Lydia with a block.

DAILY RAMBLING

I had a phone interview yesterday afternoon, which is encouraging, though I had forgotten how much I loathe doing interviews. The first are the hardest, I suppose. It's too easy to think about how I should have said this better, done more research on that, and generally what an idiot I sounded like. We'll see; it's for a contract position, which would be something new, but I suppose it would be interesting. The project looks neat, and at least I wouldn't have to worry about filling up time with nothing to do.

Lydia slept through the night again after a couple of nights back in her old pattern. She also had an extra bath last night after liberally smearing dinner into her hair (which is growing steadily thicker and now stands up in little cowlicks in several places). She seems to be cautiously in favor of baths these days; she likes to hang onto the edge of the tub and watch the water going in, and she likes her little plastic ducks, and to do a bit of splashing. Hates having her hair rinsed, though, not that I can blame her as it's nigh-impossible to do without getting water and soap in her eyes.

Dave said that she pulled herself up to standing twice yesterday, and she may even have cruised a bit although he wasn't watching at that particular moment. I'm putting my money on solo walking at ten months. She's already addicted to vertical locomotion, and fusses insistently if neither of us is available to hold her hands and help her get around. Put her on her stomach after a bout of walking and she gives the most heart-rending wail for about twenty seconds before giving in and finding something to do. She'll quite happily lurch the length of the apartment with someone to hang onto, taking bigger and faster steps all the time. The whole process is just astonishing to watch.

The thing I finally realized about having kids, which somewhat allays my worries about how we'll deal with this, that, or the other thing, is that it all happens slowly. There is of course the initial sharp alteration in lifestyle (neatly dealt with by nature in the form of two-week newborn boot camp), but after that, things happen slowly. You get used to it before you really know it, and it's not particularly difficult or wearing, just something that you do. Not to say that there aren't difficult days and moments, of course, but before having a child I think I was worried that I would get, well, bored with the routine. But I don't, any more than I was bored with all of the other routine things I used to do, and about fifty times a day I look at her and shake my head at her overall adorableness. After the rough initiation, you add things in gradually, and you all have time to adapt.

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