Fro

Imagining what Matilda will look like with her daddy's hair.

Tales of Fluffy

Meet Fluffy.



















Matilda was given Fluffy by her Grandpa Hugh, aka G-pop. Before residing here with us (as pictured below), Fluffy had an idyllic life on the farm with the rest of his flock (as pictured above). Unfortunately for him (but lucky for Miss M) he was sent off to the butcher and we got a lovely, soft sheepskin out of the deal. Matilda loves all manner of fabric and textures and is always intrigued with examining new items. She will carefully inspect a material's pattern and then rub her face onto the new specimen. Fluffy is like the Holy Grail of textures for Matilda and sends her into a special kind of frenzy. She can be in the worst of moods and when presented with Fluffy she will forget her worries.

Tim wishes that Fluffy had his head attached still, so we could have a sheepskin rug, in the fine bearskin rug tradition. When a package from G-pop showed up Saturday we all joked that it was the missing head. I am more than happy that this is not the case, and keep trying to convince him sheepskin rugs are cooler with out the head. He won't buy it.
















Matilda seen in ecstasy lying on her sheepskin.















Caught in the act: jamming fistfuls of wool into her mouth. Poor Fluffy would be bald soon if it were up to Matilda.

Call Arnold

Key nutrition bills are sitting on the Governor's desk and he has until September 30th to act. AB 2384 (Improved Access to Fruits and Vegetables) and AB 2205 (Three Connections to Healthy Eating) could make a big difference in the health of kids and families throughout our state. The California Food Policy Advocates (CFPA) has a campaign to call on Friday, September 8th and show support for these bills. If you Californians have a moment to call and let him know your feeling on these please do so. For details on how to call or email support see the CFPA flyer.

Belated Dessert

I am working on Tim's Dessert of the Month today, not getting a head start on September but actually trying to catch up on August. He was having a really difficult time deciding on his choice and the month just slipped by. Inspired by all the fresh figs at the market he found two fig desserts that he couldn't choose between, so we will have figs for both August and September desserts. Today I will make the Fresh Fig Tart with Rosemary Cornmeal Crust and Lemon Mascarpone Cream. Later in the month we will have Baked Figs topped with homemade Honey-Whiskey Ice Cream. And his Mom says that he is spoiled - imagine that.

Change Gears

Ladies and Gentleman, hold on to your hats. Matilda is now moving forward. It is not pretty, and not what you would call a traditional crawl, but by sheer force of determination she is getting herself forwards. It is pretty amazing to witness.

5 Months Old

Matilda has had a big month.

She is still working on perfecting the art of sitting up.

She got to go home and visit her roots.

Matilda is a busy girl and would prefer to constantly be on the move. She is working hard at standing. She has always loved to stand and would demand that I hold her in the standing position for hours some days to survey the landscape. Now she can stand up by holding onto something for support - the coffee table, her fluffy sheep, the play mat arches or her dad's hair. Matilda's other new development this month has been scooting backwards, soon nothing in the house will be safe from her drool.


Rather than enjoy the swing ride, Matilda's objective was to suck on the cross bar. Matilda has been teething for the past month or so and has had everything under the sun in her mouth. Thankfully the puking has decreased somewhat, but is replaced by the drool. She will soak whatever she is playing with. One day recently Tim came home from work and picked up a toy to offer her, unaware that she had given it a good soaking earlier - he let out a good scream as he had a handful of cold soggy duck. Matilda is also developing new vocal sounds and has quite a grunt - we have yet to decipher the meaning.

Vinyl

Someone said recently that babies will show you what needs baby-proofing - I don't think that Matilda was trying to tell us she is a fan of the vinyl format. The days of leaving her on her playmat with a pile of toys are clearly numbered. She was busy pulling all the plastic sleeves off of her father's records.

On the Move

Matilda is definitely on the move more lately. Today she has really gotten the hang of scooting herself backwards. The funniest part is how aggravated she gets. She clearly is trying to move forward to get some toy and gets so mad to be moving farther from it. It usually ends with her screaming in frustration at said target. This morning I watched her go backwards in a complete circle, ending up in the same place still just a few inches from the crinkly goldfish that she wanted. Pictured here you can see that Matilda has backed herself under the edge of her changing table.

Perfect for the Nanny!

Seeing how much Matilda enjoyed the animals on our trip home, we have been looking into getting a zoo membership. It is close to our place and would be a nice destination to take Miss M and get out of the house when she has had enough of these four walls. Plus it is a nice hilly zoo and would be a good workout to hike around with Bob. In researching the various membership levels I found this:

KEEPERS' CLUB

• Free unlimited admission for three adults named on card—perfect for a nanny! - or two adults (named on the card) and one guest for one year
• Free admission for all of your children and grandchildren ages 2 - 17
• Six one-day guest passes
• 10% discount in shops and restaurants, subscriptions to Zooscape and Zoo View, and discounts to lectures and educational programs

Only in Los Angeles.... I think I will just send Matilda to the zoo with the nanny while I read and eat bon bons.

Teething Much?

Please note the drool dripping off the rail.

Quality Assurance

When we first started accumulating baby toys I was annoyed by the huge tags that come on everything. Most toys have disproportionately large tags. I had just written it off as labeling laws for children's toys or something like that. Turns out the toys people know their business - Matilda prefers the tags and always will seek them out on any item. She spent a good ten minutes today inspecting each of these tags. I see a bright future in quality control, Inspector Number 12 maybe.

A Word to the Wise

Never question your child's sleep habits out loud. The moment you speak of a new trend it changes. One minute after I put up yesterday's post Matilda woke up and it was a rough day......after all that sleeping she was charged and ready to go. She barely napped yesterday and went to bed with us close to midnight. By then everyone in the RD Mama household was ready for the rest.

Jet Lag?

Matilda has now been asleep for 12 hours and 13 minutes?? And she napped yesterday for a total of 5 hours? This is all very uncharacteristic. My poor boobs are so full I keep running the blender and slamming doors hoping she might wake up but no luck so far - instead I just resorted to pumping to relieve the situation a bit. And you would think I was being really productive with this time, like cleaning for the impending grandparent visit or catching up on sorting out the ever-growing pile of papers on the counter. But no, instead I am enjoying a leisurely breakfast and catching up on my web surfing.

Bad Parent

So Matilda seemed to have a fantastic time on our trip to NY, or at least her parents did. She was spoiled by the grandparents, fascinated with the animals and seemed unimpressed by the gorges. We let her get a bit too much sun one afternoon so now her little chubby arms have a farmer tan left to remind me of the mistake. But at least she didn't get bitten by the bat in Dad's house or drugged by the lady next to me on the plane.