Brooklynn has recently hit a growth spurt. At least we hope she’s hit a growth spurt, because if she hasn’t, she really needs to slow down on how much she’s eating. If you see Rhiannon or I and we look a little thinner to you, it’s because Brooklynn is eating all of our food at dinner.
She’s grown almost an inch over the last month (by our measurements), and the added height allows her to almost start walking up steps more than crawling. It’s getting to point where something has to be at least four feet off the ground in the house in order to be safe anymore.
From the way-back department, a couple of video clips I took on a jet boat tour we went on out in Oregon. The weekend we were in Grants Pass, the “Boatnik Festival” was going on. It’s a carnival in the city park and boat racing on the river.
While we loaded the boats, there happened to be drag boats racing just upriver. Rhiannon, Tricia, and I ended up on the one jet boat that took the drag course. It was slow and gentle compared to the drag boats that had to be towed around using wave runners, but I believe that our boat with around 60 people on board high 50mph heading upriver.
The boats can operate with a full passenger load at full speed in the just a few feet of water, and since they are flat bottomed vessels, they can spin around pretty well. No promises were ever made about staying dry, and yes, my camera survived the trip.
We think Brooklynn is teething again, and I say think because she won’t open her mouth long or wide enough for either of us to get a good look in there. The major symptom we are dealing with right now is a fever (which she had when her first four teeth came in) and a slight runny nose.
She had a fever about a month ago and we made the same assumption then, but still no new teeth, so at this point, I’m not really presuming anything this time around. Still, it would be nice for her to get a molar or two, just we could at least pretend that she chews her food before swallowing it. Watching her shovel pieces of fruit into her mouth as fast as her small fingers can pick them up does not lead one to believe that much actual chewing goes on. Thankfully, there is a lot of fruit in season right now and is mashable with just a quick squash from some gums.
Although, judging from the whole pieces of veggies that make it through her digestive system from time to time, I don’t know how much mashing happens either.
Our master bathroom happens to share a wall with Brooklynn’s bedroom. Since we’ve been getting up on a new schedule this week, it leads to Rhiannon and I talking in the morning, and I suppose if Brooklynn is in a deep sleep, we might rouse her. I’m not really concerned with waking her up, because we have to do it anyway to get out the door on time.
On a typical morning, I go in to her room and get her dressed for the day. I did it almost every day of the school year last year and the first three days this week. I guess she’s pretty used to having me to interact with, at least when the sun is just coming up.
This morning, I was running a little late, so when Brooklynn woke up, Rhiannon was more ready to get her than I was. Through the monitor, I heard her mention to Brooklynn that having Mom get her ready was a change. Rhiannon stopped by our bedroom before heading downstairs with the baby, and Brooklynn started to cry and reach out for me. I took her, said good morning, and tried to hand her back.
She cried and held on to me. This is the typical response that Rhiannon got for most of the summer when I would come home, except that this time, the tables were reversed.
Rhiannon looked at me and asked how it felt to be the more loved parent for the moment.
I replied that it was nice but a little inconvenient, especially seeing as how I was trying to finish getting dressed and having to hold a clinging baby at the same time.
She looked at me and said, “Exactly.” And then she walked away.
