Finally, a catch-up post!

Poor Banana. We packaged up our camera about three weeks ago and sent it back to Fujifilm, hoping that they would remove some specks that got wedged underneath our lens. The day we packaged it up, the Banana started crawling and rolling over. A couple days ago, she took her first steps. Not only did we not get any of it on film, I didn't even blog about it! Banana, when you are a teenager and read these descriptions of your early life (you don't even have a baby book, so this and our digital pictures are it), please forgive me for missing the documentation of your big achievements!

I have a few excuses for my paltry blogging these past few weeks. Since June 8, we've been out of town a total of 22 days, and the time in-between our outings was largely spent (besides the usual all-consuming tasks of childcare and house upkeep) cleaning up from the previous trip and preparing for the next. Tomorrow we leave on yet another 10 day trip, this time to North Carolina for a lovely beach vacation with my side of the family. Then, thankfully, we'll be home for a couple months, with only weekend trips in our plans.

Since I'm about to have another extended non-blogging period, I'd better record what I can remember of the important events of the past six weeks - before they are forever lost in oblivion.

*We had a wonderful time with my parents, sister, neice, cousin & his family, aunt & uncle, and many others in Baltimore in early June. The Banana, her cousin (3 months younger), and her second cousin (2 months older) were unbelievably cute together (they're all little girls).

*Within three days of returning from Baltimore, the Banana began to roll over and crawl. Both she and her parents were super excited, but the Papaya was unimpressed. I think it felt like she was being born all over again - a re-invasion of his privacy. We're still trying to figure out how to deal with her wanting to play with the same things he's playing with and him vigorously protesting. We're trying to minimize the potential violence involved.

*The Papaya's Great Thomas Birthday Party finally happened, two days after our return from Baltimore. There were 30 people in our house (kids and adults) and a great time was had by all. The Papaya now thinks that everyone should have a Thomas Birthday Party.

*The Papaya's potty training is coming along. He's in Big-Boy Underwear most of the time now, and only has accidents about 4 or 5 times a week. I'm afraid his progress is hampered by all our trips, since we let him wear pull-up diapers and don't press him to always use the toilet. We are very glad for our tile (rather than carpeted) floor. The red engine "James" from Thomas & Friends is the next carrot we are dangling. Seven perfect days in a row, putting all of his poo-poo and pee-pee in the toilet & James will be won (so far, the record is three).

*We had a great early June vacation to Seattle with my husband's side of the family. We ate great Asian food, saw a bunch of great city sights, took in a lot of fun kid-friendly museums, and played in the snow of Paradise (Mt. Ranier) on a crystal-clear day.

*Within a few days of our return from Seattle, on the day before she turned 10 months old, the Banana started walking. She can now walk across a room, turn around, and (most importantly) fall without seriously hurting herself. What big acccomplishment will she come up with after our return from North Carolina? Talking in full sentences? Reading?

*The Banana learned (and uses) the signs we taught her for "light" and "fan" (two of her favorite things). We are trying to teach her to sign "more, please" rather than utilize The Scream. I'm convinced she's asked me for "num nums" on at least one occasion, and she now utters a crystal clear "Da-dee" when she sees my husband. (Although she won't usually let him or anyone else hold her for more than 5 seconds, due to an acute phase of separation anxiety.)

*The Papaya went to see his first film in a theatre: Cars. He loved it, and now has an obsession even greater than Thomas the Train.

*Since I began this incredibly long post three days ago, Husband and I broke down and ordered a digital camcorder. We couldn't stand missing another moment of the Banana's adorable toddling. It's out for delivery and should arrive any minute now.

Whew! I hope not to go this long without blogging again - even if I caught the big events in retrospect, I missed a lot of the day-to-day amusing things that happened. Bye-bye until after the beach vacation!

Extra Protein

I was cutting broccoli for dinner a couple evenings ago while the Papaya watched from a stepstool pulled up to the counter. A flash of gray prompted me to look a little closer at the floret I just chopped. It was literally crawling with little gray bugs. I screeched, then flung the floret away as the bugs continued to move around. Gingerly, I inspected the rest of broccoli, threw out the offending pieces, and tried to calm my "icky/creepy" reflex. The Papaya, on the other hand, was highly entertained. It didn't even bother him that he had already eaten a raw floret. I tried not to think about it too much.

Note: My family (when I was in high school) found copious amounts of bugs in our broccoli once - and we had already eaten half of it. But that was in Kenya. We started soaking all our fruits & veggies in bleach water (no kidding) after that. I don't think I'll get that dramatic. American bugs, after all, must be clean bugs! (Actually, were they American bugs?)

120 degrees

That was the temperature in Phoenix yesterday. The hottest day there yet in the 21st century, and we managed to be in town to appreciate it. Lucky us. My husband was in a meeting all day long & I got to entertain both kids in an environment I really don't think humans were meant to live in. Walking from the hotel into the heat, I felt like I was running into a brick wall. Since it's the "monsoon season" right now, it was just humid enough to make it feel really hot (according to the local weather report). "By the end of next week, however," the forecasters assured their listeners, "the temperature will drop down to a cool 105 degrees."

Why, oh why do so many people choose to live in Phoenix? It's the 5th largest city in the USA! All I've got to say is that there are a lot of truly insane people out there.