Mood:  lyrical

This little girl is a trip.  I don't even know where to begin to explain the drastic changes she has undergone since the last time I blogged.  She is a complete riot!  I always do better in list form, so I guess here goes:

1. Speech: I'm starting with this one because I think it is the most dramatic.  She is now able to talk in complete sentences!  And she's able to sing parts of songs, count along with you, say most of her letters, and read parts of her favorite books.  Some of her most common sayings are things like:
   • "I like it!" 
   •  "Where's Dada/Mama/My Shaun?" 
   • "I want it"
   • "See Emma,"
   • "I love you!"  (a personal fav)
   • "How are you?"
   • "Daddy's/Mommy's/Shaun's here!"
   • "I run/sit/climb/eat/drink/talk/sleep"
   • "Where are you?"
   • "Read a book"
   • "Pet it"
   • "Open it" which comes out more like "ope-it"
2.  Gross motor stuff: She is now really coordinated with walking, running, and climbing up stairs.  She still struggles with going donw stairs, which is just fine with me.  She is way too into climbing on furniture though.  I hate it!  This girl is constantly dancing too... to anything with a beat.  She has a really funny tippy-toe dance that she does, and a circle dance with her butt sticking out to one side.  Its hysterical!
3. Eating/Drinking:  She still has her 4 bottles a day.  I don't see a need to stop them yet.  She drinks water and very occasionally, juice, from a sippy easily.  She actually has been interested in drinking from a regular cup without a lid, which is so annoying.  She now is sick of the foods she used to love, which is frustrating, but we have our standbys which work out okay usually.  She seems to barely eat anything now, compared to a couple months ago.  She hates sitting for longer than 5 minutes in her highchair.  She just wants to get down and play.
4. Sleeping:  The past week has been fine, but prior to that we had about a month of total crap sleeping.  Frequent wake-ups, lots of crying for mommy/daddy, and Walter and I were just about beside ourselves trying to figure out if it was the room temp or teething or her being sick, or whatever.  She got rid of a cold and ear infection this past weekend, so since then we've had two night of very light Ferbering (no longer than 6 minutes of crying) and that was it for the nighttime struggles.  Her napping is still not where I want it to be.  Walter generally likes to take her in the bed with him for naps (because he really just wants her to get the sleep she needs), whereas I try and get her to go down in her crib (because I want her to be independent for naps goddamnit!).  If we could just be consistent with it, we'd be fine.  Something to work on...
5. Behavior: When she's not sick or overtired, she's an angel!  Very cheerful, friendly, happy... but get her off her sleep schedule (like when she goes to Nana's and won't nap), and forget about it!  She turns into a mini-devil complete with horns and a spiked tail.  We have a nice little run by the front door that Mia sits on when she needs a moment to collect herself.  Its funny too... she sits there and says, "I sit."  And then shouts out to me, "Mommmeeeeee!" the whole time.  I try not to laugh, so I count to 60 with my back to her.  Its an effort, believe me!  She's also going through a Daddy phase right now.  This past week, she hasn't wanted much to do with me compared to her Daddy.  In fact, several times she has pushed me away at bedtime and said, "Byeee!"  Like, "Lady, get the hell outta here.  My Daddy is here!"  Basically, the toddler version of flipping the bird. 

Overall, I think she's pretty advanced for an almost 18 month old.  She's very loving and gives great big hugs and kisses.  She has her favorite people which fluctuate periodically, but are currently Grampy (pronounced Grampies, Grumpy, or Rampies), Dada, DeShaun, and Petr (pronounced Pee-oh or Pee-or).  Hmmm.... all men.  Interesting.  She also loves to kiss my brother Chris's photos whenever she sees them, but doesn't really kiss any other ones.  As if she knows he's far away and needs that metaphysical smooch.

 Here we are in VT, first enjoying a chocolate covered apple, and then a swing on the hammock:

 It was freezing up there, but beautiful!

 in EB this past weekend, she explored the yard with Grampy

Life is beautiful.

Posted by Jamie at 3:26 PM EDT

Updated: Friday, 30 October 2009 10:16 PM EDT

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Mood:  a-ok

Mia is freaking hysterical.  I swear everyday she says 3-4 new words at least.  I just had to update with a few of her latest verbal achievements:

1. balloon
2. truck (which apparently says "choo choo")
3. car (which says "beep beep")
4. chin
5. cheek
6. ear
7. teeth
8. hair
9. animal
10. Elmo (and she is OBSESSED- wants to watch him all the time)
11. "Esta!" which is what she calls her "Fiesta" DVD
12. Pumpkin
13. all done
14. Mommy's here!
15. night night (and she lays her head down on a pillow with her Martha dog and pretends to go to sleep)
16. Daddy work
17. My Dada/Mommy/puppy/baba (everything is MY lately)
18. Shaun(a)- she'll say either Shaun or Shauna for DeShaun,  She adores him.
19. "Shhh, the puppies sleeping" I can't even believe she can say this!
20. Reading books- also, very funny
21. Fart (yup, that's my daughter)

Here she is putting her animals down for "night night."

And here she is with one of her new outfits, new shoes, and cute new bows, brushing her teeth on the stairs and looking like a big girl!

She and her Dada, enjoying fresh air yesterday :)

Posted by Jamie at 6:31 AM EDT

Updated: Friday, 18 September 2009 2:17 PM EDT

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Mood:  celebratory

Mia is running around constantly... actual RUNNING, people.  I need to buy some new sneakers to keep up with this little beauty.  She's climbing up on everything, going up and down stairs by herself, dancing, throwing, kicking... doing all kinds of toddler stuff.  My baby is officially a toddler I guess.

 She's definitely got some big toddler attitude problems.  She's been biting (she's the frustrated type) me when she's tired, and gets in a good smack too when she can't get something she wants or wants to get a rise out of me.  I am trying to modulate my reaction so that she doesn't get what she wants out of it- i.e. attention, fun, etc.  Its tough because sometimes it flipping hurts!  She's also screaming alot, both when happy and when frustrated.  That's real fun in the grocery store.

Luckily for us, these behaviors mostly seem to be directed towards me, but Owen, my coworker has actually dubbed her smacks as the "flying fists of fury," so unfortunately, this craziness has been witnessed.

I think she's going through her 18 month sleep regression... and she's only 16 months old.  I have no idea what the heck is going on with her sleep.  Every night its the same thing... go to sleep 7:30-8.  Wake up exactly an hour later.  Cry for Mama. 

One of three scenarios then occur:

1. If I wait and let her cry for a while, she settles down for a couple minutes then cries again ten minutes later.  Repeat x 4-5 times. 

2. If I go right up and hug her, she will lie down and stay down for the night. 

3. If I go up and don't pick her up, but lay her down and soothe her, she resorts to scenario # 1 until I give up and do scenario #2.  At which point she is down for the night.

So my dilemma- do scenario #2, hope that she quickly outgrows this and pray that this doesn't create a monster of a habit?  Or be all hard ass and Ferber the lil thing right in the middle of what is likely a case of separation anxiety (she is in a strong "I want my mommy" phase)?

Other than that, she is really increasing her vocabulary quickly.  Just since my last blog post, she now says (and correctly identifies):

1. cheese (although she thinks butter is cheese as well)
2. Bow (her hair bow)
3. wall
4. Neigh (as in the horsey noise)
5. Rain
6. eyebrow
7. up/down (but down is "dans")
8. Go outside
9. No Mommy no (my personal favorite- not!)
10. Mickey Mouse ("Mickey Mou")
11. Nit Nots (character on Imagination Movers)
12. Stinkies
13. Poop
14. Mommy Home (meaning "mommy, get your ass home b/c I miss you")
15. Hug (which sounds more like "hut" but is accompanied by a big squeeze around my neck)
16. Please (occasionally)
17. Duck

I swear, I blink my eyes and she's 6 months older. 

   One new favorite activity is wheeling her baby dolls around in their stroller then dumping the stroller over on the ground and shouting, "OH NO!!!!" to which I come running because I think she has either stabbed herself with something or smeared something nasty all over herself.  She runs all around the doll babies on the floor saying, "oh no, oh no baby" and then picks them up and hugs them.  Too cute :)

   She also loves to read to herself- her favorite book right now is Please, Baby, Please by Spike Lee.  No idea why, but she kisses every page and demands to read it at least 3 times in a row.

   Every night after we get her ready for bed, Mia and I lay next to each other on the bed and I sing her a few songs until she seems sleepy enough to go in the crib.  The funny thing is that she has definite preferences for songs that she hasn't heard before or at least lately, so I lay there racking my brain for a new song to singing, and thanking my lucky stars that my mom is a music teacher.  She does the same thing in the car when a song comes on that she doesn't like.  She's picky, just like her Mommy :)

Pics to come next time....

Posted by Jamie at 1:52 PM EDT

Updated: Tuesday, 8 September 2009 1:26 PM EDT

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Mood:  happy

My baby is gorgeous.  My life is gorgeous.  Everything is great!

No really, it is.  I really like 15 months old.  Despite some toddler tantrum issues, Mia is a peach.  Here's a typical day:

1.  Wake up at 6:45, have a nice big juicy bottle of whole milk.  (yup, not weaned yet from the bottle and I don't care).
2. Play nicely while Daddy or Mommy gets showered and straightens up the bedrooms, and then downstairs around 7:45-8 for a bowl of oatmeal.
3. Play time again, usually while watching either Sesame Street or Martha Speaks on PBS
4. Bottle around 9:15, books, and a nap from about 9:45-11.  The morning nap is about an hour to an hour and 20 minutes tops these days.  We think she may be getting ready to go down to 1 nap soon, because this nap is getting later and later in the morning. 
5. Wake up beautifully and cheerfully to play until lunch at noon
6. Lunch usually eaten mostly by herself and consists of mac and cheese, pasta, chicken bits, rice with fruits and veggies, sometimes bits of bread and cheese.  Chicken nuggets are a big fav too.
7. After lunch, its up in the air... sometimes an errand, sometimes playtime outside.
8. Afternoon naptime usually starts about 2:30-3 and goes until 4. 
9. After the nap, its playtime!  
10. Dinner is at 6, and she usually watches the Imagination Movers while eating.  Its just her thing, I guess.
11.  Bathtime is at 7:30, and then bedtime at 8.  God Bless her, she is a great sleeper and doesn't need help falling asleep.  We still do the same routine of bath, jammies, and several songs while snuggling her on the bed, before I pick her up and lay her down mostly awake in the crib.

Mimi's (my little pet name for her) favorite things to do now are play in the water table, play in the sprinkler, play in the pool, play in the water park... do you catch the theme here people?   She's also really into books now- reading them over and over and over, and pointing to the things she knows in them.  Music and dancing are constant activites as well... especially to the Imagination Movers music, which I am ashamed to say, I find catchy too.

 Her language is exploding.  She can actually string a couple words together like "Where's Dada" and "want ___" and "go up."  Walter also taught her, like a parrot I guess, to say "I need my mama." Which was so cute... thanks honey.

 Here are the words she can say and that she knows the meaning of (i.e. she can say more, but she's just parroting them back to us):

 cat, hat, ball, water, bubble, baby, bottle (baba), belly, ear, eye, nose, mouth, cheek, duck, happy, brother, pee pee, poop, apple, hi, bye, mama, dada, auntie, Nana, Emma, Barb (she says Bup), cup, up, shoes, Mia, hot, cheese, keys, please, down, uh oh, pool, yay!, uh-huh (as in yes)

Isn't that crazy for a 15 month old?

What a fun age :)

Posted by Jamie at 2:10 PM EDT

Updated: Monday, 17 August 2009 10:43 PM EDT

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Mood:  a-ok

Mia is flourishing in every way.  She's talking, she's eating, she's sleeping (oh thank god), and she's growing.  She's a really happy girl almost every day, and the only times when she is grumpy with us is when she is told she cannot bite or pinch me or when she has not had enough sleep.

The hitting/biting/pinching thing seems to be escalating a bit.  In fact, I've had to institute a few "time outs" on the rug by the door.  She just sort of sits there looking at me, but when her time is up I pick her up and she pats my face and hugs me.  So I guess she's saying sorry in her own way. 

 We've done a few new things with her lately, including taking her to sprinkler park, taken her to swim lessons, left her with Grammy and Grampy to put down to sleep (that went great) a couple times, and played alot in the baby pool outside.  She LOVES being outside playing with her water table, bubbles, pool, and even just walking around looking at the grass and trees.  She's definitely an outside girl to the core.

So many new words and in fact, she's starting to string together a couple words.  Some of them are only understandable in context and by us, but sure enough, there is some kind of speech explosion going on right now.

Here are a few of the 14 month skills that she has mastered:

Point to a body part when asked

Start game playing

Combine words and gestures to make his or her needs known

Walk well

Use a spoon or fork

Match appropriate shapes into a developmental toy

Push and pull toys while walking

And here are the 15 month things she can already do:

• Say up to five words

• Climb stairs (crawling, but VERY fast) 

• Like to look at books and turn pages

• Laugh at funny things

• Walk well or runs (she runs, but it is clumsy)

• Draw lines

• Say no and shakes head (no no no no... grrr!)

• Like to sing (she's been doing this for a couple of months now)

• Follow simple directions

• Want to help around the house (she wipes the floor with a napkin and tries to sweep- its so cute!)

• Respond to verbal requests without signals of any type ( I ask her to get her baby or get her doggy, or come here and she usually will)

 And here are the 16 month skills she can do:

• Gets attached to stuffed animal or other object (her doggy)

• Walk well

• Sing and like to sing

• Get upset when frustrated

• Walk backwards ( she did this last night- it shocked me!)

• Start to climb and explore (up on the couch, down off the couch, up on the box, fall off the box, etc.)

• Become picky about certain foods (yup- the funny thing is that any new food is awesome, its foods that she has had many times that she will balk at... its like she gets "sick" of them!)

• Take off an article of clothing without help (socks only so far)

• Dance to music (her favorite activity!)

• Trot and prance around

She's doing so much, and growing so fast, I feel like life is blowing by me so fast.  I'm enjoying every moment of the craziness...

\

Posted by Jamie at 1:09 PM EDT

Updated: Tuesday, 14 July 2009 9:48 PM EDT

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Mood:  a-ok

Life has been pretty much roses in my houes for quite some time.  At least having to do with my darling daughter.  She's sleeping great, she's eating great, and she's happy as a clam about 95% of the time.

However, in the past week, I've seen some warnings of the times to come- mainly an increase in angriness, hitting, yelling, and temper tantrums.  Are we already in the "terrible twos?"  Yikes!

So, of course, I googled to see what was up and got this:

Your child might start having temper tantrums. Gone are the days of simply eating and sleeping. She now has a distinct way of expressing herself. The range of her emotions is seemingly endless. Keep a close eye on her and you'll witness excitement and confusion when she first encounters a new toy, pride as she shows you how to slide that little yellow star into the proper hole and even anger when she's not given the object she wants. It's this last emotion that can cause some embarrassing and, yes, loud moments in your life.

Welcome to the age of the temper tantrum. If your child becomes this angry, experts advise adopting a matter-of-fact attitude about the tantrum (assuming of course that the child is not in physical danger). As difficult as it may be, do not give in to these outbursts. Let your child know that you understand her anger but will not acknowledge how she is expressing it. You should see the tantrum subside as she realizes the behavior will not get a rise out of you. As she grows older, talk to her about why her behavior is not acceptable. This is best done after the tantrum has subsided and things have settled down again. Most of all, remember that this is but one emotion she'll express. Once it quiets down again you can continue to enjoy the moments of excitement and affection that are soon to follow.

Yup.  We are so there.  Sometimes I feel frustrated, sometimes I feel upset, but mostly I want to laugh!  She is so passionate in her anger, and does this adorable little stomping thing that is just so very funny.

Most of the time she is like this though :)

Posted by Jamie at 3:56 PM EDT

Updated: Tuesday, 14 July 2009 9:46 PM EDT

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Mood:  energetic

Mia is so full of new words lately!  Just this weekend, she added flower, bubbles, and tree.

Adorable!

Posted by Jamie at 11:02 AM EDT

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Mood:  chatty

Amazingly, its been a year since the first time we attempted giving her a bottle, and now I am weaning.  Its a very bittersweet feeling, this weaning thing.  On the one hand, I'm hoping that my body will release like, maybe 20 pounds of fat stores once it realizes that I am no longer feeding another person.  On the other hand, I'm nostalgic for all those times when she would snuggle next to me at night, nurse, then drop right off into dreamland still attached.

I'm not so nostalgic for those days when she'd nurse for 2+ hours at a time and wake whenever I tried to detach her though.  I've learned my lesson for the next time around not to encourage that!

Fortunately she is a very snuggly little girl, who has shown quite a partiality for her Mommy (despite calling me Dada rather than Mama several times this week).  I still get my snuggles with her at night- they're just not nursing snuggles.  Her nightime routine right now consists of:

1. at 7:00, watching 10-15 minutes of various soft Sesame Street songs on Youtube.  She really likes the one of India Arie singing the alphabet with Elmo and Feist singing about the number 4.
2. at 7:15, we walk upstairs with Walter chasing us, and I then hand her over to him while I ready her room, grab her PJs, and gather her bathtime supplies.  Meanwhile he is undressing her.  We walk into the bathroom and I run her bath, while we do three door "peekaboos" (opening and shutting the door with Dada jumping out at us) and then we give a final kiss goodnight to Dada.
3. After her bath, I take her back in the room, put Aquaphor on her "area" as Walt calls it, diaper her, put her in her PJs and sleep sack, towel dry and comb out her hair, then lay down next to her and sing her some lullabies.
4. Usually she gets so sleepy by 7:45, that I carry her semi-awake into her bedroom, lay her on her belly in her crib, and quietly shut the door.

Its been a good 2 months since we've had any sleepy time problems, despite the fact that she has cut her two top teeth almost simultaneously in the past week.

My baby, she's so wonderful. 

Posted by Jamie at 3:57 PM EDT

Updated: Wednesday, 17 June 2009 8:54 PM EDT

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Mood:  incredulous

A whole year since this.  Can you believe it? 

We just had Mia's official 1st birthday party this weekend.  The weather was wild- one second the sun was shining beautifically, the next, the clouds were rolling by, bringing scattered showers and the wind was whipping the tablecloths off of the borrowed Shriners Hospital tables.  Everyone had a blast though, and all the kids were happy- between the water table, various balls and sports equipment, and the rented bounce house, there was plenty to keep everyone busy!

We got big pizzas from Manny's in Holyoke, had chips and dip, a humungous sheet cake, and of course, sangria and beer for the grown folks.  Believe it or not, there is not a morsel of cake or pizza left.

Here she and I are bouncing in the bounce house:

She's not all that sure about it:

All the kids loved the water table:

 and with her beautiful big cousin Tai Tai

Ah... It was so much fun!  But I think I'll try for something much more low-key next year :)

Here's a list of all the new stuff she's doing lately:

1. Climb stairs- a full flight very quickly.  One day I was in the kitchen opening up a package of oatmeal, and two seconds later she was up the stairs and in my bedroom playing with one of my bras.
2. Say even more words.. besides Mama, Dada, cat, cup, hi, bye, DeShaun (sounds like DeTaun), brother (bru-bah), and up... she says: water, want it, Emma, Elmo (Melmo- so cute!), and baby
3. Sit in the bathtub without her bath seat.  Its a much wetter experience now.  Oh, and its a much faster bath too, because she keeps wanting to stand up!
4. Drink from a straw, and from a regular cup by herself.  She will happily drink all whole milk now, but still prefers it warmed up in a bottle.  She'll take water all day long from her big girl sippy cup with a straw though.  I only pump once a day now... next week I will stop entirely.
5. Wave hi and bye, point to things she wants.  That is pretty funny, and very useful.   But now she is starting to have a very vicious temper and will scream for what she wants too, which is annoying.
6. Clap and dance to music.  She stomps her feet quickly to the music and will also dance around turning herself in a circle.  She's big on arm waving and flapping too.
7. Share food.  She's constantly offering food to whoever is feeding her, but my daughter is an "indiam giver," and will promptly grab it back.
8. Give kisses!  She grabs my face with her two hands and gives me a smack right on the mouth.  She also kisses her stuffed animals now too, which is so cute.
9. Give hugs!  She is a big hugger of her stuffed animals, ut also us, especially when we haven't seen her in a little while.
10. Sings the alphabet.  All the letters sound the same, but its a start. 
11. Feed herself with a spoon.  Its not always too accurate, but coming along okay.
12. Throw things and roll a ball.  This is one of her favorite games!  She really loves chucking things at people.
13. Imitate us- talking on her pretend phone is one big example of this.  She picks it up and says, all drawn out, "Hiiiiiiii!"
14. Follow simple commands.  She understands so much!  She can get certain objects for us, wash her face (sort of), dance, clap, come and wait.  Its a whole new world!
15. Say "brrrmmmm" when things with a motor go by.  Also for the hairdryer or when the wind is blowing her hair.
16. Bark like a dog- she says "woof woof" and oftentimes "meow" at all animals.
17. Sleeping great!  She now sleeps from 7:45-8 to 6:15-6:30 without waking and takes a good hour+ morning nap and a shorter 45 min afternoon nap.  God Bless her, this sleep thing is going really well.  I can now put her down awake and she'll go right to sleep easily.

As far as her favorite toys and activities, she is really loving the following things right now:

1. Pushing her new baby around in the baby's stroller (thanks Kathy!)
2. Riding on her push toys
3. Playing with her Little People boat and Farm (thanks to Owen/Cyndi and Heather!)
4. Throwing around her fake food (Thanks Yvette)
5. Reading her tactile books (Thanks Grammy and Grampy!)
6. Lugging around her doggie- we named her Martha after Marth Speaks on PBS (Thanks Sarah and Petr!)
7. Playing in her pool and water table (thanks again Grammy and Grampy!)

This year has been such a rollercoaster for both Walter and I.  I'd say overall, its been about 75% easy, 25% hard, but if you had to look back at just the last two months, I think its more like 95% easy, 5% hard.  Eating, sleeping, and overall behavior has been very easy lately.  The few moments of difficulty are easily forgotten.

I find it strange to think of myself as a mom of a 1 year old, or for that matter, the stepmom of a 15 year old.  There are many moments when I forget what my life was like without her, although those brief moments of nostalgia for freedom do creep in every now and then.  I solve that by hitting the gym after work and by taking a salsa class every now and then.

I wanted to say some eloquent stuff about how much being a mom means to me, and how much I have grown as a person in the past year, but I find myself completely "unable," as my friend Kara likes to say.  My life is just simply wonderful. 

Posted by Jamie at 3:42 PM EDT

Updated: Thursday, 4 June 2009 8:45 PM EDT

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Mood:  chatty

I can't believe that my little girl is almost 1.  In two days.  Unbelievable!  I'll write more on that in my next post...

 3 weeks have gone by and a whole bunch has happened.  We've been playing a lot outside because of the supernice weather.  She went in her first pool, ate her first (few!) bites of sand, had her first tubby experience with a friend, ate her first ice cream cone (well, took a few bites), had her first hot dog, and met her new cousin Monica for the first time.  She also had her first major accident... caused by yours truly.

Here's a list of all the stuff she can now do:

1. Walk and almost RUN!  She's amazingly fast, and she rarely falls over unless she's tired.  She can get into all kinds of trouble now.  Mommy and Daddy have to be supervigilant.
2. Bend over and pick things up without holding on, get down to sitting, and crawl very quickly.
3. Say a few more words.. in total she can now say Mama, Dada, cat, cup, hi, bye, DeShaun (sounds like DeTaun), brother (bru-bah), up, and what sounds suspiciously like "shut up."  Thanks Walt.  She really likes the hard consonants and talks up a storm all day long.
4. Splash in the bathtub.  Its a much wetter experience now.
5. Drink from a straw, and from a regular cup by herself.  We are also in the process of weaning her to whole milk, which is going well.  Its depressing for me though, because soon I won't have the wonderful soothing tool of nursing her at my disposal.
6. Wave hi and bye, point to things she wants.  That is pretty funny, and very useful.
7. Clap and dance to music.  She really likes the theme song to Martha Speaks and The Imagination Movers songs.  Sesame Street is still a favorite too.
8. Share food.  She's constantly offering food to whoever is feeding her.  She also shares toys and other objects very nicely, then promptly grabs them back.
9. Give kisses!  She is constantly kissing us now, and she's so much more snuggly when she's sleepy.  Her kisses are still mostly open-mouthed, but she's given a few close mouthed ones.  Walter will say, "I love you," and she gives hima  big wet one right away.  Its so cute!
10. Pat/stroke faces when we say "Nuh-nice" instead of scratching your eyes out.  She is a big fan of face slapping though... which is better than eyeball gouging, which she was into last month.
11. Point out people in pictures and say their names.  She points out Dada, Mama, Grammy (Ammy, and sometimes Mimi), Emma, Baby (for Ibby), and "DeTon."
12. Try to sing along.  It sounds funny, but she tries :)
13. Feed herself with a spoon.  Its not always too accurate, but coming along okay.
14. Throw things and roll a ball.  She also is a big fan of tossing food casually over her shoulder.  I am not such a big fan of that.
15. Imitate us- talking on her pretend phone is one big example of this.  She picks it up and says, all drawn out, "Hiiiiiiii!"
16. Follow simple commands.  For instance, I will say, "Show Dada the picture," and she will walk over and show Walter the picture. 
17. Say "brrrmmmm" when things with a motor go by.  Like the car, or a vacuum, or even my hairdryer.
18. Bark like a dog- she says woof woof to any dog she sees :)
19. Sleeping great!  She now sleeps from 7:45-8 to 6:15-6:30 without waking and takes a good hour+ morning nap and a shorter 45 min afternoon nap.  I'm not sure when she will transition to 1 nap, but she seems to be thriving on our current schedule.

The cuteness is never ending!

On a more serious note, I did a crazy boo-boo this past weekend.  I was carrying Mia on my left side high up and reaching for something with my right hand (don't even remember what- its a total blur!), when she wiggled in my arms and I dropped her!  She landed face first from the four feet in the air and landed with her arms and legs outstretched.  I guess at least she was extended to absorb more of the impact over a larger surface... anyways...

 I panicked and screamed!  I scooped her up right away in my arms, and hugged her.  She was crying very oddly- gasping and completely inconsolable.  I called Walter back from going to pick up DeShaun, and thank goodness I did, because he went into EMT mode and checked her all over.  It took her about 30 minutes to calm down enough to stop crying, and then she fell asleep.  I laid next to her fearfully feeling her ribs and arms and legs to make sure nothing was swelling up.  She slept for about 30 minutes, and then woke up crying again.  Walter and I were all set to go to the ER at that point, but she settled down quickly and we proceeded to have a fairly normal day after that.

Not a scratch on her, thank God.  I, however, am permanently scarred by this experience.  Its the stuff of nightmares!  I will never get over the guilt of that moment...

But she's fine.  I will be fine.  And she turns 1 this Thursday!

 Ironically, on Monday when I was still feeling sorry for myself, I learned that our next door neighbor's house caught fire Sunday night and we had no idea!  They came banging on our door and everything, and we didn't hear them at all.  Thankfully none of their 4 kids were hurt, but they've lost everything.  No rental insurance either... so sad.  Walter and I went through all of our clothes to find stuff that they could use... wish we had stuff for the kids too...

Life's tough, but then there's pink birthday cake to be eaten.

 Here she is hanging with her big brother:

and with her Daddy with the breeze in her hair:

Enjoying her birthday present from Chell and Rob!

Running around in her halter during that heat wave...

Looking at the water as if it might taste good:

and finally,

splattering her Mommy with vanilla pudding.  Fun times :)

Posted by Jamie at 11:17 AM EDT

Updated: Tuesday, 5 May 2009 9:39 PM EDT

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