So Esme was thinkin'...

Holiday Season, 2011

     Esme has been pondering this whole 'have you been bad or good' holiday concept.  She's not sure she buys the whole thing, but it has caused a certain amount of introspection on her part.  On the one hand, she's just an infant and can't really be held accountable for her behavior and choices at this point.  On the other hand, she's a great baby -- clearly communicates when she needs something, stays pretty chill when she doesn't need anything, gives smiles freely, sleeps well and appears she would make it through the night if she didn't wake up hungry sometime between 2 and 5.
     But, there have been those moments when she seems to have a bit of the mischievous nature that seems to run in the Wingo branch of her dad's side of the family.

     Like when Mom's computer was telling her it was going to shut down if she didn't plug in the power cord.

      Esme seemed to take that as an opportunity to assert herself.

    Because, if the computer is off, Esme gets more attention...  (Note that she'd done this three times before I went to get the camera, and sure enough, she did it again.)

Learning New Skills

Nov. 30, Dec. 5, Dec. 8

      Esme has been incredibly active over the past couple of weeks picking up new skills and abilities.  We love watching her examine her hands and gradually bring them closer and closer to her face until they dive into her mouth.  She is clearly trying to grab, or at least poke, objects that are near her -- she doesn't quite have the awareness to open her hands to grasp objects, but the neural pathways are clearly being forged.

  

     Another interesting evolution is watching her with her bottle.  These two pictures show that she has some capacity to hold on to things, though these are the only two times she's held her own bottle.  Not only do I prefer to have that connection with her as I feed her, but, even if I wanted to let her feed herself, she doesn't hold the bottle near her mouth for more than a few sips.

      Her major accomplishment over the past couple of weeks is making the attempt to sit up on her own.  She's not there yet, but she's giving it all the effort she can.  From a slight incline, she's able to get her head or feet (or both) up in the air.

      Feet pump wildly as she starts her exercise routine.  Sometimes she even gets distracted by her feet as she's getting her head off the ground.

      Then it can be back to square one as she sits back and relaxes for a moment before her next stomach crunch.

     Sometimes I wonder just how great a shape I could get in if I simply mimicked her activity throughout the day.  The thought alone makes me tired!

Esme's first early Christmas present

November 26, 2011

     My family has a Christmas tradition that goes back as long as I can remember.  We always open at least one present early.  Sometimes, that has been just a few days before Christmas, other times it has been several weeks ahead of time.  This occurred to me as I stood in the check out line at Whole Foods, looking at a display of what appeared to be life-sized penguins made by Melissa & Doug (a great toy company, if you're looking for real wooden toys or stuffed animal penguins).  I tried to pass on the penguin, but my eyes kept straying back over to them as I got closer to the front of the line.  When it was finally my turn, I grabbed the penguin and added it to my purchases.  Add odd shopping list, to be sure:  beer, cat food, penguin.

     Esme, to my surprise, seemed to actually notice and enjoy the penguin.  It's still larger than she is, but I'm sure she'll take care of that within a year or two.  For now, the penguin, wearing a Santa hat, stands next to our Christmas tree, like a sentinel of Christmas future.

     Esme now has quite a collection of stuffed animals.  These include a lion, a tiger, a cow, a penguin, a dog, a bunny, several bears (in various colors), and an Ugli doll.  (I don't know if that last one is considered a stuffed animal, but it seems to fit in with the general category.)

What do we do all day? (Volunteering)

November 30, 2011


Volunteering with Growing Hope's Seed 2 Plate

     As many of you know, this summer I worked with a local nonprofit organization focused on urban gardening and community access to fresh foods.  Part of my job was to help high school students to lead a nutrition education program called Summer Seed 2 Plate.  This fall, Esme and I have been going to a local middle school to volunteer with the Seed 2 Plate program there.

     Last week's task was to split the group into two and have one group learn about the new food plate that replaces the old food pyramid that we all learn about in school.  The middle school students were, unsurprisingly, surprised to learn that the largest portion on the plate was not meat, but vegetables.





 Meanwhile, in the other room, students were busy cutting three kinds of apples, measuring ingredients like honey and cinnamon, and cooking up fresh applesauce in electric skillets.  They were amazed at how good their fresh applesauce tasted.  And I was impressed that every group chose to leave the skins on.

     Esme, as you've no doubt noticed, was sleepy all afternoon.  She totally sacked out for a while, and it never ceases to amaze me how much heavier a completely limp baby is than an awake one.  After carrying her in the same position for almost two hours, my left bicep was almost twitching.  (Yes, I thought about changing positions, but I was tasked with taking pictures, and it's much easier to manipulate most cameras with your right hand.  Plus, I'm right handed.  Not sure about Esme yet.  Her mom's left handed and her dad's right handed.)

     All in all, it was another successful outing.  And Esme continued to amaze people with her inherent cuteness, pleasant demeanor, and awe-inspiring smiles.  Thanks Christina, for inviting us!  We'll see you again, soon.

Em's Visit

November 26, 2011

     Friday evening, after Thanksgiving, we had the pleasure of having Esme's cousin, Emma come visit us and stay the night.  We were able to hang out with her and share the Esme love, as well as have a friend of Em's from Ann Arbor come over and spend some time as well.

     But for me, the real excitement came the following morning.  We waited until the Michigan/Ohio State game was underway here in town, then headed out to one of our favorite breakfast places.  Angelo's has been an Ann Arbor institution since the 1950's, and never fails to satisfy.  We had a trio of Benedict's:  Eggs Benedict for Tina, Lox Benedict for Emma, and Eggs Florentine for Wade.

     Though Esme perused the menu, she elected to wait until we got home to eat.  Probably a wise choice, given the rich nature of Angelo's Hollandaise sauce. Mmmmm...

What do we do all day? (Visiting)

December 3, 2011

Esme seems happy to go to the Dojo with Dad

     This past week, Esme had several adventures in various places.  On both Tuesday and Thursday, we went to visit the Genyokan noon class, watching Dad's friends practice Aikido.  Both days, Esme was able to sit and watch (rapt with attention at some points) almost the entire class.  On Tuesday, she fell asleep in Dad's arms once class got a little loud.  On Thursday, she got a little loud while Sensei was talking.  (We left the mat area until she calmed down.)

     I would think that the sounds of Sensei and students counting loudly in Japanese or of people's arms and legs hitting the mat would be enough to scare her, or bother her, or at least keep her awake, but I'm beginning to think that she shuts down when she's overwhelmed.  Like I said, she slept quite well during class on Tuesday, and only during the loudest parts.

Logan and Annie

     Also on Thursday, following our time at the Dojo, we went for our first walk with Logan and Annie.  To the best of my knowledge, Logan was the first kid Esme ever saw who was younger than her.  (And as a parent of a 10 week old, I went from thinking how small Esme is to how huge she is, when compared with a 4 week old.  Wow, they really do grow quickly!)  Once we got back to Annie and Doug's house after the walk, Esme really got a look at Logan, and couldn't seem to take her eyes off of another baby.

      Annie and Doug are fellow Aikido students.  They've been living in California for the past several years, but moved back home to Michigan to have Logan.  He slept for the entire walk, and, for once, Esme was the fussy one while out on a trip.  Perhaps trying to do two things in one trip was a bit much for her.  We had fun in any case, and hope to have many more adventures with Logan and Annie!

Esme couldn't stop looking at Logan

     Maybe Adelaide (Alison and Joerg's baby in Oakland) will recognize her fleece outfit.  We sure were happy to have it on that chilly afternoon.  Thanks Adelaide!!!

What do we do all day?

November 17, 2011

      I tried to shoot a couple of videos of one of Esme and my favorite activities -- singing along with my iTunes collection, but I didn't do a very good job of capturing what it usually looks like.  (She normally opens her mouth and 'sings' along.  And, in case you're curious, her singing is noticeably different from her speaking.  I'll try to capture the difference at some point, but that may take some doing.)  What I did capture will, I'm sure, satisfy some of you with some great close-up video of her beautiful eyes.  I hope you can put aside your musical appreciation for a moment (as this is me singing along with me, and forgetting the words to my own song).

Forgive the three minute length, if you can, and just appreciate the baby joy -- I'm pretty sure you can see her looking at her image on the iPod at certain points.  (You can also hear Apple, Zoey's cat, asking to go out a couple of times -- must be trying to get away from my singing.)

And finally, this is the first time I've tried uploading video directly to blogger rather than going through YouTube.  If you have comments on which you prefer, I'd love to know...

NaNoWriMo's Over. I won!

December 2, 2011

     Let me start by apologizing.  I've been remiss in my blogging.  I've got stories going back to before Thanksgiving, but you've heard nothing from me here.  I blame the month of November.  NaNoWriMo specifically.  National Novel Writing Month has been around for 11 years.  This was my first year attempting it, but I've known about it for several years.
     No one has been more encouraging and supportive than Tina.  She not only pushed me into doing this, but named the book before she convinced me I was going to write it.  The opening scene popped into my head sometime in the following several days, and typed it up on November 1st.  For the early part of November, I think I did fairly well keeping everything going, but later in the month I became more focused (some might say obsessed).  I have never written in this way before -- putting little thought into what I'm going to write and let the words and ideas flow out of me.  I literally learned about my characters as I wrote, and it felt to me much more like reading a book than writing one.  I would literally sit down with a general goal (e.g., I need to some how connect the events in this scene with that one, or this character needs a personality), and let my fingers try to keep up with the ideas sprouting in my head.

A graph of my progress over the month

     Those that knew me in college know that I tend to spend days or weeks mentally composing an essay --reading, assimilating information, connecting dots -- so that I basically have a fully written piece composed in my head, making the typing more of a formality.  Having the typing be the process of creation was liberating and frustrating.  I think the liberation is obvious, but the frustration came when things would happen that I didn't necessarily like.  Sometimes situations would tie themselves up too neatly and it felt contrived.  Perhaps there is a lot of revision left to do.  (Right now I'm editing the draft I have to make it readable for my copy editors.)
     But in any case, 50,272 words later, I'm done with the writing of The Rapscallions, and I finished it with a little over twelve hours to go.  Hopefully, I'll have a Kindle/Nook/iBook book for you to buy sometime soon.  In the meantime, enjoy the weekend reading material -- I plan to catch up a bit!