Andy saw this video and ordered Anya a Bumbo right away. He was a bit disappointed that hers didn’t have a teleport button, but she doesn’t seem to mind.

Three months now. I’ve been back to work since July 2, so this last month Anya has spent her days with her zookeeper. I suppose there could be other things she can do that I don’t know about because of that, but I think she’s been pretty good about sharing her tricks with us. So, without further ado, here is what Anya was up to in July:

+ With the help of her Aunt Rebecca (a champion thumb sucker in her youth, I hear), Anya now knows that thumbs are quite tasty and good for slurping on.

+ She has almost total control of her head. She says that life is much more interesting now that she can turn hither and yon at will.

+ She can also sit up with help. She likes to sit up. Sometimes she likes to spit up, but mostly she likes to sit up.

+ She has mastered the friendly skies and took her first plane ride to / from NY.

+ As shown in the hippo picture a few days ago, Anya is an expert grabber. Since her hands are so tiny, though, she is a bit limited into what she can hold onto. So far the list includes Hippo (duh), her feet, my hair, my shirt, my bra, my dinner plate, and cat tails.

Kim sent us a hippo!

This weekend we were in the Big Apple (well, Long Island) for my sister’s wedding. It was Anya’s first flight, and she hardly even fussed. Everything went well, although I feel Catholic wedding ceremonies leave a lot to be desired (at least the three I’ve been to have all confirmed that belief), and the reception had more food and drinks than any human could possibly consume. Little Anya got passed around to various friends and family and everyone oohed and aahed, because they’ve never seen a baby before. I think she spent more time in my sister’s arms than ours. At least until she would cry.

Here is a picture of me getting dressed up for my new gig in AC/DC, and our little muscle baby:

Look, twins!

Now she’s a penguin!

And now she’s going for a bath in the washer!

Another month has gone by, and we’re all still here. (Though there were a few times Anya almost ended up living with the sheep.) I started back to work last Monday, so Anya spends her weekdays at an in-home daycare with her zookeeper and lots of kids and dogs.

Here’s Anya’s list of accomplishments for the last month:

+ Focuses on things and follows stuff when it moves
+ Has perfected her right hook
+ Smiles and chortles
+ Rolls from her back to her right side and then starts to cry ’cause she can’t roll back to her back
+ Appreciates the value of scales (the musical kind)
+ Is working on a gnarly mohawk
+ Slept from 11:00 pm to 6:00 am (once…last night…I, however, still woke up at 3, 4, and 5)
+ Chews on her fist
+ Makes a lovely neck cheese

She has her two-month doctor visit on Wednesday and will get lots of shots. I plan to make a voodoo doll of the nurse who gives the shots, so Anya can get some revenge.

Run, it’s the stingray tongue!

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Baby bodies are very weird.

There’s the eye thing. Did you know when babies are born their pupils don’t dilate? And their eyes roam all over the place? I’m glad I knew the latter beforehand because otherwise I would have been calling the priest that first day for an exorcisim.

And then there’s the head thing. That weird squishy spot they have and the freaky ridges and bumps. Part of the head weirdness, I guess, is because babies are generally in some state of bald, and most of us aren’t used to spending a lot of time looking at bald heads.

Their mouths are freaky, too. The lack of teeth, though expected, is a bit startling. Especially as it adds to the cavernous appearance of their mouths. Baby mouths are huge. I think you could fit all the rest of the baby’s head in its own mouth.

Inside the mouth is something even more disturbing. The baby tongue. I was always impressed by people who could curl their tongues, but babies have those people beat hands down. Baby tongues undulate. It’s like looking at a tiny, pink stingray in motion.

As weird as these things are, they are all fairly typical (or so I’m told) for a baby. I’m curious, though, how many other babies have a collapsable ear. Anya has one. With a slight bit of pressure, the ear folds neatly in half. Sometimes if she’s been on her side or squished up against something for a while, the ear even stays folded when the pressure is removed. It’s like there’s velcro on there. It would be a neat trick if she could control it…she’d sure show those people bragging about being able to merely wiggle an ear. “Oh you can wiggle your ear, huh? Well, look at this!!”