All the news that's fit to print

The past week and a half have been alternately busy and dead quiet. For the first time since Evelyn was born, I went 2.5 days without leaving the apartment other than to take out a random dirty diaper. Didn't even make it down to the mail box. I actually don't really encourage this, but we simply could not take one more humid day. Not one more! Thankfully, Hanna seems to have helped a little, and today didn't seem quite as sopping. Please, please let fall come soon.

In better news, we had a pretty fun labor day weekend. On Thursday (August 28), Evelyn took her first unsupported step. She hasn't moved to full on walking yet, but usually a couple times a day we'll see her take one, two, or even three steps. Hopefully, we'll be leaving crawling and its associated dirtiness behind soon. (Other cute tricks? Blowing kisses, blowing on food to cool it down, and saying "uh oh" before dropping things. I don't think she really understands the accidental nature of "uh oh" yet.)

Then, Ruth had her baby Friday morning, very kind of her as it really started my weekend off on the right foot. John worked only a couple hours on Friday, and after nap, we all went to the park. Fun ensued.

Food, fun



Frisbee, fun

On Saturday we went to Kathryn and Mike's for crepes.


When we got home, Evelyn spent some time in the penalty box (her choice).

Later in the evening, John and I bit the bullet, paid for a babysitter, and finally went on a date! She did a great job, and we'd love to have her every week. Unfortunately, our pocketbooks probably can't handle a babysitter every week, but hopefully between trading and paying, we can work out something relatively regular. The movie was so-so, but the company was good, and so was the chocolate.

Sunday, we enjoyed an incredible dinner at Dan and Diane's new place, complete with birds (two blue, one white). And baby, pointing at the peacocks while saying, "ba" "bo" "boo" and other variations of things that start with the letter "b", which certainly does not constitute actually saying bird but is still somewhat cute since she's just now getting the hang of pointing.

Monday, we kept the weekend alive by going to Benihana's for lunch. Evelyn thoroughly enjoyed the Japanese steakhouse experience.


We thoroughly enjoyed trying to keep little fingers away from the hot cooktop. And watching the cook flip the little shrimp tails up, with the last one landing in his pocket. That trick just never gets old.

After such a fun weekend, we had to hit it hard this week. Serious stuff, you know?

Picking out clothes.

Also, reading, 'riting, 'rithmatic, and a genuine scientific study (on cruising). We even got a little diploma and a fridge magnet photo to document the experience (if any of you have seen episodes of "The Baby Human" on the Discovery channel, we were at the lab where they did some of the walking and crawling experiments featured - the babies walking down the slope, the babies crawling across the gap, etc). Evelyn was a pretty good sport but did not like everyone all up and in her face when it came time to take her measurements. Measurements which proved that it's not just us - she really is getting bigger. At 11 months, she is 29 inches and between 21.5 and 22 pounds.

I do not have a picture to document this next incredibly momentous development, but on Thursday morning, when I went to get Evelyn out of her crib, for the first time in, oh, 10 months and 30 days, no eye drainage! Mere weeks before she would have gone under general anaesthesia for her blocked tear duct, it finally, finally cleared up on its own. Not having to dig in your almost-toddler's eye every hour is a really beautiful thing, and I'm savoring each minute of not trying to peel crusted gunk out of her eyelashes. Heaven.

We didn't ignore the chance to celebrate. Saturday we took our first trip up to Fort Tryon Park and ate brunch at a little cafe in a 1930s cottage just down from the Cloisters. It was lovely. Afterward, Evelyn and her chaperones dropped by Sydney's place for a little visit. We ended up staying for several hours. Thanks again, Marc and Kaedi for letting us play with your toys, letting Evelyn nap in your room, inviting us to watch the game, and loaning us a bottle and some formula.


From Evelyn's subway-riding euphoria, it's obvious how much she enjoyed the day.