7 Months!

Dear Sadie,

You are actually almost 8 months old so I am hurrying to post your 7 month update. So much has happened in the last month! You took your first plane trip, you watched your Uncle Clive and Aunt Jes get married, your Nana and Grandpa moved to CA, and you just keep growing and getting cuter day by day.





You love to sit and play on the floor. Toys are ok, but you are more interested in playing with things that are not toys like a roll of packing tape or the remote control or a jar of peanut butter. We gave you a big pot to bang on which is good fun. You are also sporting new hairstyles.











Your verbal skills are increasing every day. You say "da da da" and "na na na" and "mum mum mum" and "wuh wuh wuh" and string all sorts of sounds together in happy baby babble. You also like to grunt and screech.

You will be crawling soon. Right now you pivot on your belly in a circle and get frustrated trying to strain for a toy just out of your reach. You have also figured out how to bop your torso up and down in a move that looks a lot like seated dancing.



Sleeping is getting easier (finally). You take two solid naps during the day and you usually fall asleep on your own at night. Sleeping in your crib is still a work in progress, but sometimes you don't mind it. Soon you will be crawling and will have to sleep behind bars so you don't fall off the big bed.



You got a new contraption we call "Jungle Pod". The Jungle Pod is a little hectic with 360 degrees of toys, lights and music, but you seem to like it.




You also got a little highchair/booster seat that straps onto a chair and is small enough to fit in our little kitchen. You like to sit in it and play, but you are still not willing to eat any food coming at you on a spoon. We keep trying to feed you, hoping one day you will suddenly decide you like mushy fruits and veggies. You like to gnaw on apples though:



Pictures from the trip to Durango will be coming soon!

We love you Junebug.

From Blossoms

Dear Sadie,

One Sunday last summer when I was pregnant with you Philippa and I went to the farmers' market and I couldn't resist buying a little onesie with a peach on it. It was the first item of baby clothing I bought for you and I just loved the colors which later ended up being the peaches and greens in your nursery.

You are finally big enough to wear the little peach onesie and you look so cute in it that I had to post some pictures. We are currently having an April heatwave so pants are optional.






Coincidentally, your granddad sent me a poem the other day about peaches:

From Blossoms
by Li-Young Lee

From blossoms comes
this brown paper bag of peaches
we bought from the boy
at the bend in the road where we turned toward
signs painted Peaches.

From laden boughs, from hands,
from sweet fellowship in the bins,
comes nectar at the roadside, succulent
peaches we devour, dusty skin and all,
comes the familiar dust of summer, dust we eat.

O, to take what we love inside,
to carry within us an orchard, to eat
not only the skin, but the shade,
not only the sugar, but the days, to hold
the fruit in our hands, adore it, then bite into
the round jubilance of peach.

There are days we live
as if death were nowhere
in the background; from joy
to joy to joy, from wing to wing,
from blossom to blossom to
impossible blossom, to sweet impossible blossom.


It is not summer yet, not quite, but the lazy heat and the birds chirping through open windows and a poem about impossibly sweet moments in life brings "the familiar dust of summer" into the afternoon.

You came from blossoms too and here you are; dust we eat. And kiss and squeeze and dress in cute clothing and snap pictures to capture a moment before it is blown away.

Love, Mama

Other Stuff That's Been Going On

Dear Sadie,

This is an overdue post to write up some things that have been going on lately.
We went to Ultimate Phil and Carolyne's wedding in Santa Cruz a couple weekends ago. It was a beautiful wedding on a cliff overlooking the ocean. We had a really nice time with friends who got to meet you for the first time. You can't believe Phil got married.










The trip took 7 hours in the car on the way there and 8 hours on the way home. It was a long time to be strapped into your car seat but you were very good.



Philippa likes to come over and play with you:



And finally, here is a local news story concerning some Easter shenanigans in our neighborhood:

PEEP TERRORIST STRIKES AGAIN

April 12, 2009 Cardiff by the Sea, CA

The Burnett family in Cardiff, CA woke this Easter morning to find they had been "Peeped". Michael Burnett opened the front door to let in the cat and could not help but notice the yard was covered in elaborate constructions of Peeps. Some were piled into sculpture, some were strung on a line like cranberries around a Christmas tree, and the word "PEEP" was (perhaps redundantly) spelled out on the front walk. When Katherine and Sadie Burnett awoke, Michael directed their attention to the front yard and Katherine exclaimed, "we got Peeped!" Sadie Burnett had no comment.

The Burnetts have lived at this address for almost 10 years and this is the second such Peeping incident that has occurred. The first was Easter of 2002 when similarly, they awoke to find the front yard awash in carefully arranged columns of pink, yellow and blue Peeps.

No known terrorist group has yet claimed responsibility for the Peeping, but it is generally assumed a Peep cell located in University Heights was involved in planning and executing the yard sabotage. As of print deadline, the group has not been reached for questioning.

The family immediately suspected Lisa Torregrossa of Del Mar Heights, but a text message denied any involvement. Ms. Torregrossa admitted some insider knowledge of the incident, however, and cryptically suggested the perpetrator(s) was a "tall man who casts no shadow," and under further interrogation clarified the individual was not Jesus because, "Jesus does not wear glasses".

The event was not detected by the family guard dog, Larry Briggs, but Tom Fudge, the resident cat is a suspected accomplice. Lately there has been heightened raccoon skirmishes in the region, but surprisingly the Peeps were unmolested by the bandits, suggesting a deeper, more sinister level of collusion.

Perhaps most tragically, the Peeps were rendered inedible by the forces of morning dew and ants.

Peeps are sugar coated marshmallow candy sold exclusively at Easter. The most common Peeps are either chick or bunny shaped and are manufactured in bright pastel colors associated with the season. Although Ghost Peeps are sold at Halloween, and Snowman Peeps can be found at Christmas, Easter is the high season for Peep consumption in North America, and connoisseurs of the confection will only consider bunnies and chicks to be authentic.

Strangely, in an unrelated incident, a fluorescent-colored, life-sized ceramic rooster appeared in the back yard of the same residence. The rooster manifested after Mr. Burnett spent the day in East LA and is reportedly not cross-eyed.







Getting Peeped was a nice way to mark your first Easter. We didn't try to take you to look for eggs or make you sit on a dude in a bunny suit for a picture. There will be plenty of years for all that. And I'm hoping that since you are my child, you will also someday love Peeps.

Love, Mama

Happy 1/2 Birthday Sadie! (video super post)

Dear Sadie,

Today you are exactly 6 months old. Although you have only been around for a half a year, our lives before you seem distant and hazy like a movie we saw once but didn't pay much attention to. You are growing so quickly that almost every day something is new about you. Yesterday it was a new noise. You figured out you could make a new sound by opening and closing your jaw to achieve a "daw daw daw daw" noise and an accompanying funny little expression.

We have been trying to get you to eat food. So far you have tried rice cereal, bananas and pears. You liked exactly none of it. You feel the food on your tongue and you roll it around a bit until you taste it, then you squeeze your eyes shut, shudder, grimace and then spit most of it out. It is kind of funny, but we are hoping you decide you change your mind about food so we keep trying. This is today's attempt at pears:



You are now rolling fluently from front to back and back to front. The other day you saw Larry sitting on his blanket on the other side of the room and we watched you roll in slow motion over and over until you got to the blanket. Larry had of course relocated by the time you arrived. Here is you rolling back and forth in a manner I call the tick-tock:



You have pretty much mastered sitting up, although you can not get into a sitting position on your own yet and you sometimes topple over. Here is a bit of sit 'n' play action:




And you are so good at jumping!




Happy half birthday Sadie! We love you so.

Big Day

Dear Sadie,

Today was a jackpot of new baby skills.

1. You can get your feet into your mouth
2. It is fun to add sound to spit bubbles
3. You finally flipped over from back to front









You were so enthralled by your feet and blowing raspberries that I decided to get it on video:



And in other news, yesterday Laurie and Phoebe came over for lunch. I think Phoebe is going to be your first BFF.




Love, Mama