Day +196: Busy dadda

Sorry for the long gap between blog entries. I was organizing the Halloween photo album (http://www.mendozabaseball.com/minabrigitta/october%202005/) toward the end of last week, then had a business trip Sunday through Tuesday, and was too tired to blog last night. My parents left Saturday afternoon, and then Anta Teri arrived late Saturday night to help Keri while I was gone. Mina Brigitta had a great time with Grandma and Grandpa. This was the first time that she's flat-out refused to go to bed. She was having such fun playing all week, I had to drag her kicking and screaming to start the process of going to bed. It's kind of a long process: brush her teeth, flush her tubes, change her diaper, put on jammies, read some books. And she's become an expert at stalling and dragging out every step as long as possible. The best word I can think of to describe her is "deliberate". She really takes her own time and is very careful and deliberate on each and every task she does. I think maybe she takes after her Uncle Eric in that regard.

Mina Brigitta is really doing well now. She's very much enjoying her newfound freedom, particularly going to the playground. She also loves eating blueberries and raspberries and apples and raisins and all things she couldn't eat all this time. When we gave her her first raspberries, she kept wanting more and more. When I tried to cut her off, she said "More waspbewwies pwease. For dadda's baby." She really knows how to tug at her old Dad's heartstrings.

She's becoming very precise in her play these days. The other day after breakfast she took some pots and pans into the bedroom and was making "num-nums" for Waah Baby. She told me she was making oats. Then she pointed to herself and said "dis baby's dadda!" I had just made outs for her breakfast, so she was acting out that scene. She's also been making cookies with Waah Baby, which she's done with Amber and both Grandmas. Today Keri said she was pushing Waah Baby around in the stroller, and she would stop and point out the water to Waah Baby. Amber had taken the kids to Chrissy Field for a walk along the Bay this morning, and must have been pointing out the water to Mina Brigitta.

Isaac has been teething again and really miserable. His mouth was bleeding and he was running a pretty high fever (102) while I was gone. No other symptoms like runny nose or cough or anything, and no one else has been sick, so we think it's just his teeth. It's nice to know that Mina Brigitta has some defenses now if she does get exposed to something, but she won't be totally normal for months yet, so I was a bit nervous until Isaac started feeling better yesterday.