Sitting Pretty

It was time. Barely.

According to the law, a child must be at least 1 year old AND 20 pounds before he or she may ride in a front-facing car seat.

We've had the new car seat for at least 4 months. I've been waiting and waiting to use it. It sat in her closet, taunting me. At the one year check-up, she had not made the weight. She was 18.5 pounds. Now, she gains about a pound a month. So here we are, 7 weeks after that appointment. I decided it was time. (Besides, I was tired of lugging her around in the "bucket".)

Our friend Rick helped Paul install the new seat. Top of the line Britax, which we bought used from Rick and Martha. Was clean, never been in an accident, and half the price of a new one.

Like any good and overly photo-obsessed parent, I captured the moment of the great switch.

Daddy sets her into the new car seat. She seems wary but interested.

He starts buckling her in. This is usually where she starts fussing but for some reason she was too distracted (by the camera) to bother fussing.


All set and ready to roll. "Have toy, will travel!"

And now, I present another comparison study. The top photo is the first time she went into her car seat when we brought her home from the hospital. The bottom photo was taken the day we put her in the new seat.

Quite a difference, isn't it?

Camping, Baby Style

As you can see from Amanda's blog, we went camping this past weekend with some friends from church. This was her first camping trip, let alone our first camping trip as a couple. It was a great time, and of course we got some pics.


It was really cold the first day so we bundled Jadyn up in her brand new coat and winter hat. She could barely move, but it was adorable.

Daddy took her out to hit the trails.


"Beep beep! Coming through!"

"Mmmmm, spaghettios! A great camping food!"

Playing ball outside the tent. It's 3 times the size of her head, but that didn't stop her from trying to eat it!

Exploring fall

Paul took Jadyn outside this morning on one of the first few cool days of the fall. We got in a few of the obligatory posed pictures ...




then he let her search around in the yard - with the aim of not letting her put, well, keep anything in her mouth.

Checking out what's on the ground.

This was probably seconds before she tried to place the unknown object in her mouth.

Off to look over another patch of the yard.

Sunglasses, shoes, football and gender identity

On Monday, Amanda was sorting through some of Jadyn’s clothes to see what we wanted to keep, discard or pass along to another family.

We’ve had an ongoing challenge to teach Jadyn how to wear things on her head – hats, sunglasses, etc. The photo story involving the sunglasses and shoes took place over about 10 minutes.

The story about the football happened later in the evening and comes later in this post.

Sunglasses and shoes

Mommy starts the experiment.

The struggle ensues.

Mommy sets the example.

The shades didn't stay on long.

Jadyn moves on to something much more interesting … A bin full of shoes! Notice the forgotten sunglasses over her left shoulder. This is more like it. Definitely a girl thing!

We tried a hat, but – trust us – it didn’t stay on long either.

Football

Later in the evening, Daddy was watching Jadyn so Mommy could keep working on the assortment of things in the living room.
For those of you who’ve never been to the Deep South in the United States, we take our football very seriously – especially college football. It is a “water cooler” topic in almost every Southern state on Mondays and throughout the week in the late summer and early fall.
Daddy is a University of Alabama graduate. Alabama is a school rich with football tradition. The late Paul “Bear” Bryant was its legendary coach for many of the last 50 years. He left some big shoes to fill when he passed away in 1983 after his retirement weeks earlier with a record 322 wins, the most of anyone at the time in Division I-A.
In 2003, Florida State University’s Bobby Bowden overtook the Bear’s record and currently stands at 351 wins.
On Monday night, Daddy decided to give Jadyn a “structured” football lesson. It basically involved letting her hold a toy ball emblazoned with Alabama’s long-time logo and years the team won the Southeastern Conference title up through 1992.
That’s the year Alabama won its most recent national title – its 12^th overall, directed by Gene Stallings, a player and coach under the Bear.
Without further delay, here is a photo from the formal football “introduction.” It kind of says it all:

Gender identity

All that being said, we think Jadyn’s gender identity got a further boost from the attraction to the shoes. However, her broader understanding of the culture in which she currently resides and its love of football also got some support.