white apples . a blog

colors of the season

 

 

 

 

Juni the Bumbly Bee

For Halloween, Juniper was a bumbly bee.  (No, it wasn't the same bumbly bee costume that we stuck the dog in last year).  This is one of the few photos of her full costume.

Joy (with ears)

10 months or my pumpkin in the patch

Last week, Juniper turned ten months old and is hurtling toward toddlerhood with dizzying swiftness.  Two more teeth (numbers 7 and 8!) are poking through on her bottom jaw.  Once those two teeth arrive, there will be no more gumminess to her smile and another little part of her babyness will be gone.  Her mobility is also increasing by leaps and bounds each day.  It seems like just yesterday when it took her a full ten minutes and an extraordinary amount of effort and grunting and whining to flip from her back to her tummy.  Now she can sit, kneel, crawl, pull to standing, and transition between any one of these states in the blink of an eye.  One minute she is emptying out a drawer in the kitchen, the next minute she is wedging her big belly underneath a dining room chair.  Turn your back for a second and she is helping herself to snackies from the dog's food bowl.  She has even crawled up a full flight of carpeted steps, chasing after an uninterested kitty cat (with my father very close behind).  

toothiness

Do you see them?  Four teeth decided to poke out on top at about the same time.  Sheesh, what's the hurry?  These four new top teeth combined with the existing two bottom teeth complete the arsenal required for true biting.  Juniper is taking full advantage of this new talent, biting on anything and everything in her path.  My shoulder falls victim quite often.  Sydney's nose is in constant danger.

We have also entered a distressing new phase of book gnawing.  Books are still her favorite toy and she will slowly make her way through a whole book, turning each page with a most serious expression on her brow.  When she gets to the end, she closes the book and promptly starts nibbling on the spine in blatant violation of all that is right and good in the world.  Of course, I immediately and earnestly freak out, snatch the poor book away, pleading with her not to eat it.  During these tirades, she looks at me with mild amusement, smiles her toothy smile, and then proceeds to swallow the chunk of book cover that she had stored in her cheek.  She is devouring her books, literally.

seven months

I am watching the morning light
squint through the blinds,
a brief flurry of dust settling,
a little body breathing,
unselfconsciously.  I want to
give thanks correctly for such a gift,
hands folded with humble devotion,
bend slight as a reed towards the glass,
sending this soft song outward
and away.
I want to remember how fragile
and perfect a moment is,
how all of life's frenzy and storm can slip
into stillness,
how days pass like clouds, airy and unnoticed,
how my heart can curve into the small comma
of her body, echoing warmly the sea that we came from,
the velvet of cheek against cheek,
the gaggle of eyelashes and earlobes,
how the smallest bud can be
bigger than anything that ever came before it

On a roll or A burgeoning friendship

I guess it was only a matter of time.  The kid is mobile.  Turn your back for two seconds and you will find her on the other side of room, grabbing at something breakable or drooling on something delicate.  Yes, she has mastered the art of rolling across the floor in the blink of an eye, taking out anything in her way - a chubby little steamroller.  That is, until she happens to encounter a large roadblock - for instance, in the form of sleeping dog.  She tries for minutes to roll up onto poor Sydney, knocking into her over and over again like some defective wind-up toy.  Finally, frustrated and exhausted, she gives up and moves onto tugging and squeezing big chunks of puppy fur/fat rolls.  Get used to this, Syd.  She's here to stay.

scenes from a day at del mar beach

Juniper's Life Lesson No. 1

Take every opportunity to look at the world from a new perspective.

central incisors

Juniper's sixth month seems full of all kinds of new and interesting skills.  She can sit up unsupported, which offers a new vantage point for contemplating the sucking of her toes (yet another delightful discovery this month has brought).  She has also learned how to blow spit bubbles and make trumpety sounds with her tongue.  She treats us to nightly tongue pthubing concerts, complete with complimentary drool sprays.  The look of concentration and determination on her face while producing a wide range of spit sounds is not to be missed.