the first real high chair

ever since we retired "the bucket" car seat, hana has been in a bit of a seat limbo. she hadn't been strong enough to sit in a shopping cart or a restaurant high chair by herself and she doesn't have the bucket to sit in either. so she was either in the bjorn or in a lap. now that she is more assertive about grabbing things she wants to see (heaven help you if you are eating a pork chop, ice cream, pie or drinking anything from a bottle, i.e. beer a.k.a. "mommy juice"), lap sitting during meals has become tedious.

but today, we have crossed over. alhtough, shockingly enough, we have no pictures of it, hana sat in her first restaurant high chair at brunch today. i think she kind of liked it because she only got restless to get out one time. we were able to put her back in it when our food came. we still had to slam our food down quickly lest we get caught luxuriating over pancakes (beligum chocolate and fresh raspberry to be precise - so you see how one can easily be lost in the flaps...) when hana decides to pitch a hissy fit because she's ready to go. if we take our time but ignore her, we'll be one of those parents... so for now, we'll be the kind that live in fear that our kid could lose it at any moment, and when that happens, no check could come fast enough. not to mention, that the crying could cause an embarrassing milk let-down leaving some curious stains in the boobal region of my shirt, particularly for those not in the know.

i know this public high chair phase will be over soon enough. when she starts to want to walk around, she will not be happy chillin' in a high chair, which could spell the end of restaurants until she's old enough to enjoy a kids menu (and by that i mean, not eat it). the no-restaurant thing is something we will have to adjust to gradually. and we can really only handle one major adjustment at a time. right now, we are still adapting to the idea of not seeing a movie in the theatre now the that the summer move season is upon us. we are often given to wistful reverie about the movies we'd see if we could be in some sort of child friendly luxury box in the theatre - sound proof to the other patrons but still movie theatre quality sound inside so it's worth the effort (and no doubt the expense). i suppose, we'll just have to build our own home theatre absent other options.

she recently started to take an interest in the cats. now when they come by, she pets them. it's sweet. she doesn't quite understand that although eyes are pretty, people don't necessarily want you to put your fingers in them. least of all cats. so this petting is a closely supervised activity.

she also seems to be going through yet another growth spurt. jon and i weighed her the other day and she's about 18 lbs now and about 28.5 inches long. all of the 6 month clothes look decidedly too small on her. but that doesn't stop us from still cramming her into them since there are so many of them she has only worn once or twice... but in general, she is at the precipice of busting out of anything that is 9 months size and most everything that doesn't look ridiculous is size 12 months.

perhaps the most fun thing i have noticed over the last couple of weeks is the emergence of her sense of humor. hana is proving to be a pretty silly baby. she's definately starting to do stuff for the laughs and looking for things to do that make her laugh. you can see it in some of the pictures, especially the one where she's wearing her stacker toy peices like water wings. when she's out in public, people comment that she seems like a really happy baby. i would have to agree.

(she has recently begun cuddling her "doll baby" too... very cute. she likes to suck on the little curls on her head. here, she is getting ready for an early evening nap on the couch.)