3 October 2005

This weekend, we celebrated Ottertoberfest at the Zoo. This was a mostly disappointing venture, as we thought that "free refreshments" might mean more than snocones and popcorn. We parked about 1/2 mile away from the zoo, and meandered throughout a huge portion of the zoo. (Neither mommy nor daddy is good with maps.) We finally asked for assistance to direct us to the WashU event tent. The Guest Services attendant proclaimed the directions provided were grossly inadequate pieces of shit, and gave us new directions through the River's Edge. We were stuck behind many SLOW people staring at elephants and rhinos. We made it to the Washu tent eventually, but we were supremely disheartened to learn that we just got free stickers and access to the children's zoo. We went to the kiddie zoo, and Raina was fascinated by the hedgehog. It paced back and forth, back and forth, in its cage. This made it very easy for Raina to see, and made it very clear to mommy that the poor thing was just depressed by its captivity. All in all, it was interesting to note that Raina doesn't realize that animals at the zoo are any more interesting than anything else in this world AND that every person with a stroller descends upon the zoo on a pleasant Saturday afternoon.

GASSY BABY!!! Raina began the "gassy phase" of her development last weekend. We thought it a little odd, but not anything notable. The condition exacerbated throughout the week, with the daycare workers politely noting "Raina was quite stinky today." Over this past weekend, Raina concentrated many efforts in passing flatulence -- very loud and prolific gases. They culminated in four bowel movements in two days: one so full that it ran down both legs and started to pool at the base of the playstation 2. YOWSA! Daddy thought this was just another gas episode, so he was quite appalled to see that Raina was slipping and sliding in her own poo. Remarkably, Raina's "Princess of Power" outfit was spared, while her newly designated Rams outfit was doused with vitamins. (See the poop video for visuals of this period.)

The Raina songbook has a few new additions: "Raina is a great baby" (in a groovy down beat) and "Let's check the diaper." As always, Raina loves when people sing to her, so she is greatly pleased to be serenaded by her own tunes.
Raina has filled out lately. We swear that she's growing more horizontally. She has spread to fill out the bottom of the boppy -- quite a remarkable achievement. It's also become a little colder, and so Raina has switched from wearing onesies to wearing sleepers with footies. Also, just a blanket was not enough to keep the little miss warm at night. We couldn't find her little sleep sack, so she slept in a winter coat for a few nights, all snuggled up and warm. We finally found the sleep sack, and she's been in that ever since.

She exceeds expectations each and every day in terms of dexterity and motion and control in the playstation 2. She actively grabs items, and pulls them to her mouth, and punches and knocks them around. She can firmly manipulate almost every item on the play bar, excluding the car that makes sounds. Raina still has not figured out how to push the button to cause glorious sounds to emerge. Mommy and daddy will celebrate and rue the day she does, though, as she is certain to do it constantly.

Coupled with Raina's dexterity at the playstation 2 is her general emerging strength and ability to grasp and hold just about anything. She received a teether bee when she was a baby and it's always been too heavy for her. Now it's one of her favorite toys and she can pass it from hand to hand when she mouths it. Also, she actively explores faces with her hands -- frequently grabbing noses and chins and glasses whenever given an opportunity. It's even more crucial for Mommy to wear her hair pulled back, because Raina is fascinated by how it interacts in space. On occasion, as a reward, Daddy will just take off his glasses and allow Raina to paw at him to her heart's content. She just loves it. But, then again, she always brightens up when she sees her daddy. He is, by far, her favorite playmate.
Sundays are "baby daddy daughter day" in which daddy watches football all day and Raina plays on the floor and interacts with daddy. A lot of this time is spent making Raina giggle, as she is very happy to express her joy in this manner.

Raina has a pronounced case of diaper rash on her bottom -- it's a bona fide bumpy rash. While her cradle cap is slowly receding into her hair line, and her ezcema is clearing up, diaper rash has hit back with a full attack. Also, Raina has suffered through a number of illnesses as of late. The most recent caused her to have coughing fits -- the first of her life. It was tremendously heart-wrenching to have Raina wake up in the middle of the night to have a coughing fit. Thankfully, the majority of this illness has passed.

Mommy gave up stroller-ing the baby over the summer because it became clear that Raina was immensely bored sitting in her car seat for an hour. She's big enough now that we sit her face forward in the stroller (head protected by a HUGE hat), but we have to run in the sunny sections so that she doesn't get sun-burned. At these times, her hat falls down over her face and she cannot see a thing. We're not convinced that this method is any better than the other, but it has to be a slight improvement.

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