Bianca Dancing

Please disregard my awful vocalizing to the music and admire Bianca holding her teething toy and "seemingly" moving herself to the music.

A Room of Our Own

We've done it. We've moved Bianca into her own room. It's the best move for all of us. She can sleep in peace and quiet without her snoring father and his rhythmic once-every-four-minute snort. I can get dressed in the bedroom in the morning instead of in the study. Both Ewa and I can read at night, or furthermore, can spend time in our bedroom with the light on after 8:30pm. Scandalous! Ewa and I had been discussing a timeframe for moving her out and then I came home from grocery shopping yesterday and it was done. Bianca's got the better view, the view of the marina and the bay. She's got the morning sunlight, when there is sun. And I think its generally warmer in her room. And just because we've take so many great pics recently, I'm going to put in a few.

Ewa and Bianca at lunch yesterday.

Bianca and I at lunch last week

Belly time: Naked and fist in mouth version

Three Kings

I should really back-date this, but then the 4 people that read the blog might miss it. We went to the Three Kings parade on Eiphany Day here in Ferrol. The parade was 2.5hrs late and I had to box out other people who were trying to Jones our prime viewing spot. Thanks to Beck's great monster of a Christmas gift umbrella I passive-aggressively outmanevuered them. Bianca was awake for the pre-parade caroling, asleep during the drawn out wait, and then wide awake and screaming as the third float passed. Home we went. Shitty parade anyway. Got a few winning shots though. My cousin Adam might refer to my red corduroys as the re-emergence of Euro-fag-nicity, but I likes 'em.

My Girls

Here are my girls on the Sunday after Bianca's 4-month birtday. Don't they look great? Bianca has moved up to sitting up, albeit at an angle, in her stroller and is really enjoying her increased view. The weather has been very mild, but turned cold and rainy again today, but the girls still get out for their daily constitutionals.

Sitting Practice

Quite a few iterations up on Youtube, but this one sums up the sitting experiment; lots of enthusiam, but little results.

Sunday Morning

I'm writing this from the peace and quiet of our apartment at 9:30 on a Sunday morning. I always feel like there is so much I want to write about this whole experience and how our interactions and Bianca's reactions to us change and grow every day, but as any parent knows the free time to let your mind really sink in and construct a half-decent paragraph is hard to come by.

So, in no particular order:

Bianca's 4 month check-up went perfect. She was 62cm long, 41cm head circumference and weighed in a healthy 6.55 kg (14.4lbs). There were many other children and babies in line to see Dr. Carames and she was running about 1hr late. No matter, Bianca and I, then Ewa and Bianca, pranced around the waiting area; showing her off. She received two shots and only cried for a short time after, 10-20 seconds max.

We thought that the Fisher Price Aquarium Bouncer might last two kids. That was the plan, anyway. But Bianca has found a new game, one that my mother the therapist thought was quite stimulating. She brings her feet up and kicks the 'dashboard' of the bouncer, loosening the connection between the 'dashboard' and the battery pack, so the spinning starfish, kissing fishies and their corresponding bubbles and music start and stop with each kick. Mom's glad she's learning Cause and Effect; and frankly, it amuses the hell out of me. Also, when the batteries start to die, we refer to the fishies as 'drunk fishies', as the song and bubbles slow down. Alcohol education can never start too early.

I'll upload some YouTube clips of Bianca splashing and trying to sit. She's good at sitting as long as she leans forward. If she goes slightly to the side she can correct herself, but once she leans backward its all over. She kicks like mad in the tub, splashing everything, and I think she'll be great at her baby 'schwimmen' when we go in the spring. She's enjoying her belly time more, but requires constant stimulation; a mirror, a rattle, a laughing parent, etc. We prompt the belly time with sitting, then when she spills over onto her tummy, she tucks her knees in and pulls her arms free; sometimes grunting with effort.

We've got her into a fairly good routine. She goes to bed at 8:30, after her bath and a quick nurse. Ewa nurses her again, usually in her sleep, at 11 and then she's down until 4 or 5. Sometimes I change her just before I leave for work around 7:15am, but overall she's sleeping very well.

Her head was slightly misshaped b/c she loves to suck on her right thumb and index finger to go to sleep; and then leaves her head on that side. We'd taken to straightening her head after she fell asleep because trying to force her to stay centered or to the left with a rolled up towel just infuriated her. Now, she self corrects in her sleep and since she propels herself to the right side of the crib, the bumper acts as the rolled-up-towel and she forces herself to face left. Thus, we have avoided her having to wear a helmet.

Anything she gets her hands on is going in her mouth and we swear she's interested in what we're eating. When she's in her bouncer during dinner she whines until we put her in our laps. Then she sits, very content, surveying the table and the food and us. If we're not careful she's liable to get a hand full of spaghetti sauce or cheese or zucchini and try to put it in her mouth. No success yet, but she's getting faster. It's like guarding your food from a dachshund, she's surprisingly quick and coordinated when she wants to be.

Ewa's reading to her in Polish, Italian and Spanish - so she's learning lots of different names for animals - and while we agree on most sounds, the rooster tends to be language specific - Cock-a-doodle-do is Ki-kiree-ki in Italian and Coo-coo-rikoo in Polish.

All for now.

Teething

Bianca's teething, and none too happy about it. She actually woke up screaming a few times last week. We think we're past the hard part. Bunches of photos up on fotki, but this is my new favorite.