We have a TODDLER

This week, Baby Girl finally made the switch from walking sometimes but crawling by default, to walking (or attempting to run) almost all of the time. This past weekend, 11 months and one week old, she started standing up from sitting on her own, without using anything (or anyone) to pull up. The classic butt-in-the-air push off the ground standing.

Now, as she careens around, she falls ALL the time, but she falls on her butt, and then pushes herself back up and continues to wherever she was going. No pause, hesitation, no looking for or waiting for help. Totally independent. She also has two walker toys (both presents). One, she drags laterally or walks backwards (?!) as often as she pushes it. The other, last night she was using to crash into the dining chairs on purpose! It has a pretty smooth wheel action, so she can go really fast. Run-run-run CRASH back up, back up, back up, run-run-run CRASH like that.I LOVE IT we are SO PROUD of her!!

Another big announcement: last night at dinner she drank water from a "glass" ALL BY HERSELF. She soaked herself in the process, but she picked up and put down the "cup" several times. The "cup" that worked is actually a Medela breast pump bottle. While she was getting a bath the week before, she grabbed one of the bottles that I was washing in the sink next to the counter her Papi was bathing her on. She sat down and did a good job of drinking... the bathwater. She already does a great job drinking from a water bottle, which also has a small mouth, smaller than this baby bottle. But we don't have any cups that have a comparably small mouth and are neither too heavy nor too light for her to use.

So at dinner last night, I put half an inch of water in the bottle and let her drink. That didn't work, because she needed to raise the angle of the bottle really high and tilt her head farther back than she is accustomed too. I don't know if her arms are even long enough to do that. She did try though, and sucked away at the air for a minute. So then next time I offered her a drink, I filled the bottle all the way up to below the screw-rim part. Big mess possible, I know. But she grabbed it with two hands and gulped away! She did sort of stick her mouth in the middle of the opening instead of drink from the edge, which caused her to get pretty entirely soaked, but it was before bathtime - and she's got to learn by experimentation anyway. We're on our way!

I am SO SO excited about these developments. The walking I knew would come soon, but the drinking out of a vessel on her own I wasn't sure how long that would take. AMAZING, my smart girl!!

Bottomless pit!

This kid could not. stop. eating. tonight!

She had:

• a bowl of soup. I don't mean like tomato soup or something light either, this had "fideos" (alphabet noodles), broccoli florets and chopped stems, onion and garlic, cabbage, and some other dark leafy green. This was an adult-sized bowl.
• 1 raspberry
• 4 large strawberries
• 20-30 blueberries
• a bite of bagel
• some swordfish (size maybe 1 or 2 tablespoons)
• an entire sweet potato
• two huge hunks that she bit off a whole russet potato!

Now, she almost didn't eat food all day, and she's been kinda constipated. But nonetheless, how on earth does she have space for so much at once!

Today she is 11 months old!

It had to happen sometime

Post-bath insane playtime ended in the first-ever split lip and tears.

Favorite books at 10 months old

Tied for #1:

Clip-Clop!

given to us by a librarian friend who clearly knows what is the good stuff!

Superman!

given to us by my cousin who I don't think knows anything at all about babies but he picked a total winner!




Tied for #2

The Very Hungry Caterpillar

A classic. The shortened pages, the holes for tiny fingers, what's not to love?

I love you Stinky Face

I had never heard of this one till a friend brought it for us (the same friend who gave us the Caterpillar above) but it's a great one.

Pat the Bunny

This is a classic too of course. The story is insipid but we've got two copies and they have already been quite abused.







These are the books that baby girl searches for. She dumps everything she can out of her bookshelf, and finds these. She will sit, turning pages alone. Sticking her finger in any holes, patting the bunny or Krypto, etc. If you come upon her and start reading while she turns, she is ecstatic. Stinky Face and Pat the Bunny are also especially tasty for reasons I don't know. I think a measurable percentage of the fiber in her diet comes from Pat the Bunny.

Baby girl Does It All

From (really) crawling (full time) the week after Thanksgiving to pulling up to stand that same week to starting to creep along the furniture before Christmas to rarely falling as she makes her way all around the room with one hand on the furniture and standing all by herself for short stretches. And growing 5 teeth. Months 8 and 9 were busy ones.

New foods, Mexico edition

Verdolagas, papaya, chirimoya, platano macho, cake (Abuelita got it to her mouth as I was saying "nooooo"), every flavor agua de sabor we've come across (Abuelito, thanks) and several different ice creams (nieve, helado, paleta) (also mostly Abuelito). Oh and several kinds of fish too. Not to mention all sorts of arroz, frijoles, and corn-based items (tamal, tostadas, and innumerable tortillas).

9.5 months old.

sleep training and self-medication fail

We're trying to convince the guajolotita to sleep in her own bed. It's about 3 months now that she has slept primarily with us. In our bed. Besides affecting everyone's sleep - there are certain adult activities that she hinders. Like putting away the laundry. Seriously. All my stuff is in laundry baskets. I suppose getting a dresser would help too. But anyway - it all started when we went to visit my grandparents. We stayed over ONE night and all shared a king-size bed. Before that, she would start out in her crib and sometime between 2-5am I would bring her into our bed. But on this trip, it was the whole night together. (It was also her first bath in a real bathtub. I got in with her. It was super fun!) And ever since then. Sometimes she'll stay in her crib for a little while - between 20 min - 2hrs. Sometimes that means going and putting her back down several times in that short timeframe! Anyway, at 8 months old, and almost half her life in bed with us - it's getting ridiculous. She's either in the stroller or being held for naps. Otherwise, she naps for 30 minutes at most. (That's EXACTLY 30 minutes. You could set a timer by her.) Also, a babysitting episode with grandpa that may have involved an attempt by him to "cry it out" is prompting me to find a humane solution. And finally - she tolerates the crib less and less. And it's interfering with our sex life. Can't have that. So, with the long weekend here, we thought - let's try it. But here's the thing: I have a persistent cough. It's worse at night when the heat comes on. If I cough from the other room - she hears it and wakes up. Now she's getting it, so she's coughing too (only a very little bit, so far). Between the coughing and the expected amount of don't-wanna-be-in-the-crib waking, I slept less last night than any time since I was home on maternity leave. And then the stupid alarms went off because it was Thursday. Even though it's Thanksgiving. I have a mind to put it off. Again. But it's winter. She was sick for 5 weeks with one cold after another already. And then there was the constipation crisis (and it WAS a crisis. Awful.) and now this. Then we go on vacation to visit family and meet Abuelito. During which 3 weeks we will... all share a bed again. Argh. Fun, but then back to the real world and work in the morning. And learning to sleep in the crib again. Oh, the self-medication fail: I figured that due to breastfeeding I couldn't take anything for this cough, so I just grabbed some cough drops we already had and used those to try and get through the night. Then the next day I look it up on KellyMom and... menthol may cause a reduction in supply! And I ate 2 bags of coughdrops in 36 hrs! Argh!! So I send The Hottest Computer Scientist in the Universe to the store with a list of acceptable ingredients, take my dose after feeding her, and then notice... wait! This has menthol too! Argh!! We had a very nice Thanksgiving, so I will post this dated the day before to not sound like a holiday grouch.