Zadie is ten months old!

Zadie is curious about the whole world. She really looks at things, mouths them, shakes them, mouths them again, offers you a mouthing, and then flings them aside for the next thing that catches her eye. She loves games and has started initiating them: peek-a-boo; "I Grab Something Off-Limits, Look At You, You Do Your Whole 'Not For Babies' Routine, I Laugh and Keep Grabbing"; wag the head left and right and growl in turn-taking fashion; "Where's Zadie/Mommy/Daddy/Noley???" with a cloth diaper/her pants/a sock. She gets anticipation. She'll sit behind something, lean around with a big smile, expect the grown-up to say "There she is!" and then will lean back, pause for a moment, building the excitement, wait for "Where's Zadie?" and still wait another moment for the gotcha!

And the smiles! Off center, one jaw going this way and the other the opposite direction. Her face squishes up so much, her eyes practically close (that might have something to do with the cheeks.) I remember being a kid, playing "The Laughing Game." That's the one where you start fake laughing with someone, trying to out-volume their fake laughing which leads to real laughing and fifteen minutes later your stomach hurts and your eyes are watering. (Take THAT, critics of the Me Generation/TV Generation/X Generation or whatever you call us: free, homemade, creative play. Aaaaaaaaaaand, back to Zadie.) Nolan plays this with her. Gets right up in her face, yells "Ha ha ha ha" and she smiles and laughs right back. Hilarious.


She wants to stand. She practices all the time. Sometimes when I try to put her on the floor from a standing position, she gives it the flat back and there's no bending her into a sitting position. She's just starting to cruise along something. Not far, and usually for the puupose of reaching something versus being out for a stroll, but soon. Oh, so soon.

Still eats O's. Played with some watermelon in Arizona (yes, yes...post and pics in the works...) Mmm, yep, that's still it on the food front. Maybe she's waiting for molars? I think they are actually coming in so it won't be long until she's enjoying skirt steak with the rest of her family!

Zadie. Baby Z, Lady B. Baby Z. Zadie B. Sung to the tune of Spiderman. Fitting into her brother's world, but making it her own, too.

Whaaa???

I'm sorry - is the date of that last posting accurate? Well, then...this is simply a date-holder so it won't be a month between postings. Yes, people, like a basket at the buzzer: count it!!*

I know you'll forgive me once you've enjoyed this story:

Many of you know that Nolan had some weird blister in his eye. We went to an eye doctor (well, first five days went by and it didn't get better on its own. Then we went to the doctor. I am his mother after all. Sheesh; there seem to be a lot of italicized words in this post. Not feeling defensive about the lack of posts or active mothering or anything are we??) She told me to put some drops in his eyes. Three. Times. A. Day. And no swimming. Ahem. We were leaving for Arizona for a week the next day. That's right, the desert. Grandmom and Granddad have a pool. Did I mention three times a day? For TWO WEEKS. The first drop was a breeze. Ignorance is bliss. Guess what? Medicated eye drops hurt. The next few did not go as well (try 40 minutes of drama, tears all around - and don't think I'm kidding about that) but Grandmom put a stop to that. She is the master of the Distraction Approach. Now? We just say "time for drops" and he tilts his head back and bravely looks up into that dropper and lets us do it. What a champ.

Anyway - while in Arizona, we let him swim (oops.) The day before we leave, he has the same blister in his other eye (although the first eye is healing nicely.) Blah, blah, blah...phone call to the doc and today when we went in, it turns out he has an inflammatory response to too much/too bright sunshine. He's three! That is so wrong!

Here's the part that will brighten your day, though. (See what I did there? I turned the idea of "brighten" into something good instead of something that inflames my baby boy's eyeball.) Just before the doctor came in, he asked me "What is this this thing on my eye?" I said. "That's a good question. Why don't you ask the doctor?" And in comes friendly eye doc, who says "Hello, Nolan" and Nolan says, "What is this thing on my eye?" Eye doc says, "well, let's find out!" looking at us both with a big smile. Also, he wanted to test Nolan's eye sight. He asks him how old he is, and Nolan replies, "three." He mumbles, "Well, then you don't know your letters..." but I interrupt that he does. (Last week at the previous appointment, they tested him with weird line-art pictures that seemed excessively obtuse.) Here, eye doc uses his remote to change the location and size of the letters and Nolan gets them every time. Man, that kid is clever!

Then he bravely puts his chin on that big machine and leans over so his forehead touches the strap, folding himself in half to do it. Even the eye doc was impressed/slightly uncomfortable with Nolan's flexibility - a response experienced regularly by my sisters. Aaaaaaanyway - now the drops go in his right eye for a few days, I track down UVB and UVA sunglasses and Bob's your uncle. (Actually, in this case, he's my uncle. Whaddya know.)

Pics soon to follow - no, I haven't downloaded the camera yet (but I have unpacked!! There goes that defensiveness again...)

PS Zadie a delight and the upcoming subject of my next post...)

*Basketball reference.