Shae + Escape From Baby Jail

the prisoner

Today Emma Vance and I had a lunch appointment with our dear friend Shae DeNyse, nee Sweeney. I chose the location (Panera, of course), and since Emma Vance and I arrived a few minutes early, I got us seated and settled. As E.V. was sitting in her high chair people watching, she locked in on a man at a nearby table who looked somewhat like Ryan. Making the logical assumption, she cried out, "Dada!" at the man as loudly as she could, getting his attention--and everyone else's around us. "No dear, that's not Dada," I corrected her, resulting in a chorus of laughter from the crowd (and from the poor, embarrassed gentleman). Comedic relief, mom-style. He literally turned red, looked away and scarfed his meal down in less than five minutes. Oops.

Enjoying some puffs and banana while waiting for Miss Shae...

Oh, THAT'S why we sanitize the table before sitting down. 

"Hey, Mom! There's Dada!"

Catching up with Shae was so fun and having a third {baby} wheel there made it all the sweeter. So much has changed in her life (and in ours!) over the past year that it was strange to think of how different we all were just a short while ago!

After lunch I spent a few minutes trying to coax E.V. out into the sunshine, but when she played the Vampire Baby card and repeatedly retreated into the shadowy house, I gave up and put her down for a nap.

She cried for a few minutes, and since I had a camera handy, I thought it was a good moment to catch a shot of what Ryan and I have deemed "Baby Jail;" lately, when I lay her down in her crib to sleep, E.V.'s been pushing down the bumper and reaching out from between the spindles like a tiny prisoner. It's both heart-wrenching and hilarious, and often she falls asleep with her little head crushed up against the bumper mid-cry.

I hate Baby Jail because it's so sad, but I must admit that it also makes me laugh a little. I was thankful, however, that today was the day I planned on shooting her antics because today turned out to be the day that she finally discovered how to stand in her crib. Yikes!

Emma Vance has been pulling herself up to a standing position (successfully) for a couple of weeks now, although most of her efforts have been while climbing on us as we sit on the ground. Today, however, the crib spindles worked just fine, and as she celebrated her triumph, she almost fell overboard. She plopped down and pulled herself up several times, avoiding plunging head-first over the side rail with my help, and as I attempted to get her to go to sleep while I was there to supervise her, it was clear that she was more interested in her new talent than in napping. I eventually scooped her up, snuggled her to sleep in our bed and waited for Ryan to return...

We've been avoiding dropping her crib mattress down for about a month now, finding many other worthwhile tasks to accomplish while pushing that particular task to the bottom of the list. Once Ryan returned home to a master bed occupied by one tiny little girl, we decided it was officially time to bite the bullet. No more escape attempts from Baby Jail in this household!