Why is Everyone Watching Me Eat This Cake?

Sorry for the late posting again this week. Yesterday Squeaker's extended family was in town to help celebrate her first birthday. For those of you wondering about the composition of the cake, it was angel food with unsweetend homemade icing. We elected to avoid the usual chocolate & sugar overload.

You see, Squeaker is kind of stubborn. I gave her a small slice of squash on Friday night. I was told she couldn't have squash because of the seeds. She didn't like that she couldn't have more squash. She complained about not being able to have more squash. She wouldn't eat anything else until we finally gave her some butternut squash. Squash is not a metaphor in this story. Squash is squash. Woe unto he who gives her chocolate cake and tries to take it away.

Also this week was a visit to the doctor, we found out that she's much taller than the average girl her age. We've been working on her left-handed dribbling skills since then. Squeaker got a clean bill of health from her doctor. All other things being equal the height she's put on is the only data point I need to confirm her health.

Picture Post

Sorry for the delay. It is still Saturday if not by much. I took some pictures of Squeaker at breakfast that pretty much speak for themselves. No, she didn't eat the flowers.

Enjoy!

Don't Call Me Bubbles

Squeaker and I have been hanging out this weekend with family. I've been recovering from my first full week teaching.

She's been learning about bubbles. She was a little slow to warm up to them. She's pretty close to walking now and was much more interested in standing up and picking leftover cheerios up out of the seat. What kid doesn't like bubble though! I think she thought she was going to catch this one and keep it. The other major development this week is that she's finally started drinking cow juice out of a sippy cup. I am really excited that she's taken to sippy cups because it means I can stop setting an example and using one at dinner. It takes a number of refills to get though a meal when you've only got a 5 oz of space. On the upside, it was the perfect size for bordeaux. Sorry for the late post. No pancakes this morning. We had lox in the house so fresh bagels seemed like a must!

Squeaker Strahan

Squeaker’s teeth continue to give her some trouble. As you can see, the top two teeth (say that three times fast) are well established and separated by a couple of meters of gum line. We have yet to see the bottom teeth, but if you put your finger in her mouth, you get unmistakable proof that at least one lower tooth has pushed through the surface. We think she's growing again because she seems to be about ready for a nap most of the time. However it might just be that she’s tired because she spends the first hour of each nap chatting and reading books to Hope and Honey Bear.

That's all for now. Classes start Monday for Squeaker's dad, so it is going to be a busy weekend.

You talkin' to me?!

Alternate Title - Not all pictures of squeaker are cute!

Squeaker's dad is going to be fishing tomorrow morning, which means two things, an early post and no pancakes this week. As you can see, that tooth has popped right on through to the other side. It also doesn't seem like it'll be long until there are two teeth gleeming back at the camera.

Since I know at least half of the audience is horrified at this un-cute picture of Squeaker, here's a normal one from this week. FYI: You should be able to click on most of the pictures and view them full screen. Don't be surprised if you can identify what she's eating. Most of the pictures should print well up to 5x7, 8x10 if you're not fussy.

I trust y'all feel better now that you have had your cuteness fix. Squeaker discovered the Gerber baby this week. You know, the one on the label of each and every one of the 17 jars of food she eats each day. Squeaker likes the baby enough that she tries to share food with it. I'll see what I can do about getting some video of an attempted sharing.

Well, that's all the news that's fit to print.

Thar be teeth in them thar gums!

Squeaker and I have decided that this teething thing is for the birds. If y'all will forgive me a mixed metaphor, I can see a tooth at the end of a tunnel or maybe it is a light at the end of her mouth. Her first tooth has poked through the surface of her gums. I took about a hundred pictures trying, and failing to get a good shot of it. I thought about trying to hold her mouth open, but I didn't want to live dangerously. Teething has made her pretty fussy, and it is obvious that she's been in some pain. We've been treating her pain with half doses of baby Tylenol. Squeaker reacts to the purple dropper the way you'd expect her to if she understood that it was going to make her feel better. I think she's acting that way because it about the only thing she eats that’s really sweet, but she seems a lot like an addict with a new prescription for morphine. I wasn't able to get any pictures of her tooth, but the shot above is of Squeaker using her tooth the eat her first pancake. We had peach pancakes again this morning. Squeaker seemed to enjoy the peach bits even more than the pancakes, but she ate the whole thing up. If you look closely, you can see that the Cheerios look kind of green.

Squeaker and I would also like to introduce you to Hope. She was a gift from the girls in our youth group. The girls pooled their money at the "Build-a-Bear" in Atlanta when they found out about Squeaker's mother. They each put in a heart (so Hope has five). Squeaker loves Hope and uses her as a pillow at night. This loss of prestige has been hard on her favorite cowboy action figure, Honey Bear, but after some adventures at Sid's house they seem to be getting along now. Squeaker and Hope climbed up into the chair by themselves, too. Aunt Brite claims credit for making sure that the outfit matches the paint and the chair.

That's all for this week.

Bears, bears, they got no cares....

For those of you who don't know the song, the verse continues "bears can't drink from a cup". As you see, Squeaker has no such problem. She can't handle the cup by herself yet, though she desperately wants to try. I am distracted as I type this because she's audibly enjoying one of her favorite meals: steamed carrots, sliced turkey and cheerios. It is one of her favorite meals because she's can do it all herself. Well, everything once the food has been cooked sliced and placed on her tray, but you get the idea.

The next line of the bears song is"Sharp teath and claws and furry paws the better to eat you up." Aunt Brite took care of the claws on Friday, but the big news is that Squeaker has a couple of teeth that are about to pop through her gums. I for one hope that this week has been the worst of teething.

She's also gotten practice at climbing stairs, plural, not singular. We were visiting friends and squeaker climbed their stairs twice between the main course and dessert. She has no idea how to go down yet, which is fine because I can't imagine letting her either. That's all I have to report. Pancakes were postponed for tomorrow, due to an unexpected attack of English Muffins.

Have a good week from Squeaker and her Dad.