A new skill ... clapping.

Standing tall!

This is Roxi's preferred mode of transportation. We do many, many "laps" around the house like this, stopping occasionally for Roxi to inspect a cat, stray Cheerio or toy.

Roxi is sitting in her new, plush play area. Rob bought a carpet remnant for our living room to facilitate crawling, assisted walking and general wackiness. Plus, when Roxi loses her balance and comes crashing down, the fall is ever so much softer.

Playing some Daddy head bongo ...

Giddyup.

As if having her own blog wasn't enough, Roxi also has a roving band of paparazzi that follows her wherever she goes. This particular photo shoot was conducted in Estes Park over Presidents' Day weekend.

Happy .75 Birthday!

Roxi got a clean bill of health at her 9-month checkup (aside from the cold she's sporting - again). Still no teeth, but she got the green light to move on to more advanced food, like citrus fruits and anything moderately chunky in texture.

And here are the latest stats:

• 18 pounds, 4 ounces - in the 50th percentile for her age
• 28 inches long/tall - in the 85th percentile for her age

She's growing. She's happy. And she's got everyone at her doctor's office - from the receptionists to the nurses to Dr. P himself - wrapped around her little finger.

Roxi is all about standing up these days. Playground equipment is starting to get interesting.

More fun at the park. It's hard to make out from the picture, but Roxi and I are in a chair swing.

Because she's such a big girl now, Roxi has graduated from her Snugli front pack to this cushy framed backpack. We're looking forward to lots of hikes this summer.

Guk

Roxi's vocabulary, if you are imaginative and wish to call it as such, is expanding rapidly. Gone are the days of solid ba, ba, ba, ba, bas. Now she will carry on full babbling conversations, an example of which might be, "Ga goo. Bwa bee ya da bee. Oh. Guk." If you stand far enough away, it sort of sounds like English.

But her favorite word this week has been guk. Versatile word, this guk. It's used as an exclamation sometimes. Guk! It's used as a sort of affirmation sometimes. Da dee. Dee guk! Most of the time though, it's used as punctuation. Bwa bwa yo ya ba boh. Guk.

Another observation of ours is that when Roxi is upset, she usually says, "Maaaaa, maa, maaaa!" When she is happy, she usually says, "Da dee da da da!" I'm trying not to take it personally.

A few of Roxi's more impressive accidental "word" utterances include: glucose, abracadabra, kayak, I'm a duck, hi daddy and overnight. We can't get enough of watching her converse with her toys (sometimes at length). And nothing is better than walking into her room and being greeted with what sounds a lot like hi! Love it. Guk.

Roxi has learned how to turn her mobile on and off. We hear random melodies coming from her nursery all the time.

Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV)

It's been a germ-filled couple of weeks at the Tusselwupper household. Rob came down with bronchitis, I caught a cold and the sweet girl got hit with RSV. Because of the sneaky ways of viruses, it's impossible to know if all of us had variations of the same thing or three different kinds of virus funk. Either way, I am happy to report that the germ cloud has lifted. Antibiotics took care of Rob. I went through boxes of tissues. And Roxi got nebulizer treatments, which helped clear out her bronchial tubes so she could breathe - and therefore sleep - better.

For those of you not familiar with a nebulizer, it's a nifty machine that converts liquid medicine into breathable steam. It comes with a mask that straps over the patient's nose and mouth. Let me tell ya, there's nothing more pathetic than seeing your baby girl sporting what looks like an oxygen mask. Even if the mask is painted to look like a cute purple dragon, which Roxi's was. But the only part that really bugged Roxi about it was its volume; the sucker is loud, and it startled her.

Anyway, Roxi had to be strapped in to ye old nebulizer four times a day for 10 minute treatments. She's having her last treatment tonight, before bed, and we are all excited about that. Lest you be worried, the RSV was never serious. Roxi never had a fever, never had trouble breathing or any of that scary stuff. She was just clogged up and having a hard time sleeping. Otherwise - if you averted your eyes from the waterfall pouring out of her nose - you would have never known she was sick. She was her active, wacky, fun self ... what a champ.

Last weekend we took advantage of the deliciously sunny weather and went to the park. Roxi was ALL OVER the swinging action.

Roxi loved looking at all the other kids.

Roxi has officially joined the ranks of millions - if not billions - of babies worldwide: She eats Cheerios. All by herself. The look of concentration on her face when she grasps the wee O between her pointer finger and thumb, followed by the big grin when she lifts it in the air and (occasionally) puts it in her mouth ... stunning. Though I must be either the worst or most laid back mother in my circle of friends. When I mentioned that I was giving Roxi Cheerios, every last one of them said, "Oh great! Did you cut them in half first?" All the other moms were worried about choking their sweet peas. One mom even cut them into quarters. And here I am, throwing gigantic, whole Os at my baby right from the start. Oh well. Roxi never had a problem. She is a big girl after all.

A Real Page Turner

We read to Roxi three times a day - before both her naps and before bedtime. She surprised us recently by turning the pages for us. You have to "prep" the next page by flipping it open a bit; Roxi does the rest by herself. Sometimes she gets so excited about seeing the next page that she reaches for it before you can finish reading the current one.

Page turning! Can full-fledged literacy be far behind? OK, probably. Still though, all signs point to an appreciation for books ... and not just chewing on them.

Roxi enters in a healthy debate (i.e., giggle fit) with Chomper the puppet dog. Needless to say, Chomper lives with us now.

Roxi's current favorite: the Peek A Block activity cube from her Nanna. It plays music, talks, lights up, rotates and - best of all - provides an excellent platform for pulling up to standing. Rob and I already know all the tunes by heart.

Roxi LOVES her new, big girl tub.

View from the top.

It's All a Blur

The days are flying by, each one with a new adventure for Miss Roxi. Please allow me to hit the highlights:

Today

• Whole food: Roxi ate little pieces of banana along with her regular breakfast of smushy rice cereal mixed with pureed fruit (pears in this instance). I put the wee squares on her tray for her to feed to herself, but she much preferred squishing them between her fingers and pushing them around the tray. So I put the pieces in her mouth for her. She ate 4 of them and spit 2 out; we consider that a success story.
• Weighty subject: According to our bathroom scale, Roxi weighs 17.5 pounds. And according to the clothes she is rapidly outgrowing, Roxi is getting longer/taller all the time. We won't have official numbers until her 9-month checkup on March 5.
• Big tub: Roxi will be taking her first bath in her new, fancy tub this afternoon. Look for pictures soon ...
• Dad rules: The sweet girl is looking forward to Daddy Daughter Night this evening, when she will be learning the finer points of airplane flying on daddy's knees, arms and everything else - and possibly the finer points of basketball cheering as well.

This Week

• Moo: Dairy products made their first debut in Roxi's diet yesterday in the form of yogurt. Prognosis is good.
• Boo: Tofu made its debut earlier in the week to mixed reviews.
• Happy hands: Roxi has learned how to wave. She treated her Nanna to big waves and smiles while shopping on Monday. It was the first time I'd ever seen such a thing. And now it seems like she waves at everything ... though, naturally, never on command. The waving consists of rapidly opening and closing her hands, fingers just a-flapping. Roxi's hands are usually facing away from the person (or object or imagined entity) she's waving at, which makes it all the more entertaining.
• Diaper bombs: Roxi's Nanna visited over the weekend, and a very sweet check-in agent at Frontier gave us special passes so we could go to the gate when she left. The part we didn't know ahead of time was that those with special passes get special treatment at security. Nanna looked on as Roxi and I got the full pat-down and metal detecting wand treatment. The security agents couldn't have been nicer though. They all put on new latex gloves before touching Roxi and took turns trying to make her laugh. Well worth the extra effort to hang out with Nanna at the gate.
• New ride: Our big girl has been too long/tall for her infant carseat since before Christmas. It took Rob and I a couple of weeks to decide which seat to purchase. Then we ordered it online. A week later it arrived ... damaged. So we had it picked up and its replacement arrived a week later. Which is my long-winded way of saying that Roxi has been enjoying her plush new seat for the past few days.

This Month

• On the move: Roxi can't crawl in the traditional sense of the action. However, she has mastered the soldier-style belly crawl and can get pretty much wherever she wants. In fact, she can go pretty darn fast if she's motivated. I learned this after I looked away for a moment the other day and then looked back to find Roxi halfway across the room attempting to chew on Teton (our large, black cat). Luckily, Teton seems either amused or ambivalent about Roxi's love offerings. He just sits there and takes it - the chewing, the pulling, the excited screaming. That cat will put up with anything for a little attention. Anyway, Roxi's forward locomotion is a lovely development. She will play on the floor for almost an hour at a time, happy to scoot toys around as well as herself. Time to truly babyproof the house.
• Up!: The Roxster has learned how to pull up from sitting. Her favorite activity is to use our fingers to propel herself to standing, followed closely by pulling up on her new Peek A Block activity cube. She will also pull up on one of her crib toys if properly positioned. Roxi hasn't learned how to pull up from lying down though, so we don't find her clinging to the sides of her crib or anything. Yet.
• Plenty to say: Roxi is known as "the conversation starter" at our Mommy & Me Pilates class. The girl has a lot to say. Especially if there are other children around. It generally goes a little something like this: "Da dee da da, NA NA, mo boo boo boo."
• Just add water: When held facing outward, Roxi will rhythmically thrash when she gets excited. To me, it looks like she's riding a bucking bronco. Rob calls it air swimming.

Roxi's first swim ... she's a splashing queen.

Big laughs in the hot tub!

Happy Snappy Holidays

Roxi had an incredible first Christmas. She got bunches of groovy, shiny wrapping paper, crinkly tissue paper, chompy ribbon and bangable boxes. Hours of flailing and tossing! Hours of happy chewing! Oh, and there was stuff inside all the wrapping that was pretty cool too, though she didn't really get around to all that until several days later.

Really though, Rob and I were amazed at the outpouring of gifts for the wee girl. Toys, stuffed animals, outfits and accessories from around the world ... Roxi is a lucky peanut indeed.

The best part of our Christmas celebrations, by far, was getting to see family and friends. Aunt Christa flew in on Dec. 21, and the 4 of us joined several pals for an Indian feast that evening. The next morning, Rob diagnosed and fixed the furnace, which had pooped out in the middle of the night (Roxi will hopefully inherit her dad's mechanical intellect and aptitude). Then Rob and Christa went to pick up Gamma Rose at the airport.

Roxi had several wacky, fun-filled days with Aunt Christa and Gammage, which included her first ever swim in their hotel pool. Dressed in just a swim diaper and a smile, Roxi splashed and splashed and splashed. She kicked, thrashed, dipped her head in the water and moved her arms in a remarkably swim-like fashion ... all in Rob's arms. The rest of us stood on the edge and took gobs of pictures.

Uncle Lee flew in late Christmas Eve, and Roxi had her FIRST first Christmas the next day. It took us so long to open all our presents that the sweet girl had to take 2 nap breaks.

On the 26th, Gammage, Aunt Christa and Uncle Lee headed to the airport. Gamma and Christa were homeward bound. Lee picked up G-Daddy, Mimi and Uncle Tyler and drove to Steamboat Springs. We Tusselwuppers spent the day packing and the evening driving to Steamboat. Roxi was a dreamboat throughout.

Then ... a week of skiing for most of us (except for Rob, who suffered an unfortunate shoulder injury on the first day), and a week of big time playing for Roxi and Mimi. The sweet girl enjoyed showing her family how to use pureed carrots as finger paint among other things. So, her SECOND first Christmas was at altitude.

Roxi's THIRD first Christmas was spent with her unofficial Colorado aunts and uncles - Ren, Scott, Jen and Mike - on Jan. 1.

Phew. We couldn't possibly have had better holidays. Roxi couldn't possibly have a cooler extended family. 2005 is going to be an outstanding year.

Roxi sporting her new Christmas hat and scarf, lovingly knitted by her bestest Aunt Christa.

Giddyup Daddy! We'd always heard that having kids would make us lose our hair, but we didn't know it would be THIS way.

Ye old Tusselwupper holiday family portrait.

Why I Love This Book

An excerpt from "I'm a Manatee" by John Lithgow:

With my wit, sophistication, and urbanity,
I dignify my watery domain.
No one near will ever hear me use profanity,
Because a manatee has his image to maintain.

I'm a manatee,
I'm a manatee.
I keep my reputation spick and span-atee.

No difference between my face and fann-atee
A stately manatee,
That's me.

My How You've Grown

Roxi turned .5 on December 5. Even though she's technically still a wee babe, she seems closer and closer to being all grown up to us. Her personality shines through more every day. She's getting so big. And, well, she's a bruiser.

She bounces in her exersaucer. Screams like a banshee when she gets excited. Grabs hair with wild abandon. Smacks tables. Rolls all over the place. Wedges herself into amazing positions in her crib. Chomps on anything in a 2-foot radius. Gets bored with toys, locations and activities. In short, Roxi is keeping us on our toes. We love it.

In celebration of her half birthday, Roxi had sweet potatoes for the first time (which she seemed to like as well as anything else) and went to the doctor the next day for shots and a check-up. We were pleasantly surprised to find that there were flu shots left, so the girl got a bonus prick in addition to the normal immunizations. She was a total trooper about it, crying only for a few seconds after her 3 shots and then giving her nurse a big hug.

Not surprisingly, Roxi zipped through her check-up with flying colors. Dr. P told us she was doing great and we were doing a great job raising her. I felt like we'd won a Nobel Prize.

So, without further ado, here are the latest stats:

• 16.2 pounds - in the 50th percentile
• 17.5-inch head circumference - in the 90th percentile (plenty of brain room)
• 27.5 inches long/tall - off the charts ... she's as tall as the average 9-month-old

Good thing we're already fans of basketball.

We got our first big snow last weekend - 10 inches or so. Naturally, Roxi needed to explore. As far as Rob and I could tell, her only reaction was BRRRRR. Look out for snowball fights and sleds ... next year.

Snow bunny!

Gobble de Gobble

Roxi spent her first Thanksgiving in Indianapolis surrounded by family: Grandpa and Grandma Wessel; Uncles Tom and Randy; Great Aunt Glenna; Great Uncle Charlie; [here's where my knowledge of proper geneological terms runs out] great cousins/second cousins Kim, Dale, Eric and Diana, and third cousins/some flavor of cousins Brittany, Ryan, Krista and Kyle. With the exception of Grandpa and Grandma, these were all new people to the sweet girl. She drooled on, pulled the hair of, laughed with, sat on and had more fun than should be allowed with everyone.

Though all Roxi got was her usual diet of formula, rice cereal and peas, the rest of us chowed down on the biggest spread I have ever seen. Capital deliciousness.

Roxi also had the chance to spend a couple hours with Rob's long-time friend Asit and his two boys Seren (4) and Kieren (1.5). We had a hard time believing that Roxi would ever be that big, mobile, talkative or hysterical, but Asit assured us it was true. Oh, and Roxi got her first kiss from a "boyfriend" - as we were preparing to leave, Seren asked, "Could I kiss your baby?" (How cute is that?) To which we replied, "Of course!" And so the girl got a smackeroo on the top of the head.

Every Tuesday afternoon, Roxi and I head over to a friend's house for playgroup, which consists of rolling around on the floor (for the little ones) and swapping stories (for the big ones). The best part for the half-pints, it would seem, is getting to slobber all over somebody else's toys. Way fun. The moms try to keep their slobbering to a minimum. This picture is from 2 weeks ago. From left to right are sweet girls Josie, Ryland and Roxi (who was feeling warm that day and had to ditch her overalls).

Dig my cool friends.

Sunday, November 21: Hello carrots!

Sunday, November 14: Welcome to peas (mixed in with a little rice cereal for extra yums).

You said a mouthful.

By the Numbers

A quick summary of Roxi's day:

• 5 outfits
• 2 naps
• 32 ounces of formula
• 2 tablespoons of rice cereal
• 1 tablespoon of peas
• 2 enormous poops
• 1 playgroup

Sweet Sounds

Roxi is a long way from talking - in a language that we understand, anyway. However, her repertoire of sounds is expanding all the time. Lately she has started repeating syllables, such as ba-ba-ba-ba-ba. She even said da-da-da a couple mornings ago. Wish Rob had been around to hear it because I haven't gotten a repeat performance since.

The best part of the learning process is watching/listening to her perfect a new sound. Last week it was coughing. We were a little concerned that she had a cold she was coughing so much. But nope, she was just teaching herself how to make that particular noise. This week, it's heavy breathing. Roxi kind of pants like a dog (without the lolling tongue) and then gives us this big smile, as if to say, "Check it out! That came from me!"

Sassy Girl

As expected, Roxi is living up to her spunky name. She shows more of her personality every day, and it's hard to keep up with all her new tricks.

Oral fixations. Babies explore everything with their mouths. I've been told this many times and now I get it. Everything in Roxi's world is on its way to her mouth - toys, furniture, clothes, cats, whatever. She has recently discovered the joys of her vibrating teether. It's a Winnie the Pooh beehive that buzzes when she chomps on it with the proper force and placement. The expression on her face the first time she successfully made it vibrate ... too hysterical for words. Roxi has also become a drool monster. Slobber everywhere, man. All of the above are signs of teething, but Rob and I haven't felt any yet. It would be pretty early - the average age for the first tooth is 7 months - and I understand that teething symptoms can start 2-3 months before the teeth actually break through the skin.

Motor skills. Roxi can roll from her back to her stomach now ... and does so constantly. She's been accidentally rolling from her stomach to her back for a while now. She still hasn't figured out how to pull that maneuver on purpose though, so she gets stuck on her tummy from time to time. I was awakened by rhythmic grunting at 3 a.m. the other night, for example. Roxi had somehow busted out of her foam sleeping triangles, flipped herself over and gotten stuck. I found her on the opposite side of the crib from where she started. A sign of things to come, methinks!

Roxi has also developed a very targeted kung fu grip. She can grab just about anything, and let me tell ya, it's no easy feat to get her to let go. I'm going to have to get a buzz cut, and Rob's glasses have been close to disaster more than once. The cats have learned to give Roxi a 2-foot buffer zone - except for Teton, who apparently doesn't mind having his fur grabbed.

Bright eyes. The Roxster had her first eye exam a couple weeks ago. Seems early, huh? But our eye doc routinely does infant examinations to catch problems early. There weren't any. Roxi passed all the tests with flying colors and was impressively tolerant of all the various lights being beamed into her eyeballs. Her vision is good, and her eyes are working together, tracking well and sending the proper information to her brain. Barring any trouble, she won't go back for another exam until she's 3. Since both Rob and I are blind as bats, we fully expect glasses and/or contacts in Roxi's future. But my brother somehow escaped his inevitable genetics with perfect vision so I suppose there's some hope for the girl.

Data processing. Every detail, texture, sound, action, smell and taste is a vitally important piece of information. This is the impression I get when I watch Roxi. She studies everything. We took a stroll to the farm down the street yesterday; she stared and stared and stared at those animals. The chickens were especially fascinating to her.

Roxi will be 5 months old tomorrow. Perhaps we will celebrate by torturing her with her first taste of green beans.

Like, boo.

Roxi was a parrot for Halloween this year. She got to show off her killer costume at Rob's work Friday and to our neighbors Sunday. We were impressed with how little she messed with the hood on both occasions.

Roxi wants a cracker!

Hangin' with dad the day before Halloween.

Roxi's first pumpkin carving experience. She didn't get to use any knives, of course, but she did enjoy squishing the guts. The hard part was keeping her from eating them.

The final product - Rob and I were less than impressed with our efforts initially, but our feline gourd looked pretty decent with a candle inside.

Reilly gets in on the action.

Halloween rules!

Gotta dig the spiffy new fleece coat for the chilly fall air. Roxi is also sporting her koala slippers that her Uncle Tyler got for her in Australia.

To our delight, Roxi still loves books. We usually read to her twice a day - several books during morning playtime and one before bed (as in this picture).

A new toy! Rob and Gamma Rose picked out this super cool exersaucer for our on-the-go girl. It's hard to tell from the picture, but the bottom is like an inverted frisbee. So when Roxi shifts her weight it moves - turning her into a giant Weeble Wobble. She loves being upright and pushing off with her legs, so this is big time fun.

CHOMP

Culinary Delights

Saturday, October 16 was Roxi's first foray into the wonderful world of solid food. I was all gung ho to start giving her chocolate bars and steak sandwiches, but instead it's just going to be rice cereal for a while. Rice cereal is fine, flaky stuff. Not unlike powdered milk. And depending on how much formula (or water) is added, it's the consistency of cream, thick soup, oatmeal or pudding.

Roxi's first "solid" food meal was more like serving her formula on a spoon, but it sure was fun. She didn't really take to it - cried nearly the whole way through. However, that was my fault because I didn't take the edge off her appetite first with a bottle. Now we know the drill: bottle first, then cereal. And now she seems to like it.

She's been eating about 2-3 teaspoons of cereal at one meal a day (she's down to 4 meals per day now). Her Gamma Rose was visiting last weekend and helped perfect Roxi's preferred consistency - less like gruel, more like thick pudding. We'll probably move on to more exciting and colorful things like green beans and bananas in a few weeks.

She looks so grown up sitting in her feeding chair with her bib. Like she could strike up a conversation about fine art and nibble on some hors d'ouevres. She looks less sophisticated once the cereal comes out though. Why swallow it all when you can spit some out and smear it on your face, after all? What fun is a bib if you're not going to use it? My favorite childhood picture of my brother Lee is one in which he's sitting in his high chair, covered from head to toe in chocolate pudding. I think of it - and him - every time Roxi eats.

We're taking a short break from the cereal right now because Roxi is going through a slow eating phase (again), and it's more important for her to eat all of her formula - packed with vitamins, iron and whatnot - than dabble in cereal.

She's also been stubborn about napping and we want to see if solid food might be the culprit. I doubt it has anything to do with the cereal though. Roxi has started to learn the power of crying, and I think she's just testing the limits when naptime comes around. Feisty! It's hysterical.

Here comes the train ...

Mmmm, mmm. Rice cereal is good stuff ... to wear.

Not EXACTLY solid food, but Roxi is starting to really enjoy some toe chomping. Her bulky cloth diapers prevent her from doing this when she's dressed. So she relishes the changing table time. For some reason, her left foot is tastier than the right.

Big Girl Stats

Roxi got her 4-month checkup this week, and she came through with flying colors. First, I must reiterate how much Rob and I love our doctor. He's such a sweetheart ... in addition to being a fine medical professional. Dr. P told us Roxi is beautiful and couldn't be doing any better. See why we like this guy?

Anyway, here are the latest numbers:

• 13 pounds, 12 oz. - in the 50th percentile for weight
• 25.5 inches - in the 90th percentile for length
• 16.5 inches - in the 75th percentile for head circumference

Dr. P told us it was normal for bottle-fed babies to lag a bit behind their breast-fed peers in weight at this age and that they catch up later. Not that Roxi's weight is considered low right now, but we can probably expect her to jump up in the percentile in a few months. Her height, on the other hand, may well stay ahead of the curve throughout. Tall girl.

Roxi was also given gold stars for her developmental milestones: holding her head up, bearing weight on her legs, smiling, using her eyes in tandem, rolling over one way, cooing and "talking", reaching for objects, successfully grabbing objects, sleeping through the night, etc. She's apparently right on track. The books I'm reading say the same thing, but it's much nicer to hear it from the doc.

The shots were the same as last time. Three big wonkin' needles. However, her reaction was much better this time. Roxi barely cried and had only a mild reaction to the vaccinations. She had a low-grade fever for the first night and was slightly cranky the next day. No big deal. Rob and I are constantly amazed at her good behavior.

This is Roxi's favorite game: "flying" with her dad. Rob lifts her over his head slowly and she laughs all the way. You can see how strong her neck, back and legs are getting!

Roxi's patented frog face. She's concentrating very hard on her play gym chicken ...

Playing with her super fun beach toys. Mmmmmm, tasty.

The left thumb is a one-way ticket to sleepyville.

Here's Roxi on her first official playdate. She appears to be saying, "Hey, check it out!" to her bud Hailey.

Bagpipes Are Loud

This is one of the many new things Roxi learned today when she attended her first parade. It's homecoming weekend here (at Colorado State University), and the parade those wacky CSU Rams put on is pretty impressive.

Roxi and I strolled the few blocks to the beginning of the parade route this morning and got a primo spot. I think Roxi was most fascinated by the bright yellow CAUTION tape separating the crowd from the participants, but she definitely looked up whenever something booming came by. There were several marching bands (one that included bagpipes), fire trucks, amplified singing groups and Shriner cars - all of which caught her attention. We watched for almost an hour before heading home again. I think there was at least another hour's worth to see, but a girl needs her beauty sleep ... and her bottle.

2nd Time's the Charm and Frog Facedness

Roxi attended her second wedding last Saturday. You may recall that her first wedding was a rather quick and unsuccessful appearance. This time, however, she was a peach. Well, actually a pineapple - she wore a very cute pineapple dress ensemble from her Mimi. The bride was quite lovely, too, but Roxi was the most beautiful one there in my humble opinion. Anyway, we all had a great time. Roxi was having too much fun to nap, so we did have to leave to avoid a total exhaustion meltdown. But she was a party girl for more than 5 hours straight. Ya can't ask for more.

The latest trick in Roxi's playbook is making a very deliberate frog face when she's thinking. Her lips squish together and it almost looks like she's chewing. Her little brow furrows and she seems to be focusing so HARD. She's been doing this a lot when she "plays" with her blocks lately. She just stares and stares, face all froggy and hands getting ever more accurate with their aim.

Roxi will be 4 months old next week. I have mixed feelings about her doctor's appointment. On the one hand, I can't wait to find out how much she weighs, how long she is, where she falls on all the growth curves, etc. And as usual, we have a long list of questions to ask Dr. P. I'm most interested in hearing his opinion on when to start solid foods. But the bad part is ... she'll be getting shots again. So we're anticipating a few more days of crankiness and fever. Oh well, it's necessary and good in the long run. If only those needles weren't so dang huge.

Hands, Hands, Hands

It is just amazing to me how much more control Roxi has over her body every day. If the learning curve stayed that steep into adulthood, we'd all be levitating acrobats by now.

The random arm flailing has been replaced by specific batting, reaching and grabbing. She still thwacks herself in the side with her right arm when she gets excited (does this mean she'll be right handed, we wonder?), but you can see her brain working most of the time trying to get her arms where she wants. Such concentration in her little face. That expression used to be a sure sign of pooping. Now she's getting thoughtful about all sorts of things. Though pooping is still right up there, of course.

Her fingers are much more dexterous as well. Roxi's Mimi got her a stuffed beach bucket full of little stuffed toys, and they are just the right size for wee hands. Her favorite at the moment is the tiny clam, which is bright yellow, makes fun crinkly sounds when handled and has a mirror inside. She puts the death grip on that puppy, and it makes her day when she can successfully bring it to her mouth.

Other things Roxi likes to grab are: the chicken in her play gym, the clothes of anyone who is holding her, her clothes - particularly sleeves, Teton (our big, black cat - the only one of our cats who will get close enough for extended periods of time), my hair, Rob's goatee and, well, OK ... just about anything now that I think about it.

Roly Poly

I finally saw Roxi in the act of rolling over. Hoo boy, she's a swirly girl these days. Anyway, she achieves her back-to-stomach motion by wedging one of her feet between the crib slats and giving a kick. Our friend Scott noted that she must be very advanced to already be using tools to achieve her goals. But with a dad like Rob, I would be more surprised if she DIDN'T start using tools at an early age.

The funny thing is that she doesn't roll from her stomach to her back. She's done that on a few occasions, but not regularly. Nowadays, when we put Roxi on her stomach for exercise, she does quite the opposite. Instead of working her neck and back muscles by pushing up, she puts her head to the side and sucks her fingers. If we let her stay like that, she'd put herself to sleep. Very cute, but not useful for muscular development.

It's OK though, she's getting plenty of exercise in different ways. She loves being carried upright, so she can look over our shoulders - into mirrors, at the cats, around the room, whatever. Roxi is taking it all in these days. She turns her head to follow things with her eyes and ears. She also can sit up (with gobs of assistance) and now prefers that to laying in her play gym. She also digs being held up "standing" - she can support her own weight for several seconds at a time. Her legs get unpredictably wobbly though, so we're a ways away from marathon training.

Breaking New Ground

There are so many new stories to tell about the Roxster ... it's a bit overwhelming. So I'm going to do this laundry-list style:

Saturday, Aug. 28

• First plane ride - Roxi was a dreamboat for both legs of the trip. She didn't cry a lick. Rob and I discover the beauty of family restrooms in airports (kudos to St. Louis and RDU).
• First pseudo-train ride at the Denver airport (the one that goes between terminals). First rental car ride in a snazzy PT Cruiser (a free upgrade).
• Roxi meets Uncle Ray for the first time and has a happy reunion with Aunt Christa in Durham.
• Roxi meets Mimi and Uncle Tyler and has a happy reunion with Granddad.

Sunday, Aug. 29

• Roxi meets Uncle Lee and gets her first taste of North Carolina sun.

Monday, Aug. 30

• Roxi meets Great Nanna and G-Daddy Warren, and Great Uncle Hal. We all celebrate Granddad's birthday at dinner that night.

Wednesday, Sept. 1

• First celebrity sighting - actor Chris Noth (we know him best for his Sex and the City role of Mr. Big).

Thursday, Sept. 2

• Toes in the Atlantic Ocean! Roxi is a natural.

Friday, Sept. 3

• First flat tire - the PT Cruiser takes a small hit, and Roxi supervises while Rob and Uncle Ray put on the spare.

Saturday, Sept. 4

• Roxi meets Gigi, G-pop and Great Aunt Pat, and has a happy reunion with Nanna.
• Dinner is a magnificent occasion, with Gigi, G-pop, Nanna, Uncle Lee, Aunt Christa, Uncle Ray, Great Aunt Pat, Rob and I all enjoying steak together. Roxi, no doubt overcome by the number of people in attendance in her honor, cries during most of the meal.

Sunday, Sept. 5

• Roxi meets buddies Joey and Jack (nearly 4) and Tobin (almost 1) as well as their parents: Chris, Amy, Scott and Stephanie. It is magical mayhem.

Monday, Sept. 6

• First breakfast at Elmo's in Durham with Aunt Christa and Uncle Ray. We feel sure Roxi will partake of Elmo's many times in her life.
• More plane rides - Roxi is an angel baby again. No crying. Lots of laughing.

Tuesday, Sept. 7

• Roxi rolls from her back to her stomach all by herself. She was supposed to be napping in her crib, but instead she flipped herself over and wiggled around. Go girl!

Thursday, Sept. 9

• First play date with pal Hailey, who is the daughter of Dola and Shannon. Dola and Shannon, in addition to being good friends, threw our baby shower before Roxi was officially on the scene (and we, in turn, threw theirs).
• Dinner party at John and Reaghan's, who recently got engaged.

Friday, Sept. 10

• First cold. It was bound to happen sooner or later - we had a long string of good health. We went to the doctor after a night of coughing (on Roxi's part) and sleeplessness (on Rob's and my part). The prognosis: most likely a virus. There's not much to be done. She can't take a decongestant because she's too young. However, it's really not that bad - just a head cold. So we have the humidifier going and have her sleeping in her car seat in her crib to keep the yucky stuff draining. Roxi, true to form, is getting through it with a great attitude. She's her normal cheery self for the most part.

Saturday, Sept. 11

• The cold is better already. Seems to be nearly gone during the day and a bit worse at night, which makes sense. So aside from not sleeping through the night (Roxi had been consistently snoozing for 9 hours straight previously!), it's basically business as usual around here. Our girl is such a good sport - even with a cold.