Supergirl!

Jess here.

Yes, we've been watching Smallville again. And I can't help but think we have a little Clark Kent-ette in our own home, discovering her powers and putting them to use to the benefit of general humanity, or at least to the benefit of her Brigidness and the delight of parents, grandparents, aunts, honorary aunts, et cetera. (I almost wrote "and et cetera", but my friend Jon taught me to NEVER NEVER do that because it was STUPID because "et" means "and", only he said it more nicely than that when he caught me doing it. But I could tell that it pained him. Speaking of which, I'm still waiting for my copy of "Eats, Shoots and Leaves" to come in at the library, so that I can learn how to be more anal about English grammar. Oh boy, I need to end this parenthesis . . . here.)

As the previous short post indicated, Brigid, who turns five months old today, knows how to sit up. It's amazing: at the beginning of this week, she was wobbly and could only sit up for a few seconds at a time. Now, she's serene, confident and if she falls over, it's not with wobbles, but with a slow, grandiose and inexorable sway to the side. I'm still not comfortable letting her do it without a spotter, but she needs the spotting less and less. She seems very proud of herself, because there's so much more to SEE when you're upright.

Brigid also has had her first successful experience with crayons. I was looking at her one day, and realized that she probably had all the necessary skills to start scribbling on paper. I was right. Putting a crayon in her hand, and holding the paper up for her, I watched my daughter draw her first scribble, a purple mess of jaggedy lines. It was no Van Gogh, but it was more than Birdie just doing what comes naturally, because naturally she would have put the crayon in her mouth right away, and instead she looked interested at all the purple lines that were appearing as she moved her hand up and down. Grandparents, look for masterpieces for the fridge in the future.

Brie also continues to experience new worlds through her mouth. Her Aunt Laurel introduced her to the glory of sucking orange sections dry. Brigid decided she knew EXACTLY what was to be done when a sweet mandarin section with a tiny hole in its skin was stuck in her mouth. She sucked, and sucked and sucked all of the juice out. I tried it on her the other day when she was fussing in Starbucks, and the crying stopped immediately. It's a favorite.

The other favorite we discovered at Starbucks proves that she really is my daughter. I was walking back home from our Starbucks on the corner after having the treat of spending lunch with all of the VA girls - Lindsay, Em and Becca - with Brie in the frontpack and my venti, Christmas-red Starbucks cup in my hand. Brigid tried time and time again to grab my cup, rationally ignoring the beautiful scenery around us, which consisted of the parking garages in our back alley. So finally, under the principle of the Slavey up north, who let their kids get a slight burn on the woodstoves so they'd know to avoid it and would never get a major burn, I thought I'd let her try what was in the cup, figuring she wouldn't like it, and maybe she'd stop batting at it. Big mistake. After the first horrified face at tasting the bitter brew, Brie grabbed for it again and again, lifting it to her mouth to drink. She repeated the process this morning with my normal mug.

I love this wonderful little girl. She's my heart's delight, a true sweetheart. Everywhere I take her, people comment on how cute she is and smile at her. Brie's reaction is always the same - barring extreme sleepiness or hunger. First, she looks at them solomnly, taking them in. Then, having decided that they are quite proper, she breaks into a grin, favoring them with her particular brand of sunshine. It's a winner every time. I love that combination of caution and friendliness in her. It seems part me and part Adam and all Brigid.

On Tuesday, after lunch with friends at Starbucks, Emily came over to spend time with Brie and me. We spent a couple hours sitting on the bed, which is a wonderful spot to sit because it's tall, and the top of it is even with the bottom of our bedroom window, which looks out on the trees and bouganvilla in our neighbor's back yard. So it feels sort of like sitting on a breezy patio. We ate and drank and talked and I worked on Brigid's Christmas stocking some more. Em commented that it was nice to see how well Brie entertained herself, as Brie lay there and turned her teething ring over and over, examining it from all sides. I said that it had taken months for Brie to get to this stage, but Emily replied that it still gave her hope.

Emily is looking beautifully pregnant. About six months along, she looks absolutely blooming with life and beauty. She's having a difficult pregnancy, but she's handling it well, and it was good to see Brigid being an encouragement to her. We talked about how, when you're pregnant, even though you know in your head that there's a baby inside you, it's hard to actually feel like it's true. She feels that way, and I felt that way. I remember not actually feeling like it was real until those moments when Brigid was being born. But I sort of think it might be easier to believe next time, since I'll have been through the process from beginning to end once, and know from experience that the hard knot in my abdomen means that in several months I'll have someone like Brie in my arms.

On the Jess-as-Jess front, I'm rediscovering my love of handicrafts, as I work on making a Christmas stocking for Brigid. I'm making it on the pattern that my mother made ours from, a beautiful affair of quilted fabric and a cross-stitched frontispiece and lace and rick-rack and jingle bells. It's sounds busy and confused, but it's not, it's lovely. And I got the cross-stitch pattern from Adam's mom, a bird in a wreath of holly and pine, for our little Birdie. So Brie's stocking will combine her heritage from both sides of her family.

Okay, that's still a little bit of Brie, but I'm having a great time doing something with my hands. The other thing I'm enjoying hugely at the moment is karate. I feel like I've finally grown into the purple belt that was given to me the day after I gave birth. It also feels like I finally know enough of the basics, and know them well enough, that I can REALLY start practicing karate. My body knows the drill well enough, that my mind can become engaged. I'm not constantly thinking, "chamber with the right, punch with the left, don't forget your foot position", and so I'm able to enter more into the flow of it, and the strategy of it. It only took a bit over two years. :)

Okay, it was a long post. But I like writing in here. And this blog's secret identity is Brigid's Baby Book, in that I'm going to compile parts of the entries from here to form the bulk of that work; hence all the details about Brie's accomplishments.

But Adam's in the living room on the first day of his vacation, which means the first day of our vacation, and there's relaxing to be done, so I'll sign off, and if I don't write again before then:

MERRY CHRISTMAS, OH LOVED ONES! from, Adam, Jess and Brigid Elizabeth