Fussiness and photos

This will just be a quick post as Clara and I are leaving this evening for my grandmother's funeral in Connecticut and there is much to be done.  For those who don't know, my grandma Polly passed away on Sunday at the age of 94.  She was a spirited, feisty, funny lady and the true matriarch of our family.  We will all miss her very much, although she was ready to go.

We have been struggling with fussiness over here, mostly on Clara's part but it seeps into Grady, me, and even Matt sometimes too!  I am now experimenting with cutting out basically everything from my diet.  Nuts a week ago, dairy yesterday - soy is probably next.  It seems to be gastric, but it's hard to tell what's causing it.  She's usually lovely in the morning, but come afternoon it's lots of feeding and holding to keep her calm. 

So we are seeing a lot of this -

And man, is her cry loud!  Grady likes to say "Wow, Cwara!  Loud!  Oh me gosh!"  when she cries.  That about sums it up!  However, she also has some really sweet moments, and has been rewarding us with smiles more and more mornings.

Smiling at big brother

And even when she's not smiling, she can look pretty darn cute.

She has begun to really notice objects around her - lights, pictures, the things on her play mat, and her hand to name a few.

She is also sort of ridiculously strong, now rolling from tummy to back twice during tummy time and really throwing her head around when she wants to. 

Grady continues to be an intermittently good big brother.  He really does love helping her with tummy time, and his night time ritual now includes giving her a kiss on the head.

But the rough touching also continues, as I'm sure it will for a few decades to come.  Here he is with his "touch it, eye?" look....

The good news with Clara's fussiness is that she usually stays calm while in the baby bjorn carrier and in the car seat, so we can still get out of the house for some adventures.  Last week we went to Jantzen Beach to ride the carousel before it shuts down for good on Sunday.  Holy cow, that thing goes fast.  I don't know if Grady was more scared or if I was!

Today we went to the zoo and took a ride on the zoo train.  Grady LOVED it, and was not pleased when it was time to get off.  He kept saying "On the train!  On the loco-motive!"

Otherwise, all else is fine.  Grady is becoming a real clown, making lots of jokes.  Most of them are potty jokes - one involving a bug on his penis, one involving peeing at school....  I'm not sure my humor is quite sophisticated enough to truly get his jokes yet, but he surely thinks they are a hoot!  He also likes to play jokes like wearing my shoes and pretending they're his, sitting on my chair and pretending it's his - I'm sensing a pattern!  Here he is being goofy.

And looking handsome and grown up.

Grady is beginning to have a better awareness of time, talking about doing things tomorrow or later or on Sunday - not necessarily things we will do ("Sunday go to ocean with Marshall and Tabitha?") but he seems to understand some things happen now, some things later. 

He also continues to become more and more conversational, and the things he says continue to crack us up.  The other morning he woke up and said "I need breakfast in mine mouth!"  He has started to have somewhat elaborate conversations with imaginary beings too.  Yesterday when I went to get him up after nap he said "Talking to Clifford the Dog.  Called on mine phone.  Take a message," while reaching into his pj's nonexistent "pocket" for his phone.  This morning he was "Looking at boats with big doggy." 

Matt's home alone with Grady this weekend, and I'm off with Clara.  So wish us, and my airplane seatmates, good luck!