Roxy Log

• Stood up unassisted first time April 26th - now officially a walker
• Sign language performed with accuracy to date (also understands verbally): more (Roxy's definitions include feed me and give me something else to eat I don't want this), milk, diaper, and done
• Commands audibly recognized: kiss (gives opened-mouth), hug (prefers hugging stuffed animals over us), peek-a-boo (elicits slapping her own face), and unfortunately she does not understand "no" YET
• Words spoken (in which she knows what she is saying): dada (debatable), what's that, cat, dog, duck, sock, and she combines many syllables which sound like sentences but are just baby talk

Boating Break

Classes are over for the semester, and one more paper to turn in. I start back May 18th, but I have a lot of pre-course assignments so no real break. Last night we had a Spring Banquet with the school, and we had a co-worker of Trish watch Roxy. They invited us out on their boat the next day, today. And so it was a lovely, relaxing time for us on Lake Washington with not a cloud in the sky and Mt. Ranier towering in the background. We road to a park, docked, and ate (restaurant) burgers for lunch. We haven't done much outdoor stuff since we've been here so it was a refreshing time.

Discovered

Roxy found her belly-button!

See, there it is!

In other noteworthy news, Roxy can now do sign language! We tried teaching her for a while, but weren't too consistent. She finally does "more" but for her it means give me food or drink. I think she may know diaper change. We'll confirm later. Anyway, this should cut down on her and our frustration. Hopefully too she has caught on to the concept and we can teach her more and then show her off to the world as the smartest baby in the world! Oh wait, we have to learn sign language first...

Updating

I think I am going to stop with monthly updates on Roxy and just post as things happen or come to me. With that, as of today the most steps Roxy has taken is 17. She has about 13 teeth which is a lot for her age. She adorably babbles a lot and her latest phenomenon is pointing usually accompanied by "wuzat" which sounds like "what's that." Her eating habits are changing for the worst. She has been picky. Oh what a frustrating thing - trying to feed a hungry baby that gives a tight-lipped whine and turn of the head to something you try to feed her that she has enjoyed many times before. She is very passionate and I like that about her - except when she is passionate about doing things she shouldn't. Anyway, here are some good pictures from the past month.

Stroll in the park. Roxy and I both need to get our more. We enjoyed our outing.

She got herself in this predicament. So you don't think I am cruel, she was laughing when I starting taking the picture.

We do take good care of her, I promise.

Fire!

I almost burned the apartment down. I had a candle on my desk and was printing something. The paper flew off the printer onto the candle which caught fire and inflamed a folder on my desk. I was in the bedroom when our loud, trusty fire alarm went off. I ran to the scene and carried the flaming folder to the sink. After ventilating the alarm went off and we surveyed the damage: burnt head phones, charred spots on desk, melted printer cable, some paper, travel wallet melted, and lots of ash to vacuum. Pretty fortunate! My computer inches away is unscathed.

Where have we been?

The main reason that I haven’t posted in a while, besides being generally busy, is that we do not have internet at home anymore. We cancelled it in conjunction with our landline - saving money and cutting down on the distraction. I have internet access at school and Trish has it at work. Plus, there are wifi connections here and there. Right now I am at the library working on a research paper.

In regards to my last post, Roxy has recovered well and is back to being as active as ever. This week we started Roxy in daycare, http://www.eldc.org/, for one day a week to give her some interaction with more kids and structured “development” and give me some time to get school work done so that I don’t have to stay up so late and can have more time to spend with Trish when she is home instead of doing catching up on what I couldn’t get done during the day watching Roxy. Wow, that was an impressively long, grammatically correct sentence. Or is it not correct? I figured out that I was spending at least forty hours a week giving Roxy undivided attention or taking care of her in some way (laundry, making baby food, etc.). Although fulfilling, it still means I am “working” a full-time job and going to graduate school full-time (I actually take 2 more credit hours than full-time). Needless to say I have some stress in my life. Stress can be good and bad and so it is with me.