My Experiences as a Father... December 5, 1999 to January 4, 2000 (8th month)

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Monday, January 3, 2000
Maeve figured out how to sit up on her own today.  She needs some room to do all of the rolling around, but she does it.
 

Sunday, January 2, 2000
We got home this morning at 1:30 AM.  Lots of fog and too many 55 MPH zones slowed us down, but the trip up I-81 was pleasant, even if radio reception was poor while driving through the mountains.  Maeve was so excited to see her wind chime, bunny mobile and her crib when she got home.
 

Saturday, January 1, 2000 - First New Years Day
Maeve and I discussed why it was that there was no noticeable terrorist activity during New Years celebrations.  It's possible that terrorists didn't think lots of people concentrated in one place, like Times Square, would make worthwhile targets.  It could be speculated that the government knows a lot more than they let on, and they were able to thwart these attacks before they could occur, but that wouldn't explain the lack of activity throughout the world.  I guess the terrorists aren't as smart as I gave them credit for.

We stopped in Maryland to see Elaine on the way home.  She gave us her Y2K / apocalypse food stash, consisting of a 6-pack of Chef Boyardee Beef Ravioli.  I like it, but 6 cans wouldn't last her very long during an apocalypse.

We also stopped in York, PA to see Becky and Rob.  As we exchanged gifts and drank coffee at the Borders book store, Becky pointed out that at least Maeve doesn't drool as much as a Saint Bernard.  It's nice to have friends who help you see things in perspective.
 

Thursday, December 30, 1999
We visited Donna, Bonnie and Brennan today.  Jill had bought Brennan a Winnie The Pooh Duplo set.  Brennan was very happy when he was unwrapping it, and enjoyed opening the box.  Then he took all of the pieces out, threw them on the floor and started playing with other things.  Maeve spent the rest of the visit sucking on Winnie The Pooh.
 

Wednesday, December 29, 1999
Maeve seems to be able to put most people into some sort of trance, while I am somehow immune to her effect.  This morning Jill was making eggs for breakfast.  She took two out and put them on the counter.  Apparently her mother's counter is not flat, and one egg started rolling away from the edge, while the other started rolling toward the edge.  I yelled, "Egg!  Egg!  Egg!" to no avail.  Jill just stared at Maeve while the egg fell on her foot.

Yesterday Shirley, Jill and I were talking while Maeve was standing by the couch next to Shirley.  Shirley had made sandwiches.  I saw Maeve reaching for a piece of Shirley's sandwich.  I said Shirley had a lot to learn about babies.  While Maeve picked up Shirley's sandwich and crushed it, spreading mayonaise through her fingers, Shirley just stared at me, asking what she had to learn about kids.  I don't know what Jill staring at, but she was just as surprised when she saw the mess in Maeve's hand.

I'm glad that I am not affected by Maeve's trance.  I don't want to be responsible for things like eggs on the floor or mayonnaise hand.
 

Tuesday, December 28, 1999
We visited Shirley and Kevin today, and saw Baby Matty.  After the whole Matthew Eapen/Louise Woodward thing, Baby Matty just pops into my head.   Shirley does insist that his name is Matthew, and not Matty or Matt.

I was having an allergic reaction to the cat, and the cat didn't seem to like Maeve.  It kept hissing and growling. Maeve and I stood our ground and even kicked the cat out of the bedroom twice.

Kevin did something when he got home that scared Maeve.  There is only one other person that Maeve doesn't like.  By the time the we left, though, Maeve liked Kevin.

Baby Matty, however, had made some plans with Kevin. He urinated on Jill when she tried to change him.
 

Monday, December 27, 1999
Grandpa was helping Maeve drink from his glass tonight.  As is her custom, Maeve was trying to wave her hands around while holding on to the glass.  At one point the she shook the glass enough to splash it all over her face and chest.  While she was sputtering and trying to wipe the water off her eyes, Uncle James said that is how someone can drown in a glass of water.

We gave Maeve a bath tonight.  After each bath we clean out her ears with Q Tips.  She doesn't really like it, and she wants to eat the Q Tips, so we usually give her two to hang onto, one for each hand.  Last night she put one in her mouth with the other end sticking out.  Jill said that she looked like Grandpa chewing on a toothpick.
 

Saturday, December 25, 1999 - First Christmas
Today Maeve was sucking in her lower lip and Jill said that she looked like an old man, gumming her lower lip.

Maeve has some rubber building blocks that also squeak if you squeeze them.   Maeve has figured out that if she puts one end in her mouth that she can make the block whistle by sucking or blowing.  Grandpa Perrin says she needs a harmonica so she can have a real musical instrument to play with, instead of just a set of children's blocks.

Even though I had told her before Thanksgiving that Christmas was the target date for walking, Maeve did not walk today.  She just practiced the harmonica with her blocks.  She loves to stand, and will stand and hang on to things while waving one hand.  It looks like she is close to walking.  All I asked for was two steps, but she was too busy with her blocks. Maybe I should have told her that even if she makes a career of playing the harmonica that she still needs to be able to walk to get on stage.
 

Friday, December 24, 1999 - First Christmas Eve
We left for Virginia at 3 AM this morning.  The trip went very smoothly.  In 4 hours we had gotten to the New Jersey Turnpike, and were basically past any New York City rush hour traffic we might hit.  We stopped for gas and Jill spent 20 minutes doing what I thought was an excellent job of trying to get Maeve to pay attention and nurse.  Unfortunately, New Jersey was much too interesting, and Maeve kept looking around at cars, the dashboard lights, the steering wheel, the car windows, etc.

My pre-baby target time to get from Lowell to Baltimore was 7 hours.  I figured we would lose two hours or more.  Our first long stop was for breakfast just 30 minutes north of Baltimore.  We were at that point after just 6 and a half hours, so if we hadn't stopped for breakfast, we would have made it to Baltimore in pre-baby time.  We made it to my mother's house just one hour more than my pre-baby target time.  What a deal!

Jill and I took turns driving.  Jill has been afraid of driving over bridges since I have known her.  She has nightmares about the Delaware Memorial Bridge.  She always yells at me to stay in the center lane, keep both hands on the wheel and slow down, as though the car will suddenly realize that it's on a bridge and try to swerve off.  Today I was asleep and Jill drove over the Delaware Memorial Bridge, the Port Deposit Bridge and the Tappan Zee bridge, all on her own.  After this, Maeve won't get any sympathy from mom about phobias.  Maeve will have to keep hearing the "Delaware Memorial Bridge story".
 

Thursday, December 23, 1999
Maeve got her first two teeth yesterday.  All of her drooling and gnawing is paying off.  She got a little fussy last weekend, but she is back to her normally bubbly self.

Jill and I exchanged presents already, because we are planning to leave around 2 AM for Virginia.  We were supposed to have left around 4 PM today, but I got stuck at work.  We'll see how the late night road trip goes with Maeve.  Jill said all she wanted was a token gift, because of a lot of clothes she had gotten recently and her scheme to get huge jewelry on our 10th anniversary.  I got her a Fighting Nun.  I think it's cute.

I have not recently gotten lots of clothes, and I have no desire to receive jewelry, but Jill got me two books on tape - OJ Simpson's book he wrote while he was in jail, and one by Jimmy Carter.  I think the Fighting Nun is the best gift in the bunch.
 

Monday, December 20, 1999
Jill and I were discussing how both her father and brother have new motorboats.  I mentioned that we might be able to go out on them while we are down there for the holidays.  I said that Maeve would love the wind in her hair.  She likes it when we just blow through her hair.  She closes her eyes and tilts her head back.

Jill asked if you can take an infant on a boat.  I said I thought we could if we got the right size life vest.  Referring to Maeve in the bathtub, Jill said that Maeve already knows how to kick well.  If she did fall out, we could just tell her to swim back to the boat.
 

Sunday, December 19, 1999
Maeve usually likes to sit on the bed playing with my socks while I finish getting dressed.  Today she was staring at my socks and shoes when I was putting them on.  I felt like Mr. Rogers, mesmerizing children with my footwear.
 

Saturday, December 18, 1999
Since the beginning of the month Maeve has made progress in figuring out what she can do with her body and what's going on around her.  She knows what my car sounds like, and what it sounds like when I come in the door and come up the stairs.  She leans over and watches the door until I come out.  She is also doing a lot of rolling around, and can raise her head to see what's going on when she's on her stomach.  She pushes herself backwards when she is on her stomach (sort of like backwards crawling).  She still loves standing.  She even likes to only hang on with one hand and wave the other in the air.  Since before Thanksgiving I have told her that Christmas is the target date for her first steps.  We still have one more week.  She still does a lot of hanging on still, but a few steps might not be that far away.

She is doing lots of gnawing on things and drooling.  I mention that and people say that she is teething.  But she has been doing that for months.  Maybe she has been teething for months, or maybe she just likes to gnaw and drool.  Whenever I see it I think of the song, "All I Want For Christmas is My Two Front Teeth".
 

Friday, December 17, 1999
Jill took a sick day off work today, so I took Maeve to Carol's in the morning.  After the hand off, I turned around to leave and Maeve started crying.  Carol mentioned how she never cries when Jill leaves.  After work Jill said that she had talked to Carol about it, and Jill can't figure out why Maeve hasn't ever cried for her.  I've said it before - she's Dad's girl.
 


Contact Daniel at daniel@splatcat.com or Jill at jill@splatcat.com
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