What a Difference a Year Makes
Can you believe this is the same hat?
Or the same kid?
October 31, 2008
October 31, 2009
And, the side-by-side comparison
FAQ: How Do I Declutter without Making a Bigger Mess
14 hours ago
Saturday, October 31, 2009
Trick or Treat #3 - The Family
This evening, we went over to Shrike's parents' house and met up with her sister and her kids to go trick-or-treating in their neighborhood.
First, Mama Panda got the baby tanked up before we headed out.
Somebody was not into sitting on the porch taking pictures.
But she was into being worn by Mama, and going up to houses for candy!
Somewhere between the last house that we trick-or-treated and getting back to Eena and Papa's house, she conked out, in the wrap.
I was somehow able to get her unwrapped and out of her costume (it was way too hot to be in it inside) without waking her up!
While she slept, I scouted out our haul.
You know, to see what she might like.
Baby's first chocolate: A mini Three Muskateers bar.
First she took a little nibble off the corner.
The another little nibble.
Then she popped the whole thing in her mouth!
What do you mean, I only get one piece?!?
Daily Peep: Trick or Treat #2 - Down Town
The three of us went trick-or-treating downtown this afternoon, and this time we were all dressed up.
We only hit about four places for candy, then went and signed up for the costume contest.
As it turns out, we know two of the three judges - the mayor (a Democrat, if you can believe that on our town!) and a woman that Shrike used to work with. The third was someone whose name I recognized, but I don't know her.
Peeper was getting ready for her nap, though, so we got ourselves at the front of the line, carried her past the judges and headed right to the car.
We're pretty sure we weren't going to win, anyway - there were some really good costumes.
Here we are, waiting for the contest to get started:
Friday, October 30, 2009
Halloween Sneak Peek
We are going to be the cutest freaking lesbian panda family that you ever did see.
Daily Peep: Visiting Mommy
Peeper and I popped in on Mommy for dinner this evening. She took this photo of us while we were there.
Thursday, October 29, 2009
Daily Peep: Playing
She seems to be doing pretty well for a kid who had six holes poked in her a few hours earlier.
Twelve Month Check-Up
Peeper had her twelve month well-baby check up today.
She's 18 lb 11 oz (10 - 25th percentile) and 27 1/4 inches tall (5 - 10th percentile).
When the doctor told us the percentiles, he said, "So she's well-proportioned, she's just petite."
That works for me!
(I will add her head circumference after she wakes up. I will have to look at her report card, which is in the diaper bag, and convert from centimeters to inches. I think it was 25th - 50th percentile, though.)
Her weight is up just an ounce shy of two pounds since three months ago. The doctor said that's pretty much what they expect at this age.
He is happy with her development, and said it sounds like she's tolerating our dairy tests well, and gave me the okay to even ramp that up a bit.
(So I picked up a macaroni and cheese for lunch!)
Her iron level is good, and we can stop the drops and they'll retest it at fifteen months.
In addition to the toe-stick for the iron (which didn't bother her a bit), she got five (!) shots (which did bother her quite a bit), including seasonal flu (they don't have any H1N1 yet).
She goes back in a month for the second flu shot and then back at fifteen months for another well baby and, I assume, more shots.
Babywearing Baby
Okay, I confess that this was totally my idea, because Peeper does not yet do any imitative play, but it was too damn cute, so I had to share.
We were watching her play with the stroller that someone gave her for her birthday. She really enjoys it as a push-walker, but didn't particularly seem to care about having her baby in it.
I told Shrike that it's because she doesn't know what it is (since she's never in one) and then I thought . . .
This is why it's important to always "check your work" after putting your baby in the wrap.
And yes, I am so looking forward to the day that she asks me to help her wrap her baby, instead of looking at me like I'm fucking crazy!
Wednesday, October 28, 2009
Daily Peep: Trick or Treat #1 - The Mall
Peeper and I went to the mall this evening, for trick-or-treating and a costume contest.
We didn't really do any trick-or-treating (okay, I got a couple of pieces of candy), because I figured it would be hard to justify, but she did enter the contest.
She didn't win, but everyone said, "Awwwww" when she walked across the stage (with some help, of course).
And, we ran into GroceryBaby and one of his moms, so we hung out with them for a while.
Here she is, chilling out after her turn on the catwalk.
Tuesday, October 27, 2009
How I Spent My First Birthday
by Peeper
Last night, as soon as the clock said midnight, Mama and Mommy sang "Happy Birthday," to me, and Mama cried.
Later, when we were in bed, Mommy read the first part of Dr. Seuss' "Happy Birthday to You" to me, and I cried. We're going to finish the story tonight.
This morning, I snuggled in bed with Mommy and Mama, and they sang "Happy Birthday," to me, and Mama cried.
Then we got up and had breakfast. We each had our usual, plus we shared the last piece of my birthday cake and Mommy and Mama sang "Happy Birthday," to me, and Mama cried.
Then, Mama gave me some of her bagel, like usual, but today, she put a teeny bit of her honey and peanut butter on it, because I'm a big girl now!
After breakfast, Mama checked her email and saw that Auntie Kay, Frappa and Kiddo1 had sent me an ecard for my birthday. It had a ladybug on it, and was really cute.
Then we all got dressed and I opened my presents from Mama and Mommy.
I got a really cool farm . . .
. . . and some great keys that make lots of noise!
The farm animals all have hats, and they smell great!
Then Mommy, Mama and I went out for Chinese food. I ate all my usual stuff, plus a little bit of peanut chicken, because I'm a big girl!
(And because Mama says that I've been exposed to peanuts and peanut butter almost everyday, when I was in her tummy, and in her goody-milk, and when she touches me during breakfast while she's eating her peanut buttery bagel, and I've never had any problems, so she's sure I'll be fine. And I am!)
I got to play with my friend, J, whose Mommy and Daddy own the restaurant. She is almost six months old, and she shares her toys with me when we eat there. Today I pushed her walker around.
We took birthday cake to her Mommy and Daddy and her big sisters, because they are always very nice to us, and her sisters gave me a toy one time, and they feed us all the time!
These are our fortune cookie fortunes. Guess which one Mama and Mommy told me was mine?
When we got home, I was ready for a nap, but Mama made me put on my birthday clothes and take some panda pictures.
I took a nap for about thirty minutes, until the doorbell rang.
It was the mailman, dropping off a package of clothes for me, from a friend whose moms thought that they were too girly for him.
They also sent me a birthday card - and there were three more birthday cards for me - one from Uncle BabyBro and MyLovelyAunt, and one from each of my baby cousins. They're good shoppers for people who can't even hold their own heads up!
I was still very sleepy, but not sleepy enough to go back to sleep, so I played and whined for a while, and Mama finished making a video. Did you like it?
Then I finally fell asleep, and Mama made another video. Did you like it, too?
Then, Mama woke me up and we drove to Mommy's work and picked her up and went to music class.
I love music class!
Tonight, the grown-ups and big kids blew bubbles, and I tried to catch them!
Then we sang the washing machine song, and took turns shaking the bottle with little teeny clothes in it, to make more bubbles!
"We are clothes in the washing machine. We wiggle and we giggle until we are clean."
"Then Mama shakes us out to dry, and hangs us on the clothes line high!"
At the end of class, everybody sang "Happy Birthday" to me, and to a big boy in the class who is four today. And Mama almost cried.
Then Mama and I dropped Mommy off at work, and we came home and played for a while, and then I took a nap.
While I was asleep, Mama talked to DoulaK and Uncle BabyBro and MyLovelyAunt, and Grandma - who had all called to wish me happy birthday!
Since I had such a messed up nap this afternoon, Mama felt bad for me, and didn't wake me up from my nap this evening, she just let me sleep as long as I wanted.
Check back tomorrow to see how that worked out for her. . . .
Our Girl Happy Birthday
Oops. It seems there was a little copyright issue with the original music ("My Girl," by The Temptations) but YouTube found this for me, and I think it works just fine.
Peeper's Birthday Giveaway
And The Winner Is . . .
Comment # 16 - Sarah!
Congratulations - I'll be emailing you shortly.
Peeper's Birthday Giveaway Has Ended
bumGenius Babylegs from Mom and Baby Naturally
No more entries will be accepted.
I will be announcing the winner soon!!!
One Year
Dear Peeper:
You are one year old today, and I just can't believe it.
There's been a party and everything, and I still can't believe it.
But more about that later. First, what is a one-year-old Peeper like?
Despite everyone's predictions over the past few months, you're still not quite walking, but you have really started seriously cruising over the past couple of weeks.
Your preferred method of locomotion is still walking holding onto me or Mommy, and you're getting very good at only using one hand.
You always look like you're about to just take off across the room, but on the rare occassions that you've let go, you haven't stayed upright very long, so I guess you're not quite ready yet.
You have managed to pull yourself up from sitting to standing a few times. Each time, I've been your pulling-post, but I've not actually helped you at all. I wouldn't be surprised to see you start trying that with inanimate objects, soon.
Your signs haven't changed much in the past month - you're still using "more" and "all done" quite emphatically, but often interchangably, and often to indicate some nebulous thing that you want.
You are definitely signing "doggy" in context now, and use it to mean both the dogs and the cats, and possibly other smallish quadripeds. (I think, maybe, you did it while looking at the "Here come pig feet" page of The Foot Book.)
You are signing "milk," some, but I'm usually not quite sure if I'm reading too much into your little hands.
You don't really need to sign it that often, because you use other ways of telling me you're ready to nurse, but at dinner last night, you were in Mommy's lap eating, and when you were finished, you looked across the table at me and signed it, pretty clearly.
I wasn't sure if I should believe you, but I held you while she packed up your things, and without explicitly offering, I put you in a position from which it was easy for you to throw yourself into nursing position and sure enough, you did, and then nursed for several minutes.
So, I'm definitely counting that among the signs that you have now!
We're just about convinced that you're saying "Mama/Mommy" intentionally, at least on occassion.
Sometimes we hear a very clear "Mama" and sometimes it's more of a "mumumum." It's possible that "Mama" is me (duh) and "Mum-mum" is Mommy. Maybe.
(But you use them sort of interchangably, and you also make those same sounds rather randomly, as well, so maybe that's all just wishful thinking.")
At times, you seem to be trying to say "kitty" - to both the cats and dogs. I can't quite reproduce the consonant sound in that word; it's somewhere between a "g" and a "t" if that even makes sense.
Maybe, maybe, maybe you're trying to say "goody," but I think that might be a stretch.
You still love your books, and still zoom through them much faster than we can read. You're getting even better at turning the pages, picking them up and manipulating them - especially opening the flaps on your "peekaboo" books.
A couple of months ago, I had to reinforce all the pages of Fuzzy Yellow Ducklings, because you were tearing them as you clumbsily opened the flaps, but now you're doing it almost as well as I do. You just open the flap, play with the texture, close the flap, turn the page, and repeat, like it's no big deal.
A week or so ago, you impressed the hell out of by finding several of your books, one after the others, when I asked for them by title. Even ones that were on the shelf, or partially hidden. Even ones with rather obscure titles.
Mommy tells me that you did it for her the next day, so she knows I wasn't making it up.
You haven't done it since then, though.
Maybe you are just refusing to "perform," or maybe you already know what book you want to read next, so you're ignoring my suggestions?
Or maybe it's because I bragged so much about you doing it that one time.
You're still willing to eat pretty much anything we put in front of you, and we put just about anything in front of you.
We try to keep it on the healthier side, but you have had some tastes of ice cream, cookie, brownie and, of course, birthday cake.
You had several 'Nilla Wafers at a party this weekend. I figured you were probably dropping them partially-eaten, and wasn't too concerned - until I watched you devour one completely oops.
You'll eat things that are hotter than I would expect, both "with pepper" and "with fire," and you love barbecue. Now that you're a year old, I'm looking forward to introducing you to the wonders of honey mustard!
You are still quite a Mama's/Mommy's girl, but you are getting a little more comfortable with going to other people for short periods, if we're around. You've even started reaching for or approaching them on your own sometimes.
If one of us is holding you, though, you are happy to interact with anyone.
I love taking you places, because so many people stop to talk to you, and they tell me how beautiful you are, and you give them the biggest grin ever, and then they tell me what a happy girl you are, and I am just so proud.
You are loving your music class and the fact that you're the youngest kid there doesn't seem to bother you a bit. You dance with me and Mommy, and watch the big kids, and sit on the listening blanket with them for story time, and eat play the instruments, and really enjoy yourself.
I wish we could do more things like that, but most of the baby activities are in the morning, when we're still asleep.
We continue to debate about what - if anything - we can do about that.
We sure do like our family bedtime, but since you've dropped to two naps, you sometimes go to sleep for the night before Mommy gets home, which is also nice.
A couple of times lately, you were down by midnight and slept until noon. Then, you were up four hours before your "first" nap (usually it's two, maybe three hours) - which turned out to be your only nap.
I'm not so sure I really like that pattern. I'm rather fond of your naptimes.
I could say that I need you to nap, "so I can get things done," but that would be a lie.
I need you to nap so I just have a break from walking you around, playing with you and so on. And so I can play on the computer.
That's pretty much what I do the whole time, since you're napping in my lap. Which is fine by me, because honestly, if you were elsewhere, I'd probably still be spending my "free time" playing on the computer instead of getting things done -and then I'd have to feel guilty about it.
Oh, my little Roo-Roo. Again, it's hard to say anything that doesn't sound completely cliched and trite, but I just cannot believe how big you are getting, and how much of a little person you are.
Over the past couple of months, you've really gotten to the point where it really feels like you are interacting and understanding and communicating with us.
The first several months, talking to you felt kind of like talking to the dogs and cats, honestly. It was really more for our benefit than yours, I think.
But now, you not only respond to simple commands (at least as well as the dogs, in most cases) but you can answer back, at least in your limited way.
You may only have a few signs, and even less (if any) words, but you do an amazing job of letting us know what you want - and don't want.
Looking at photos of your baby cousins these past few weeks, and hearing about them, on the one hand, it's so hard to even remember you being that tiny.
When your Uncle BabyBro saw the photos from your birthday party, he told me that it seems like you have more in common with us grown-ups than you do with his newborns!
Seeing them, and seeing your old photos, brings back so many memories of your early days - but good and not-so-good.
Remembering the sleep deprivation, and our breastfeeding difficulties, and the thousands of teeny diapers and the whole "what are we supposed to do now?!" of having a newborn, and of course, so so many doctor's appointments - it somehow makes me both so thankful that we are past all that, and yet somehow nostalgic for it.
I can only image that a year - or two, or twenty - from now, that's exactly how I will feel about today, too.
Happy Birthday, my big girl, I love you so much.
love,
Mama
Monday, October 26, 2009
Daily Peep: Birthday Burger
At some point in the past year, we signed Peeper up for the Red Robin Birthday Club, so last week she received a coupon for a free kid's meal.
We went this evening, and she got her-very-own-burger (she usually just mooches off my plate), with some cantaloupe and broccoli on the side.
We passed on the sundae because, although she's been tolerating some "dairy tests" pretty well, I ate a lot of cheese yesterday and we'd not yet seen how that went.
(She gave us a report on the cheese while we were at Target after dinner. The preliminary results look good, but we'll have to check back in for a final analysis in a couple of hours.)
Also, Shrike would like to blame last night's no-sleepiness on the sugar in the birthday cake. I think she may be grasping at straws.
At any rate, you know how birthdays go at these sorts of places, and a girl's first public humiliation is a big milestone, so I took my camera along:
I believe the word we are looking for here is "nonplussed."
And her Mommy.
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