Babyless for a day.

My baby went to Chilliwack without me! Joel was heading to his parents' for the day to get his car fixed, and I was like, SOMEONE TINY WANTS TO ACCOMPANY YOU, so Eleanor went to hang with her G-parents and I lolled around the house, babyless.

This is my new favorite thing, you guys. Because when she goes down for a nap, I think of all the things I want to get done and how little time I have and then I panic and end up just reading The Internet until she wakes up. But when she is GONE FOR SEVEN HOURS I am so productive.

Also, I drink a lot of coffee.

So I read a book and had a coffee. And then I pootled around on the internet running boring but necessary blog errands. And THEN I turned this:

into this:

And THEN I fixed my orange high-waisted jeans, which I got maybe 15 lbs ago when mom got super-depressed by my wardrobe and took me shopping and which are now -waisted jeans on account of I misplaced those 15 lbs.

High-waisted jeans sitting at your natural waist give you the longest crotch. But so I FIXED them, is the point.

And then I made some serious headway in a project I've been working on for Eleanor's Eventual Room (as in, eventually she will have a room, and it won't be A Corner Of Our Room Where I Can STILL HEAR HER).

And then I took a coffee and my book and went to the park.

And then Eleanor came home and I was like *sigh* but I was also like *snorgle*

It's almost like walking a puppy.

Kelly and would I always talk about how, when we go out with just our own bodies, no one is quite as stoked to see us as they were when we were pregnant or as they are when we go out with our babies. I mean, EVERYONE loves a pregnant woman. LOOK AT THAT PREGNANT WOMAN OVER THERE!

And then babies. We are almost never in a hurry anywhere, so we totally don't mind when people stop us to coo at Eleanor and squish her feeties, which they do all the time. Only, unless I have her entirely in pink, they'll be like, Your baby boy is so darling. And I'm just like, Thanks, because they're being sweet and whatever, she does kind of look like a boy.

But even dressing her in frills and bows doesn't always help. A woman the other day told me that he was adorable, even though this was us:

So close, strange woman. Then another woman, who wasn't even OLD, she was, like, in her 40s, and had no vision problems that I could see, got right down in Eleanor's face and was like, You have the most beautiful blue eyes! To which:

srsly?

I mean, right? She had her sunglasses off by this point, and we weren't even in a dimly-lit foyer or anything.

And then the other day an old Chinese man stops me to read my baby's face, like a Victorian phrenologist. Apparently her large brow means she will be intelligent, which is kinder than saying THAT CHILD WILL NEVER BE ABLE TO FIND HATS THAT FIT, which is what I say to her a lot. And then he said her eyes were pure and sincere, which is about the nicest thing in the history of ever.

The grad things, they proliferate.

So Joel had a Grad Thing on the Island last week that I couldn't go to because I had the flu and was begging for death, and then he had a Grad Thing yesterday where he got his MD Hood and Shingle.

I am like, What? This must be code for something doctory. But it is a literal shingle, it turns out.

And THIS MORNING he will have a Grad Thing where he gets his Actual Degree and Actually Graduates. Four years of school after four years of pre-school school is INSUFFICIENT YOU MUST ALSO GO TO ALL THE THINGS.

And then tonight we have a Thing and I have to find something Fancy to wear that I can squeeze my boops into.

Meanwhile, Eleanor continues to be single-minded in her quest to get That Thing You Are Holding into her mouth.

She is nothing if not consistent.

Pinterest continues to make me fat: Vol. III

Trish is hosting a Pin It And Do It challenge, wherein you actually DO the pins you pin instead of just pinning them. We all know I am Good At This, but we also know that I like joining challenges for things I would be doing anyway.

Slow-roasted pulled pork! I would slow-roast this again. I mean, you have to weigh the disadvantage of not leaving your house for nine hours because the oven is on against the crispy, crispy edges that you can't get in a crock pot. And I would add less salt and more sugar and make the drippings into a sauce and then add that sauce to the meat. BUT, the real sleeper hit in this meal was this slaw:

For which I googled 'pulled pork slaw' at the last minute and then just ran with. Just sweet enough and slightly mustardy and a little hit from the dijon. I DON'T EVEN LIKE DIJON. But for real, slaw this up. I don't care what you serve it with.

Strawberry-lemonade bars! These went over like a house afire. They are tart and refreshing and best served cold. Because of that, and because they're pretty gooey, they aren't good travelling treats. I'm not going to want to drag them on the bus somewheres, is what I'm saying. But if you're going to a picnic lunch, and travelling there in your air-conditioned car, and not wrangling a bunch of toddlers or whatever, bring these. They are dead easy and EVERYONE WILL COMMENT ON HOW GOOD THEY ARE. I would dust the top with powdered sugar if you're concerned about the pretty, because it browns a bit unattractively.

German pancakes! I made these at the cabin, and they are wonderful for that because they take a brief whisking in a bowl and then you pour them in a pan (OR SKILLET. I recommend skillet) and huck them in the oven and then you aren't hovering over a hot flattop making pancakes for everyone while everyone eats pancakes and chatters cozily in the other room. If I was to do them again, I'd split the batter between two skillets to make a thinner pancake, and I'd add an eensy bit of vanilla and sugar. Basically, I would make them become crepes.

It'll probably be annoying when the thing she figures out is 'no,' but for now it's great.

Every so often she figures out something new she can do with her face or her body, and then she does that thing a LOT. Like when she figured out she could whisper, and now it's like she's always on the verge of telling you a secret, but she never gets past that initial *hey*.

Anyway, she just started doing this with her face:

and now she just DOES IT and DOES IT and we can't stop laughing because THAT IS ABSURD.

Just because you're irreplaceable doesn't mean I won't try.

We are moving in just over a month, but the end has begun already. Eleanor's boyfriend Felix, with whom she has enjoyed many a rag-chew, left for France last week and won't be coming back until after we've packed our bags and hauled.

This is deeply sad to me. I like Felix' mom Kelly so much, I'd hang out with her even if she DIDN'T live just next door and have a baby exactly my baby's age. So.

I had my last book club last week as well. Alas, for that. With whom else am I going to order All The Desserts?

And here's the thing: I love task clips. Only, I have never voiced aloud this love of task clips and all their myriad uses. And yet, a few years ago for Christmas, Robyn got me a batch of clips that say 'Merde' and 'Poop' on them. I use them to hold my bag of chips closed. And then my book club got me a set of clips that say 'Pffft' and 'Ugh' on them. They are keeping my electronic chargers corralled.

And then also they got Eleanor an Elephant. It jingles and she loves it a little bit frantically.

Good-bye, Kelly and Felix. Good-bye, book club.

Setting the standards high.

It was Mother's Day, did you notice? I am a mother now, I'm not sure you're aware.

We were at my aunt and uncle's solar-powered, energy efficient...it's basically the hybrid car of cabins. Also, 'cabin' is a misnomer, as is 'cottage.' 'Château' is getting there.

All of us together in one space let Joel off the hook for making me breakfast because we all made me breakfast. Joel and Darren made the bacon.

Eleanor checked it for done-ness.

Matt made the potato patties.

I made German pancakes.

Mom cut up the fruit and also made the coffee and also PLANNED ALL THE MEALS AND BROUGHT EVERYTHING UP, so, basically did all the hard work.

And then we ATE that hard work.

Having scads of family around means that Joel and I get to kayak across the lake and loll about like walruses

because there's always someone around to hold the baby.

Speaking of the baby, she was aces. She played hard

and napped hard

and had the most luxurious bath of her life, which I will not show you photos of because I have a strict no-nakkies policy on this blog, so instead here she is sitting pretty.

We have many adventures coming up in the next few weeks. Part of me is like, ye gads, adventuring with a baby. And then part of me knows that we'll be just peaches.

I am haggard, but Eleanor is still cute.

I have had The Flu (Eleanor has been right as rain, which is wonderful for her, but the last time when we were BOTH sick, we spent our days cuddled on the couch watching Gilmore Girls, and THIS time I'm all, Come snuggle, it's the episode with the Dance-a-thon where Dean breaks up with Rory in front of everyone because Jesse won't stop staring at her like a creeper, and Eleanor is all *dolphin sounds, high kicks*) so in lieu of a description of my last two days, here are some things Eleanor does lately that are droll:

Suck on her lips.

Grab her toes.

Bite those toes.

Clutch her clothes with excitement.

Rub her feets together like fretful hands.

Being four months old isn't all songs and dances.

Sometimes when I'm carrying her in the wrap, she'll catch my face out of the corner of her eye and look up at me all OH! YOU are here! Like she can't believe her luck, because not only is she out on an adventure but I am also there. And then she gets this look of mad delight on her face and burrows into my chest.

So yesterday we're walking to the clinic, and she's all Yes, a car, a house, yes, and there goes a dog, yes, and then she sees me and is like, OH HELLO, and then we laughed in each other's faces for a few blocks.

And then she flailed happily at all the nurses and then they stuck her with pins and she was furious for, I don't know, half a minute? And then she babbled at me until she dozed off, mid-murmel, ten minutes from home.

She is really aces.

Eleanor has a lot of love to give.

Eleanor has quite a few toys which she loves deeply and passionately and with her mouth. There's Skinny Lamb from my mom, who is just the right size for her to wrap her arms around, the better to bite the face of

and then The Barrister's Wig (formerly Fat Lamb) from Robyn, who must be held by the ears and bitten, but who can also be kicked at with the feet.

And then, of course, her activity gym toys, which she occasionally pulls down in TRIUMPH.

And her grandma made her a tactile blanket, with fuzzies on one side and silkies on the other, and ribbons all around for pulling on, and crinklies in the corners, and Eleanor loves it so much she wants to eat the whole thing at once.

But far and away, her favorite toys are, like, Joel's hand.


And she spends every diaper change being all, That ARM, I'm going to EAT IT.

And she's weirdly strong, and it's hard to get stuff done when she's clinging to my wrist and trying to get it into her mouth, so I give her a rag and she is like, YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS.

I would also take pie in lieu of celebratory cupcakes.

I feel like Eleanor has been three months old FOREVER. Maybe I'm just getting used to having a baby, and the time isn't whizzing by so fast, but I'm not the only one. I caught mom telling people she was four months old two weeks ago.

But now! She is four months old. And LONG and LEAN. I mean, for a baby, which means she is still sort of fat. Let us, as per usual, let's check on the progress of them legs.

chicken thighs

buttery lumpkins

Skills acquired this month include rolling over, coping with impending bedtime without losing her shit, wiping her gums on anything she can get her hands on (which is a lot of things, as we are not used to those hands being quite so dexterous), and talking her face off.



All this rolling over and standing while supported and reefing on her gym toys has given her more of a human-shape. I'm baffled and impressed and sometimes super-annoyed by how much control she has over her body now (she is very grabby).

fresh new baby is basically a bag of pudding

four-month-old baby works out (girl look at that body)

She's interactive and lovely, but she can't get into cupboards and things yet. I'm pretty sure this is the baby sweet spot. I like her the most I have ever liked her.