Dryden Reunion 2009 - Lake Martin, Alabama

Livin' the good life for three straight days on Lake Martin...

Finger Jabbering, Visitors, and a Small Victory

Better than any jaw harp or kazoo, Clara is an instrument unto herself...

Our friends Pat and Ashleigh stopped by Raleigh this weekend for a visit. Ashleigh has recently moved back to Charlotte, and Pat...well, Pat is the only known member of a rare tribe of Irish nomads. He appears only for triumphant returns (from, say, Ethiopia, Cameroon, or Tulsa, Oklahoma) or to announce the latest travels. He's off to Kurdistan at the end of the summer to teach English and tease his loved ones with hints of adventures into Baghdad.

In celebration of the little victories... Clara put herself to sleep today -- for the first time ever -- for an afternoon nap. While she's sleeping well for ten or eleven hours at night, naps have been a bigger challenge. Putting her down is a hands-on process requiring much cajoling from either Kate, Paul, or nanny Katie.

She fought it today for about 15 minutes, rolling around the crib and babbling the songs that signify her desperate clutches at consciousness. But she ultimately succumbed to the soothing appeal of her own three-finger pacifier. Here's to the hope that a single instance begins the new order for nap time.

Finally, we hit the road this Thursday for the Dryden Family Reunion at Lake Martin in Alabama. Clara will now see what it means to have six aunts, seven uncles, and 21 cousins. We're steeling ourselves early for imminent ribbing from the kinfolk (we have a reputation to uphold) when we lock Clara in her specially-constructed traveling Purell baby-bubble. Must...fend...off...germs, germs, germs!

Lessons From Innoculations & ExerSaucerizing

Clara screamed considerably less this time, consoled -- I think -- by the shiny metallic glean of the silver band-aids on her thigh. And this time the nurse made no such promises as "this might not even hurt." Kate's eyes welled up, but she too has grown tougher. No tears were spilled. She is a veteran now, grizzled by four-months in the trenches of motherhood. So, the second round of inoculations have gone much more smoothly with the slight exception of the rotovirus syrup forcing twice the usual number of dirty diapers.

The weigh-in was impressive. Clara clocked 14 lbs 5 oz and 25 inches of height (they still call it "length", but she's standing up so much now that we're ready for the transition in terms). Most notable: her noggin gained 2 cm in circumference. We still suspect it accounts for 2/3rds of her body mass.

Last weekend, Laura and Stephen Ryan (fellow Davidson alumni in Raleigh) were kind enough to loan us the ExerSaucer their 18-month-old Jim lost need for many months ago. Clara has taken to it with relish!

It has two wheels and pivots on a stationary leg. There's a break that we mostly keep in locked position to prevent Clara from getting too frustrated. The girl has some grit. When we let her walk back and forth, she tunnels herself into the challenge and gets angry when the Saucer won't go exactly where she's trying to direct it (not crying, mind you, she yells at it). She takes the same approach to crawling practice...we have to flip her from her belly after a few minutes of crawl-mimicry (no traction means no forward progress) burns through her short fuse.

Methinks we're getting early glimpses into this budding personality.

The Family Warm-up

Last week was a busy one for the NC Drydens. We're fortunate that Raleigh is at the crossroads for a lot of traveling family and friends. In a brief span of days, we were able to introduce Clara to her aunt Karen, twin cousins Sara & Caitlin, and Kate's cousins Jed & Shana along with their three little ones.

This is all a warm-up for later in the month when we hit the road for family reunions in Alabama and Pennsylvania.