Big P, Little P

Big P, Little P,
what begins with P?
Peppards, posing, pumpkins
P, P, P.

Ms Personality

Words that Montana recognizes include: outside, "lights [off] please!" (we teach energy efficiency early), bottle, book, puzzle, mama, papa, little p, pants. Words that she tries to say: "outside" (hard to replicate but we're pretty sure this is going on), ooooooo and ohhhhhh, mamamamammama, padadada. Things that she loves: walking behind the stroller -- she will not release the stroller until she is good and done --; still infatuated with cottage cheese, though now also appreciative of chicken and chicken sausage, Siobhan, bread, pacifier and cuddling in bed from 5:45 - 6 a.m., her black patent leather shoes, opening and closing cupboards, and pulling all of mama's sweaters out of her dresser, eating leaves.

back up to speed!

some new photos that we are delighted to share with you. computer restored, hard drive intact!

Electrons on the loose

Hello everyone. You might (understandably) surmise that the break-in-postings is due to my general proclivity to very belated postings. However, this time it's actually due to the fact that our house was very nearly struck by lightning last Tuesday. Amidst the bright white and florid orange streaks and the enormous "boom" that scared Montana mightily, the lightning also took out our desktop computer, modem/internet connection, and television. Hello, State Farm Renters' Insurance. We're still sorting through the virtual carnage, but luckily no one was hurt and no data was lost. I'm now online a bit more frequently than before owing to our kind neighbors who are letting us be parasites on their wireless connection, but pictures likely won't be forthcoming until we get the computer situation sorted out.

In the meantime, Montana has gone to daycare at Bright Horizons and, on the whole, is doing very well. She does not love being dropped off, but as we tell her, we always come back; and she usually protests for about 2 minutes before becoming very interested in oversized legos, the grass outside, or her new BFF Liam. She adores her teacher, Jen. She also adores cottage cheese and yesterday ate some lasagna made by Alice, which she also loved.

As for her parents: Michael is teaching a course at Yale College this fall, entitled "Influential Women of Early Christianity." Very interesting and exciting syllabus with a small group of undergraduates (it's a seminar). Michael is also on the job market this year, with the aim of being hired to teach somewhere for academic year 2009-2010. There are a number of really fitting jobs that are conducting searches, so we are hopeful. We won't know more on that front until the winter: academic hires do not proceed at corporate paces!

I'm a Teaching Fellow for a course on Faith and Globalization, which has been the subject of much intellectual and organizational effort as well as much expectation, and it's an honor to be part of it. Pedagogically it's quite interesting: There are two mandatory sections prior to the two-hour seminar, so the bulk of the conceptual material is digested and critiqued prior to the formal class meeting time. I think this is a suggestive way of doing interdisciplinary work.

We hope you are all well as September draws us toward the change of seasons. August/September are much more a "new year" for the Peppards than is January. There is always much energy, delight, and anticipation that accompanies the return of students to a college campus, and it is lovely to be caught up in that annual cycle of return. We love what we do!

August Miscellany

August: California, Vermont, childcare, Obama, Palin, headlong into Labor Day, the advent of teaching. A whirlwind! Some photos that give a sense of where we've been...

Montana does not stop. Ever. She is constantly in motion (so you can imagine the delight of a cross-country plane flight...), unless she is sleeping, which she only does with a fair bit of resistance. After all, every moment is a new opportunity to pull herself up on something, chew a corner of furniture, or pull a piece of fabric out of the laundry basket!

In California this past week for Lauren and John's wedding, Montana met her second cousin Gretchen for the first time and had her first photo shoot. This season's style: red gingham, featured on a backdrop of striped beach furniture.

She goes to childcare (aka "school") three days per week for six hours a day during the first week of September, which will probably be a mutual liberation of parents and child, although I predict some ambivalence on the part of myself and Michael. As for the two parents in this family unit, we are ensconced in pre-semester plannings, both conceptual and logistical; and are looking forward to some time in Vermont with good friends and good books in anticipation of the fray that September is sure to bring.

Goin' to the Chapel

Lolo and Jojo are getting hitched this weekend!
We leave for Santa Cruz tomorrow (Wednesday) morning. Montana has selected all of her outfits and has requested a dance with each of her great-uncles. She hopes to hug aunt Lolo-the-bride but assures us that she won't spit up sweet potato on Lauren's wedding dress.

Prose in lieu of pictures today, folks. Accosted by the extraordinary breadth of Montana's baby travels I forgot entirely to mention what she is (literally) up-to these days. UP: pulling herself up on every imaginable non-stable piece of furniture in our impressively un-babyproofed house, which includes the faux suede tan ottoman from Bed, Bath and Beyond; the recliner from Ikea; the rocking chair (so much for stability), and the wine rack, which is now "hidden" under the ever-fashionable curtain-that-became-a-wine-tent.

TO, or more accurately "TWO": Teeth! With much gnawing, drooling, and nighttime whimpering, Montana boasts two robust little teeth in the center of her lower gums. Presumably there are more in the works. The days of mashed bananas and the eponymous Cheerios are in our near future, I suspect. In the meantime she's working her way through culinary delights such as green beans and brown rice for breakfast, chicken and sweet potato medley for dinner, and peach/banana/oatmeal ephiphanies. She loves drinking from a silver cup (thanks to Steve and Ana Allan) but hasn't quite mastered the sippy cup.

Increasingly, Montana is Miss Mobility -- and not just because her Downward Dog or Plank Position can rival the best yoga teacher (could there be a case for innate yogability, not just innate sociability?), or her pushups the most rigorous Army officer. Previously she was scooting in a very symmetrical fashion across any floor: Both arms extended straight out, palms flattened on the floor, legs flexed with toes bent and a giant "ooomph" as she pulled her entire body forward with, it seemed, her fingertips. Now the Giant Scoot has been replaced by the more recognizable baby crawl, which I think she finds quite liberating -- because it is much faster and because it is much easier to clamber over things (like parents' legs) with a bent-knee crawl than with a flat-belly scoot. Either way, the lady tires herself out by the end of the day: Bedtime has been around 7:15 pretty for the past few nights. Unfortunately she seems to have inherited my love of mornings. We regularly see 5:40 a.m. together; but this isn't much to complain about. She eats her green beans, I drink my tea, and around 6 we turn on NPR to learn about the world while watching raindrops pool on the abundant green leaves outside of our kitchen window.

OK, yes, it has been 6 weeks since my last post, which in baby terms is aa significant proportion of a little life. Therefore: my apologies, but as the Chinese proverb in Jennifer Boutin Carroll's house reads: "The best time to plant an apple tree is 20 years ago. The second best time is today."

In the intervening weeks we have been to CA for 10 days, where Montana met many adoring fans who ranged from her three living great-grandparents (!) to her doting Stanford "aunts" and her future beau Matty DuBois, son of Holly. We've also had a visit from the Peppards, a trip to NYC to see Charlie and Heather and Craig Lottner, and a whirlwind trip to DC in which Montana met Grayson Roschewski, son of Mark and Lindsey. The child has friends and frequent flier miles to an extreme! In early August we head to Santa Cruz for Lolo and John's wedding, where Montana is very excited to meet her (2nd?) cousin Gretchen. In the meantime perhaps I will learn some more interesting blog editing skills. ;) Happy summer to all.

Back from the Holy Land

From May 14-28 we traveled to Israel (with a side trip to Jordan for Christy), which was a great adventure with a 6-mo old. The trip entailed dissertation research for both Michael and Christiana, as well as some sightseeing -- which made every day full of stimulation and logistics, but in good ways. Montana did a great job and Linda Peppard was a great help.

You may notice the time that this post was updated, which is directly attributable to the fact that Montana was a little gem during the trip and has apparently decided to cut some teeth (or so we expect given the volume of her late-night attention-grabbing hollerings). We've posted photos from our trip on Picasa, which can be viewed here.

This past weekend was the one-year anniversary of my father's death, and while his presence and absence were marked for me intermittently over the month of May, we decided to commemorate his life with a BBQ, which included seafood kebabs, guacamole, and a small canister of Bitburger German beer. I think he would have been pleased. I think there is wisdom, too, in Jewish traditions of mourning which set aside the full first year after the death for sustained lament and memorializing. This recognizes that the first year is a liminal time of adjustment and loss, and yes, it can take this long for the reality -- many new realities -- to set in amidst the throngs of memories clamoring to be acknowledged. But there is wisdom too in seeing the passing of a year as significant in the sense that it is time to not only look back, but look forward. And so Sunday morning, as we (still jet-lagged) sat outside on a dewy back porch at sunrise, felt like the dawn of a new year.

Stare-down

Our intent and intensely regarding child ...

... has, to the best of our knowledge, never lost a staring contest.
She is also perhaps the tallest baby-staring-contest-winner as she measures in the 90th percentile for height. Things she loves: rice cereal, sweet potatoes, drinking out of a cup. Things she doesn't like: the sound of audiences clapping, burps that she can't get out of her system while laying down, staying upright (belly-up) on her changing table.

Not too much news to report here (though more soon, I am sure) except that the semester has drawn to a close, hallelujah, and we are preparing for our one of our grand adventures of the summer!

Absence makes the heart grow fonder?

Well friends and loved ones, it's been a 2-mo hiatus, during which time Michael has written a chunk of dissertation and Christiana has organized a conference for 300+ people. Never dull. Montana has all kinds of updates for you: She rolls over, eats rice cereal (which she LOVES) and as of yesterday, sweet potatoes (which she doesn't, thus contradicting every Zenner dictum about the orange tuber). In March, she felt warm weather for the first time on a trip to Florida with the rest of the Peppards. Later that week, she sang along at her first Easter, but was more interested in the lamb we ate afterwards. We went to Mystic, CT for some much-needed family retreat and relaxation last weekend, and spring has sprung -- to all of our delight and relief. A few days ago, she met Joel, our friend from the band Umphrey's McGee, and saw her first sound check as the band warmed up. She liked the guitars, but the drums were a bit much. Most importantly, she did NOT drop Mr. Bear on the floor of the nightclub (I had told her if she did, that was the end of Mr. Bear, and he would not be coming back home with us.) More soon! (certainly sooner than last time...) Love from New Haven, C, M, M.

Chubby and Happy: Montana at almost 3 mo.

A puzzle that I used to have as a kid (purchased at a garage sale and hence missing a few pieces) featured an elongated Garfield griping that "February is the armpit of the year." How lovely that we have an extra day of gray Connecticut winter this month! -- Weather notwithstanding, this has been a banner week. I gave a lecture on the ethics of stem cell research to a bunch of Yale students, both undergraduate and master's level, and (if I do say so myself) I rocked it. The photo immediately above this text is of me and Montana after this lecture -- she is decked out in her wintry best, which prevents her from moving her arms, hence the scarecrow-esque stance. I am happy to say that I bored her to sleep with my lecture.

Montana has also been sporting some new holiday duds, as seen in the photo with Patrick. Yes, that is a white velour one-piece suit with red velour bow across the torso and, not to be overlooked, a matching beret-style hat. No Montana, don't listen to all the other kids, all the cool people wear berets...

Another new friend joined the world in the past few weeks: Charles Leland Lottner, born to Heather and Craig last Monday, February 4. We hope to see him soon.

Montana's newest trick derives from the fact that she's figured out that her head can rotate on her neck. Delighted with this development, she will sit for several minutes at time, turning her head from left -- to right -- to left -- to right at about a 3-second cycle. I'm not exactly sure what tennis match she's watching, but let me tell you, the 180 degrees from breakfast window to refrigerator are hot stuff!

For those of you needing a laugh as you breathe in the armpit of the year, check out http://smartypants.diaryland.com. Worth a perusal, thanks to Jeni Rinner for the heads-up. Love to all.

In the swing of things

Well sportsfans, not only is it almost the Superbowl/Aunt Courtney's birthday, February, and leap year, but we are trucking along with the semester and managing to be pretty good parents while trying to be pretty good scholars. Abdicating any aspirations to excellence is healthy at this point as everything is new, not least the balance of Montana and career. For example: Day 1 of Christy's work: Explain to professor and fellow teaching assistants that 15 minutes or so are needed between lecture and meeting in order to pump breastmilk in the basement of the Dept of Religious Studies (sitting on a metal folding chair in the restroom. Don't tell me that I don't know how to create ambiance). Decide whether or not to bring Montana to class as a 'prop' in high-energy section discussions on abortion. (Just kidding.) Write grant proposal for dissertation research in my head while burping Montana. It's a good life, but sometimes the ping-pong ball feeling of bouncing between enchanting Montana-smiles and abstract ethical concepts can give me a headache. Other times it's invigorating. Either way, by the end of the day I am TIRED. The only solution is to drink a lot of tea, have a robust sense of humor, and take one hour at a time, because I don't want to trade in any of it. Coming to terms with the textures of life is a good thing even if sometimes it feels like a weird version of those 'create your own adventure' books!
Montana's new favorite game is: She makes a noise. I make a noise. She makes a noise. I make a noise... You get the idea. Otherwise known as "infant conversation." It has replaced "follow the snail" as her favorite interactive pastime and is just about as fascinating for a third party to watch, but it's delightful. She also adores her playgym from Grandma Linda (Z). And we've recently discovered two new mom-and-baby friends in the neighborhood, which is fantastic. One of the moms is responsible for catalyzing the sequence of events that led to the establishment of the first legal workers' union in Sri Lanka. (She was a fair labor expert hired by Nike in SE Asia.) Um, wow.
And Montana had her first round of vaccinations last week, so she is now a bit more immunologically durable. She weighs just over 12 pounds -- which explains my impressive biceps! -- and is sleeping pretty well at night, for which we are enormously grateful.

What a difference two weeks makes

Christiana returns to her professional life this week, Michael to his dissertation-writing burrow in the Yale library, and so far, so good! Prior to the return to some semblance of normality (not that 'normal' will ever mean the same thing again...), we went to NYC for a baby shower for Craig and Heather Lottner, where Montana met her first true peer: Baby Phoebe, born two days prior to Montana, but approximately 4 inches shorter. (We birthed a giant.) We spent that night at Alice's apartment, complete with a visit from Rita as she transitions back to life in the US after months at Taize, and Lolo and John too! Kate Bonzon came by New Haven for a wonderful and expansive evening of Indian food and conversation while on a business trip for Environmental Defense, working with fishermen on Cape Cod. Montana continued to smile, burp, spit up, swing her arms, and sleep through all of it. And she tried out her new Scottish cashmere mittens. Not bad for a two-month old!

Family Frenzy

In the past 10 days Montana has met her Aunts Courtney and Shelly, Uncle Paul, and her cousins Jake and Luke when the families came out for an extended post-Christmas trip. Highlights included Montana's baptism on December 30 -- complete with a rather loud fart at an otherwise-prayerful moment during the baptismal liturgy! -- and the first party in her honor at Siobhan's house thereafter; a visit for that event from Rachel and Ben, Chris Pramuk and Alice; a rousing game of Trivial Pursuit with "the Lindas", Peppards, and Russells squaring off. (The Lindas won, as predicted.) Uncle John also celebrated his birthday during this time, and Paul Russell embodied the slogan "America Runs on Dunkin" by successfully seeking the Dunkin' Donuts in Branford while on a run -- unbeknownst to him when he started out, the location was about 6 miles away!