Merry Christmas!

A handful of days before Christmas we managed to catch Santa out on a snowy day, doing some advanced scouting.

Although posted a day late - Merry Christmas from LS and family!

Bird - Bonus Clip!

We did have a clip of LS on her first day (Dec 7) of saying "bird" after all.

And here it is:



Moments later, about half way through this next clip she apparently says her second English word: "burger".



It is unclear whether she was actually asking for a "bird burger".

Bird is the Word

Last week LS said her first English word. Bird. It (Pássaro) was one of the first Portuguese words she recognized. We decided to start mixing in some English, especially the words that she already knows well in Portuguese. She's now on to "foot" and "knee" and a couple other things.

Of course, now learning words also means she can try to say them. Soon after recognizing the word, she was saying it. "Burrrd" We tried to get it on camera, but the camera draws her interest when it's near (we need a spy-cam!).

Papai immediately thought of this song when she was saying it. She'll even sing along a little if you sing it with her (alternating verses)!

Here's where I actually heard the song for the first time. Funny stuff.


(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2WNrx2jq184)

Tough Girl

The day after Thanksgiving, LS had a tussle with a chair. It seems the chair didn't hold up its end of the bargain that it would serve as a support for LS standing.

The chair in question is a lightweight aluminum dining chair. LS tried to use it for help, but instead ended up falling backward, still holding onto it, and pulling it down on top of her. Afterward, she was laying there flat on her back holding the grill of the back of the chair like she was in jail.

This was LS's first major fall, so she was none too pleased. She got some good crying going. We were afraid she hit the back of her head, but there was nothing apparent there. But the swelling under the left eye started immediately.

She was back in fine spirits mere minutes later, which is when the first picture here was taken. The pictures don't really give justice to the swelling. On the second and third days the swelling under the eye was enough that LS's eyelashes were nowhere to be found - stuck beneath the folds of the swollen cheek.

The third day looked the worst, as the slight scrape along the area became scabbed and looked like it was a mean cut. But by the next day (4th picture) the scab was already gone.

The 5th picture is from 5 days after the fall - almost back to normal.

The final picture is an additional week later (and less than two weeks after the fall), long since doing fine.

The lesson in all this - when you are going to take down an opponent, better to fall down on top of them, than pull them down onto you!

You have much to learn young grasshopper.

Cover Girl

It could only be so long before LS got discovered, yes?

Can you spot her? http://www.gogogiggle.com/

Hint: end of intro.

Note: This is a company started by someone Mamãe has worked with, and the photo came about during a stop in to visit. LS did it this once just for the experience. But she's been reading up on contract negotiation tactics in the meantime for when her next opportunity comes around.

And yes, she loved the socks! :-)

[updated: link to be a link]

Stairs - The Director's Cut

LS wanted to release the long version of her epic journey up the stairs. Well, Ok, Memére asked to see it.

Follow the epic journey of a young girl as she struggles against the forces aligned against her (gravity). Cheer on as she strives against all odds to achieve the ultimate goal.

Enjoy this new Director's Cut Edition - complete with LS's running commentary on the more subtle plot points.

Up the stairs!

Lots of things have been going on, and we'll hopefully catch up with them soon! Not a small part was LS turnng 13 (months)! We might just have to transition to half-years as the new milestones. This monthly thing is old hat for LS by now.

With at least one of her friends doing the same, we decided to give LS a shot at going up the stairs (over a week ago now). She's a big girl now, and they are carpeted afterall. She didn't do too bad this first time, but it did take a little over 6 minutes!

I decided to speed it up 12x to save everyone some viewing time, so it clocks in at just under 30 seconds! In parts it almost seems like everything around LS is sped up and she's just going normal speed. Maybe that's just the lesson she's trying to teach us.



She's definitely gotten a bit quicker since then. I even tried today to have her back her way down the stairs. That didn't go so well, as she kept trying to go back up. She must wonder why we can't make up our minds which way we want her to go.

Standing, Bathing, Having a Grand Ol' Time

We'll cover a couple things here.

First topic - LS got up and stood for the first time today. It was seen a couple times anyway. Still not walking - but in the words of Scooby: "Ruht-roh!"

She has stood up while holding on to a couch, gate, or wall for a while now. And will sometimes let go for a couple seconds before she realizes what she's doing. But this was middle-of-the-floor get-up-from-a-seated-position type stuff. The standing itself only lasted about 3 seconds before she fell back to sitting mind you. But I think we all know where this is headed pretty soon...

Tonight was a bath night for LS, and it just so happened that I had my fancy phone-with-video-recording handy so I decided to get some clips. Oh, baths used to be so fun. I remember fitting into bath tubs. Somewhere around 30 years ago.

Here are two clips. The first one LS is just splashing around.



In this next one, LS is having fun with the water draining out of the tub. At the end of this one, LS explains how the lever for the drain works. Or something.

Pointing Things Out

It seems right after her 1st birthday, LS really took an interest in pointing things out. It's funny how sometimes learning seems to accelerate.

She loves just pointing to things of course, and we oblige by telling her what the thing she's pointing at is. But what is more exciting is when we ask her where something is and she points to it.

Later in her birthday week I was leafing through one of her books with her as she sat on the sanita (toilet). Thus starts many years of sitting on the sanita and reading. Mamãe will show her the pictures in Papai's copies of The Economist which she takes great delight in.

But this day we were going through a book of hers with pictures of babies doing various things. When we got one page that has pictures of about 10 babies doing different things I figured I would give her a little test.

Onde está a bebé que está beber água no copo? (Where is the baby that's drinking water from a cup?)

She took about 5 long seconds scanning back and forth over both pages. Then... Bang! The decision made, she quickly points her finger right into the picture of the baby drinking from the cup. Nice! (Muito bem querida, muito bem!)

I didn't want my happiness to be based on a fluke naturally, so I decided she had to get two correct to pass. :-)

Onde está a bebé que está tomar banho? (Where is the baby that's taking a bath?)

She scans again. This time maybe 4 seconds. Then... Bang! Right on the picture of the baby in the little bath tub. Extra dessert for you tonight kid.

Of course, now she must imagine life is one big test. Whenever we're reading a book:

Where's the moon?
Where's the stars?
Where's the bird?
Where's the bee?
Where's the horse?

And of course, she can't away from it in real life either:

Where's the ball?
Where's the balloon?
Where's your ear?
Where's your knee?
Where's your foot?
Where's the hat?


Luckily she hasn't yet learned to say: "The same place it was last time you asked. Are you stupid?" She may be thinking it. But at least she can't say it!

My feeling when she first pointed out the water-drinking baby was more than just that she got what I was asking. It was also that she got it and it was asked in what I'm claiming is Portuguese. That this little experiment is taking hold - that she isn't condemned to not understanding anything.

This seems to be the perfect time for her to really get sign language too, as she's quickly adopted this too. We're only using eat, cup, and more (Queres comer? Copo? Mais?). Of course, her favorite method of indicating what she wants is still to point to it, but she's getting it.

Tonight, as dinner time was approaching, Mamãe asked LS: O que é que tu queres? (What do you want?) and LS responded by signing for "eat". Extra dessert for you tonight kid.

We may actually be on the brink of some words too. We're starting to hear some pronunciation that's somewhat understandable for more things.

pêra (pih'-ruh), which means "pear", kind of comes out as one syllable: "pra"

Likewise for bala (ball'-uh), which is "ball", kind of comes out as one syllable also: "bla"

Gato

Before we had the perfect daughter, we had the perfect kitty. And before she was "Gato" she was "Nickel Kitty".

Nicki was originally a stray, and after she was hanging around outside our house for a while was brought in. She had no idea what she was in for.

She joined six Dobermans, two parrots, and a snake. And a kid almost ready to head out to college. Those were crazy times and quite a circus! The dogs would chase her around and when they finally caught her!... they'd do nothing. If she hadn't been chased for a while she'd saunter out into the living room and make sure they were still interested.

Nicki was also brought in pregnant. She had five kittens, the number that was the source of her name. With a snake named "Pennies" it made sense to have a cat named "Nickel". The girlfriend who named them both is now Mamãe.

Eventually the snake joined the kid at college. The parrots were gone. And many of the Dobermans died off, replaced with a Dachshund (that Mamãe also had a strong hand in naming) who was more than willing to fulfill the role of chaser.

After about 10 years the rest of the remaining circus went to live in Florida, and Nicki came to stay with us. The snake was gone, so she finally had a whole place of her own! And she definitely owned us.

If you never met Nicki, you missed out on something. She loved to be picked up and petted (as long as you were an adult!) and she could be manhandled about any which way you could imagine, with her only reaction being to purr.

Nicki was a great companion for Mamãe when she was pregnant. While on bed rest, Nicki would lay right on the belly and purr. Maybe this is why LS would squeal with delight whenever she saw her.

Over the past year, Nicki transitioned well to her new name - Gato. She knew this meant her, and would even come to be petted by LS (with a little coaxing). She realized she no longer owned the house, but she still owned us.

Gato would have been the best gentle cat to grow up with, though for LS they were born about 20 years too far apart for that. But at least she was there for the beginning.

In the end, Gato was too good of a kitty to be in pain. After about 3 years of kidney disease and being given fluids twice-weekly via needle the time came today to say goodbye. She loved the back porch, where she would spend all day laying in the sun, and today that's where it ended for her.

You were a great kitty Nicki, and we'll all miss you.

First Day of One

Hard as it might be to believe - brace yourself - LS is now one!

Of course, what was the likelihood that LS would not have a custom-made birthday hat for this occasion? Since you're looking at the picture here, you might have guessed it. We're lucky that LS doesn't mind wearing hats. Of course, Mamãe has been training her from an early age!

We had decided that we would follow a variant of a tradition from Papai's side of the family. Which was: on the first birthday, the child gets to put their hands in the cake. We decided instead that LS would get her own little birthday cake to do with what she may. This worked out fine - we all got to have cake and other desserts first while LS was having her afternoon nap!

LS started slowly, working her hands in what appeared to her to be this mound of glue we put in front of her. Once she was shown that there was something else below the frosting, and that it could be picked apart, she gathered steam. Soon she was digging in and taking bites with reckless abandon.

Of course, with each handful about as much fell back down onto the dress as went in her mouth! Mamãe (and Papai a little too) helped her out some of course. When it was done, it looked rather like a cake-grenade had gone off on the high-chair.

Later at night when she's normally sleeping she wondered why she wasn't so tired as she usually is. We have some ideas why that was!



Luckily the weather was nice and we all got to spend a great day with family, with the kids (plus Papai and Mr. Mac) getting to play outside in the leaves. We happen to have an unnatural number of rakes, so mostly every child got one to use. We were only one short, and a snow shovel served well to make up the difference. Lots of fun raking, but naturally unraking was the best part!

Since Sapo hadn't made an appearance here for a while, we wanted to get a picture of them together yesterday. This time Anna also wanted to get into the action. It turned into a big free-for-all on the changing table. We're not sure who won in the end.

Last Day of Zero

Today was a great day to be your last day of zero. Of course LS doesn't know, so I guess it's a surprise. Memére is up for the weekend and enjoying the little bit of time they get together. And LS is getting used to Memére not being in "the box" (when using Skype, she's known as "Memére in a box").

LS decided that she wanted to be a pile of leaves for Halloween. We pointed out that this might be impractical, and that once she got the costume on she might not be able to go anywhere. But some things you just have to learn yourself.

As it turned out, she was quite content to just lay there and look up at the sky. It had it all. Stark leafless branches against blue. Clouds pushed by quickly by an eager wind. The punctuation of an occasional falling leaf or bird. It was really the best day to be a pile of leaves looking up at the sky after all.



As a bonus, LS gets 4% more birthday tomorrow! She's lucky enough this year that her birthday falls on Daylight Savings. We're going to be sure to put 104% effort into having a good time!

Thanks for making this year great LS.

Swimming

LS took her first trip to the big pool this past Sunday. We were hoping she'd like it, and she seemed to have a great time. We're planning on getting to the pool regularly over the winter if we can. Both for some exercise and also just to get out of the house.

Luckily this pool is just in the next town over, and a very short drive.

Papai took the responsibility for handling LS in the locker room and getting her changed afterward. The plastic chairs with arms were pretty handy, althought LS did want to stand on them a little too much.

It's tough to be in an environment where you are trying to both maximize safety and cleanliness at the same time, while you're both wet and splippery and need to get changed. A pool locker room floor isn't exactly where you want to put someone whose main interest in life is putting everything in their mouth.

The experience felt somewhat like spinning plates on a pole while trying to get dressed. Getting one article on, then tending back to LS to make sure she was seated back safely in the chair. If you're not sure what I mean, it's like this old Atari game - Dishaster. Though, thankfully, without the background music.

Nice Fall Days

This past week we had some nice fall days. The leaves are pretty, and the weather isn't too cold yet.

LS got a couple chances to romp out in the leaves and had a good time of it.

You can probably tell by the look on her face that she doesn't know yet that these things have to be gathered, put in bags, and put out for someone to take away. It's all just fun and games at this point!

LS is only one week away from the big "1". Naturally, it's hard for us to believe. And just as naturally, LS couldn't care less... We're getting her ready though. She's been practicing putting one finger in the air. That way she can satisfy those curious adults who might be tempted to ask her just how old she is now.

You can see below that LS is pretty much ready to take on the world. Even preparing herself for that other Fall pastime - Football!

You don't want to find yourself on the business end of this 19 pound bullet!

Goings on

Just by keeping tabs on the blog you'd think that nothing was going on around here! Which couldn't be further from the truth naturally.

LS had a VERY exciting time last weekend, since we went up to Maine to visit with my sister and family. The exciting part was that they have a dog. And LS LOVES dogs. Like, scream-if-she-sees-a-dog loves dogs.

Luckily the dog in question is a very friendly one. Not calm, but gentle enough around babies. LS loved to stand near a piece of furniture and hang on while watching the dog run around.

The dogs name is Isabelle, often just referred to as "Izzy". On the second day LS had some successful attempts (when prompted) of trying to say Izzy. Which came out a few times more like "Zizzy".

You can see her during Papai's wrestling match with Izzy how enamored LS was with whole situation!



LS also has tooth #3 close to coming in. Left side front either has or is very close to breaking the skin. Actually, from her waking up cranky a few nights ago I think we have a pretty good idea of when it broke the skin! But it hasn't quite started to grow down yet. With a little over two weeks to go until the 1 year milestone we'll see if she crosses that threshold with 3 or 4 teeth! It would be nice to have an even bite for eating her first cake naturally.

LS has also started to excel at identifying body parts. Who knows what exciting careers that might lead to! So far, when prompted, she will properly point out where her "joelho" (knee) and "pé" (foot) are. She's had "lábios" (lips) for a while, although usually it causes her to do the whole twiddle-the-lips-while-humming thing rather than just pointing them out! Today she seemed to properly point out "naríz" (nose) for the first time when prompted, but usually before her hand gets there she decides playing with her lips will be more fun.

11

Today marked the end of LS's 11th month! She thought it was a lot like yesterday. She expects tomorrow to be more of the same too...

Stat check: 60

Degrees Fahrenheit of our downstairs this morning (15.5 deg C). The high today was expected to be in the low 50's, so (sigh) the heat has been turned on. Usually we try and make it to November. LS hasn't made it to the age of wearing shorts all year though. Soon. Very soon.

Here's LS four days ago, trying to come out the screen at you.



We'll try to have some Froggy pics and stats soon. There won't be any official stats until next year though - LS's next scheduled checkup with the Doc is in early January.

Word up

Update: I've fixed the reference to the doll below to the proper "Raggedy Anne" instead of "Little Orphan Annie". As it is, we actually call her "Anna dos trapos" (Anne of the rags).

LS is getting the hang of language, despite our best efforts.

The week before last while in the kitchen I heard a pretty good "bah-nah-nyah" while Mamãe was feeding LS a banana. She couldn't quite repeat it, so we didn't know whether to give her full credit.

Later in the week she did a pretty good "Anna" (with Portuguese pronunciation!) as she looked at the doll in her room (Raggedy Anne) that she plays with when she gets up from naps (shown here after a big wet kiss). This one has been a little more reproducible than "banana" has been (of course, they are close enough that she might be wondering how these things are related).

We had some obvious word recognition lately as she learned how to respond to the Portuguese command "funga!" (pronounced more like "foonga!"). This might sound like an insult you might get from an old Italian man if you cut him off in traffic, but it actually is a form of a verb that means "to blow out your nose". It's great having one word for that! Of course, "blow it out your nose" also sounds like an insult, so I guess "funga!" can still be used that way. Feel free to use it, but expect to get a confused look if you say it to someone Portuguese.

With a little bit of teaching, LS knows to blow out her nose when you say "funga!" As she was getting a cold this really came in handy! Unfortunately, as both parents then got sick, we've gotten more practice with this word then we'd really like.

Earlier tonight it seemed there was a breakthrough in the "m" words. Up until now it seems that many things starting with "m" would blend together and mostly sound like "meh".

While skyping with Memére (pronounced like "meh-may") tonight, LS really got the "may" part out well several times. She did a good job getting out meh-may. Let's just say Memére was happy. The last couple visits with her great-grandmother and grandmother she's also approximated getting out "vuh-vuh" and "vuh" respectively. We're giving her until her first birthday (November) to get all the family names down pat.

Shortly afterward, Mamãe was putting the final touches on getting LS ready for bed and LS got out a good "mãe" (which sounds roughly like "my"). We'll see if this newfound ability sticks.

What'll be ironic is that we have few Portuguese speakers around, so she's pretty much going to sound like she's still babbling even if she spoke clearly! In fact, people probably think her parents have just been babbling for months now. Hmm, maybe we are.

Sanita

I always thought that "Sanita" sounded like it would be a nice girl's name. Kind of like "Anita" with a nice soft "S" in front to make it flow smoothly.

Unfortunately, in Portuguese the word "sanita" means "toilet". If you ever meet a girl named Sanita, I'm sorry I spoiled it for you.

The last couple days LS has branched out into using the sanita. Naturally, we have a baby seat that fits over the regular seat and she has to be held. She doesn't actually tell us when she has to go or anything. But, if we know it's coming then we get her on the seat, and so far we're batting 1000.

Her changing table has been in the bathroom for months right across from the sanita - an accidental great convenience! And she's had months of trying to figure out what the heck her parents are doing with this crazy contraption.

I have to be honest that joy was not an emotion I particularly ever thought I'd associate with seeing someone on a "sanita".

Double Digits

It's been a while since LS has hit double digits with anything. Tuesday it was official - 10 months. Yikes!

Stat Check: 2.11194 gallons (7.994 liters) - displacement when LS is placed in water.

As it happened, LS had her 10-month checkup exactly on her 10th monthiversary. All went well, and the Dr. said he didn't need to see her again until 14 months since she's progressing well. She jumped a percentile group since the last visit 4 months ago, so a growth-spurt of sorts apparently.

Two shots today, and handled them pretty well. Unfortunately, LS's big present today was a blood draw. Testing iron levels and for lead. When the Dr. said "venal draw" she actually cried. Surprised, he said it again. She cried again. Ugh.

We went up a floor to the lab, and after a short wait went in. She sat on dad's lap, and kept eyes locked on mom while the blood was drawn. She cried, but much less than we feared. We told her she did a great job and showed courage beyond her years. Uh, year. Eh, months.

Afterward in the car Mamãe told LS it was a good thing that her crocodile toy was in mom's pocket because otherwise it would have bitten those mean nurses for her. In better spirits by then, she laughed.

Boa Voyagem

LS is back safely on US soil. The trip back was definitely better than the way there in terms of LS's mood.

We didn't make it easy for her. To start, she had to get up after 8 hours of sleep instead of her usual 12 hours. Then she was put through a voyage that took about 17 hours door to door, including two plane rides, passport check, customs check, and two trips through security. And she couldn't nap on the plane so well, only getting one nap of about 40 minutes the whole time.

Here she was at the beginning of the first plane ride (which was about 7 and a half hours) from Lisbon to Philadelphia. She was especially happy because she thought maybe she got to keep her own seat. But no, back to the laps.

The lowlight of the trip was 6 diaper changes and 2 wardrobe changes. Mamãe changed her 4 times on the flight to Philadephia, once right at the beginning, once right at the end, and a couple between (once requiring a change of outfit as well).

Mom again practiced her talents of using the bathroom while holding LS and wearing a backpack, but this time in an airplane bathroom. Really, at this point, I think she's showing off. Papai barely feels like he can successfully use the airplane bathroom without all that other stuff.

The need for perhaps the worst diaper change (and wardrobe change) was discovered while in Philadephia in the huge passport check area. Mamãe had to walk what seemed like half the airport to get to the nearest bathroom, and we didn't have another dry outfit in waiting...

We were lucky on three counts though: (1) LS was able to wear just a diaper and her jacket (the brown one in the picture) for a few minutes; (2) although the change took a long time, Papai's wait in the passport line was longer, so no time was lost; and (3) we had to get our luggage to re-check for the flight to Boston, so we were able to dig out another couple outfits before the next flight.

Papai got his chance to change LS on the flight to Boston. I couldn't stand up without hitting my head on the ceiling of the bathroom, but all in all it wasn't too bad. LS decided not to be too wiggly, which helped.

We think LS stole a lot of hearts on the plane rides. She seemed to make a game of it. Casting her eyes about and laughing and smiling, seeing how many she could bring into her circle. She definitely made a new friend of the young man from Mexico who sat next to us on the flight to Philadelphia. She laughed and smiled as she watched him intently as he ate, and the trap was set.

There was another first, of sorts, to finish off the trip. At the end of the plane ride to Philadelphia as we were waiting to get off the plane, LS stood for the first time assisting herself instead of being held. She stood on Papai's lap, with her hands up on the seat back in front of her, happy as could be. This wasn't too unexpected, since she's been found kneeling and holding the crib railing when we've gotten her from her recent naps.

At the end of the trip, it seemed that LS weathered it better than we did. We were wiped out, exhausted, and ready to collapse. LS was bright-eyed, smiling, and talkative. Ahh.. youth.

Homeward Bound

Tomorrow (well about 5 hours from now) starts the trip home. Hopefully LS will be OK with being home - she sure has come to like it here, as you can probably tell.

She's had no shortage of people fawning over her, so what's not to like?

Packing up for home always makes for a tough last day, but doing so around the schedule of an almost-10-month-old, as with everything else, is that much harder. It makes for some tired parents.

We're sure LS will miss everyone here in Portugal, and she'd look forward to coming back if she knew how to look forward to something. She'll learn.

Hopefully she'll get a good night's sleep, because she has to get up early. Instead of noon, she'll be getting up around 7am. We're hoping she'll sleep in the car on the way to the airport - at least that will help a little. But we don't expect the journey to be any fun.

We should be leaving around 7am, which is 2am back home. We should finally get home around 7pm local time - so probably about 17 hours of travel time. Wow, I shouldn't have just figured that out. That's a little depressing, and it starts in only 5 hours!

Off to finish packing!

Adeus Portugal - Até a próxima!

Oh the changes!

LS has definitely undergone many transformations while we've been on vacation. The first was the crawling. She's still not exactly setting speed records, but now she's of course a constant threat to go where you don't want her to go.

The second has been the teeth. Uh, tooth. It started coming in on the 14th. It broke through at 4am on Sunday, August 16th, local Portuguese time. This is based on her waking up screaming at that time. Checking later in the morning when she got up for real, there was definitely a razor sharp lower-right incisor evident!

The third thing has been a real marked increase in babbling and combining sounds together. It must be having so many people around that can actually speak the language that her parents are trying to speak to her! Once she gets going, she's going to be such a talker.

Yet a fourth thing that LS seemed to accomplish was waving. Of course it didn't please Mamãe that the first wave was to a stranger standing in line at the bank. This is how she repays all the times we waved to her. *sigh*

Finally, a fifth thing the last few days has been better attempts at clapping her hands together. It isn't really with her hands open, and one arm has more swing to it than the other, but she's getting there!

It seems like this vacation was quite a window in development that we hit, and she'll return a different child altogether.

She's also tasted new foods, like grilled sardinhas (sardines) and rabbit. The sardinha she didn't like so much, the rabbit no problem.

LS has actually woken up the last three nights in a row in the middle of the night (3:30am - 4am local time) screaming, and Papai thought he might have caught a glimpse of a second tooth below the gum coming in during the day today. But LS decided to be too wiggly to check for certain. We'll see if she can manage to get 2 teeth to come in during the trip. It would certainly explain all the screaming.

Chariots of Fire

We headed for Portugal knowing that it was likely that at least one, if not both, of two things would happen - LS would start to crawl, and LS would start to get some teeth.

She was showing signs even before we left, and it's been building steadily since. There was some action today that probably actually counts as crawling. No speed records have been broken yet. But now our eyes are wide open with the fear of knowing that soon we're going to be chasing her everywhere! Luckily we already bought European outlet covers.

Naturally, we tried to get a clip of her early success. This clip today ended up being the best that we had seen to that point.



Oh, and also, LS does seem to be drooling more than normal. So it's entirely possible that some time in the next 2+ weeks, the teeth are going to come too! Or maybe it's just from watching us eat tasty pastries all the time...

We went to the beach again today, and this time had batteries! Unfortunately there weren't nearly as many seagulls today. LS was happy to see a few though.

Ls also insisted that we take a picture of her with the sunset so she could prove that they were together. We think she just wanted to show off her profile.

Vuh-vuh-vuh

Yesterday we rushed down to the beach to watch the sunset over the ocean with LS, just after her afternoon nap (which ends at 8:30PM Portugal-time). We cut it close, but it's about a 3 minute drive, so we made it. Barely.

We got out along the walkway that's elevated somewhat from the beach, but not quite as high as the nearby cliffs. From there we saw the last half of the sunset. Very nice.

There's a common type of bird here in Portugal that seems to fly like dolphins swim. They dart here and there, gliding then swooping down with their wings tucked to their sides - always making progress by rising up and diving down. LS got a few looks at those and was delighted. But the best was yet to come.

Apparently at sunset the seagulls like to make their way up the coast northward. So soon after the sunset, and in the darkening sky, seagulls would come flying by in groups of three or four, left to right. Since we were elevated they weren't that far overhead. They were also flying into the wind, so their progress past us was nice and leisurely.

Now this delighted LS greatly. We would point them out and their name in Portuguese, "gaivota" (guy-voh'-tuh), and she would shriek in delight - kicking her legs and wiggling around in the process.

Unfortunately we had run out of batteries in the camera the day before, so no pictures or little movies.

As we would say gaivota, LS would then say, approximately, "vuh-vuh-vuh". Not bad!

We then went back to the car and took the 1 minute drive to a perch off a road along the tops of the cliffs. At that vantage point they were often about eye level and maybe twenty feet away, as they flew along the cliffs, above the crashing waves below, silhouetted against the post-sunset pink sky.

Vuh-vuh-vuh! Vuh-vuh-vuh!

Bem Vindo á Portugal!

Given that a picture is worth 1,000 words, Papai could have saved himself a lot of trouble here. We missed out on the perfect photo opportunitiy to illustrate the journey over to Portugal.

The missed picture: LS, in the car ride from the Lisbon airport to the final destination, slumped over in her car seat fast asleep. It was the epitome of a hesitant surrender to exhaustion.

The trip over could have been worse. We'll start by saying that.

The first leg of the flight, from Boston to Philadelphia, went very smoothly. No lines to get the ticket at Logan airport and no real line through security. And the flight itself was easy.

The second leg of the flight was a little more challenging. 7 hours from Philadelphia to Lisbon, starting about an hour after bed time. Not exactly being set up for success.

Too many details to cover, but the summary is that LS slept off-and-on, crying when she wasn't sleeping, and needing to be nursed back to sleep each time. Luckily Mamãe had the pacifier handy also. Papai tried to get a little sleep, Mamãe didn't get any.

Happily, if you have little kids, you get put into an expedited line through the passport check. This allowed LS to be changed and a bathroom stop made in the passport area bathroom, and we still got through before any of the non-kids-having passengers on our plane. Thanks LS!

Another picture opportunity of sorts was missed too, but this is for the best - especially since no one really saw it exactly. The feat - Mamãe using the airport bathroom; without touching the toilet, while holding LS, with a backpack on, in a stall barely big enough to turn around in. And even with the door closed.

There was no line at the car rental counter - sweet! The car seat was installed for us with no delay, and the car ride over was a breeze.

When we got to the house, LS's Avô (grandfather) was doing some final preparation in the house. Papai and Avô finished putting the crib together that is being borrowed from one of the cousins.

We weren't smart enough to get the camera out for LS and Avô's meeting. LS loved that Avô likes to whistle, sing, and dance. It was enough to get some smiles out of an exhausted little girl. His prediliction for whistling bird call imitations has earned him the nickname "Avô Pássaro" - which if you don't quite pronounce "Avô" right kind of rhymes (Ah-voo' Pah'-suh-roo).

Since arriving, LS has slept well. She's staying on US time, which means getting up at noon, naps during the afternoon, and bedtime is midnight. The use of shutters, which keeps a Portuguese room pitch black in the middle of a bright day, is very welcomed.

We've only gotten to about 500 words here, so you're only getting half the picture. But really, it was safer then crawling around to get a camera and taking a picture while speeding down a Portuguese highway.

Hanging with Memére

On Sunday after dinner, LS hung out with Memére. Even though they were actually about 1100 miles apart. Courtesy of Skype video naturally... Both were very pleased.

Firsts

Just about everything so far, of course, is a first for LS. But lately there have been some fun firsts.

A couple weeks ago LS had her first time in the pool, at Avó and Grandpa's house. She didn't seem as impressed with it as we were. We caught here her first moments getting in the water. So far we just got her used to the idea of being in some water. It'll have to be at least next time before we're swimming underwater with her...



After this first minute or so with Papai, LS spent a good amount of time playing in the water, mostly with Mamãe.

The week after that, LS had some more firsts. We went to the Cape for a couple days and she got to have (1) her first time away from home more than one night, and (2) her first time at the beach and ocean. Dad was also happy to have a first - having donuts for breakfast ON the beach. Mmmm.

Sometime in these last few weeks she also crossed the line of being on the outside longer than the inside. She must be getting used to it by now, no?

Pretty soon LS will be seeing the ocean from the other side of the Atlantic. She's curious if the waves start at the beaches there, since they seem to end at the beach here. In this picture she might be pondering just that:



Here we all are enjoying getting our feet in the water:



And finally, it seemed appropriate to strike a pose together:



Oh! Almost forgot another first. LS's first nap taken in Papai's arms while he walked up and down the beach... But at least she slept! And we didn't have to go home...

It won't be long before there are some more important firsts, and we'll try to update with some of it if we can. Among these:

• First time going through security at the airport


• First time waiting in line for a rental car at the Lisbon airport


• First taste of Pasteís de Nata in the Old Country

And tomorrow yet another - first day as a 9-month-old.

A minute of time

These pictures were taken a couple weeks back over the course of a little under a minute. Thought it might be fun to recreate a sort of photobooth feel like days of old. Ironic of course that a digital camera and software was used to that effect. I don't imagine those photobooths are in much demand these days, given that almost everyone always has a camera on them - even if only on their phone.

There's probably a pile of those photobooths somewhere next to the pile of buggy whips and VCRs.

Lingua Doida

This post is more about Dad (Papai) then about LS. It just speaks to what LS is up against.

Speaking Portguese to LS is generally pretty easy. I like to say that I can speak well enough to fool an infant. Though sometimes I wonder. Mostly it isn't too bad, as you generally are saying a lot of the same things over and over again. Should I ever have occassion to say to someone in Portugal that it is time to change their diaper, they'll be impressed how authentic it sounds.

What I dislike the most is speaking too slowly, so sometimes I risk inaccuracy for speaking a little faster. Sometimes it doesn't work out.

Today there was a funny exchange. I took a bike ride during lunch, which takes me a little less than an hour. This was during the time that LS was being fed by Mamãe.

Upon my return I said to Mamãe, in Portuguese:

"She you ate well?"

I realized as soon as I said it that I mispoke, so I quickly corrected it:

"She I ate well?"

Gah! I realized right away that I had incorrectly corrected myself. Finally:

"She ate well?"

After which I muttered under my breath, in English. My consolation is that at least I didn't invoke any of the plural conjugations. Hitting all the singular cases is bad enough...

Oh, LS. How long before you are the one correcting me?

(For the record, she did eat well)

LS sees the Vet

We took LS to the veterinarian this past Friday. Ok, well, she was along for the ride. We were really bringing the cat (gato), and since we both wanted to be there, LS was dragged along as well. LS is glad she gets a car seat and not put in a pet carrier.

The reaction to the "cute baby" at the vet's may be similar to the reaction you'd get bringing a cute puppy into the pediatricians office I imagine. Except for the part where they wouldn't let you bring the puppy past the front door...

When gato (Nicky) had her turn come mom, dad, gato, and LS all went into the exam room together. LS was pretty well behaved taking in the new surroundings. The vet tech was able to get gato's weight, take some information about her recent behaviors, etc. Then she left the room to fetch the vet.

As soon as the door to the exam room closed, mom and dad exchanged a knowing glance; both thinking the exact same thing.

The scale. The one moments earlier they used to weigh the cat. The scale that carried the marking: "Baby Scale".

Not that there was much time for mulling it over - but how could we not? Mom hit the "on" button and in a few seconds the scale set to zero. Dad moved quickly across the room to let LS lay in her momentary cradle, seeing visions of the odd moment it would be if the vet came in right then. Come on - settle, settle. There! we've got it.

LS was whisked away back in Papai's arm, successfully measured and content.

And so...

Stat Check: 16 pounds, 13 ounces. Wow! Given the presence of light clothing and a slightly more bulky diaper than she dons for her official weighings, we'll call it 16.5 pounds (7.5 kilos for LS's Eurofans).

A particularly successful visit to the vet's office.

And the cat's doing OK too. For those wondering, she's hangin' in there well for an 18 year-old (she can vote!). She lost a slight amount of weight compared to last year, and we may increase her fluid supplement to more than twice a week.

Cheerios

Just about a week ago, LS hit the 8 month mark. She just takes it in stride at this point.

She heard from a friend of hers that he had started Cheerios, so she demanded we do the same. No teeth? No matter. A little chewing with the gums and they mush right up. Keep 'em coming.

Stat check: 16, and 25.75. Pounds and inches, respectively. "Nossa grande pequena" indeed.

Now, brash as she is, LS still knows she has to tackle these new things with care. So, she decided that as a first step she would practice picking up Cheerios and dropping them in her lap. Genius. That's Ok - keep it going; we've got a big box here.



LS then pulled the ol' "swat the Cheerio out of Mom's hand" gag. No matter how many times she told us this time she would really grab it, we kept falling for it.



It's hard to make out at normal speed, but seen here at 4X normal speed, parts of this are actually an intricate secret handshake.

Wigging out

LS has been on "solid" food now for almost two months. We noticed not long afterward that her hair was getting thicker. This recently accelerated almost out of control, and you can tell by the look on her face that even she's a little freaked out about it.



For reasons of safety, we think soon we'll have to start putting a hair net on her any time she goes to bed.



Weirder still is when we tried to cut it, it just came back again. But different. And longer. This mirror shot captures her surprise.



And talk about unmanageable...

The Letter 'M'

Today's post is brought to you by the letter 'M'.

LS starting really pronouncing 'M' today. She's been mouthing it for a while, but today she put it all together. Pretty cute stuff.

We had a great Father's Day weekend. Filled with family and fun. LS performed admirably with various car travel and different sleeping arrangements (sleeping over Avó and Grandpa's house for the first time even!).

We're definitely glad she's a good and seemingly adaptable sleeper - and we're really hoping that carries over during the flights to and from Portugal later this summer! (fingers crossed) We're really hoping not to be the ones with the screaming baby everyone had to put up with on their transcontinental flight!

Here's LS showing off her 'M':

Popeye

From LS's point of view, we've been going by the names Mamãe (muh-my') and Papai (puh-pie'), both playful forms of the names for mother and father in Portuguese.

When I hear Papai I often hear it as a funny pronunciation of Popeye, which if I'm going to live up to I'll have to "eats me spinach". Perhaps her friends will expect me to have a corn-cob pipe and call her "Swee'pea" too. I'm going to draw the line at getting a tattoo of an anchor on me for'ams though.

We took the picture below today. Uncanny resemblance.

Weekend visit

Memere came for a visit for a long weekend - Friday night to Monday night. A good time was had by all.

On Sunday, Memere got LS all to herself so mom could sell some hats. The two had a good time together, and both were well behaved. :-) And of course, this was incredibly handy for mom and dad. Anytime Memere wants to take a 6 hour round-trip plane ride to do some babysitting, we're all for it!

The moment caught below was shortly before Memere left to go back home (really good laughing between 0:48 and 1:08! (followed by a great impersonation of a pterodactyl)).

Froggy Bonus Clip

This was taken yesterday also, after the pictures. You can see how well the two get along.

0.5833333...

LS is now 7/12 the way around the sun.

Stat check: 14.5 pounds - LS "unofficial" weight at 7 months ("Dad + LS - Dad" method)

If that's fairly accurate, it means she's gained about 1.5 pounds this month (she was 12 pounds 15 ounces at the six month checkup).

Here's LS showing off her look after enjoying one of her favorites - avacado! Taken yesterday, May 31.



We all thought this was a great occassion for an update with Froggy (or "Sapo" em Português). If you go back to the first post with the picture with Froggy here it is crazy to see the difference.

Here's the picture from today:



Using froggy as a constant for proper scaling, we were able to put together this composite comparing LS at 8 days old and 7 months old. What a difference a couple hundred days makes!

Mouthing Off

LS developed a new trick today, which we captured on dad's camera phone (fresh off a fresh software update that added video capability). Video captured with a phone? What kind of world are we living in?

The new behavior in question was a sort of mouthing that seems like imitation talking with no sound.

I wasn't able to edit this video since the format off the phone was in one difficult to work with, but at least it's less than a minute total. The parts in question are particularly around 15 seconds and 28 seconds in. Beware - it is also preceded by screeching!

Roughly translated, it is probably something like: "Why are you pointing that phone at me?" The confusion on her face is evident.



Big day tomorrow, 7 months! Being half a year old is so last month.

Stat check: Dad + LS = 229 pounds. Unfortunately dad forgot to then weight without LS to figure the difference. Better data soon...

A busy couple days

It's been a busy couple days for LS - and her parents!

Yesterday, LS took her first solo road trip with dad. We headed to Wellesley to visit LS's cousin before her graduation next week. LS can't make the graduation, so we figured she should go on this visit to see the campus!

She behaved very well, including a feeding in the college cafeteria. She gave quite a speech in the middle of her meal, getting the attention of most in the cafeteria. Even better, her dear cousin did her first baby bottle-feeding following the solid-food portion of the meal.

Today, mom had her first show to sell hats since LS hit the scene. It was a very lightly attended show, but she still sold 3 hats. We set up outside with a tent, and luckily it was a beautiful day - after having been a pretty rainy week.

LS had a baby-sitter for the morning while the show was set up. Her baby-sitter will soon have her speaking better Portuguese than her parents and we'll have to struggle to keep up!

Despite a day of shorter naps, LS did well. She's been eating really well, and growing of course.

It's pretty much a trend now that she sleeps through the night. Usually 7pm-7am or something along those lines. Many days she's taking 2 to 3 hour naps also. Giving mom extra time to get some work done! (And do things like make LS's food...)

After today's show, LS hung out while we packed up. Here she's learning the subtleties of flowers from mom.



It was a really beautiful day today. So after this she relaxed in the shade of the tent barefoot with a book while we finished packing. :-) Ahhhhh...

Swingin'

LS had her first time in the swing today. It turned out to be a nicer weather weekend than expected. We also have a special treat today, as LS took her first turn with the camera. More on that later.

Here's LS in the swing, with the garden as a backdrop. Not a bad view for some springtime swinging.



After this, LS decided she wanted a turn behind the camera. She chose a fairly avant garde approach for her first filming. Specifically, she chose a style of progressively letting the camera slip through the leg-hole of the swing. Don't be surprised if you see this style get picked up by the big boys in a few years. It has shades of Blair Witch Project but more kinetic.

It provides a unique view into the infant swing experience. Her subtle narration style is also noteworthy. Breathy yet not overbearing. She's angling for a place at Cannes next year, with a working title of Glissement par le Trou de Jambe:

Too few

Unfortunately the updates here have been few and far between. This doesn't mean that LS's life has gotten boring or anything. Although, she has taken quite an interest in napping now, particularly since starting on the solid food. 3.5 hours is longest so far!

There's been a request for pictures with Froggy - and we'll have one of those photo sessions soon. In the meantime, one thing we wanted to document was a new behavior LS started last week - though it's tailed off. She just decided that it was going to be fun to wrinkle up her nose and breathe loudly. Mom caught it on tape last week when it was a new thing.

You'll only waste 10 seconds of your life watching it...



LS is starting to roll over more now. At this point "more" means "a few times"... Though yesterday when Dad went to get her after her nap she was found stuck on her stomach. She didn't seem too happy about it, since it didn't seem she could get back onto her back from where she was. And she apparently had kicked her sock off trying!

She's definitely proud of the strength she's gaining - as you may detect in the picture below taken earlier today! Talk about a ham...

Half way around

A few days ago, LS marked the half-way point of her first trip around the sun. What a voyage so far.

We somewhat arbitrarily picked this as the time to start feeding LS "solid" food. Although "solid" in this case is a misnomer, that could more accurately be described as "non-milk". Then again, a good portion of it is actually milk. So, hm, it's more like "milk with a little other stuff mashed in".

Anyway - to start out with we ground some brown rice, got out the camera, and got down to business!

LS was pretty shy about the experience at first, which you can see in the first video here. At the end of the video you can just imagine LS saying "please, why are they doing this to me?" as she peers longingly into the camera.



By a couple days later, LS was much more expert. This next video shows her with the hang of it. We get a nice extreme close-up at the end.

Hangin out

Real Spring weather is finally upon us. Yesterday was up around 70, and today's high was around 90 apparently. Tomorrow is supposed to be more of the same.

Mom got to go to the studio to work on a hat while LS had a nap on Friday afternoon. She's been having pretty good naps here and there - not entirely consistently, but nice when they come. Some days she'll take a 2 hour nap, and one day even had two!

Anyway, when LS woke up yesterday afternoon she didn't cry - she just laid there and was apparently practicing here "words". Mostly "Ooo" and "Uuh", maybe an occassional "Agoo". That seems to be the vocabulary, with some different pitch variations thrown in to shake things up.

After 15 minutes or so, we called Mom to come home, and LS and dad went out and sat on the front steps to wait for her to come by.

It was a nice tranquil moment. LS sat on my lap there, taking in the Friday afternoon goings-on of the neighborhood. She watched the neighbor doing some chore or another for a while, no doubt amused that life should be anything other than getting carried around and looked after.

There were nice sounds to point out. A dog barking a few houses over ("O cão!"). Birds flying around ("Podes ouvir o pássaro?"). A bee buzzing around the bushes ("Abelha" - though not like the "abelha" LS has inside with the rattle in its tail!).

At one point LS looked up into the nearby trees, which are just starting to bud and are mostly branches against sky.

Oooo! ...Uuuh!

I agree.

Easter

Well, we had a first this year. The Easter Bunny actually stopped by to visit. We even got it to stay long enough to get some pictures. We really wanted LS to meet the Easter Bunny, but we never managed to get them in the same room at the same time. Strangest thing.

Today a spoon, tomorrow the world

We decided today that we'd give LS a chance to get used to using a spoon by giving her some breast milk at dinner. That might sound fairly awkward. However, the milk was first put into a little cup.

We figured we should capture LS's first experiences with the spoon, so here they are.



To our surprise, three minutes later we got the camera back out so we could capture LS doing very well with the spoon.



We might make some steak out on the grill tomorrow night. So we'll see if there's as much success with a fork and knife.

Five

Do you know where you were 151 days ago? We certainly do.

The picture here was taken two days ago. We're pretty sure that if you haven't fallen in love with LS yet, that this picture will likely push you over the edge.

In the last few days LS has moved on from her open-mouth talking to incorporating a "blowing bubbles" approach, or you might describe it as a raspberry style.

We'll let her do the rest of the talking for this post (filmed earlier today).

Gato!

Nicki has gotten much braver over the months - at least with regards to LS. Whenever she comes around now, we say "Gato!" to LS. Nicki has learned that this is Portuguese for "Come here kitty so we can have LS pet you!".

We got this picture last week. Tolerant eh?

This video was shot yesterday. It just shows that Nicki will take attention wherever she can get it.

Go ahead and jump!

LS isn't jumping yet, but she did try out her "jumpup" for the first time today. She seemed to like it. And had some to say about it here:





For a sense of scale, LS wanted a picture with dad. From this perch in the doorway, LS gets views of the sitting rooom, the kitchen, and the eating room out onto the back porch.

She seemed to enjoy trying to keep an eye on Nicki as she walked from the eating room to the kitchen and back. Of course, she hasn't mastered the skill of turning to face a specific direction yet.

We'll be sure to capture more footage of LS on this contraption as she builds up her skill level.

More to Say

We captured LS in a more talkative mood this afternoon. She hanging around with Macaco (monkey) and goes on a pretty good ramble. Also some good camera angles and the patented "eyeball extreme closeup" move.

She's more pensive at the beginning as she gathers her thoughts on what it is she wants to say. And also somewhat reflective at the end to give you a chance to consider her points. Very considerate.