Keeping on keeping on

Things have been pretty crazy at Andrea's work so Emmett and I have been spending a lot of quality time together. The good news is that the result of all of the craziness is that Belinda will be teaching the other first grade class starting after winter break. The bad news is that Belinda will be teaching the other first grade class starting after winter break since having her as Andrea's co-teacher has been unbelievably helpful as Andrea could leave the class with Andrea in full confidence to feed Emmett a few times a day---not to mention that Belinda has covered countless recess duties and dismissals over the past few months. I only kid that this is bad news as Belinda's promotion is nothing but good news, but the change in situation really makes one realize how good we have had it since school started.

I realize as I write this that I might not have mentioned how the feeding situation has worked out for us. Andrea is still nursing Emmett approximately 5 or 6 times a day (with 3 or so of those happening at work on weekdays). The goal, I believe, is for Emmett to have been nursed throughout the day through his first birthday and then switch to mornings and evenings after he turns one. It has been so good to be able to have the nursing continue while Andrea has been working as it gives them some bonding time, every study in the world indicates that nursing is super beneficial to the kid at least through a year, and it keeps Andrea from having to pump which apparently scores a solid zero on the fun scale. For me, it will be nice in some ways when the nursing is done as Emmett and I can venture further away from the nest without needing to return for feedings, but it will cut into the number of required visits which make both Emmett and Andrea very happy.

Yesterday I had an interview at a college in Marin County. I took the ferry from the Embarcadero to Larkspur and it was one of the neatest things I have done in a while. As everyone knows, I love public transit, and there was something very appealing about the prospect of traveling to and from work via boat (shown at left when docked in Larkspur). In the end, though, I decided that I would pass on the job as the commute would be somewhere around an hour-and-a-half each way and there would be quite a bit of work involved at the school. Now, however, I know that riding the ferry is loads of fun, so the whole fam can take the boat to the larkspur mall. That is something.

Emmett is so incredibly close to waving, and in fact, (depending on interpretation) one can say he is waving already. Every time he moves his arm in a wave-like motion when we are trying to get him to wave, I am reminded of that poem "Not waving but drowning" by Stevie Smith and wonder if Emmett is trying to communicate something important and we are missing the point completely. Anyway, the wave is approaching.

Emmett has gotten to the point that he can pull himself up to a standing postion on almost anything now. Even better is the fact that he has figured out how to lower himself back to a sitting postion (this is important as a child that can stand and can't sit will pull herself up to standing during naptime or bedtime, get "stuck", and scream nonstop until a parental problem solver can get the baby out of the standing jam). It is funny to watch him move from standing to sitting, though, as it is one of these times where you feel that you can really see the cranks turning in his head as he contemplates how he is going to complete the maneuver.

It definitely feels as though Emmett is starting to do things for a reaction, too---both things for a bad reaction and a good reaction. Maybe I am toddler-pomorphizing (there should be a word for assigning intent to behavior in an infant that would be expected from a toddler and older---the equivalent of anthropomorphizing with animals), but it really seems as though Emmett gets into things to test whether I will try to stop him from doing what he is doing. He also does things like cough or slap his hand on the table and then look at us for reaction (or so it seems). It would be nice to know what is going on in this kid's head.

It still remains the case that no matter how bad a mood Emmett is in, a walk in the Ergo will cheer him up. I walk with him quite a bit during the day, and I think that I have only heard him complain once while in the carrier. It is so good to have such an easy solution to an upset baby (it worked wonders when the tears would come from the diaper rash). Oh, the other thing is that he loves to be carried on my shoulders now. This has been something i have started in the last week or so, but he goes crazy for it---although I am convinced he is going to pull all of my hair out as my hair is his harness. I am tempted to patent a device that would be a head harness for carrying infants which would be especially useful for those with short or nonexistant hair...or those who don't like pain. A quick search to google patents makes it seem like I might be the first.