One Down, Eight to Go

In a stunning turn of events, Puck has returned to us alive. As reported on this blog, Puck disappeared in early August, and given his age and condition, was assumed gone forever. On Saturday I received a call from my father, who in a garbled message reported that he was driving down to pick me up because he was having a hard time figuring out if a cat rescued down the street was in fact Puck. My mother was out of town.

When I saw him in the flesh, I was amazed. He had been in a backyard about four or five doors down from my parents house. He had apparently ended up on the wrong side of an unsurmountable fence, and then somehow managed to survive seven weeks out alone. Mind you, he has been an indoor cat his entire life. When it rained that same Saturday morning, it was the first time he had felt rain in his life. Over the past week and a half the resident there had been leaving catfood out for his own missing cat, which we can assume Puck was eating, but that doesn't explain his first five and half weeks.

He was wet and emaciated and had a stunned expression on his face, but it was clearly Puck. When we got him back in the house he immediately started purring, despite his still obviously weak condition. Neither my father nor I told mom he had been found. When she walked upstairs and saw him curled up on a comfy chair, she was stunned.

Puck then, Puck now

He has since been to a vet to get an official diagnosis: he lost seven pounds (he's down to nine -- so that was nearly half his weight), he has a horrible flea infestation (his neck is actually bleeding), his claws are worn down to nubs, and he has lost a significant amount of hair. How well he will recover is unknown. We aren't sure if Ash even recognizes him -- so far she's keeping her distance. But Puck is happy, warm and comfortable now. He purrs whenever anyone approaches him.

Hooray for Puck!

Playing catchup

Ooops!

Apologies... it's been too long. We've been pretty busy.

Daniel's been immersed in the San Francisco Fringe Festival for the past three weeks. In addition to his lighting technician duties, Daniel saw 16 shows. We are big supporters of avant garde and experimental theater. The fringe festival provides us with a great opportunity to see a ton of shows - some good, some bad, but they were all free for Daniel with his "staff" pass. I even managed to see 7 shows! Daniel precariously balanced schoolwork, daddy duties, and as much theater and late-night fraternizing as possible. He will now hibernate and sleep for three weeks to make up for it.

Mather's been battling another cold. She's had a cold just about every three weeks since the beginning of June. Our pediatrician explained that it's a fact of life for kids in daycare. The upshot is that she'll be immune to every bug by the time she's three. Thankfully, PediaCare makes a decongestant that works like a charm. Today is her first full recovery day. Hopefully she'll stay healthy until October.

On September 8th, Mather completed weaning herself. She happily nursed that morning, and then refused every offer of milk since then.

I was so proud of all my frozen milk. Mather drank every last drop.

Memories... the first bottle.

Tonight's bedtime bottle.

She drinks 4-5 bottles of organic formula everyday, and lots of yummy food. Her recent favorites are mashed-up figs in yogurt and mixed steamed bite-sized vegetables (carrot, corn, green beans & peas). Her pincher grasp is well developed and she'll try almost anything. She hasn't been too keen on tofu or pasta, but we'll keep trying.

Mather's mobility has taken great leaps forward over the past few weeks.

This picture is from July, but it's very fitting.

She confidently moves between standing, sitting and crawling in order to get herself EVERYWHERE! She even figured out a "real" crawl instead of her belly-scooting maneuver. I think the carpet at daycare helped with that. We were remarking this evening on how fast she's gotten. I think the cat is going to stay under the bed for the next few years.

GrandMather is coming to town this weekend. It will be her first opportunity to see Mather play with the new toys that she got for us.

Supercool wagon walker (wooden!) with blocks stored in the "hood"

"Busy Zoo" activity center (also wooden!)

We promise to post again soon... don't abandon all hope.

Mather has a new game

Meal time -- be it breakfast, lunch or dinner -- is easily Mather's favorite time of the day. She loves finger food, from berries and vegetables to cheerios and rice puffs, as well as our various concoctions from le petit appetit, our bible of baby recipes. She has found a new, and decidely odd, way to express her joy.

It all started when I noticed her leaning over. She often leans while she eats -- I suppose she just likes to be comfortable -- but she seemed to have an odd little tilt. She caught me looking at her and suddenly dipped her head all the way to her left, smiled, and laughed. I laughed out loud, and she was even more amused. After she had righted herself, I dipped my head to my shoulder. To both of our amusement, she mimicked me mimicking her.


Now it's a mealtime game (and occasionally we do it outside of meal time). Sometimes Mather leads it, sometimes one of us does. She'll also do it for the parent not feeding her -- I can do it from across the room while Emily is feeding her dinner, and she'll still dip her head. It always brings a smile and a laugh.

10th Lunaversary

We've been lacking in posts lately, so here's a big one to get you all up-to-date.

Dan started school on the 23rd. There are some very large papers on the horizon... grad school ain't easy. It takes a lot of work to be a "Master"!

Mather is back in daycare for two days a week. The transition was a little rough. She is so mobile, and so unsteady. It is hard to keep her out of trouble these days. We caught her in the midst of some mischief in the kitchen the other day...

Those snacks had been sealed in a container in her diaper bag.

She's also proving that anything can be a toy...

The soap goes in here, right?

We headed to the mountains last weekend with my friend from college, Erin, and her family and friends. Mather got to spend a few days with her buddy Parker Jane.

I'm bigger than you are!

Mather is showing P.J. her coffee table standing skills.

Daddy Jungle Gym!

The highlight of the weekend was our trip to Pinecrest Lake. We rented a party boat for a few hours. Then we headed to the shore for some swimming.

Mather got to debut her sunbathing outfit. It's a silly onesie/skirt combo.
Thanks to Grandma Julie!

The girls suit-up, and Mather won't sit still!

Cuteness!

Mather is out for a ride on the giant clown fish.
(It took me about 30 minutes to blow it up)

Mather's first surfing lesson.
P.J. is snuggling with Erin - the water was a bit cold.

Those were the good parts of the weekend. On a different note... Mather had a lengthy episode of inexplicable vomiting, her first ever, a few hours after we arrived on Friday night (altitude sickness??), but by Saturday morning she was fine. And, we got a flat tire on our drive home. Fortunately, Mather was able to stay entertained while we waited for AAA:

Alright Daddy, you do the pedals, I'll do the steering.

We made it home safely, without Mather at the helm. Then we wished for another vacation, to recover from the first vacation. Fortunately, we're just hanging around for the Labor Day weekend. And we can't go very far away, even if we wanted to - the bay bridge is closed.

Daniel is gearing up for his annual theater immersion with the San Francisco Fringe Festival. He is a light-board operator for two shows this season. He is attending technical rehearsals for most of the afternoon today.

I (finally) got Mather down for her morning nap. All she wants to do is stand. We put her down for a nap only to find her standing in her crib moments later. Needless to say, it is pretty frustrating. She's probably teething again, too. Lots of drool and plenty of crankiness. Here's a good shot of the bottom two:

And she's keeping up with her oral hygiene:

Mather just woke up from that nap. She's probably standing in her crib, waiting for me... that's all for now!