A Bad Day

When I had changed Graham's clothes AND my clothes 3 (count 'em) times by 10 a.m., I knew I was in for a bad day. Let's just say that the rice cereal fought with his digestive track, but his digestive track won.

Have a great weekend- it's finally spring!

Mr. Big

G had his 4 month appointment yesterday. The verdict: 95% in all categories. For those without kids, that means only 5 babies out of 100 weighed more, were longer, and had bigger heads than he does. Jen says a 95 is an A and that's the important thing.





To celebrate, we ate rice cereal for the first time. G seemed more interested in eating the spoon. Next week, sweet potatoes!

The Day When Blog Posts Were Only Peripherally Graham Related:

Ever think the New Yorker would have a cartoon that would simply capture every last one of your neuroses?

The Edwards

I've been thinking a lot about Elizabeth Edwards these past few days. For those of you who live in a hole (or a lab writing a thesis, like Filipa), the presidential candidate John Edwards and his wife came forward last weekend with the news that her breast cancer has returned and metasticized into her bones, making the long term prognosis unrelentingly negative. Really, it's a matter of time for Ms. Edwards.

This is sad stuff, for sure, and my first reaction was negative toward the couple. "Circle the wagons," I wanted to shout. "Take care of those kids! Spend every second together!" Then I thought about my own mom, who died from cancer with three young kids at home. She died within 6 months of diagnosis, and was very sick for 3 of those months, so her healthy time was limited. After she got her own very bad news, she and my dad went to England (her favorite place) for several weeks. At the same time, I was going to high school in another state, and she insisted that I stay to finish my senior year. Now that I'm grown and a mom myself, I see her decisions as both proud and brave. I mean, who wants to sit around with their family, waiting to die? Who wants to pull a daughter out of her last months of high school? Who wants everything to stop and wait, even when the end is definite? So I changed my mind- I think they're doing what they think is right for their family. No matter what the political ramifications are for the Edwardses, I wish them the best.

Now I'm going to go kiss my kid on his gross drooly mouth.

Graham has a favorite toy: a book. I cannot tell you how this fact warms the cockles of my cold heart. It doesn't mean a thing, I'm sure, but coming from a family where I was the only reader (my brother Ryan being so much younger than me that I was out of the house before he learned to read), I do truly hope to have at least one bookworm of a kid.

Nicknaming the nicknameless

Jen's French family has a long history of using pet names in the place of more formal titles, like grandmother and aunt. This practice is charming but sometimes confusing to the non-french speaking American daughter-in-law (me), who struggles to follow the simplest communications, let alone unerstanding when it's ok to call an 80 year old great-aunt Do-Do. Anyway, Jen's mom is Kiki to her grandkids (also her pet name as a child) and Jen is MiMi (mee-mee) to Graham (athough her pet name is Ninette, pronounced Nee-nette). All of this works really well and helped us get around the two moms thing. I guess now is the time to create one of these names for Graham, whose name does not lend itself being shortened. Whitney can sometimes be Whit (though less now as I get older) and Jennifer is almost always Jen, but Graham, no matter how you pronouce it, is Graham. So, we're experimenting with names: from the utterly silly (Grambone) to the obvious (G), to the very nice (Gray, the current front-runner). Such pet names are rarely used outside of the immediate family in France, but I think in the States you have to be prepared for kids to use their short names in class, cutting GoGo out of the running.

Hush up...or be punished by the universe

I've been blogging pretty cheerily of late and feeling pretty good about my mama-status. I have a cute kid, a supportive partner, and a good life. Graham pretty much sleeps through the night, and the rolls on his thighs are nothing less than heavenly.

Then came yesterday. Graham cried, really cried, from 1030am to 630pm. I called and made Jen come home at 130. Our friend Matt calls these types of curveballs the true test of parenting: you get going in a routine, then baby changes (often abruptly) and then you start over again. Repeat. Until the kid is out of the house. Anyway, G. is ok- it was either gas, or early teething, or some developmental overload. We're ok, too- though sympathy is welcome.

Have a great weekend,

love the DailyGraham

PS. Leaving the house tonight! For a haircut! Hooray!

A Typical Night At Home for the Family

Note the following:

1. Empty bag of Trader Joe's Chinese Chicken, a staple in our house since I stopped cooking.
2. Cheese. Always a staple.
3. Big wine glass for Whitney- "lactation tea"
4. Only a small wine glass for Jen, because she both showers and leaves the house every day.
5. Bottle cap for Graham. Only accidentally next to the wine, we promise.

The Worlds Tiniest Frat Boy


We wanted to show a little bit of Graham's dramatic range, so here's the frat boy to counter the bookstore employee of a couple of weeks ago.

Ps. Hey- thanks Kerry for the awesome shirt. We love it.

Graham has always hated his infant car seat, so we went ahead and bought the next size up, which will hold him until he's 65 lbs (so, at this rate, Christmas). Car seat manufacturers can charge huge money, because who wants to be the parent that cheaped out and killed the kid, you know? Anyway, here's the seat (the cover in homage to my own VW, circa 1991).

Graham can now find his hand, pick up a toy, and bring that toy on a long, wavering course to his mouth.

Ps. For parent-types reading, this little travel high chair is our new favorite sitting place. It's compact (at least comparatively )and can be leaned back for babies who can't sit yet. We love it.

Hello, fans and friends-

It's been a whirlwind few months here at the DailyGraham, and we've gotten so busy handling correspondence that we've hired a few extra hands. That said, I am, as always, willing to sign autographs and respond to your queries directly. Here are a few photos from my latest shoot to take the edge off the withdrawl some of you might have been feeling.

Big kisses,

Graham

Proof that we are city-dwellin' hippies


See our sling? We've taken to using it often, since Graham isn't getting any smaller (at our estimate about 18lbs). He likes this particular position because it allows him to be the prow of the mama-ship, where he can see everything.





Here, Jen shares her hairy legs with the world, as if you need further proof that we are hippified (just bought organic rice cereal for Graham's first solid!). She wants everyone to know that this condition is temporary.

Marshall Street Reunion

About a million years ago I moved to Massachusetts to go to graduate school at Tufts. I ended up living with some girls from my program down the street from some Ed. school grad students and all of us hung out alot. Well, three of us have made babies so far, and we all met up today to listen to our kids howl (Graham), sing (Xavier), and practice standing (Matilda and Adele). So, from left to right we have Tillie and Xavier (with Graham in between), and Adele.

Rambles:

1. It makes me want to cry when I think about all the time I used to waste on the Interweb. Gossip blogs? check. Craigslist? check. Books section of the Times? check. Random pricing of unrealistic vacations? check. Someday I'll get a hotel room with wireless access and just...wander...all...day...long. Now that's a fanstasy.

2. Jen rocks as a mom. She has created an ever-expanding repetoire of excellent games to play with G, including: monkey, take me to your mothership, and, my favorite, European techno song, in which she chants phrases in French and German and broken resort town English to an improvised techno beat. Really, you should ask her sample that one.

3. I need a haircut. Badly. When does a mom get such a thing done?

4. Bless you, Trader Joe's. Without your frozen fruits and veggies, I would have been subsisting on bread, coffee, and peanut butter these many months. Plus, you shortbread cookies are amazing with tea.

5. 60 degrees today! Our pale, dimpled skin exposed to the air, Graham and I walked Molly around our neighborhood. No more snow suits, I hope.

New Things!

We're trying out some new equipment. First, the high chair, which lives in the kitchen and allows me to drink me coffee in peace for 5 minutes. Second, the crib, which lives in Graham's new and enormous bedroom. This week we start the process of moving him from our bed to his bed, in the hopes of avoiding a guaranteed spot on Maury in 12 years when he's still sleeping with us.

Being Wrong

When we were pregnant, we did a lot of research and a lot of obsessing about the stuff we bought. It became a hobby: strollers, car seats, toys, etc., passing the time as we waited to need all of it. Well, the one piece of advice I would now offer parents-to-be is- WAIT. You have no idea what you will need and if you try beforehand you will likely get it wrong. I read somewhere that most families go through 3 or so strollers. We are headed to our second, in that the plush and stylish stroller we plunked down $250 for isn't working. It's too big for our new entryway and closet and with Graham seems to weigh approximately 500 pounds. Because I don't have a car, Graham and I get around exclusively via foot and subway, so this mistake was big. If we had waited until we had the baby, we would have had a much better idea what to buy.

Granny, what a fine chocolatey maw you have!
The better to eat you with, my dear.*

*Actually, Molly and Graham get along great. There's lots of bald head licking. And yes, Graham is wearing blue leopard print slippers.

New House!

Seriously catastrophic, but ours.

why we blog

I like this blog; it's a good baby book substitue, since I haven't even bought one yet. It's easy to post pictures of G and I have the option (but not yet usually the inclanation) to write a little something. In this respect I envy our compatriots at The Little Plum (see link), but Elliot is 3 months older, so maybe I'll get there someday. Anyway, some people (relatives, co-workers) see this venue as a competitive-parent thing or an internet-obsession thing. Really it's a way to share Graham with our best-beloveds, many of whom live far away. This way we can pretend we see eachother every day.

How do you pronounce Graham? The options, as I see them, are Gray-yam and Gram or a sort of hybrid Grah-ham. I'm curious, because I can't make up my mind.

And the photo is here to prove the kid doesn't always resemble a 40 year old Pynchon fan.

HI

I work at a bookstore. Might I recommend the newest Pynchon novel? It's no Gravity's Rainbow, but it'll keep you busy.

12 Weeks

As you could probably tell by my earlier post (and the exclamation points), we've turned a corner with Graham. Everyone kept telling me that 12 weeks was a magic number, but I never believe well-wishers and bossy fellow-parents. But, really, it is magic. He's magic now. It's like a little synapsy switch has flipped from infant to I'M A REAL HUMAN PERSON WHO CAN WATCH YOU. AND LAUGH.

It's crazy. We've started talking about solid food and beach tents for the summer- the general feeling at our house is that everything is looking up from here.

Update:

So, we've moved, but pictures will have to wait until the internet at our house is up. But I'd like to mention a few things now:

He laughed! It was the most awesome thing ever.
He continues to sleep 8 or so hours a night. Also awesome!