Three

I finally completed the hat I’ve been promising Sean since last summer. I didn’t actually start it until just a couple of weeks ago. It went surprisingly fast and it was very satisfying to knit cables and popcorn stitches. I used this old pattern book of my moms and hoped the hat that was to fit most heads would fit Sean’s.

The hat does fit, but the baby alpaca wool I bought in Hood River (practically right off the back of the baby!) at an alpaca farm is very soft, stretchy and on the heavy side. The hat came out very loose even though the gage was correct. The weight of it makes the hat slide down more than the pattern’s intent. Still, Sean was a sport and took the hat on the backpack trip. He claims it to be very warm and soft. I think it looks great too.

I bought this pillow as an accessory for a client’s house. I want it! I want to figure out how to make pillows similar to this myself. The face of this pillow is like a berber carpet. There has got to be a tapestry, embroidery, hook-rug-or-something technique to make this happen. If anyone knows how, please let me know.

Teachers started back at school this week. Before Sean headed into the classroom we decided to take one last mid-week summer trip. We started our mini vacation with two wonderfully relaxing nights in Bellingham. Bellingham isn’t everyones first thought when it comes to get away destinations but we miss living there and have a long list of favorite things to do in and around town. Also, our nice, bay view hotel room is only a little over an hour away. Sean took his mt. bike for a long ride on Galbraith Mountain. We took the Baby Jogger and ran around Lake Padden. We enjoyed a long evening walk along the new pier (a walk-way/pier actually out in the bay that connects two waterfront parks). I got a chance to sit in a deck chair in the sun and read while Snowden napped and we enjoyed meals out at our favorite restaurants. At La Fiamma Pizza we sat outside in the balmy evening air and Snowden gave us the rare treat of sitting in her highchair absolutely engrossed with a sippy cup, some water on the shiny table surface and Christmas Dog of course. I snapped some pictures before Sean reminded me that I better eat instead since we usually only have a few minutes of her happily sitting in her own seat.

On the third day we checked out of the hotel and drove up to Artist’s Point above the ski area on Mt. Baker to head out on a two night backpack trip to Ptarmagin Ridge. Sean packed most of our gear in his big pack and I carried Snowden, our clothes and a few extra items in case Sean fell off a cliff and Snowden and I had to make our way through the wilderness alone (or the two miles back to the car).

Our destination was somewhere off Ptarmagin Ridge, about 4 miles in. We picked this area because it is spectacular high country right from the parking lot so anywhere we stopped, we would be in a fabulous spot. From our day hike experiences we know that Snowden only enjoys being in the backpack for about 1 hour. Often, though, she falls asleep and that extends our hiking time. On the hike into the ridge this time she was wide awake and very chatty for exactly an hour and then started her high pitched protest shrieks. High on the glacier morain, her screams must have travelled for many miles of wilderness perpetuating the banshee myth. We heard there were as many as 52 Mountain Goats in the area, but not surprisingly, we didn’t see any.

We pitched a nice camp in a copse of trees just below Ptarmagin Ridge. Snowden did great in camp. She loves to play in the tent and is super curious about her surroundings outside the tent. It’s great to see her reach for plants, try to grab pine needles and dirt, attempt to crawl around in the rocks but from a mother’s perspective: there is no safe place to put a baby while backpacking except in the tent! We let her play in the tent but we also wanted to preserve some sense of the tent being a place we sleep, not primarily a play pen. Her hands were filthy within the first hour of camp. Her Christmas dog was repeatedly thrown in the dirt. Anything small and dirty was headed straight into her mouth. She’s at an age where if we take away something she wants, or move something out of reach she just screams and screams. Too small to reason with, we try all sorts of distraction, substitution techniques. The following photos are a good representation of the reality of backpacking with a 7 month old.

By her morning nap on day two I was feeling pretty tired of trying to keep her safe, which meant in my arms or in my lap. Snowden was tired of being contained. Plus, our water filter broke (3rd time for the MSR replacement!) so we called it a successful trip and headed out. We had amazing weather and it felt great to be in the mountains. It was just different to not do the things that I enjoy about backpacking; endless exploring, sitting in the quiet contemplating the view, taking a nap on a sunny rock. Sean pointed out that we are going to have to learn to enjoy new things about hiking. My mom said that despite the challenges of hiking with a baby, we are giving her an amazing gift, the gift of appreciating the outdoors. Mom said that when she sees pictures of Snowden in the tent she thinks of her as such a lucky girl because the thing she loved most in her youth was camping and hiking. Once we’re out of the mountains and back to our city routine I’m able to look back on the overnight as a great, fun trip. Making memories, raising our daughter, what better place than deep in the North Cascades?

On the afternoon of August 10th Snowden had her first table foods! The adventure began on Thursday at the Lake City Farmers Market where we selected some beautiful organic carrots from our favorite vendor, Alvarez Farms. Snowden was more interested in the displays of multi-colored peppers handing from the tent rafters but we gave some gentle parental guidance and bought her carrots instead. At home we steamed them and then put the little pieces in the food processor with some mama’s milk to make a nice slurry. It tasted fresh and sweet. Snowden was very interested and wanted to participate fully by using her hands to help feed herself. After about 7 to 10 minutes of intense learning she started to arch her back and cry signaling she was done eating table foods for the day. All three of us seemed to find the experience enjoyable and my worst fears of Snowden immediately shunning nursing were waylaid.