Thursday, December 31, 2009

G-Momo: We had such a fun day today. Guffaw had breakfast with Sarah and they looked at Daddy’s pictures on Facebook. She especially liked the pictures with Mommy and Daddy in them.

After a quick trip to an escrow company we went to the Kieler’s and then toured a “tall ship” down in Newport. Sarah liked looking out at the water from the boat. Then Sarah, G-Momo, Amber, Nik and Clare went to South Coast Plaza. We had carousel coupons from the tree lighting, a pass to the VIP lounge, and Clare had an Abercrombie gift certificate. When we walked into the mall Sarah squealed with delight at the sight of the merry-go-round. Amber, Nik and Clare rode with her. Then we headed to the VIP lounge, which was interesting. It has a lounge with a host who brings beverages, pretzels, and candy. It has a conference room for businessmen, 2 other rooms, and a nice restroom. I didn’t even know it was there. I don’t think I’d use it much, but if I entertained clients like Mike does it could be useful.

From there Amber, Nik and Clare set out to Abercrombie and I took Sarah to get some lunch. She wanted to go where the elephants are, the Rainforest Café. When we got there Sarah started looking for Mommy. She had just seen a photo of Mommy with an elephant this morning. I told her Mommy is in Africa, and she said “Africa” and went on to color. She kept asking for Steve, but he wasn’t there so we looked at his picture on my phone, sticking his tongue out, and Sarah would imitate the position of his tongue. Funny girl. She got mac & cheese but she preferred my salad, especially the olives. I looked away and she ran mac & cheese through her hair. Funny girl again. Amber, Nik and Clare came back and we cleaned her up as best we could with wipes. Amber took her for one last ride on the merry-go-round and Nik and Clare went to a store while I paid the check.

The next part requires some background. Saturday Amber played softball. She dived for a ball in the outfield that took a bad bounce and hit her in the mouth, causing nasty bleeding and bruising and a puncture from her tooth. It’s a little infected and very painful. Anyhow, she came back to the Rainforest Café and we were walking out to find Nik and Clare so we could leave, and Sarah head butted her in the sore lip. Without a word, she handed Sarah to me and ran off to the bathroom. She didn’t come back immediately so we followed her. In the light of the bathroom the mac & cheese we missed on Sarah’s face and hair was pretty obvious, so I set Sarah down on the counter to wash her off. She swung her feet into a sink that had a motion sensor. Amber alerted me and I grabbed her before the water came on. Then my phone rang and I was digging through my backpack for it, backing into the automatic had dryers that began blowing down my pants. We were all three laughing at this slapstick delight, even poor sore Amber.

We returned home for the New Years Eve festivities. I was going to play it by ear according to her mood as to whether she would stay up until midnight, but she fell asleep in the high chair at about 8:30. I took her up, put on her nighttime diaper and pj’s and put her down. About 10 minutes later Steve bought her down, wide awake with a messy diaper. I changed her again and she played for a little while, including sitting on Richard’s lap for the first time ever. She ended up going down pretty close to bedtime. When midnight came and everyone pounded on pots and pans, it didn’t wake her. Steve was very cute, poised at the bottom of the stairs in case she woke up, but she was out. Happy New Year!

Guffaw Bonus Material:
As I have previously mentioned, Sarah has a favorite bib. It is a tiny baby bib that says "I’m a sloppy kisser" and it has a dog with his tongue sticking out. She asks for it by sticking her tongue out and panting. However, it is so small it provides little protection for her clothes. Sarah has a nice big toddler bib that is plastic with a pocket in front that catches liquids and it also has dogs on it, but their tongues are not hanging out so Sarah does not like it as well. She always politely says no when offered the bigger bib and then asks for the other bib by pointing, extending her tongue and panting. This morning Guffaw decided to try to protect Sarah’s sleepers at breakfast by putting on both bibs, the little one she likes on top of the bigger more protective one. Sarah did not protest so Guffaw smugly went into the kitchen to rinse Sarah’s berries, pleased he had outsmarted Sarah into allowing the bigger bib. A moment later Guffaw returned to the dining room with Sarah’s berries for her "zero" cereal and found her sweetly waiting in her high chair, with the large plastic bib on the floor and the tiny panting dog bib still around her angelic neck.

When Sarah awoke, Guffaw came in to get Sarah from bed and giver her breakfast. Sarah was pleased to be picked up but she also asked for G-Momo. Guffaw told Sarah G-Momo was asleep and did the sign for asleep. Sarah said Steve’s name and Guffaw told her Steve was still asleep and did the sign for asleep. We came downstairs and saw Nik and Clare asleep on the living room furniture. Sarah said their names and Guffaw said they were asleep and did the sign for asleep. Sarah then said Guffaw, and Guffaw said "Guffaw is awake!" and acted very animated. That struck Sarah as amusing so, as we ate breakfast, Sarah did an inventory of practically everybody in the house and every family member in Africa, saying their name. Guffaw told her whether each person was asleep or awake. This may not sound like much of a game, perhaps, but Sarah found it fun and amusing her is the fun part.

Amber had the day off and wanted to get herself a doughnut for breakfast. Amber returned just as Sarah was finishing her second helping of cereal and berries. Amber had also brought Sarah a breakfast dessert, a cake doughnut with sprinkles. Sarah enjoyed eating her doughnut. After all, as she and Amber both noted, the doughnut was a big "zero."

After breakfast, Guffaw showed Sarah the Africa pictures. Sarah was interested by most of the pictures. (She was not that excited by the ones with scenery, only, without animals or people.) She liked the animal pictures, but she was more enthusiastic about pictures of Daddy and Mommy.

When Guffaw got home from work, Sarah wanted to go to the park to swing. Sarah took Guffaw’s finger as she left the front porch steps and walked holding hands with Guffaw for the start of the trip instead of being carried or pushed on her bike. What made this cute was that Sarah initiated the hand holding, instead of being prompted to hold hands when crossing a street. After about 75 yards she then asked Guffaw to carry her. As always, Sarah and Guffaw played a wide variety of games on the walk. Guffaw "flies" her, helps her jump on fire hydrants and other things along the way, and plays alphabet and word games. She was also happy to see a couple of helicopters fly overhead.

After swinging at Mile Square Park for only about ten minutes, Sarah decided she wanted to go back home. She didn’t even walk over to the slides. That is an unusually short time for her to spend at the park. However, she kept saying she wanted Uncle "Teve" to play with the helicopter he gave her for Christmas.

Sarah enjoyed the finger food appetizers prepared for our New Year’s eve feast, especially bagel bites. She practically fell asleep in her high chair. Then, while G-Momo did her night-night routine she asked Guffaw to bring Sarah’s pacifier upstairs. Guffaw brought a container with two pacifiers up and gave Sarah the first one, which was blue. She took it for a second and then gave it back and politely said "yellow." The other pacifier in the container was yellow. When the exchange was finished, Sarah was ready for bed. She does have opinions and preferences.