More signs

In the last few days Clementine has added "cold", "hungry", "hurt" and "please" to her signing vocabulary.

She has enough signs that we're sometimes confused. "More" and "hurt" look the same right now. Sort of ASL baby talk, I guess.

"Please" is somewhat flawed in the land of babies. Correctly done, you put the palm of your flat right hand on your chest and rub in a circle. For Clementine, this means rubbing both hands up and down the entire length of the torso. Cute enough, but add that "please" is usually related to asking for more of whatever she's eating. Say, strawberries. She gnaws one into strawberry jam, sucks it down, and then rubs both hands all over herself to ask for another. Even parents who use modified baby signs have the same please. Hard to imagine there aren't thousands of grubby little hands out there furiously wiping themselves all over their shirts. Pretty funny.

How Children Make You Old - Vol 1

This is the first of many installments. I already have so many in mind. But the first one:

I have no desire to watch any of the many recent popular movies that involve children in danger. Flightplan, Freedomland, L'Enfant... These are not horror movies, they're just normal thrillers, and I can't bear 'em. I'm a fan of Lost, and couldn't bear to watch the episode where the baby (in the previous) is floating in his crib out to sea.

I've never felt some big chunk of mainstream media to be unconsumable before (well, that's a broad statement, don't hold me to it, there is top 40 radio). It's new and sudden and I'm already saying things like, "I don't like those kinds of movies. Pass my cane, sonny."

Snow at Tahoe

Snow at Tahoe
Originally uploaded by audcrane.

Miraculously, the digital camera took this photo as it was shutting down for lack of batteries. There are more, but this one is the best!

We went up to Tahoe City last weekend to a house rental with some other folks, most of whom we hadn't met. We do live in a bubble -- we all brought the same free-range eggs (well, not the eggs, the chickens), organic milk, and tofu. Bush was frowned on, and we all knew who Pink Martini is. Half of us were vegetarian or vegan.

Ryan snowboarded both days, and Clementine and I hung out and watched the snow and the fire and the big trucks. It was pretty wonderful except for the drive back. Augh.

She is signing hat, banana, and carrot. She's also differentiating between ducks and birds. What a baby!

"Oh I could write a sonnet..."

"Oh I could write a sonnet..."
Originally uploaded by audcrane.

Ok, it's a birthday bonnet, not an easter bonnet. Sorry it took so long to post.

Not many photos, but there are a few. We took lots of video, though. We had planned a party in the park but it was rainy, so we relocated to a conference room at my office. She had great fun at her party. We liked the crepes and mimosas! She got lots of great books, which she loves ("Booe!"), and some incredibly adorable clothes, including this hat from Mark and the very sweet pink "Mexican pullover" on the ground next to her. A very lifelike puppet from Grandma and Grandpa Brown and a singing bird from Mom (egads, that's me!) are so lifelike she's afraid of them. We made layered clementine-flavored genoise cupcakes (dunked in Grand Marnier for the grown-ups, almond syrup for the kiddies) which she tasted once and decided were yucky. She started to use the sign for "Thank you" on her birthday (it's true!).

Avocado

Clementine signed avocado for the first time today. This is quite a tricky one, two hands and all. What a clever baby! Now she has:

• kitty
  
• dog
  
• bird
  
• bath
  
• baby
  
• all done
  
• water
  
• more
  
• food
  
• daddy
  
• milk
  
• bed
  
• avocado!