101 D(almatian D)ays, or, Tara, Advanced

If our little girl did not have us on the go most of the time, I'm sure I would have written her a little poem to celebrate her 101st day. As it is, I can only report that in honour of the day, I've toasted her with an accidental drink of milk that she kindly spat right in my mouth as I was trying to kiss her after a meal. Luckily gravity was on my side and Tara did not return the favour of a full feed. To Tara then, and all she has achieved in 101 days:

She started holding things at 10/11 weeks when daddy Jose thought he'd have a go at fun fotos, and offered her his mobile phone - who could say no to that?! When family friends Marc & Kerstin presented her with the irresistible giraffe-duck Ernest a few days later, Tara took to whole hearted duck-throttling, and ernest quickly found his way to her mouth. A most tasty duckling!


Needless to say that now she's got a 'grasp' of gripping, her little hands make it into my hair more often than not, and I would no longer attribute my excessive hair loss to hormonal changes only. Holding on seems an easier job than letting go, for now.




Weight gain is progressing at an excellent rate. I will, some day soom, work out where that baby clinic is, make my way there, and actually have her weighed and measured. For now, all I know for sure is that Tari is getting heavy to hold, especially when we're in town and she once more 'asks' to be carried back home upright because lying in her pram is not half as exciting as looking over peoples' shoulders at all that is going on on New Walk. And since looking over shoulders requires certain head-holding skills, she's obviously been getting much better at those as well!



The books say that her personality should have started to show by now. I'm not sure about that one, though we can tell she has certain pronounced likes and dislikes. The likes are easy enough: food, lots of it, entertainment (daddy is the specialist), being upright and looking at everything. Oh, and she does like to watch the telly! She sits with us at night and stares and stares at the pictures and the sound. Bad habit! Must be nipped in the bud! Especially since we don't have a telly.
Now, her dislikes, in no specific order: putting on her hat, putting on her jacket, being made to lie in a pram, taking her jacket back off. Lack of attention and entertainment are no great fun either.

And, as it had to happen some day and promptly has on day 100, Jose observed that his daughter has finally understood the connection between making sounds commonly known as crying or whingeing, and being picked up and/or being provided more entertainment. Wahwahwhee - pick me up, wheoaaa - look at me, I'm bored, wheeeeheeeheee - No, I didn't mean like this I mean differently!

101 days - Congratulations, Tara!