Her official party is this weekend, but MJ and I will take her out for dinner tonight. She might even wear her special made-by-Mommy party hat, but everyone will have to wait for the party pictures to see what it looks like.
Also, as I was commiserating to a friend earlier this week, despite still being very much a baby, she has very recently also morphed into a toddler. How is it that she can be both at the same time? I'm sure all mothers wonder this, but I am mystified at how she can be a baby and a big girl simultaneously.
Here's a summary of CC in the last month:
- WALKING. The BIG milestone! She went from taking three timid little steps last weekend, to walking clear across the kitchen just two days later. Hello, universe, could a mommy get some transition time here? Within the week, she no longer needed encouragement to walk; now she just hightails it out of the room with no warning, leaving me scrambling after her.
- Climbing. Goodness. CC's been a big fan of climbing -- over anything -- for a while. But now her sights are specifically set on the stairs. I am contemplating whether to get a gate to block off the stairs, because within about 15 seconds, she can be halfway to the second floor. This is not an exaggeration. You may think I'm delusional for not already having a baby gate, but a) I'm pregnant with twins and climbing over a gate 20 times a day is a bit of a safety issue, and b) the kind of gate that swings open would interfere with our front door, which is inconveniently close to the bottom of the staircase. So. I am playing it by ear, and in the meantime, keeping a very close eye on our little monkey.
- Yelling. I don't mean angry yelling (although we certainly get lots of that, mostly in the car). I mean happy, listen-to-how-loud-I-can-be yelling. Particularly at restaurants. And during Mass.
- Hugging and kissing. No, not with us. But she is very affectionate with her stuffed animals! Hopefully she will start transferring this attention to us at some point! But it is awfully cute to see her crawl over to her stuffed monkey (who is the same size she is), wrap her pudgy little arms around him, and roll around the floor, pressing her face against his as if she's kissing him. I'll have to take some video one of these days.
- Listening. She isn't saying any words yet (consistently), but I am amazed at how much she understands. Not just individual words (Daddy, Rory, outside, ball, toys, hungry, milk, etc), but phrases too. I realized the other day, after she'd done it about 10 times (yes, I'm slow sometimes) that every time I ask her to "put something back," she immediately does. She also knows what "Can I have it, please?" means, and she usually obeys.
- Sleeping. I'm not sure whether it's a prolonged growth spurt or what, but CC's been taking really long naps for several weeks now. Her morning nap is from 9:30 until noon. And her afternoon nap is from about 2:30 until 5. She doesn't always sleep the whole time: we've noticed (with the help of a new video monitor) that she often rolls around in her crib, talks to herself, and plays quietly for long stretches of time in between bouts of sleeping. So I've learned not to go get her out of her room when she wakes after an hour and stands at the crib rail. Because within about 5-10 minutes, she will lay back down and go back to sleep for another 30-45 minutes. MJ and I think that in addition to needing sleep, she also needs periods with low/no stimulation in order to decompress. All this recent down time might be related to the fact that in the last month, she's been ...
- Happy! She's been such a happy baby lately (except in the car, naturally). It's been so much fun to play with her, take her on errands with me, go for walks around the neighborhood, etc. I don't want to go so far as to say it's as if she's a different baby, but really, it's been such a pleasurable last month with her. And I definitely couldn't always say that!
Happy birthday, sweetheart. This last year has been magical with you, and I'm getting teary just typing this. I'm sure you'll be showered with wonderful gifts at your party, but you are the best gift we could have ever received. We love you so much!
1 comment:
Happy special first birthday, Little C! Sounds like you are taking off for year 2. Hope you have some fun celebrations!
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