Little Girl

She's such a little girl. Mariana has started becoming a little girl. She picks up her stuffed animals and grins and then clutches them to her chest them while rocking back and forth. It's so damn cute you want to hurl. Where did she learn that? I guess it's just in there. Is she automatically going be like sugar and spice and everything nice? (she already is by the way) I hear a lot about nature vs. nurture and I'm wondering how this plays out with adopted kids. I assume like most people we'll take credit for the nurture part when she's good and blame her birth parents nature when she acts up.

It seems like there has been a big jump in her agility this week. The last time I played on the stairs with her she was hesitant and wobbly. In just the past week she has become so much more confident on her feet. We put a gate across the staircase but 3 steps up at the suggestion of the social worker so that Mariana could practice on just a few stairs at a time. We had been blocking the very bottom of the stairs with the toy chest but she climbed over it yesterday. I went with her to practice and she went right up to the gate lickity split. She stood up on the narrow ledge and turned and went up and down like a little monkey. So often we're too close to the situation to see those little progressions. I guess I'm missing all the developmental action during the weekdays but it was amazing to me to see her moving so well.

One of my coworkers paid me a huge compliment the other day when he saw that last video. He said that Mariana looks happy. It was so simple but it meant so much. She looks happy. It's something I hope for everyday. We're almost 5 months into this experience and so far the Brooklyn Verni's are hanging in there.

Freeboyd

Last night I had my first night in the house alone. Hilary took Mariana to a friends house on Fire Island for her first night away from our house. What did I do? I stayed at the shop working on a project for the house until 10:00. I ate my leftover lunch for dinner. Then I went home and went to bed. Sounds exciting huh? Well, it was. What wasn't in that wrap-up was cooking dinner, making baby bottles, loading the dishwasher, putting away toys or doing laundry. I just went home and went to sleep. The morning was even more enjoyable. I took a shower in the morning! Wild man! I slept late and listened to music and generally just took my time; such mundane things but for some reason they were so satisfying today. I guess removing a bunch of responsibilities will do that for you.

Cruisin' and snoozin'

Sorry for the cheesy post title today. I know it would be more appropriate for an album by Winger or Enuff Z'nuff. Jeez... remember those ass clowns?! Anyway, Mariana has officially started cruising. For those of you not hip to the lingo that means standing on her own and walking while holding on to things. Watch this video to see her standing and babbling towards the open window. Mommy is just outside and I think she hears her.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VZnBYd7WyU8

This other video shows Mariana's unique sleeping position. Hey, whatever works, she sleeps like a champion.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x8CiKo2ji8I

and RIP to Frank McCourt, man I loved that book

growing, growing

Mariana is doing a lot of babbling these days. She seems to get the act of conversation but just can't make the words yet. She pauses in the right places and responds at the appropriate time. Ok so she's only saying "gob gob gobbly goo" but she's trying to communicate. The next time she'll say "atsh ATSCH" with hard inflection. She's learning inflection! What else is she learning everyday? Curse words perhaps? Her mother and I both have potty mouths and have not had to curb our cursing for 20 odd years. That's going to be a hard habit to break. "Frickin'" just doesn't have the same oomph. Oh and one word she definitely knows is "flump". It's a made up word that means to crash your head down on one's shoulder and give a quick hug. She's a frickin' genius.
As she nears her first birthday. Mariana has also started to show some of her temper. Brushing her teeth at night can bring on wordless whining- which is the same as tearless crying. She wants to hold the toothbrush and do it herself. 

That's fine kid if you hit a tooth now and then but dentists ain't cheap. She also does this high leg kicking thing and cries as soon as I put her down to change her. I'm just not used to her doing things like this- I don't know how to deal with it. It's just so unreasonable and unnecessary. Why are you wigging out Mariana? I know this is just an ice cube on the tip of the iceberg that is called discipline. There will be a million more situations where I tell her to chill out and I know she will ignore me. How am I going to handle that? I found myself getting flustered and exasperated by her behavior AND SHE'S ONLY 11 MONTHS OLD. Hopefully time and more experience will help me but if I'm getting bent out of shape now, what will I do when she's a teenager and I come home to find a house party in full swing? Just chill Dad, jeez....

pictures: 1. Hanging in the stroller eating leftover pasta and 2. drying off from a sprinkler jaunt in Cobble Hill (much happier than the poop face would imply)

Wheels

I have 2 bikes. A semi fancy race bike that is purely for fun/exercise and a cheapy bike that I bought from Craigslist. The latter is the bike I commute with and the one I was going to affix the baby ride along seat to for Mariana in about another month when she's big enough. Well, plans have changed.

Last week I had a friend at work help me draft a letter to the building owners where I work; 7 World Trade Center owned by the Port Authority. I wanted to request that they find a secure bike storage room somewhere inside the building so that people like me can bike to work and not have their bikes stolen. A few co-workers were willing to sign on as well. I decided I'd better run it by my boss before sending to anyone but he's travelling for a couple weeks so I'll just sit on it for now. Yesterday I got stopped at a light in my neighborhood by a guy with a clipboard doing a survey for the city. He asked a bunch of questions about bike stuff ie: "Have you ever been injured?"(yes) "Do you wear a helmet?" (yes) "Have you ever ridden on the sidewalk?" (whoops, yes) "Do you want to see more bike lanes and racks?" etc. Wow this is great, the tide is turning and people care about making the city more bike friendly. He gave a water bottle for my participation and I rode off to work. As I came down the Brooklyn Bridge into Manhattan I was feeling pretty damn good. It was a bright sunny day and the tourists were not yet clogging the pathways. I thought "Why would I ever ride the train to work?"

At the end of the day I was going to ride home through Chinatown to pick up some food for dinner. I found what was left of my bike by the rack in the back of the building. Someone had stolen the fork and front wheel and left the handlebars hanging by their cables. The rear wheel and frame were still there, locked to the rack. That's some timing huh? The letter, the survey, the jubilant morning rider. Well, I'm not getting Chinese food tonight. I'm not riding this bike with Mariana. Shit, I'm not even riding home today. I clipped the cables to set the handlebars free, took the seat and left the rest to bring home today- if it's still there. I'm not sentimentally attached to that bike and it's paid for itself already in the $4 a day it saved me by not taking the subway. But it still sucks. That was my only form of exercise these days. It's something I didn't have to make time for because I had to take 1/2 an hour to get to work either way. It's been rough adjusting to how much less time I have to do everything that I want to do now that Mariana is here. They say it will get better. ugh. She's lucky she's so damn cute and sweet and perfect. 

C-I-L-L my neighbors

Yesterday we went to a gathering at my parents house. Unfortunately my Mom is in the hospital again so the party was moved from the Poconos to their house. We're all worried about her and hoping for the best. We went to visit her in the Hospital and I hope Mariana brightened her day a bit. Back at the party Mariana was passed from lap to lap and arms to arms by the 423 people in my family. She was a trooper, smiling and being her usual chill self. 

 

I want to kill my neighbors. Dead.

We got home at 10pm or so and just as we had feared there was a party going on in the building behind ours. The music was loud- really, REALLY f*ing LOUD. Mariana slept all the way home but was now waking up to the thunderous bass echoing between the buildings. We had left all our windows open so when we came upstairs it felt like we were inside a club. Closing the windows reduced the noise only slightly and we still had to practically shout at each other while sitting on the couch. We put her down to sleep and crossed our fingers. They've been having parties back there recently and she grew up in Bogota so she can sleep through plenty of noise. But this one was so far over the top it was unbearable. They were set up outside with a DJ and a full-on PA system. Hilary went to ask them to turn it down and they basically laughed at her. The 81st Precinct did pretty much the same thing when she called them. Mariana slept for a little while but then started waking up every 2 hours or so. Finally sometime past 3-4 am the noise stopped but Mariana still couldn't sleep. THEN ALL DAY. The poor thing is so exhausted she can barely crawl. She's all limp and whiny. Who is this kid?! We went for a long walk in the stroller. Nothing. We went for a long drive and only got a few winks out of her. It was almost like she was afraid to sleep. Every time she started nodding off she'd wake herself up crying and then have to be picked up. It screwed up her eating, napping, everything. It was such a beautiful day here in NY and the entire day was wasted. SOOO I want to kill my thoughtless scumbag neighbors. I laid in bed fantasizing about hosing them all down with the garden hose on the roof, making sure to give the turntable and speakers a good soaking. Zap, music's off!! I thought about throwing a Molotov cocktail down on them. Ok, that's a lie but I'll never understand how some people can be so completely disrespectful of everyone around them. In walking around with Mariana in the stroller today I could really see the incongruity of this neighborhood through my sleep deprived haze. Lots of flowers and people taking care of their houses, kids playing on the swings in Saratoga Park. It's really a very pretty neighborhood with lots of decent people. We chatted with a few neighbors who were also pissed off about the music. Maybe if enough of us say something, they'll listen. Then again, a well placed firebomb could do the trick too. Kidding! I'm just kidding.

here is a picture of Mariana with Poppi and some of her girlie cousins