August 2006 Archives

So Em’s started calling me at work, now. She’s long considered our cordless phone to be the very finest of teething toys, and if you leave it anywhere within reach, she’ll be stuffing it in her mouth moments later.

Of course, the beeping keypad on the aforementioned phone is just icing on the cake. Emmie’s definitely clued in to the fact that squeezing the buttons as she’s chewing on the top of the phone creates a pleasing series of tones, and she therefore works the phone much like one would play a clarinet or recorder - top part goes in the mouth, whilst the fingers busily press all the various keys.

A couple of weeks ago, Emelyn actually managed to call 1-1-2, which is the UK equivalent of 9-1-1, and you can bet they rang us right back. (They were understanding about the whole matter, and didn’t send a copper around, if only because they’d heard Azure in the background saying, “Who’s got the phone? Who’s got the phone?” before it hung up.)

We’ve tried to be careful about things since then, but yesterday at about three, I get an oddly-truncated call at the office that wasn’t anything but a few seconds of heavy breathing and strange slobbering noises. Caller ID indicated it was Azure. I think it’s enough to say that I felt quite confident that this was not, in fact, Azure. A subsequent call home confirmed this, a did the telling presence of drool on the ‘redial’ button.

All of which is a roundabout way of coming to this: Call me anytime, Emmie! Because I miss you dearly when I’m at work…

Not quite sure what to make of British summer. After an unbearably hot July, it feels like it’s been raining for most of August — walking down the streets of Cambridge, we’ve been smelling the familiar scent of firewood and burning coal. Great stuff, sure, just not very… August-y?

Emmie and I made the best of it this morning, at least — while Azure had a lie-in, I bundled The Boss into the backpack and the two of us jaunted up Mill Road to the ‘Nip In’ market where we grabbed a couple of fresh-from-the-oven croissants. (Emelyn passed on the pastries, having already eaten her peaches-and-apricot breakfast at home. High-fiber’s where it’s at for Emmie this weekend, at least, as she’s needed a little extra something to keep the traffic movin’, if you catch my drift.)

By the time we got home it was 8:45, and time for morning nap. We read a few Oliver Jeffers books, first — I’m a big fan of ‘Lost and Found’, while Em’s mum really likes ‘How To Catch a Star’. Emelyn, of course, is nuts about almost any printed material, so she was an easy audience, and happily turned all the pages and pointed out the protagonists in every picture.

Our Sunday afternoon was equally mellow. The three of us went to the children’s section at Border’s again, since it’s pretty much Emelyn’s favorite hangout. (Emelyn’s big discovery there this time was a plush doll of Beaker, the Muppet.) And then we very briefly went to Cafe Nero, though Emelyn started getting reeeeally fussy, such that our coffee order got changed to ‘take away’ by the time we hit the register. (Emmie apparently hates the sound of milk being steamed.)

Anyhow, if you’re keen, check out the latest video. Emelyn’s always been obsessed with the camera, but we just started realizing the fun you can have by flipping the LCD viewfinder around so it faces out, like the lens. (Basically, you can see her reaction as she sees herself on the screen. Which is pretty adorable, if I do say so meself.)

Emelyn took eight steps at Border’s yesterday. Seeing all the books and small people makes her pretty happy, you see, and she wound up distracted enough to actually walk a few feet before suddenly remembering that she can’t walk. We never got a repeat performance, but Az and I were plenty proud, nonetheless.

Emmie is also saying ‘Bobo’, which is one of three words used in her favorite story (‘Hug’, by Jez Alborough). I’m admittedly disappointed that a fictional chimpanzee took priority over ‘Daddy’, but Bobo’s also around the house more. And, as anybody who’s read the book will tell you, Bobo could do with a little attention, anyways.

By the way — the most adorable thing in the world is to see Emelyn make the sign for ‘baby’. Now ‘baby’ is supposed to be a cradle-like thing you do with your arms, but Emmie’s version looks more like the ‘I love you’ sign in ASL, and when I go out on a limb and say it’s the Most Adorable Thing In The World, I’m being totally serious. Biased and unobjective, maybe, but still quite serious.

Auntie is gone, and it’s difficult to say who misses her the most: Emmie (because she adores Auntie), Azure (because sis made life easy for four weeks), or myself (because Az and I got to run out the door whenever we felt like it, whoohoo!).

Ah well. There’s a million little things to report. Emmie’s signing ‘bird’ all the time, though she’s admittedly liberal with its usage (along with the bird in her picture book, she uses it to mean ‘outside’ and ‘tree’, too). She also signs for ‘ball’ and ‘all done’, and I’m betting her next one will be ‘PowerBook G4’.

Emmie increasingly stands on her own, hands-free, but only if she doesn’t actually think about it. (It’s all reminiscent of old Looney Tunes cartoons, where Wile E. Coyote goes running off a cliff, but never actually drops until he looks down.) Emelyn will also walk short distances with a minimally-supportive hand-hold, although the moment she figures out you’re actually encouraging her to walk a bit, she sits down in protest. She’s got her own schedule for this stuff…

Emelyn is also turning mischievous - she can turn on the TV, open a laptop latch (rather impressive, that), and she won’t stop reaching for door handles, either. We’ve started re-arranging some of the furniture and toys into a kind of Victor-Hugo-inspired barricade, in response, and that keeps her from most of the consumer electronics. Baby gates are on order, too.

Well, maybe that isn’t a million things, after all. What to say? Life here just seems to be trucking along like normal; can’t really complain.