Month: October 2006

Someday Austen is going to take both ballet and Indian dance. At least that is what Mommy is hoping for. If Dada and Chacha get their way, she’ll probably be dancing hip hop.

While Austen was napping, Mommy spoke to Grandma Rodey and Beerinder about “Sunny” (aka Dada) and found out that his mom (Grandma Rodey) picked out his clothes until he was in high school. “He wore whatever I bought … but Beerinder! … oh, boy … he insisted on picking his own clothes in 2nd grade.” It’s settled; Chacha is more fastideous about clothing. But Mommy thinks Dada is pretty cute in his Costco jeans. 🙂

Today Austen met the members of her MOMS club of Edison playgroup: Isabella, Natalie, Nicholas and Jackson. Mommy hopes Austen’s energy and enthusiasm doesn’t frighten the other little children. Maybe she should be placed with four-year-olds … who wouldn’t let her push them around.

And Mommy wants Austen to know: “We never fed you cat food, you stuffed it in your mouth and ran away from Mommy when she tried to take it out.” At least it wasn’t dog food?!

Dada or Da•da or da•da [dä dä]

n. 1. an informal term for Austen’s daddy: Look, Austen, here comes Dada!
2. a term to describe Sikh men: While in McDonalds with Mommy, Austen identified another Sikh man by saying “Dada.”
3. an extremely vague term for mother: After playing with Daddy, Austen became so excited to see Mommy that she pointed at her and proclaimed, “Dada!”
4. a term used to identify things that Austen-cakes can’t properly identify: Excited by all the animals in the zoo, Austen yelled “Dada!” while pointing at the llamas, pigs and goats.

v. 1. a term used while under the influence of the ‘fussies’: Not wanting to sit in the high-chair anymore, Austen became upset and mumbled “dadadadada.”

Austen has taken a liking to stuffed animals: Elmo, Pooh, her tiger, her tan ducky and her brown bear. At night in her crib, she gently hugs and pets Elmo and Pooh. It’s the most sensitive and touching thing Mommy and Daddy have ever seen her do. Amazingly, even Mommy and Daddy get hugs sometimes when Austen is sleepy, or has bumped her head, or hasn’t seen one or the other for a while.

Although she’s still talking up a storm, it’s difficult to make out what Austen’s saying. But, sometimes, when Mommy sings, Austen clearly jumps in with a word or two from the lyrics.

“That’s Elmo’s world”

Austen’s emoting during ‘Pop Goes the Weasel’ also impresses the crowds.

Austen knows there are certain things Mommy and Daddy don’t like her to do, such as picking something off the floor, checking to see who’s watching, and then slowly moving the contraband toward her mouth. When Mommy says no, Austen smiles, tightly closes her mouth and runs away. Unfortunately, this “running from trouble” happens when she’s out visiting the mall. Mommy gives chase and, at times, fellow mall goers help Austen by assisting her in opening doors and escaping Mommy. Must not be parents!

After several scratches on the arm, Austen is wary of Squirtcup. Mommy hopes they’ll eventually play together. Austen still gets excited by cats and tries to pet them “Gently!” but sometimes she gets overexcited and lets out a really loud scream, which the kitties don’t like. Although we don’t have a dog, Austen loves doggies and gets excited when she sees them. She, almost coherently, shouts, “dog,” “woof” and “arf.”

Despite Mommy’s wishes that Austen rise to the level of Nietzsche’s Übermensch and be imperturbable, Austen gets very possessive of things, such as the beach balls at Gymboree. She even gets into non-violent scuffles with other little kids over who gets to hold the ball.

Austen does clever things like spying Daddy’s shoes and trying them on. She understands a lot more than she is willing to display on command.

Television is a part of Austen’s life. She watches public TV (Sesame Street and Teletubbies) and Baby Einstein DVDs. Sometimes Daddy has to use Teletubbies to help distract Austen while she eats in her high-chair.

Austen gets fussy not just when sleepy or hungry but when frustrated or bored, similar to a 2-year-old’s behavior. She’ll throw a toy offered her and then throw her head back. A change of scenery or singing usually helps calm the fussies.

Austen loves waving. She’ll wave when someone waves at her, when someone says ‘hi,’ ‘bye,’ ‘goodnight’ or nothing at all. At restaurants, she unrelentingly waves at innocent fellow diners who are trying to eat their lunch in peace. It’s okay, Austen. Mommy thinks every last wave is cute.

Daddy, Austen and Mommy all arrived safe at Gymboree, despite Mommy’s bad driving. Austen enjoyed having Daddy around but also was excited to see her little friends AND their mommies. Austen definitely recognizes people, waving and even motioning to be picked up.

Tonight, when Grandpa Rodey came to visit, Mommy and Daddy got to go out to dinner where they had a great time … talking about the baby. Is there anything else to talk about? When they got home, Austen wanted Daddy all to herself and Mommy was pushed away when she tried to join in for a group hug.

Mommy, Daddy and Austen woke up early for their first Music Together Class at the Edison YMCA. Most kids in the class were a year or more older than Austen. It was remarkable how very active she was compared to the other 12-month-old boy in her class, but, unlike the others, she got upset when she had to return the egg shakers.

Later, the whole family went to the annual Metuchen Street Fair. Austen tried the giant blow-up jumper castle with the older kids. With everyone jumping around, the castle was constantly in motion so Austen fell quite a bit but didn’t complain. She also ate a lot of Thai garlic chicken and veggie rice while watching Flamingo dancers in action.

At Short Hills Mall, Mommy and Austen met with Kelly and Riley to see the stunning clothes at Neiman Marcus and eat yummy seafood at Legal Seafood. Austen kept trying to run away from Mommy but fortunately Kelly was there to help catch her. [Mommy has purchased an Elmo baby leash and plans to use it if Daddy will let her.]

During the trip, Kelly teased Mommy about her love of Fendi pocketbooks — trying to trick her into believing there was a 50% off sale at the designer — and Mommy told everyone about how she once surprised Grandma Judi with a Fendi during a shoping excursion on Fifth Avenue in Manhattan. Austen will have that special purse when she’s older because Grandpa Earl let Mommy take it for her.

Today Mommy and Austen went on a trip to a Von Thun’s Farm … with the help of the GPS that always makes at least one mistake per trip. They picked a pumpkin from the field, visited with the animals, and tried the cornfield maze.

For dinner Mommy made pumpkin pancakes with the fresh pumpkin. And there are now three little painted pumpkins decorating the front patio.

www.vonthunfarms.com