The Number Field

I'm at school today for the first day of my summer work assignment, and Jenny is at work. Elena is spending the day (and most of the week) with our good friends Martin and Christine. We trust them completely, and Christine probably knows more about child care than we do, having worked as a nanny for a considerable time. When we went over to their place to drop off supplies last night, Christine gave us instructions on the proper use of the car seat without the base. It turns out that I hadn't been strapping the seat in as effectively as I should, and that the proper instructions were written on the car seat itself. This came as quite a blow to me, as I always try to read and follow the instructions.

Nevertheless, it's still hard to have left our baby with someone else. I think I'm most worried about the unexpected things she might do to cause them misery--Elena has almost always been good for me, and when she cries I can usually make things better quickly. I left a detailed explanation of our routine along with contact information for Jenny and me, and I suppose I can't do anything more than that except trust.

On Saturday we had Martin and Christine over for dinner, and I'm pretty proud of the menu we put together. Jenny made some excellent guacamole, which we had with tortilla chips as an appetizer. For a second appetizer or salad, I made insalata caprese . I grilled ribeye steaks over charcoal for the main course, along with corn on the cob and roasted asparagus.

For dessert, we had homemade cookies and cream ice cream. We made the ice cream in the french style, cooking egg yolks into a mix of milk, cream, sugar, and vanilla. Although I didn't put the mixer together properly and caused some problems, Jenny caught it in time and saved the day. I think that this batch turned out better than our previous attempts, which were always "philadelphia style" ice cream, which means no eggs and no cooking in advance.

If problems crop up today (or this week), perhaps Christine will think back to that dinner and think "Mark and Jenny aren't so bad after all, I won't abandon their baby without calling them first." Of course, she would never actually do that, but I have to have something concrete to allay my fears.

The past few days, Elena has been making developmental advances at an impressive rate. Or perhaps we've just been noticing them for the first time. In preparation for solid foods, we sometimes give her a plastic spoon to play with (always supervised), to acclimate herself to it. This seems to work well, because as with most things in her hands, she puts it in her mouth. But more impressively, she sometimes transfers the spoon from one hand to the other.

Elena has been holding her head up very well, so I decided to put her on the couch and see if she could sit up by herself. She can, but only for a little while. Once she starts to topple, she'll fall all the way unless I'm there to catch her. I usually am, but in the interests of documentary evidence I let her go all the way while I was taking pictures. The couch is soft enough that she landed safely on her side.

Finally, we continue to encourage her during rolling-over practice. She's making good progress with rolling from her back to her stomach. This includes a strong, seemingly purposeful push off with one leg, followed by an attempt to rotate through her hips. I think that once she learns to coordinate her arm and swing it to get some momentum, she'll be able to roll over. We're increasingly worried about her narrow changing area; with just a leg push she could roll off of it now. We always take care to block her way with our bodies, but I'm on the lookout for a more substantial changing pad that curves up on the sides to prevent rolling.

We've had a couple of requests for the granola bar recipe that I've posted about before. It comes from one of our favorite websites , and is very popular there, with lots of reviews and comments.

Playgroup Granola Bars Ingredients:

• 2 cups rolled oats
• 3/4 cup packed brown sugar
• 1/2 cup wheat germ
• 3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 3/4 cup raisins (optional)
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup honey
• 1 egg, beaten
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Generously grease a 9x13 inch baking pan.
2. In a large bowl, mix together the oats, brown sugar, wheat germ, cinnamon, flour, raisins and salt. Make a well in the center, and pour in the honey, egg, oil and vanilla. Mix well using your hands. Pat the mixture evenly into the prepared pan.
3. Bake for 30 to 35 minutes in the preheated oven, until the bars begin to turn golden at the edges. Cool for 5 minutes, then cut into bars while still warm. Do not allow the bars to cool completely before cutting, or they will be too hard to cut.

Jenny has tried several variations on this recipe in search of perfection. She took some suggestions from the comments on the allrecipes page, and had some ideas of her own. For instance, sometimes she makes the recipe with less flour, less brown sugar, or two eggs instead of one. She's never included the raisins, but she has sometimes added extra oatmeal, rice krispies, either ground or whole flaxseed, or mini marshmallows. Regardless of the variations, they're always good and we both enjoy them.

Last night we decided to introduce Elena to the swimming pool. Our apartment complex has a pool, but there's also a city park just down the street that has a dedicated kiddie pool, so we decided to go there. We dressed Elena in her Swimmi diaper and cute pink swimsuit, put on our own swimsuits, and headed out.

Elena didn't quite know what to make of the swimming pool, but she didn't dislike it. Most of the time she had a slightly suspicious look on her face. It was good for a first trip, and I think that she'll learn to love the pool as we go more often. We did meet some very nice people who were also there with their children, including one woman who had a little girl just about a month older than Elena.

The Williams College Women's Crew team began competition at the NCAA championships today. We're sending them our support and best wishes in what will probably be a fierce competition. Also, good luck to the University of Puget Sound team. Check their progress at the live results page .

Yesterday afternoon, I put Elena down for some tummy time while we waited for Jenny to come home. To make things more interesting, I brought out a few of Elena's stuffed animals: a lamb and a pink kitty. In the past, she hasn't shown too much interest in her toys, except maybe to put them in her mouth. This time, however, things were different, as Elena took a real interest in the lamb. It was off to the side, and she kept looking at it and trying to get to it, even though it lay beyond her reach. She churned around on the blanket and tried to will herself forward to grab it. A little bit later, I put her down on her back. When she fussed, I showed her the lamb and she smiled. Then I gave it to her, and as expected, she just wanted to chew on it.

Although she ignored the kitty toy yesterday, this morning she's playing with it while sitting in her chair. And putting it in her mouth.

We just returned from a very pleasant weekend in Houston with Matt, Carrie, and Danny. We had some excellent food and stayed up late last night playing Acquire , a classic board game that was new to us. Jenny won, but I came in last. Jenny helped Carrie decide on and start painting a flower pattern in the nursery; Carrie's due in July. I went for a Memorial Day run this morning with Matt at the Mercer Arboretum . Sadly, we had to leave before the big Memorial Day barbeque that they were hosting. We did get to see Matt prepare several pounds of meat for an afternoon of smoking.

However, I think that Elena had the most exciting time. She continues to get closer to rolling all the way over--she can now go from her back to almost all the way on her side. Once she makes it that far, it's just a small wobble and she'll be on her tummy. Carrie also pulled out their exersaucer, and Elena had a good time practicing holding her head up and playing with all the activities. She also got to know the beagles a little bit better, but the picture tells that story better than words ever could. After that, Elena might think twice about having her tongue out all the time.

As with our last visit, I found a new book to read to Elena. This time, it was Texas Mother Goose by David Davis. Here are a couple of my favorite poems from the book:

Breakfast with Humpty Dumpty
Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall.
Humpty Dumpty had a great fall.
All the ranch cowboys and all the vaqueros
Got a big breakfast of huevos rancheros

What are little Cowgirls Made Of? What are little cowgirls made of?
Bluebonnets and spring
And notes songbirds sing,
And that's what little cowgirls are made of.

Yesterday, I saw Elena blow a raspberry for the first time, although I suspect that she might have done it before when I wasn't looking. We've been working on it for a little while, and with a tongue like hers, she's sure to be an expert soon. Here's some video of a few of her other tricks:

Elenaprise

Having a baby imposes a strict schedule on life, as I've realized more fully since I started to stay at home with her during the day. Writing that sentence, I just thought back to when I was single, doing long workouts and staying up late to watch ridiculous movies on cable TV. I much prefer the life I lead now. Schedule and routine don't stand as opposites of freedom. Instead, they encourage me to identify the options I have, then make choices and act decisively because I will only have limited windows of time in which to carry them out.

Before

During

After

In large part, the routine comes from Elena's schedule of eating and sleeping. Today, after her morning nap and meal I used her window of wakefulness to vacuum the apartment, then gave her a bath. Although we had been bringing her into the shower with us , that seems much easier with two parents. On my own, I decided to return to the baby bathtub. Elena enjoyed the experience, and only splashed me a little bit.

Yesterday afternoon, I scheduled afternoon errands during Elena's naptime. She enjoys sleeping in her car seat, so I read and sang to her, then put her in it and we headed out. We stopped by a nearby independent baby store and bought a new diaper cover. Sadly, they didn't have any swim diapers in Elena's size. Afterwards, we headed up the street for a rendezvous with someone who had a Pack & Play for sale. On the way home, we swung by Target to take advantage of a good diaper deal (because we still use disposables at night and on trips).

I feel good about the Pack & Play, which I found on Craigslist. We got a good price on it, and it seems to have been used only lightly. It did smell a little bit funny at first, but I think that was just the scent of someone else's house. After airing it out on the porch last night, the odor was gone. I put Elena down for her nap in it today. We're getting her used to it in preparation for summer travels, when she won't always have her crib.

Jenny always enjoys Fridays at work, since she can wear jeans for casual Friday. Even though I don't follow a dress code at school, I noticed how much she looked forward to Fridays, and usually observe my own personal casual Friday by wearing jeans. Last Friday, I sent Jenny this picture in an email:

Elena borrowed the overalls from Danny the last time we visited Carrie and Matt. Later on, when Jenny told me that she liked the picture, I told her that it was only half the story. With just one hint (I reminded her of the day of the week), she figured it out. When she got home, of course she wanted to take some pictures of us together. Afterwards, she gave me a haircut, so at least now my hair is shorter than Elena's.