On Juliet's day sheet today (the report from her daycare teacher, Shawna), the report was: "Juliet was excited about our science project this morning. She ran over and said, 'yay! science!'"
O frabjous day!
Monday, April 28, 2008
Wednesday, March 26, 2008
Of Course, She'll Always Be Our Baby
Juliet has been imitating a baby lately, crawling over to me making babbling sounds, pulling herself up on my legs and holding her arms up to be picked up and snuggled. I'll ask her whether she's being a baby and she'll nod, but sort of parenthetically so that it doesn't disrupt the flow of her performance. She's pretty convincing, and I have no idea what is on her mind when she's doing it.
Monday, March 24, 2008
Eggs and Bunnies
Juliet found many, many eggs this Easter, enlisting the help of her friend Sammy from Vermont to reach the higher ones and Sammy's mother Beth to open the eggs. (Sammy also did an excellent job of standing casually next to the harder-to-find eggs, sometimes with game show hostess-style hand gestures, so that Juliet cried out "I found it!" every time).
But the best part was on Friday, putting little candy bars in eggs for her friends at school and separating out the ones in the gold wrappers, which had peanuts. "These are for the elephants," she told me.
But the best part was on Friday, putting little candy bars in eggs for her friends at school and separating out the ones in the gold wrappers, which had peanuts. "These are for the elephants," she told me.
Wednesday, March 19, 2008
Be Vewy, Vewy Quiet...
Juliet came into the living room wearing Cliff's headlamp (correctly worn and turn on) and announced, "I'm going to find the crocodiles."
Friday, February 29, 2008
Life imitates Knuffle Bunny
If you haven't seen Mo Willem's books Knuffle Bunny and Knuffle Bunny Too, we highly recommend them--they capture fundamental truths of parenting and urban life. Without spoiling the stories, KB2 has aspects of the terrible young-adult plotline where the heroine and her nemesis show up at the prom wearing the same dress.
For Christmas, Juliet received a baby doll with Asian features. Upon opening the present, she exclaimed, "It's my baby, it's my sister!" And proceeded to name the doll "Baby Lala". On the 9th of January, she insisted on carrying Baby Lala to daycare with her. Juliet entered her daycare room (Toddler 3 at Bright Horizons), saw her buddy Mei, and Mei turned out to have brought exactly the same doll (I sharpie'd a "J" onto Juliet's doll to avoid embarrassing confusions). This video was shot just a little bit after that first encounter; they don't seem to have internalized the social opprobrium of bringing the same dolls to school.
For Christmas, Juliet received a baby doll with Asian features. Upon opening the present, she exclaimed, "It's my baby, it's my sister!" And proceeded to name the doll "Baby Lala". On the 9th of January, she insisted on carrying Baby Lala to daycare with her. Juliet entered her daycare room (Toddler 3 at Bright Horizons), saw her buddy Mei, and Mei turned out to have brought exactly the same doll (I sharpie'd a "J" onto Juliet's doll to avoid embarrassing confusions). This video was shot just a little bit after that first encounter; they don't seem to have internalized the social opprobrium of bringing the same dolls to school.
More videos of Juliet!
Well, that seems to have worked. Here's a bunch more:
Uncle Michael visited from Philadelphia a couple of weeks ago. We took Juliet and Michael to an FCC (Families with Children from China) event at the Harlem Meer activities center; here's a video from that day.
This is Juliet swinging at a playground in Central Park, 12/28/07.
Joyce's friend Tyler Ochoa, and his daughter Elizabeth introduce Juliet to how to stomp in the mud on January 6.
From our Oregon trip in January, here's Grampy demonstrating his sock-puppet skills (a Farnsworth family core competence), much to Juliet's delight.
Uncle Michael visited from Philadelphia a couple of weeks ago. We took Juliet and Michael to an FCC (Families with Children from China) event at the Harlem Meer activities center; here's a video from that day.
This is Juliet swinging at a playground in Central Park, 12/28/07.
Joyce's friend Tyler Ochoa, and his daughter Elizabeth introduce Juliet to how to stomp in the mud on January 6.
From our Oregon trip in January, here's Grampy demonstrating his sock-puppet skills (a Farnsworth family core competence), much to Juliet's delight.
Thursday, May 17, 2007
Photos from MK Wong
MK Wong forwarded a photo set from a visit with her and our families (not just the Wongs, but the Woos, and Kirstin Ho) in 2006.
Tuesday, May 15, 2007
Pictures from the West Coast Family Deathmarch^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^HGoodwill Tour!
Here are a few photosets that my mom, Matilda, snapped at Fung Lum, the SFO noodle joint with surprisingly good noodles:
first set
second set
third set
first set
second set
third set
Tuesday, January 23, 2007
Truly our daughter she is!
I turned on HBO's hi-def broadcast of Star Wars Episode 3: Revenge of the Sith last night and ended up sitting through the last third of it. Either Juliet wasn't sleeping well because she's teething, or the bass rumble from our subwoofer kept her from falling asleep. In any case, Joyce eventually took Juliet out of her room and brought her out to watch the movie. Which she watched raptly for the last 20 minutes, especially the swordfighting bits.
At the climactic scene, right after Anakin/Darth made his ill-advised flying leap over Obi-Wan, and got his legs cut off Black Knight-style, Juliet blurted out "Bye bye!" and waved goodbye to the projection screen.
At the climactic scene, right after Anakin/Darth made his ill-advised flying leap over Obi-Wan, and got his legs cut off Black Knight-style, Juliet blurted out "Bye bye!" and waved goodbye to the projection screen.
Wednesday, January 03, 2007
Some pointers to photos
It occurred to me that I could just post the URL's of friend's (and our own) photo collections, without all the fancy uploading of stuff.
So, here's our friend Jason's holiday visit: http://flickr.com/photos/jasoncrawford/sets
I'll keep doing this, as I run into things in the archives.
So, here's our friend Jason's holiday visit: http://flickr.com/photos/jasoncrawford/sets
I'll keep doing this, as I run into things in the archives.
Saturday, June 10, 2006
Linda in Boston
I forgot to show that we saw Auntie Linda in Boston on our trip there last weekend! We got her a pearl necklace in honor (and gratitude) for her going along with us to China, and helping out so much in our first couple of weeks with Juliet.
Tuesday, June 06, 2006
First US doctor's visit
Today (Tuesday) we walked across town to the offices of Dr. Jane Aronson, who is known as "the orphan doctor" in the media. Her practice specializes in adopted children. We had gotten very good advice, instructions, and prescriptions from her colleague, Dr. Laura Feldman, before heading off to China (including the Tobradex which quickly cured my conjunctivitis).
The worst part of the visit was extracting blood samples from Juliet. Our darling is still a bit chubby, and since she's a baby, she has extremely tiny veins. Dr. Aronson started with the right side of Juliet's neck, moved to her left arm, then moved to her right arm, and was finally able to score a vein on the left side of Juliet's neck. Needless to say, Juliet did not enjoy these proceedings. Personally, I found some of the rooting around with needles to be unsettling, as many different angles were tried.
Here's Juliet after all the trauma, and after a couple of bottles of milk to settle her back down.
Other stats seem pretty normal--Juliet is around the 15th or 18th percentile for her age in both height and weight. She's at only the 3rd percentile for head circumference, which might be of concern, but we also observed that her head is somewhat flattened on the back (possibly from sleeping patterns), and also her skull hasn't sealed, so she has time to catch up. Dr. Aronson thinks that Juliet wouldn't need Head Start and wouldn't qualify given her current set of responses. So we'll just go back to making her life miserable with broccoli, baths, and walks through the park.
On the vaccination front, everything is as it should be; apparently the Chinese records were quite thorough, including instructions about the next round of vaccines that ought to be administered. Juliet had to get four vaccinations, about which she was not at all happy, but at least they were over with quickly.
The worst part of the visit was extracting blood samples from Juliet. Our darling is still a bit chubby, and since she's a baby, she has extremely tiny veins. Dr. Aronson started with the right side of Juliet's neck, moved to her left arm, then moved to her right arm, and was finally able to score a vein on the left side of Juliet's neck. Needless to say, Juliet did not enjoy these proceedings. Personally, I found some of the rooting around with needles to be unsettling, as many different angles were tried.
Here's Juliet after all the trauma, and after a couple of bottles of milk to settle her back down.
Other stats seem pretty normal--Juliet is around the 15th or 18th percentile for her age in both height and weight. She's at only the 3rd percentile for head circumference, which might be of concern, but we also observed that her head is somewhat flattened on the back (possibly from sleeping patterns), and also her skull hasn't sealed, so she has time to catch up. Dr. Aronson thinks that Juliet wouldn't need Head Start and wouldn't qualify given her current set of responses. So we'll just go back to making her life miserable with broccoli, baths, and walks through the park.
On the vaccination front, everything is as it should be; apparently the Chinese records were quite thorough, including instructions about the next round of vaccines that ought to be administered. Juliet had to get four vaccinations, about which she was not at all happy, but at least they were over with quickly.
Baby Containment Technology
Yesterday, at Joyce's request, I ventured to "Buy Buy Baby" (what a crass name for a store!) and returned with a Superyard XT, or, more colloquially, the baby fence. My colleague Mike likened it to a sheep pen, and he made fun of all the pictures of happy three-year-olds playing inside their pen. As if!
Juliet doesn't seem to realize yet that it's actually a baby cage. She seems to enjoy the technical challenge of using it to climb.
Uncle Bill and Aunt Evelyn very kindly gave us the high chair that they had used for my cousins Bob and Leslie when they were growing up. Which makes this a vintage baby chair, in case you can't tell from the metal frame and vinyl seats (you can't get this stuff anymore!). Auntie Evelyn warned us, however, to make sure to install a strap to prevent submarining. She also told us that my cousin Bob had climbed out of the chair, lost his balance, and fallen head-first into a nearby garbage can, apparently to much hilarity. After these stories, we've begun affectionately referring to the high chair as "The Death Trap".
Luckily for us, our friend David was willing to give us a few pieces of general-purpose webbing, which we have configured (a) to prevent submarining and secure the tray and (b) as a seat belt. Juliet seems to enjoy eating food off the tray, and flung broccoli all over the kitchen, the tray, and herself. She even got broccoli up the sleeves of her clothes; we're still finding little broccoli bits in improbable places in the apartment.
Juliet doesn't seem to realize yet that it's actually a baby cage. She seems to enjoy the technical challenge of using it to climb.
Uncle Bill and Aunt Evelyn very kindly gave us the high chair that they had used for my cousins Bob and Leslie when they were growing up. Which makes this a vintage baby chair, in case you can't tell from the metal frame and vinyl seats (you can't get this stuff anymore!). Auntie Evelyn warned us, however, to make sure to install a strap to prevent submarining. She also told us that my cousin Bob had climbed out of the chair, lost his balance, and fallen head-first into a nearby garbage can, apparently to much hilarity. After these stories, we've begun affectionately referring to the high chair as "The Death Trap".
Luckily for us, our friend David was willing to give us a few pieces of general-purpose webbing, which we have configured (a) to prevent submarining and secure the tray and (b) as a seat belt. Juliet seems to enjoy eating food off the tray, and flung broccoli all over the kitchen, the tray, and herself. She even got broccoli up the sleeves of her clothes; we're still finding little broccoli bits in improbable places in the apartment.
Quilt Show in Watertown
On Sunday, we headed to a quilt show in Watertown, at which we met up with more friends.
Trevor Blackwell came over on Sunday morning to meet Juliet, and then decided to come along to the quilt show. In typical nerd fashion, I think he and I talked as much about machinery and mechanical engineering (which is to say that Trevor, as usual, taught me about such things) as we discussed the quilts at the show.
I couldn't resist taking this shot of this quilt.
Trevor appears in this photo with Keith Smith, Joyce, and Juliet. Keith's wife Jackie is also a quilter; unfortunately, we didn't get any photos of Jackie or their daughter Maddie. Which is perhaps just as well, since Maddie will give anyone a run for their money in the "cuteness" department, and this is, after all, Juliet's blog.
Trevor Blackwell came over on Sunday morning to meet Juliet, and then decided to come along to the quilt show. In typical nerd fashion, I think he and I talked as much about machinery and mechanical engineering (which is to say that Trevor, as usual, taught me about such things) as we discussed the quilts at the show.
I couldn't resist taking this shot of this quilt.
Trevor appears in this photo with Keith Smith, Joyce, and Juliet. Keith's wife Jackie is also a quilter; unfortunately, we didn't get any photos of Jackie or their daughter Maddie. Which is perhaps just as well, since Maddie will give anyone a run for their money in the "cuteness" department, and this is, after all, Juliet's blog.
Visiting the Sandstrom/Smalls
After the conference, we stayed at the home of Chris Small and Carol Sandstrom, friends of ours (originally my friends from grad school, but Joyce and I now feel that we share them) who live in Cambridge.
Here's Chris with Juliet:
And Carol, during a moment I missed, sledding with Juliet:
Their delightful daughter Harriet (who was one of Joyce's and my flowergirls at our wedding), dispensing big sister advice:
And lastly, Juliet considers her career options:
Interestingly, I find that I keep on typing "Harriet" instead of "Juliet". It probably helps that both of their names end in "et", but I suspect that there might be a tiny bit of Freudian slippage in my brain. Joyce and I had long thought that it would be wonderful to be parents of a child such as Harriet, who was preternaturally articulate as a child and remains thoughtful, wonderfully sharp, and painfully direct. I'm sure that Juliet will surprise us in her own ways. Actually, she already has.
Here's Chris with Juliet:
And Carol, during a moment I missed, sledding with Juliet:
Their delightful daughter Harriet (who was one of Joyce's and my flowergirls at our wedding), dispensing big sister advice:
And lastly, Juliet considers her career options:
Interestingly, I find that I keep on typing "Harriet" instead of "Juliet". It probably helps that both of their names end in "et", but I suspect that there might be a tiny bit of Freudian slippage in my brain. Joyce and I had long thought that it would be wonderful to be parents of a child such as Harriet, who was preternaturally articulate as a child and remains thoughtful, wonderfully sharp, and painfully direct. I'm sure that Juliet will surprise us in her own ways. Actually, she already has.
Boston USENIX 06
On Thursday we drove up to Boston, so I could give an invited talk at the USENIX technical conference. After the talk, a bunch of old friends went to lunch with us at the Legal Seafoods in Copley Place. Here's a couple shots: Dave Presotto, who I know from Bell Labs, is on the left; Catherine Zhang, who I went to grad school with, is on the right.
Juliet, of course, continues her mission to taste absolutely everything.
Juliet, of course, continues her mission to taste absolutely everything.
Tuesday, May 30, 2006
Webcam suggestions?
I'd been meaning to get a webcam for about a month now, but hadn't yet gotten around to it. Do any of you have recommendations or suggestions? I know my coauthor Paolo would say to buy the cheapest $20 device I can find. But do the higher-resolution cameras add any value?
Also, our default webcam service would be Yahoo! Messenger, which my family and Joyce's family both use. If you'd like to see a Juliet webcast, it's probably good to either get an ID or convince Cliff to sign up for your service of choice.
In any case, please either add comments or send Cliff mail.
Thanks.
Also, our default webcam service would be Yahoo! Messenger, which my family and Joyce's family both use. If you'd like to see a Juliet webcast, it's probably good to either get an ID or convince Cliff to sign up for your service of choice.
In any case, please either add comments or send Cliff mail.
Thanks.
Monday, May 29, 2006
Memorial Day Weekend
For those of you complaining about the lack of posts this weekend, here's how Juliet and I spent most of it:
I suspect that I picked up some strange new bug on the plane--I had a fever of 101.3 on Sunday morning, which was gone by Sunday noon. I had one of those "brain loose inside my head" headaches that only aspirin can cure for most of that day. Also, all food tasted wierd--like the parameters in the Matrix had been tweaked just a little bit, so chicken didn't taste like chicken anymore. Anyway, the combination of whatever I was fighting and jet lag made me not the most sociable person this weekend--I'm afraid Ralph and Audrey didn't see me at my best.
On Saturday, we spent some time unpacking, some time marvelling at the job Ralph and Audrey had done repainting our kitchen, and some time visiting the new apartment with Ralph, Audrey, and our friend Jocelyn, who came over to meet Juliet. Sorry, no pictures--I was too spaced out to remember to take any. We did, however, put Juliet into the stroller that Beth and Steve loaned us for the trip. Juliet seemed to really like the stroller experience--despite being closer to the ground, I think she enjoyed the ease of being carted around. The Baby Bjorn is probably more work for her, as she's got to be able to feel the muscle motions of whoever is carrying her.
On Sunday, Joyce and Audrey went shopping for baby supplies at the Manhattan Babies 'r' Us. In addition to bringing back the usual sets of things (diapers, bottle liners, etc.), they also came back with a bouncy swing, which Juliet loves.
I think it's improving her coordination. Also, Juliet seems to be crawling for real these days, and its much easier and neater to feed her baby food than it was only a few days ago.
Sunday evening, our friends Beth, Steve, and Annabel; Richard, Susan, Elaina, and Amy all came by to meet Juliet before going out for dinner. Amy unfortunately had an ear infection, so her parents took turns hanging out with her downstairs while the other parent came up to socialize. Annabel brought a whole set of gifts for Juliet, including a hippo that vibrates and sings "Fur Elise", a tetrahedral plastic molecule, some cool cloth cubes that make different noises when you squish them, and a mobile-like device that looks to me like a surrealist nightmare but I am assured is delightful to babies. Again, I'm sorry I didn't get any pictures due to being spaced out.
Nanny and Grampy left to return to Oregon on Monday morning, so we only got to see them for a weekend, which was far too brief. We're hoping to see them again in Maine this summer, with a more relaxed schedule to enjoy each others company.
Our last big triumph of Monday was making congee! My dad (Lowell) provided the very simple recipe: one cup rice, two cups chicken stock or water, meaty bits to taste, and simmer for two hours, adding water to maintain the same consistency as the simmer boils liquid off. We used bits of Citarella rotisserie chicken (our favorite among Upper West Side rotisserie chickens, having tried them all). Juliet appears to approve.
I suspect that I picked up some strange new bug on the plane--I had a fever of 101.3 on Sunday morning, which was gone by Sunday noon. I had one of those "brain loose inside my head" headaches that only aspirin can cure for most of that day. Also, all food tasted wierd--like the parameters in the Matrix had been tweaked just a little bit, so chicken didn't taste like chicken anymore. Anyway, the combination of whatever I was fighting and jet lag made me not the most sociable person this weekend--I'm afraid Ralph and Audrey didn't see me at my best.
On Saturday, we spent some time unpacking, some time marvelling at the job Ralph and Audrey had done repainting our kitchen, and some time visiting the new apartment with Ralph, Audrey, and our friend Jocelyn, who came over to meet Juliet. Sorry, no pictures--I was too spaced out to remember to take any. We did, however, put Juliet into the stroller that Beth and Steve loaned us for the trip. Juliet seemed to really like the stroller experience--despite being closer to the ground, I think she enjoyed the ease of being carted around. The Baby Bjorn is probably more work for her, as she's got to be able to feel the muscle motions of whoever is carrying her.
On Sunday, Joyce and Audrey went shopping for baby supplies at the Manhattan Babies 'r' Us. In addition to bringing back the usual sets of things (diapers, bottle liners, etc.), they also came back with a bouncy swing, which Juliet loves.
I think it's improving her coordination. Also, Juliet seems to be crawling for real these days, and its much easier and neater to feed her baby food than it was only a few days ago.
Sunday evening, our friends Beth, Steve, and Annabel; Richard, Susan, Elaina, and Amy all came by to meet Juliet before going out for dinner. Amy unfortunately had an ear infection, so her parents took turns hanging out with her downstairs while the other parent came up to socialize. Annabel brought a whole set of gifts for Juliet, including a hippo that vibrates and sings "Fur Elise", a tetrahedral plastic molecule, some cool cloth cubes that make different noises when you squish them, and a mobile-like device that looks to me like a surrealist nightmare but I am assured is delightful to babies. Again, I'm sorry I didn't get any pictures due to being spaced out.
Nanny and Grampy left to return to Oregon on Monday morning, so we only got to see them for a weekend, which was far too brief. We're hoping to see them again in Maine this summer, with a more relaxed schedule to enjoy each others company.
Our last big triumph of Monday was making congee! My dad (Lowell) provided the very simple recipe: one cup rice, two cups chicken stock or water, meaty bits to taste, and simmer for two hours, adding water to maintain the same consistency as the simmer boils liquid off. We used bits of Citarella rotisserie chicken (our favorite among Upper West Side rotisserie chickens, having tried them all). Juliet appears to approve.
Friday, May 26, 2006
Arrival at Newark
Customs at Newark airport was relatively smooth--we went to a normal "US citizens" line, handed our packet from the US Consulate in Guangzhou to the customs officer (Mr. Ferrari, who was very nice to us), then were escorted downstairs to a secondary area, where, after waiting about three minutes, another customs officer looked us and Juliet over, then handed us back her US passport. She's apparently provisionally a US citizen, although she still has a Chinese passport. There's still one form (N400 or some such) that we get to fill out to complete the process.
When we got out of the customs area, Audrey and Ralph Farnsworth (that is, Nanny and Grampy) were there to meet us!
We spent a little bit of time blundering around Newark Terminal C before realizing that it has no restaurants outside the secured area. So we took the monorail to Terminal B and found ourselves five seats at Chili's. Staring at an American fast-food menu. Joyce and I split a mushroom-swiss burger, which turned out to be just about right. I was very happy that we got to spend time with Linda, Ralph, and Audrey before Linda caught her flight home to Boston.
Have we mentioned that it was wonderful to have Linda along on the trip with us? Of our many wonderful, talented, and delightful friends (and Linda is all three), Linda gets my vote for "most calm". She's also an experienced baby caregiver by virtue of having twin nephews and a niece. All of which added up to a third pair of hands, a lot of sage advice, and a calming presence in panicked moments throughout the trip. Joyce and I thought that the combination of one experienced and two inexperienced caregivers worked out nicely--we could learn on the job and still have backup for the hard situations.
When we got out of the customs area, Audrey and Ralph Farnsworth (that is, Nanny and Grampy) were there to meet us!
We spent a little bit of time blundering around Newark Terminal C before realizing that it has no restaurants outside the secured area. So we took the monorail to Terminal B and found ourselves five seats at Chili's. Staring at an American fast-food menu. Joyce and I split a mushroom-swiss burger, which turned out to be just about right. I was very happy that we got to spend time with Linda, Ralph, and Audrey before Linda caught her flight home to Boston.
Have we mentioned that it was wonderful to have Linda along on the trip with us? Of our many wonderful, talented, and delightful friends (and Linda is all three), Linda gets my vote for "most calm". She's also an experienced baby caregiver by virtue of having twin nephews and a niece. All of which added up to a third pair of hands, a lot of sage advice, and a calming presence in panicked moments throughout the trip. Joyce and I thought that the combination of one experienced and two inexperienced caregivers worked out nicely--we could learn on the job and still have backup for the hard situations.
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