Goodbye 2007

Good morning squeaker fans. We're going to resume our usual schedule on Saturday, but I thought I would post a picture today in case any of our Monday morning readers needed a fix. Make sure you check out the last few posts. I have put up a smattering of posts throughout the last week.

Video of Squeaker

Here's another attempt to put a little video up of Squeaker. You might want to watch closely. She's having a lot of fun with her family this Christmas. Mostly though she seems to be exploring each new house. It isn't in the video, but she also enjoys terrorizing my parents cats, at least as long as they are in a docile mood.

Merry Christmas

Happy holidays from your friends at squeakerpants.com!

Uh oh

Maybe this kitchen set was a bad thing to let her play with. As soon as she gets into the kitchen at home, she goes straight for the dishwasher.

On the Road

Squeaker and I are hanging out with her grandparents for the week. We will be on the road a fair amount this week so my posting schedule might be a little off. In exchange I might just slip in a few extra short posts this week. For those of you who are interested in technology, this whole post was done one my mobile phone.

Squeaker can't possibly know its Saturday.

Can she? Squeaker and I woke up about the same time this morning, 7:30. I took cold medicine when I went to bed last night, so I think we woke up a the same time. We have a routine in the morning. She wakes up. I drink some coffee. I add four ounces of whole milk to one quarter of a cup of Quaker Oats. I cook the oatmeal for 70 seconds and I drink some coffee. I get her out of bed. I drink some coffee. I change her diaper. I drink some coffee. I put her in the high chair with some oyster crackers and a sippy cup full of milk. I add fruit baby food or apple sauce to the oatmeal and feed it to Squeaker for breakfast. The main exception to this routine comes on Saturdays when I make pancakes instead of oatmeal for breakfast.

This morning, Saturday morning, I was a little hazy thanks to the cold medicine, but I followed the routine. I made oatmeal for Squeaker, drank some coffee, etc. It was all I could do to get her to eat more than a few spoonfuls of the stuff. She fussed and signed more food. I tried to give her more oatmeal. Tears came. She signed more food. I gave her more oyster crackers. More tears came. I tried to give her more milk. Bigger tears. So, I put the milk and oatmeal in the fridge and put her down on the floor with her books. Fewer tears. I drank some coffee. Squeaker plays, but keeps giving me the food sign. I drank some coffee. A lightbulb (in the shape of a coffee pot) appeared over my head. Pancakes!

I pulled the high chair into the kitchen, got out the griddle, mixed the batter, and away went the tears. I put Squeaker in her chair and whipped up the first batch, gave one to her and got the more sign in return. She ate almost half the pancakes, drank more milk than usual and all together had a great breakfast with her daddy. Now, I ask you dear reader, she can't possibly know that today is Saturday, right?

Squeaker went to the doctor this week, she's a couple of pounds heavier now and just a little bit taller. I was working so I can't report this first hand, but Aunt Brite came away from the appointment wondering, "She can't possibly remember getting shots last time, can she?" Let's just say that Squeaker Fussypants knows her checkup routine pretty well also.

Squeaker's been busy this week doing research. She's a fellow at the Bedsore UNderstanding Network , or BUNNY for short. As part of her research she has been probing the limits of how much a little person like herself can sleep without falling victim to the onslaught of the dreaded bedsores. Wednesday night she went to sleep around 7:15 pm. 7:15 am came and went with nary a peep from her test facility. 8:15, all quiet. 9:15 gentle rustling of the blankets then silence. At 10:15 Aunt Brite checked the monitor and confirmed that it was working. Finally at 10:35 she seemed to be waking up. Aunt Brite went in the test facility, but Squeaker didn't seem to be that interested in getting up despite having been in her test facility for over 15 hours. Those bedsores must be lurking out there at 16 or 17 hours. Don't worry BUNNY, Squeaker is on the job.

That's all for now Squeaker fans. Good luck with your shopping. If you look closely at the second picture you can see a new tooth.

Squeaker Piano Trio

These pictures this time are from our family reunion Saturday. Squeaker and the other young children found their way to the piano, where they performed an enthusiastic, if not exacting trio. She enjoyed playing with her cousins. What you can't see in these pictures is that she's wearing her first pair of 'big girl' shoes. They are dressy, like her outfit, and heavy, like concrete. The first time she wore them, Squeaker just stood in the kitchen as if her new shoes were glued to the floor. She eventually started walking in them, rather than just standing there. She brings them to me when she gets up now, wanting to wear her new shoes. Squeaker's development has continued on the same path as the last few weeks. She's running Aunt Brite ragged reading books, her walking is stronger and more confident and she spends much of the day pointing at objects and wanting to know what hey are called. My plan to travel at night worked like a charm. Squeaker was asleep not long after we got on the road. Squeaker and I do share an appreciation of a proper mixture of Steppenwolf and horsepower. She was rocking back and forth and giggling as we drove to lunch today. Awfully hard to love that Squeakerpants. That's all for now. Enjoy your week. Make sure to read the other half of this weeks post.

Blanchet, Hepburn, Swank, and Pants

That would be Cate, Katherine, Hilary, and Squeaker, in case you're not sure.  Before I explain that grouping, my apology to our Saturday night readers, since this post is going up late on Sunday morning.  Squeaker's dad went to a holiday party friday night and a family reunion yesterday and has lost his voice.  I thought it was from yelling over the band, but it turns out I just caught a cold.  Figured out what those ladies have in common yet?  Do I need to keep rambling on about my week some more? I suggest you watch this slideshow then.

Still guessing? I don't know about you, but Squeaker makes a pretty cute, albeit somewhat prissy boy in her orange fleece and jeans. Of course she's not giving the snowmen, ahh, women no snowmen, mouth to mouth...

I have more to add to this post, but squeaker is up and needs lunch. Check back this evening as she goes to the other end of the fashion spectrum and gives her first piano concert.

GO ARMY! BEAT NAVY!

Sorry for the delay in this post.  Squeaker's Dad joined her grandfathers at the Army-Navy game yesterday.  Despite the fact that we had a Cadet, a Keydet, and a Hokie all unified in opposition to the goat people, things did not go well for the Brave Old Army Team.  She continues to be focused absorbing knowledge from whatever sources she can find but books and walks are hard to beat.  Traveling with her has been hard for the last few weeks because she refuses to sleep in the car anymore.  We spent about eight hours in the car together during Thanksgiving.  The only time she came close to sleeping was during the last leg of our trip home, after it had gotten dark.  On the way home from the Army-Navy game I was able to test the hypothesis that she would still sleep in the car, so long as it was after dark.  Sure enough she fell right to sleep, so it looks like I will driving at night to avoid traveling with Squeaker-Whiny-Pants.  As promised, I took some video of her walking, but I can't seem to get it to upload correctly.  I'll try again when she wakes up from her nap.