Where It's At

Hello.  Just got back from a hectic east coast tour. As I suspected, it turns out that squeek grew a lot during those ten days.  We noticed over the two weeks in hawaii that she had developed a bit, and we wondered if anyone else noticed those changes.  This was jsut repeated for me.  For example, she's rolling at will and with consistency.  She had rolled months ago, but it was surely more accidental as she didn't do it for a while.  Now, she's doing it and she knows it.  Typical progression: sit her on her bum (she's sitting on her own now, so you can leave her and she hangs out looking around in a surprised fashion and is still there when you get back), and after 5 minutes she falls over and bonks her head (don't worry, we've got a changing pad over a quilt over a rug over carpet, so that her helmeted head  (we make her wear a football helmet now) comes to a soft gentle massaging landing on the floor) and then rolls around for a while, squeeking all the way.  Actually, we have renamed her.  She is no longer squeeker.  Now, she is squeeler.  Her voice has totally changed while I was gone.  now it's definite sqeels, high-pitched, staccato, and annoying.  Yup, much more annoying, though we saw this coming and bought ourselves earplugs and we wear those anytime we're in the house.  This is also a nice glimpse of what it will be like when we're "old" and lose our hearing.  Laura said that she enjoys my company much more now with the earplugs, so I think it bodes well for our future.  Anyway, luckily, squeel is sleeping better than she had been. The first couple nights in hawaii she slept great, which is surprising since we were partying a lot upstairs and making a huge ruckus.  Also, during that time, we taught saylor to play the "pot and pan cymbals."  but, by christmas she went into a very weird and unwelcome sleep pattern. She would wake up between 12 and 1 and be ready for a fun-filled day of playing.  this meant cooing and rolling and scratching at the crip. this kept laura and I up until she decided to go back to sleep at 4 or 5.  lame.  a few nights of this are fine, but she did this for a week and a half, and continued when we got back for another week.  At one point, Laura proclaimed that she no longer loved sienna, which I thought was harsh, until I submitted the next night and agreed (laura isn't here, but I'm pretty sure she would want me to clarify that this is a joke for the more dense in the crowd).  I figured out that if we brought her into bed, then I could lay my head on her left arm (pinning it), and then reach under her and hold her other arm down.  This she tolerated better than her swaddle (which she no longer enjoys), and would often add an hour or two to their sleep (I can't sleep like that).  But, she's back on schedule and perky as ever.
Food.  so in hawaii she honed her use of "the force."  she would stare us down as we ate, willing the food to fly into her mouth.  So, when we got home, we tried feeding her.  she mawed on some sweet potato (mixed with milk), but didn't really seem to get it, and by it I mean how to eat like a human.  after a few times of this, laura tried avocado, and this time she did get it and actually swallowed the food.  cute.  not doing it every day, but often enough. likewise, she really likes drinking water out of a glass, which is pretty cute to watch too.  We thought she just liked the texture as she was teething, but we noticed she used her tongue to try to get water, and then got it and tried more.  we were wrong on two counts, in that no, she wasn't just interested in the texture of the glass, and two, I don't even know what teething is anymore.  everything was pointing towards her sprouting her chomping bits over the last month, but here we are and still no pearlies.  who knows?
When I got back, I noted that she's definitely getting bigger.  bigger head, longer, and heavier.  more than anything I noticed that she is much denser.  she's not as pudgy as when I left, and is a little ball of muscle.  when you hold her she doesn't "give" as much as she used to.  makes sense since she's much more in control of her movements, particularly in her core.  Have you ever held a big snake?  that's sorta what's she's like, minus the scales. Actually, for a while she really was  scaly with cradle cap (in hawaii), which was what then led to her losing all her hair.  She's always been fairly focused, but now that focus is present in her whole body rather than just her eyes. It's fun because we continue to learn her personality as we can now tell better what she wants and what her interests are (e.g. long walks on the beach).  this, of course, is an ongoing process until she turns 18 and we have her completely figured out.
oh yes, she hit her six month mark last week.
okay, more later.  interviews out east at tufts, uvm, and dartmouth went very well.  very very well, actually, and they all have fantastic programs that I'd be excited at.  likewise, could easily see the schoene clan in all those places, which is exciting.  But, now just more waiting, and waiting, and waiting.