4 + 1 = 5

There are now four teeth on top and still only one on the bottom. I don't see any signs of another tooth on the bottom yet.
I've never watched teeth come in before. It is much slower than I thought. When children I know have gotten their teeth, it always seemed that one day they were absent and the next day (I saw them) a tooth was there in all its glory. Watching the transitions from seeing the teeth ready to cut through, to cutting through, and now slowly growing in visibility is interesting. I never realized the process was so slow. I could have sworn the other kids I know grew teeth overnight! I suppose their teeth grew in slowly too and I just didn't notice the teeth until they were fully grown. It is difficult to see the teeth unless she is opening her mouth right in front of your face. She still does not have any full teeth showing. You can see her first two teeth quite well now, but they are still very short.
Fortunately, she does not grind her teeth as much now as she did when those first two teeth were alone. Which isn't to say she never does it. *shuddering to think of it*
Last night she went to bed at a more reasonable hour of 11pm rather than 1am. I think she has cut all the teeth she is going to for a while. I don't see any more ready to cut through, although I'm wondering where that second bottom tooth is.
That is the tooth fairy's update. Teeth photos will follow when they are more visible.

In other news, I'm putting together paper proposals for submissions to the American Academy of Religion annual meeting to be held in Montreal this November. Robin and I will be going together while mom and Rita babysit (at their insistence). Our first getaway. I aim to present at one of the Childhood Studies and Religion Consultation sessions. More specifically I can answer their call for "interreligious perspectives on children and ritual", but I think it would be interesting to propose something from my research for their call for "children and families in scriptural and sacred textual traditions". Given that the latter is co-sponsored by the Scriptural Reasoning Group (for Jewish, Christian and Muslim scriptures), and given my experience attending the overly theological sessions put on the by the Childhood Studies and Religion Consultation, I am confident the call is for mainstream religion papers and thus it would be interesting to submit something about an alternative religion. The downside would be that if my paper was accepted the discussion around the paper would inevitable be highly theological in nature and I am not interested in that discussion.
The Ritual Studies Group is also gathering papers on ritual and children, so I may submit there as well. Finally, the NRMs group (currently headed by one of my supervisors) is seeking papers on the "material, visual, and festival cultures of new religious movements" and I could do something in that area. So many possibilities that I could draw from my research. The Pagan Studies group is looking for papers on idolatry or literature, neither of which are part of my current research.
The brain-cogs are whirring.

Grinding and Frogging

Baby teeth are the hot issue in this household right now. I have photos! What's more, I have video to share. You too may now share in the "joy" that is listening to Abigail grind her two teeth together. *shuddering* I think there is a third tooth that may have just cut through, but I have not had a chance to check more closely. It is hard to tell when so many are at the brink of cutting through (or so it looks like).






This was Abigail's first tooth to come in.


Here is the second tooth and to the right of it I think we can see a third tooth. If so, then I will date it coming through today (when I took the picture). Teeth are cutting through 7-8 days apart.

In other unrelated knit news, this morning I had to frog back to the second repeat of my new fingerless mitts. I was desperate for some relaxation this morning, picked up my current favourite project (at last, something for me) and noticed the mistake down near the bottom. Instead of knitting ahead I had to frog and fix it. It was the opposite of what I wanted to be doing, but I'd rather not regret carrying on later.

Can you see my mistake? See how the pattern shifts to the left after the second repeat? I wish I had picked up on this earlier.

Gated Living

Today I made the trip to Babies R Us to gate Abigail into the living room. I was intending to buy this 12' wide gate/wall because I thought it was on sale. It retails for $130. It was not actually on sale. The dining room is a few inches wider than the living room and a couple inches too wide for the "wall", so I would have had to put the gate up across the open space and gotten rid of a table. However, since it wasn't on sale, I looked at other options and found this swinging gate that has screw-eye attachments. This means I can mount it at an angle from the corner of the dining room at the entrance-way to inside the dining room along the stairway once the stairs climb high enough to allow enough wall. It was $75. Then I grabbed one of the SafetyFirst gates on sale for $25 for the kitchen entrance by the oven. Abigail will be able to play in the full open area now.
I have the pressure gate in place (although we'll probably mount it to swing later) and will get Robin to mount the other this evening because already the one gate isn't much of a deterrent. Abigail knows both routes into the kitchen far too well. Currently I spend much of my day removing Abigail from the kitchen, only to have her turn around and head straight back - so she can play with Darla's food or water bowl, or with the Tupperware, or with daddy's beer bottles and can collection (ahem Robin). Today I decided enough is enough! And thus I went shopping.
The end.
(Photos pending)

One. Two.

Two teeth. ah ha ha ha ha ha.
So says the Count.
Abigail has cut two teeth (Jan 8 and Jan 16). First a bottom and then a top tooth.
So far she has not bitten me. That is the best news of all.
Sorry, still no pictures to share of these new teeth. They have only just cut through so they are a mere line across her gums. There are more ready to cut through any day. By the time I am able to get a photo I suspect there will be quite a mouthful to show off.
In celebration, I am baking cookies. (That is a retrospective justification I came up with right now.) First I made an apple cake last night. Today I am baking soft ginger cookies as well as oatmeal, chocolate chip, sunflower and flax seed cookies. I am even going to be smart and put many away in the freezer so I don't eat them all tonight/tomorrow. Oh yes I would.

It has been a busy couple of weeks around here, particularly the evenings. Between Robin and Abi's swim class, my teaching, and interviews across southern Ontario, it has been a series of long nights. In between there have been some late-night social events too, such as dinner with Katie and Jay last night. Rib-licious. You see, when I bake a cake I like to invite friends over to share it. This is in part because it is an excellent reason to gather with friends. Additionally, it keeps me from eating the entire cake myself (see above).

Do you call her Abi?

It has happened again. I find it a very strange first question. If you asked my child's name and I said "Andrew", would your next question be "Do you call him Andy?"
Many times now (a good dozen), when a stranger who is admiring Abigail's smile (yes, it happens often) asks her name and I say "Abigail" the very next thing they ask is "Do you call her Abi?"
"If I call her Abi, or if I wanted you to call her Abi, that is what I would say her name is!"
I've never actually responded with that, but it is tempting. Rather, I politely respond that, yes, we call her Abi also. Abi or Abigail.
I'm not offended, because we do call her Abi.
Still, it's an odd question, don't you think?
I would expect some commentary such as "that's a nice name" (which I do get) or "my granddaughter is also named Abi/Abigail" (which is also common since unbeknownst to us when we chose the name, Abigail seems to be a popular name lately). Maybe if we were talking for a while and you wanted to talk to my daughter you would ask if it is okay to call her Abi. Or you'd just do it anyways because, evidently, people automatically assume one calls Abigail Abi.

Tooth

At long last it has happened. Abigail has cut her first tooth. We've felt the teeth ready to come out for months now, but today I actually felt a tooth while rubbing her gums and then we saw it - a little piece of white cutting through her gums.
No pictures yet. She wakes again. Will post picture as soon as I have one.
I should amend that there is not enough showing yet to get a good picture. I've tried.

2009

Welcome to Knits and Notes 2009 where you can expect to find more photos, more videos, and other nonsense about our life. Let's dive right in with videos from the past month.







Abigail and Robin began their swim class this week, much to Abigail's delight. Tonight I teach my first class of the year. I hope my students will brave the snow to attend class.