Remember those dumb coin operated machines that wiggled and lurched and used to be outside of grocery and drug stores? Well, they are still around, and still a big hit for toddlers. In front of what used to be the 99 cent store on Mission between 22nd and 21st, now called "Giant Value" and not nearly as much fun as was shopping for dollar items, is a collection of these machines. They rotate them too, with new attractions showing up every couple of months. We miss the horse, who was reminiscent of Silver, the Lone Ranger's loyal steed, but then spied him a few blocks down in front of another junk store.
Phase two of weaning is progressing much better than expected. The first night witnessed some screaming, the second night, only a few complaints. An interesting side effect, Ruth is now sleeping until after 8 instead of her clockwork 7 a.m. We don't know why, maybe she always needed 11 instead of 10 hours but was too distracted by the call of the tit.
about halfway down that is the first we have seen with handicap ramps. Nice, clean, purple, Ruth had fun. Phase two of weaning (no nighttime feedings past bedtime) begins in T-10 hours. Phase one was interrupted by a cold, which Ruth took advantage of by staging a hunger strike, gaining her prize and thus wiping out the progress made from the week before. She is also taking advantage of a weak moment in which she was allowed on the forbidden kitchen table. For the past three days she has been testing this territory, with each attempt at recapture beginning with just one butt cheek sliding up next to the butter dish. If unnoticed, the other haunch joins the first, then a five second pause, and suddenly there is a baby on the table. You can't give an inch with these people.
sneakers, a reward of sorts for surviving week one of phase one of weaning. Turns out coaxing a baby off the tit is eerily similar to quitting smoking. There are the endless proactive distractions, change of daily habits, craving for sweets, snacking and irritability not to mention the feeling of loss for a habit that was so comforting. With weaning, there is the added bonus of laying on the floor and screaming, or maybe that is just Ruth's way.
