Simone in Seattle

Simone

  Courtney had a three-day meeting at the University of Washington in Seattle last week.  Judy and I took care of  Simone while Courtney was at her sessions.

      We drove to Seattle on Tuesday, and Judy met Simone for the first time.  Simone is a sociable, contented baby.  She coos and babbles, smiles and sticks out her tongue ten different ways.  She likes to be walked and jiggled and hummed to. She made a delicious bundle in our arms.

Josh and Simone

     On Wednesday we took Simone  to visit  my niece Jessamy and her family in Edmunds.  When we arrived, Megan and Jamie were waiting eagerly to meet their new second cousin.  My sister Rose was there, ready to hold the baby.  Her husband  John showed Judy the photos from his week-long hike counting marmots in the Olympics.

Flying with Mommy

      Simone, at three months, is just beginning to take a bottle.  If conditions are  right and she is not too frantically  hungry, she can be jollied into taking a tiny bit of milk and playing around with it in her mouth.  Mostly, she just waits for her mother.  It worked on Wednesday at Jessamy's when Rose persuaded her to sip a little.  That, and lots of attention from Josh, Megan, and Jamie,  kept the baby happy until Courtney arrived for dinner.
     On Thursday Simone was having nothing to do with the bottle.  Judy and I took her to explore  the university bookstore,  using the motion of the car and then the stroller to keep her comforted.  At noon and at three Judy's intuitive radar helped us to find the Atmospheric Sciences building on campus.  We carried the baby up to the sixth floor so Courtney could nurse Simone during breaks in the meetings.

Agua Verde cafe and paddle club

   Courtney's colleagues from the Dynamo project in the Maldives were eager to meet Simone, "the Dynamo baby."  I was happy to see them again.  I had the chance to introduce Judy to  Chuck, who bought us dinner our first night at Gan,  to Deanna, who shopped for scarves with me, to Bob, Courtneys' advisor, and to  Scott Ellis, whose smile always cheered me up.

Happy grandmother

    We ate dinner on Thursday evening at a combination Mexican restaurant/kayak club on Portage Bay.  I love the light in Seattle, the way it plays  on the hills and the big bodies of water. The evening light was especially fine as Simone sat in her infant seat on the table and we feasted on sweet potato enchiladas.
     It occurred to me that, if we were following the traditional instead of the modern  timetable for childbearing, Courtney would be the grandmother.  Judy and I would be sitting by the fire somewhere, missing all this action.

     When Courtney returned from her meetings around noon on Friday, we began our mad dash to:  feed the baby, change the baby, pack the car, check out of the hotel, fill up and return Courtney's rental car, maneuver through the Tacoma traffic, and drive fast but unobtrusively to  the Portland airport in time  to meet David and Maxine's plane.  We made it with 5 minutes to spare. We were ready for the second half of our joyful adventure, when both Maxine and Simone, along with their parents, would spend the weekend at our house.

Happy grandmother