might be so, since she’s so happy and great. plus she still eats all the time, and we’ve been working on getting my milk supply up even more. so, she’s 23″ long (or more; they didn’t measure her on wednesday, just weighed her). and her weight? a month ago she was 10 lbs 6 oz, and now she’s… 11 lbs 9 oz! ta dah! so she’s all fine and dandy.
a note on the type
if you’ve gotten an email from me recently, you already know: if i’m typing in lowercase, it’s because ronia’s nursing. which she always is. and by the way, how long does it take momma to finish an email these days? several days, in fact!
when she sleeps
when she falls asleep and her mouth falls open, i’m hit with several thoughts all at once: brush your teeth! take a shower! work out! cook something! do some yoga! start the laundry! sweep the floors! etc. soon we’ll have rings to make a ring sling and i’ll be able to do almost all those things while she eats (well, maybe not the shower and the yoga…)
hands
the new thing this last week is, she can control her hands a little more. like, when she tries to suck on her fingers, her fingers stay there for a longer time, like almost a minute sometimes. she also likes to touch her fingers together and stare at them.
slinging facing in & out
she likes being in the sling facing in for sleeping, and also sometimes she likes facing out. when we go out & she’s awake and facing out, she charms the pants off everyone we walk by. (unfortunately, it’s still cold here.)
museums ronia has ignored so far
the walker art center in minneapolis (frida kahlo exhibit) with g&g bacon and hannah; the aquarium with dramatic auntie liz; the museum of science & industry and the field museum with zada and june; and the art museum with just me, her carrier. she has already slept through more museums in her life than most people! it helped that february was free museum month here in chicago.
upcoming trips
philly march 12-26; seattle april 1-13. a grand victory tour for ronia. i can’t wait to see how she does on the plane. so many family members and friends, so little time!
paternity leave rocks!
it’s amazing having jesse home, and being able to be home myself with her. it’s what every new parent should have. it’s like we’re living in france or something, where you get a paid year off when you have a kid. i mean, it’s nice that we have 12 weeks mandated by the federal government, but it’s unpaid, so you can only take it if you have savings or help from family. thank you so, so much, grandma esther!! ronia’s life is much enriched by having us around for the first long while.
ronia in italian
so jesse was at a stone soup dinner the other night, and ronia was fussing and fussing, and as jesse was leaving, an italian guy asked what her name was. “ronia,” jesse replied. “you’re kidding, right?” “no, her name is ronia.” “you know ronia means ‘annoying’ in italian, right?” ah, well. so her name means ‘joy’ and ‘song’ in hebrew… so does that make ronia the annoying song that gets stuck in your head? this is the song that never ennnnnds…
however, this post must end now. i will try to post more often from now on.
I forgot to mention. As of 2 Wednesdays ago, January 9th, she weighed 9 pounds 9 ounces (from 8,5), and had grown to 22 inches long (from 19). What a champ!
Baby snores. These help with that nagging urge to check if she’s still breathing, because I can hear it! It’s extra cute when she and Jesse are sleeping, and snoring together. I’m told I snore too, but I’ve never noticed that.
How she looks when she falls off the breast by accident, and her face clouds up, and then she gets back on, and she looks so relieved!
Her smiles while she’s nursing. It’s mostly in the eyes.
Her smiles when I can see her whole face. It’s just so captivating, I lose my train of thought.
Her waking up routine: She lifts one or both hands up in a Black Power salute, still with eyes closed, arches her back, stretches, squinches up her eyes, looks left and right, and settles back down and sleeps another few minutes. Then it all happens again, and a few more times, and eventually she wakes up and we see those big big eyes. And often she’s happy and fine for a few minutes. She looks around with such a great puzzled look.
Her wider vocabulary of noises: grunts, coos, sighs, interjections of Aaa! and Ooo! She’s so articulate. I’m following Sydney’s advice and speaking to her in Spanish every day so she’ll have a good accent.
The way she listens to me and calms down when I ask her to before I put her on to nurse. She is beginning to understand that when I lay her down, food is coming. And furthermore, she’s beginning to trust that she’ll be fed when she’s hungry.
The way her hand clutches at me while she nurses. I know she can’t control her arms and legs yet, but it’s so great, it looks like she’s hugging me.
Her head movements: she strains her head forward when you hold her. And also she moves her head side to side, Black teenage girl “oh yeah?!” style. And the classic, twisting her head so she’s looking all the way back and up. What is she looking at? I have no idea. I’m sure she’s thinking extremely profound thoughts.
How she searches for food as she’s waking up. I thought we’d missed the moment when the baby crawls up the mom’s stomach right after birth, because of the c-section, but it turns out that she searches for food, well, constantly. She wiggles around and opens her mouth and pecks, bopping her head forward onto me. She usually gets pretty close. She’s starting to even get her hands into the act, too, even though she can’t really control them yet. How she really tries for a few minutes before she cries (and wakes me up).
Gotta go, she’s waking up. Talk with you soon.
Well, she’s just fabulous, as you’ve seen from the photos. (Missed ‘em? They live here (2nd batch) and here (1st batch). She’s beautiful and amazing. But I should show, not tell, as my dad reminds me. She goes through a whole bunch of facial expressions that mean a lot to us but clearly don’t mean anything yet to her — smiles, grimaces, raising her eyebrows, etc. She looks and looks at me with her huge dark blue eyes while she eats, which is pretty much all the time. She’s gaining weight; we can see a little bit of a belly on her now. She doesn’t cry every time we change her like she did last week. She arches her back when we burp her. She snorts when she’s hungry. She already looks different than she did a week ago when she was born. More filled out.
I’m healing from the c-section. I do feel a little sad about it, because I was so looking forward to a natural birth. But someone has to be in the 5% of necessary c-sections, so hey. And we had excellent care, and I’m fine, and Ronia’s fine. We’re so fortunate and blessed. And also blessed with wonderful friends… we’ve been eating very well on meals brought to us. Which is nice, because it also means we get visitors!
Jesse takes care of me and Ronia like nobody’s business. He props me up with pillows when I nurse her, he brings me food and drink, he reads to me while we nurse, he does the dishes, he does the laundry, he changes her, he picks things up from the floor because I’m still not bending over much, he keeps in touch with everyone, and everything else to keep us going.
That’s truly about it for now. We are really just hanging out with Ronia, and we’re enjoying every moment. Thank you so much for all the wonderful well wishes, and the presents! We’re so happy to be in touch. Talk with you soon.
At __KBFD93.9___ am/pm on this joyous _75th____th day of ___autumn , _Prudence Chastity Horatio_ Bacon was born!
“It’s a ____deal_!” exclaimed Jesse __ill-advised _ly.
After a __non -partisan_ labor of _many unpaid____ hours, little __that anyone was prepared for __shimmied out of the birth canal with a full head of __steam____ and immediately began to __equivocate_____. This beautiful bundle of _time-loss____ weighs _any available___ pounds and _also___ ounces, and measures __men’s____ inches from ___dawn___ to __dusk__. She has __itchy__ fingers and _carefully labelled___ toes, and the cutest little _BMW you’ve ever ridden in __.
Surrounded by the comforts of her _arsenal___ and _electric security fence_ at home, Karey labored on the birth ball and around the house with the help of Midwife Sara and Labor Assistant Natalie as well as _she could under the circumstances__ and _with an increasingly bitter attitude_. She delivered little _verbal jabs__ into the peaceful birth tub filled with _hidden meanings and nasty double-entendres___. Mom and Papa _vacation_ed quite a bit during the labor, and are now _windsurf_ing in ____Tibet__.
“What a __headache_!” sighed Karey. “And so _was I, when I was a kid_,” _a total stranger_ chimed in.
Little _that anyone_ __has ever heard of_ was named after _any honest politician__. This name was selected after discarding the other choices of _shaving heads__, __converting to Buddhism_, and _disappearing forever into peaceful obscurity_.
The family hopes that little _goslings__ will grow into a _magic__ __goose_ and bring much _gold in the form of eggs_______________ to her _sleep-deprived but adoring-in-spite-of-it-all parental serving units___.
At 4 am on this joyous futureth day of 2007, Hot Sizzlin Bacon was born!
“It’s a vertebrate!” exclaimed Jesse shockingly.
After a postmodern labor of exactly pi hours, little pork product shimmied out of the birth canal with a full head of grissle and immediately began to clog arteries. This beautiful bundle of nitrogen, carbon, hydrogen, calcum and oxygen weighs 0.5 pounds and 0 ounces, and measures 30 inches from follicle to tentacle. Ze has 40 fingers and 40 toes, and the cutest little set of gills.
Surrounded by the comforts of her pall bearer and metronome at home, Karey labored on the birth ball and around the house with the help of Midwife Sara and Labor Assistant Natalie as well as Shadrack, Mishak and Abendigo . She delivered little Sizzlin into the peaceful birth tub filled with tomato juice. Mom and Papa quoted quite a bit during the labor, and are now philosophizing in latin.
“What a breeze!” sighed Karey. “And so ungodly,” the pall bearer chimed in.
Little Hot Sizzlin was named after her grandmother’s pornstar name. This name was selected after discarding the other choices of Finger Licken, I Can’t Believe It’s Not, and Bruce.
The family hopes that little Hot Sizzlin will grow into an organic pork product and bring much hilarity to hir litter.
