*smack, smack, smack*
For the past three hours, I have heard nothing but *smack, smack, smack* *smack, smack, smack* *smack, smack, smack.* There is nothing wrong with our pipes. There are no cables hitting our building. None of our neighbors is having a fight. It is the sound of little lips smacking together to tell me that Katya is hungry.
Katya got up at 7 am. *smack, smack, smack* Time for a bottle of milk. She finished the milk. *smack, smack, smack* Time for breakfast. *smack, smack, smack* She had a bowl of cheerios with milk. Yum. *smack, smack, smack* She points. Mixed baby cereal with yogurt. Yum. She tries to use the spoon all by herself. *smack, smack, smack* Eggs and toast are not ready yet. Ah, we’ll cut the melon. *smack, smack, smack* Mmmmm. Good melon. Oh, toast, TOAST, TOOAAASSST. *smack, smack, smack* *smack, smack, smack* *smack, smack, smack* What, eggs? EGGS? Where are my eggs? MY EGGS? *smack, smack, smack* *smack, smack, smack* Eggs on the floor. Yuck! apples, Apples, APPLES *smack, smack, smack* Mmmm. Good apple. Apple on the floor. Melon on the floor. Spoon on the floor. All done? Yes, yes. All done. Out of the high chair. Ohhhh!! Ohhh!! Point. Point. Point. *smack, smack, smack**smack, smack, smack* Time for a sushka (a hard small bagel-looking bread food). Sushka. Sushka. *smack, smack, smack**smack, smack, smack* Sushka on the floor. Plays a little while. *smack, smack, smack**smack, smack, smack* What do you want now? *smack, smack, smack**smack, smack, smack* WHAT DO YOU WANT? Oh! Time for juice. *smack, smack, smack**smack, smack, smack* Drinks her juice. Plays a little while. *smack, smack, smack**smack, smack, smack* WHAT DO YOU WANT… WHAT COULD YOU POSSIBLY WANT NOW…??!?!?!?!? *smack, smack, smack*
In additions to *smack, smack, smack* Katya is developing quite a vocabulary. She has decided on an alliterative word acquisition style and she has chosen B as her first letter. Therefore, she can say:
Buah (book)
Ba (ball)
Baa (Balloon)
Brella (umbrella)
Bahbah (baby)
Beow (the B cat word, closely related to meow)
Bir (bird, and she can do the sign for this too)
Baa (what sheep say)
Bu-un (button)
Boo
Out of context, her pronunciation of most of these words closely resembles “BA.”
She can also say “Mama” (and variations like mamamama, mamama, and mamamamama), “Papa,”
“Ampapa” (grandpa), “Bahma” (grandma), and “Emah” (Emma). She has at least once been able to say “apple,” “sticky hands” and “boo well.” And she can sign for Milk, Eat, More, Bird, Airplane and Helicopter. It is actually possible to argue with her about whether you have just heard an airplane or a helicopter.
When resting from practicing her words (or often while practicing her words), Katya is trying like to devil to walk. She is highly proficient at skirting walls and furniture and her favorite thing is to hold someone’s fingers while walking around and around and around and around and around and around and around and around . . . and around the house. She tries to balance on her own and has done it for a count of five or so. She gets absolutely giddy after each attempt. Against the adamant advice of several loved ones, I am strongly rooting for Katya to walk on her own. My back is, and even my fingers are, extremely tired.
Katya spends much time with her grandparents. They take care of her two days a week and are often found taking her for a walk or playing in the backyard with her on their off-days. She loves it and often demands to visit them by pointing at our front door and screeching “ahhhhhh ahhhhh ahhhhh.” As you may expect, her grandparents have had quite an influence on her. I came home from work several weeks ago only to be informed that if I want my baby to drink milk I will have to do “spa baby.” “Spa baby” is the practice of giving Katya her preferred drink (usually milk, but sometimes kefir, yogurt or juice) while she is lying down, preferably wrapped in a fluffy white towel on a soft green lawn chair. Somehow, quite mysteriously, Katya has developed the preference for ice water in her sippy cup and she likes to choose her own cookie. Not the kind of cookie. The exact cookie. Otherwise, she says, it is not so tasty. She likes to play the backs of chairs like a harp and knows that rubber bands can make very interesting sounds. She is excited about going to jail (sitting backwards in a chair looking out at her grandpa) and she relies on her four o’clock walk with the dog as a time to think over the events of the day and relax.
Katya had quite a nice first birthday last month. At her 1-year doctor’s visit everything was good. She weighed 19.4 pounds. She was 27 inches long. And her head is still very large.
On other fronts…
– I am in a week of relaxation and depressurization. I just got a new job which I will start next week. My old job ended two days ago. (This may be the reason that it is possible for me to write this update, the first in two months!) Starting the end of next week, I will be Coordinator of Training and Technical Assistance at the OPTIONS Center for Educational and Career Choice. Some of you may remember that I worked there years ago when I just graduated from college. In this job I will be training organizations and counselors throughout New York City to help kids get into and stay in college.
– Peter will have a photo exhibit at the Vision Festival here in New York City in about a week. His exhibition includes two series: 1) dancers and musicians 2) musicians and cities.
— In April we had a new addition to our family. Trevor Miyoko Lorimer was born to my cousin Tony and his wife Abby in California. She is an absolute adorable beauty.
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This update was brought to you by the letter B and the number 1.