Ginger looks good in black

So, Ginger was 4 months old on December 26th. She has become an even more entertaining/awesome creature than the 3 month old Ginger was.

--Two nights ago she grabbed her foot and sucked on it.

--She grabs her favorite toys (Thanks Auntie Tami and Nonna in Ohio!) with great intent and jams them in her mouth.

--Over the holidays she happily rolled over, both ways.

--She has a new noise that she yells whenever she sees Spider. And she's not so much kicking Spider now and making brave attempts at petting him.

--She likes to grab on to my clothes while nursing. Grab. Yank. Snap (as she lets go). If clothes are not available, the skin on my chest seems to be a find substitute. So lately, when she nurses, we do this funny hand dance of me trying to keep her razor sharp claws away from my skin, and she kicking her feet, wiggling her torso and windmilling her top arm. It seems to tire me out more than it does Ginger.

--We realize she is far from the delicate flower we thought she was. Ross cuts her nails when she is wide awake. He recently pointed out that he is stronger than she is, and if he wants to cut her nails, well, that's what he's gonna do.

--All her baby socks are too small (I mean the infant socks, her heel sticks out far beyond the totally useless tread or word like "little cutie" or "angel" that adorn the bottoms of the 0 to 3 month socks.

--She's wearing mostly 6 month clothes (Thanks Aunties Vanessa and Mary and GV!) with leg warmers, of course, and a few pair of bigger, longer socks.

--She wakes up in her crib in the morning and entertains herself for at least 15 minutes by chortling and cooing and giggling at the animals on her mobile (Thanks Mike and Carly and darling Charlotte!). After 15 minutes to 30 minutes her squawks get louder and louder until she's screaming to be picked up already, the mobile is immobile and therefore boring and the stuffed animals have nothing more to say.

--In the middle of the night she often scoots herself sideways in her crib, or kicks up enough to get a food stuck in the rails. Being sideways and stuck she doesn't seem to like (I wonder why?) but just being stuck seems to hold her interest for another 10 minutes.

Like the AMAZING black socks with bones on them. (Thanks Deanna! These are our new favorites!)

Also, as you can tell, Ginger looks good in black.

(Awesome boombox onesie from Natalie!)

Late December update

Ginger will be four months old this Saturday.

We're getting ready to drive to Southern California for a few days with the Loy clan. And we know it will be a very different trip from the last one.

In late September, we four (Ross, Ginger, Spider and I) drove to So.Cal for my sister's marriage celebration. It was a very long and strange drive. We wanted to drive when she was asleep, but after Bay Area traffic. We tried to leave at 7. We made it to the highway at 9.

The first time Ginger woke up I was driving. She cried. I floored it until we got to the next offramp and kept flooring it until Ross not-so-calmly told me to slow down for the light.

She screamed. We stopped. I fed her. We bought fast food. Spider Peed. Ross peed.

This must have happened again because we didn't arrive in Ojai until 3am. I was wired on crappy coffee. With the help of a beer, I slept sometime after 4am.

This time, we're getting up, getting things done and getting going. On the highway before 3pm, or else.

And this time the drive should be different.

Ginger is still not a huge fan of a pacifier, and she'll suck on one of our fingers if she has to, but she's become quite the self-soother. Her hands, her clothes, the blanket we give her, the toy she grabs, all end up in her mouth. Also, this week she likes to suck on her bottom lip.

Other month four/this week updates include:
--Spider is fascinating to her. She watches his every move, squawks at him, and she she can, hits and kicks him.

--She hits and kicks whatever she can get her tiny parts to. She does things now just to see how she is affecting the world around her.

--Call and response, but LOUD. She demands we mimic her and she changes the tones and volume of her squawking. I'm sure she thinks we're having quite a conversation.

--She is mobile. Mostly into scooting on her back by kicking her legs.

--She sucks in air to laugh/giggle/chortle.