Last night we had friends come over to go out to dinner together, figuring that by eight in the evening Samantha is usually either asleep or at least calm enough that we can take her with us. Last night was, of course, the exception that proves the rule. We went to a local Thai restaurant in Arlington Heights and Samantha fell asleep in the car, which was a great start.

Just as the food began to arrive, however, she woke up and began fussing. Fussing escalated into a serious crying fit, so Amy and I ended up eating and talking with her friends in shifts -- one of us got to eat while the other took Samantha out and walked up and down Mass Ave with her in what was, for me at least, a vain attempt to calm her down. Amy took over after she'd had dinner and succeeded in eventually getting Samantha to a state of calm, but we still didn't press our luck. I finished dinner and we beat a hasty retreat back home, where Sam fell blissfully asleep. As it turns out, she had a very good reason for crying so hard at the restaurant, but I promised when I started out that this web log would include no talk of poop.

I haven't really spent a lot of time with Samantha today -- she went with Amy to an appointment this morning and I took Ella to the park while they were gone. When I got home Sam was sleeping so I went out to mow the lawn. Now it's 6 pm and I've hardly seen her all day, although when I did hold her and play with her this afternoon she tried her best to pull off my glasses and bite my nose. Succeeded a couple of times, in fact. You haven't lived until you've had a drooling five month old bite your nose. Truly one of the more disgusting experiences I've had, although endearing in its own way.

Amy's giving her a bath right now -- Samantha does seem to love being in the water.

I think she's definitely beginning the teething process. Today she's been chewing on or gumming everything in site, most especially fingers and knuckles (hers, mine, Amy's, yours, whomevers...). And of course my nose.

She also ate more watery rice cereal today. She seemed to like it -- she ate almost two tablespoons of it, and less than half ended up on her chin and her clothes. I guess Amy was right about her being ready for (semi-)solid food.