She gets it

This coffee thing every morning with daddy...she totally understands.

Today, we had some wheat bread (among other things) for lunch. It was declared "foffee bwead". I eventually got out of her that it looked like the filters - "bwead filtah".

She said we needed to put "foffee in" and "pour wadder" on it.

Signs of a developing addiction, anyone?

How not to wean

When I went to China, Ryanne stayed here. It was the best decision. This meant that she didn't get milk for 4 days. We went from 2-4 feedings per day + 1-3 feedings at night to none. I got through the bulk of the engorgement alone in my hotel with hot showers and sleeping topless so when I did leak, I wouldn't end up with a soured milk smelling shirt that I had to get back to Japan.

Chrys said she was ok except for first thing in the morning. That seemed to be the feeding she missed most. She's been night weaned before and didn't have problems with it and there are many days where we stay busy enough to not warrant nursing during the day. That response didn't surprise me.

Now, though, we're still trying cold turkey. I refuse every request to nurse, but stay there to soothe her. Right now, this means havoc on my fingers as she's replacing my breast with sucking on those.

I'm in a bunch of pain on my right breast. I'm worried that it will end up as mastitis if I can't clear the blockages. Hot showers are my best friends, but the pain persists.

She's confused. She doesn't understand what I mean when I say the milk's gone. She doesn't get why it's gone. She is regressing and showing signs of insecurity that are really making me doubt the decision.

I felt a lot of outside pressure to wean her for a while now. There are a dozen reasons that it's the right time and that I should do it. However, I feel like I'm ignoring the biggest (and to me, most important) reason not to - my daughter. It's feeling more and more like she's just not ready and that makes anything else feel very wrong.

Celebrity

RC has celebrity status here in Japan. It's a bit annoying for us because I'm worried about how she'll deal in the US. Everywhere we go, she's fawned over. She waves at people and they wave back. They LOVE to get her attention and return it. She gets gifts and presents just for being cute. Sometimes she turns on the shy, but mostly she just soaks it up.

When we were stateside in September, she was waving to everyone and few people waved back. It's going to be a harsh reality for her to look like everyone else and no longer have special status for being the blondish, curly headed baby. There are lots of those in America. It won't be unique and she won't be a star. I hope they let her down easy. The two-year old ego is very fragile, I fear.

Back in the saddle

Last night, we got down RC's training toilet again. This whole "no potty" thing from a kid that was showing most of the signs of readiness is really frustrating for us.

She seemed pretty happy with it. She would sit on the lid, but had no interest in sitting on the seat. We talked about how it didn't have buttons or beeps or lights or water. This seemed to really help her.

We offered her a haichu if she'd sit on it. This is her favorite candy, second to chocolate. No dice.

Every time we went into the bathroom today, we talked about the toilet. This happened a lot because there was a TON of laundry to do. She seemed to really latch on to the fact that there were no buttons and no water. This seemed like goodness.

Tonight before her bath, we got her stripped down. She was sitting on the lid very readily. She still didn't want to sit on the seat. Well, one time she sat a little too slowly and I was able to lift the lid before she got down. She sat on the seat.

We CHEERED! I got her haichu and she ate the whole thing in one bite - none of this little nip and not wanting any more. She stood up and sat down over and over again.

After a little while, I told her she could pee there before her bath if she didn't want to pee in the water. Lo and behold, she did.

Eureka! We're back on the road. I feel crazy excited for all of us that we've started to work through this. Parenting pride, man - it takes you far.

'Obot

RC has a new thing. Every day, we have to build a robot out of Legos. Sometimes they can be very simple (Chrys got away with 3 blocks one day). Sometimes they have to be more complex (many of mine end up so big with legs, arms, tummies, that they can no longer maintain structural integrity).

She decides when they're done, usually by no longer handing the builder Legos. Oh? You thought she built them? No. She coordinates and observes and sometimes tries to add Lego antennae.

Her favorite seems to be to use the door thing as a mouth, the arch as a nose and the wheel base as eyes. She likes arms, hands, legs and feet, but they don't have to be much most times.

Once this 'obot is complete, she will hug it. Usually, this causes it to fall to pieces. She "uh ohs" and it gets rebuilt. They often get kisses, too. They really just make her day. She'll carry them around for as long as they remain stable. After they fall apart too many times, she's ready to move on.

The girl <3 her 'obots.

No Potty

RC was making huge strides in potty training. She pooped pretty regularly. She didn't often pee, but had managed once or twice in training pants. We were considering making the move to full time training pants and seeing how it went.

Then I turned on the toilet seat.

I've mentioned before that our toilet seat here can be a thing of delight. It has a bidet. It has a "wash" feature. It's heated. I wanted the heating as it's starting to cool down so on it went.

RC likes to play with the buttons.

One day, she was going potty while I moved laundry into the dryer. I heard the sound of the nozzle extending. I thought I heard another click that signalled it going away. She knows what the stop button is and that it stops the water.

Then I heard the screaming.

I threw open the semi-closed door (the washer/dryer sits next to the WC and you have to move the door to open the dryer) and saw her trying to scramble off the toilet as water shot up her back. If she hadn't been hysterical, I probably would have laughed. It was funny.

What's not funny is that now it's a struggle to even get her in the same room as the toilet. She sure isn't going to sit on it. Well, we've worked up to sitting on the lid in her diaper and waving at the inside. This will not be an easy journey.

*Sigh* I hate square one.

Remember this face?

Yeah, that's her on 4 July 2004 after tasting her first strawberry. She wasn't impressed. In fact, I think I wouldn't hesitate to describe her emotion as disgusted.

My how things change...

Late last week, they had strawberries at the store again. They're a spring fruit, or at least that's when they were widely available, so I was surprised to see them. These were a bit small, but dark red and reasonably priced so I picked up a tub knowing it would make Chrys' day.

Well, Friday, RC found them in the fridge. She comes running up to me with the tub in hand - bewwy bewwies bewwy eat eat mouf. I told her I understood and that I would prepare one in just a minute. I asked her to put them on the table for me. She wasn't that patient.

Next thing I know, she's maneuvered past the tape on one of the sides and has freed one of the precious berries. She pops the whole thing in her mouth. I asked her to give it to me so I could wash it. She shook her head. I asked her if she wanted the leaves cut off. She spit it out.

I cut the top off and gave it back to her. Back into her mouth - whole. She chomped it down. "Mo Mo EAT". I prepared another one. I put them away at that point and she didn't complain.

I guess I need to stop using the little drawer in the produce section of the fridge. I already had to pull the kiwis out of there - man, was she mad at me for that one. Fortunately for me, her dada's finishing off the bewwies right now. He did leave her a couple though. I'm sure it will make her day tomorrow.

A story from the archives

Thank goodness for random notes in my purse to spur memories of things I needed to write about. Granted, it's been so long that it took me a good 5 minutes to remember the story based on what I wrote down, but...

On 10/15, Ryanne and I went to a bazaar at the kindergarten that some of our friends' kids go to. It had the typical little fair games - ring toss (she got one on and won some stickers), fishing (they were out of tickets, but one friend let her try it anyway as long as she didn't keep the prize). They had kids craft booths, the homemade crafts for sale room, the garage sale room (for lack of a better description).

Well, at the kids craft booth, they had these necklaces made out of paper clay. This stuff is really interesting - it's very light, but very malleable. Fyoire played with some when she was here and built me a Radish Spirit (that bit the dust a couple of weeks ago after too many tumbles from the bookshelf and encounters with RC - sorry). It's also pretty delicate stuff.

Well, RC laid eyes on one of these necklaces shaped like a bear. She loves teddy bears and wanted to play with one. The first one she grabbed, she broke the head off so I went to pay for it. The lady was horrified that it was broken, wouldn't understand that RC did it and that's why I was buying it, and replaced it. RC was thrilled. We got in the car and she got her new necklace.

Almost immediately, she beheads it again. Then, she's playing with the body and I catch arms and legs and body halves flying around the backseat (via the mirror). Suddenly, I hear "Oh NO-oh, Bay-uh." I look in the mirror and can't figure out more than she's terribly upset. At the next light, I peek around and see her holding two halves of a bear head - one per hand - with the empty string around her next. She was SO disappointed that she'd done in the last of the bear.

She wore that string for the rest of the day. There was no way we were taking it off before undressing her completely for her bath. We didn't put it back on the next day. I figured there was no reason in bringing back bad memories of the death of the bear - "oh No-oh."

Ryanne vs. the park

Now that we're in the weather sweet spot, RC and I have been going to the park again. Yeah...that and my need to let her run herself silly (see previous post). It's very interesting to me to see the differences in how she plays from 6 months and a year ago.

Now, she can get on the swings herself. She's playing with pumping her legs, but does really well holding on tight and letting me push her pretty high.

She has also figured out ladders. She had the steps on the slide mastered in the spring, but now does the straight up rung ladders. She also liked the run curved ladders. She is pretty cautious - moreso today because I think she's more tired than she was the other day - but gets up and to the platforms and does it repeatedly. Sometimes she asks for my hand to help stabilize, but not usually. I always spot her, but she has only slipped once that I worried about.

She can go up the steep concrete slopes that are between the two levels of the playground. I haven't seen her try down yet, but her brakes still aren't very good so that makes me nervous. Up, she does really well.

She can get on the bouncing animals by herself and make them move a bit.

She can climb into some portions of the fire trucks that used to be too tall.

She can move through the train engine with more ease and confidence.

It's really cool to watch! Especially because as she gains more confidence, she plays harder and playing harder means sleeping harder. Ahhhh!

Death of the nap

Ryanne moved to a "big girl" bed two-three weeks ago. She's sleeping on a futon on the floor in her old room and the PnP is put away. Bedtime goes wonderfully. Naps are a nightmare. It started the first few days of just moving later and later.

Now, she won't nap at all ... until we get in the car to go get her daddy. Then she's out like a light. She times it well and passes out about 5 minutes before we pick him up. This gives Chrys and I about 40 minutes of time in the car to just sit and chat. It's nice. I appreciate it.

On the other hand, I really miss my 1-2 hours of uninterrupted me time. For a couple of days I got her to play in her room for about 30 minutes so I could just veg and relax. These days I can't even seem to get that. Maybe I just need to try harder. The 'sanity meter' in my head says I need to try harder.

My big girl can do this

That's what I told her tonight. Chrys is at a business dinner so this was our first shot at me trying to get her to sleep without nursing. She dug into my shirt and asked for milk. I told her that she could get to sleep without it; she's done it for so many nights.

I told her I'd hold her close, we'd cuddle and I'd stay there until she fell asleep. I did just that. I laid on my side with an arm over her. I pulled her into my chest and nuzzled my nose into the crook of her neck next to her ear so she could hear me breathing. She smelled so sweet. She asked to hold my hand so I did that with the one that was under her head.

We sang. She knows many of the words to "Twinkle, Twinkle" and sang along with me. She sang some of it in Latin with me, too. She picked up the chorus of "Sunshine on My Shoulder" by the end and was trying to sing that.

Then we were just quiet. Holding hands and looking at nothing. After a bit, she was solidly out and I got up without waking her. It was the greatest moment with my daughter. It's one of the first we've had where I've really know she's not so much a baby anymore.

You know what...my big girl CAN do this and so can her mommy. I think I'm going to really enjoy this new stage.

Banned substances

A while back (early summer), RC seemed to be having an allergic reaction to some food and I suspected tomatoes. She would get nasty diapers, horrid rashes (sometimes with open sores), bumps near her mouth - it was awful. I've been very cautious about her intake for a while now and haven't noticed anything strange.

Well, they had some decent looking kiwi at the store the other day and, realizing I hadn't bought any of my daughter's favorite food in a while, I picked some up. RC ate two yesterday morning.

It wasn't but a couple of hours before they began their tirade on her system. Those stupid seeds make it pretty easy to track the culprits. She's having massive digestive troubles, the bumps are back, the rash is back (and really annoying her).

I'm feeling pretty dense for not realizing the connection earlier. I guess I should just be happy that it was pretty obvious this time. I wish it wasn't to one of her favorite foods. Oh well...I guess we'll take it slow and maybe one day she'll be able to eat them.

Celebrate in style

Ryanne turned 2 on Saturday. We partied in style and I think she had a great time. We may have problems having the celebrations get any bigger than this one. Fortunately, I don't think that will be a problem until she's 12. All in all, I didn't have any emotional meltdowns like I thought. While Chrys put her down on Saturday night, I went down to the hotel lounge and sat. I did some cross-stitch, listened to some decent jazz and toasted the last two years with a bit of amaretto. It was a nice moment to reflect on what's happened and how lucky I am to have had it happen to me. I got teary as I crawled into bed that night, but they went quickly and I was back to just being very happy to enjoy my girl.

As for the weekend...I'll post more details on the Japan blog, since it pertains to that, too. She adored meeting Kitty (repeatedly) and getting to feed tigers.

When we got home, she was spoiled rotten (again this year for possible thank yous):
Legos from her parents (140 pc bucket) and her aunt Fyoire (weiner dog case)
Bunny doll and book from RoaminUmp & mSWAE
High chair for her doll (Popo) from Doe Itoe
Miffy and Books from Yoshihara-san
Closet for Popo's clothes from mommy (mostly for Mommy's sanity when RC wants "sots" (socks) for the doll...NOW!
More clothes for Popo (underwear and kimono) from mommy and daddy
Hello Kitty kitchen from mommy and daddy
Boynton birthday book, Dragon opposite book from mommy and daddy
Blue's Clues Handy Dandy Notebooks from mommy and daddy (tinking chayuh, tink tink tink)

When we were in Austin, she got (and I'm likely forgetting something)
Dress and shoes for wedding from Aunt Kity
Clothes, clothes and more clothes from Kity and her parents
ABC sweater from Gamazonas (meemaw and bampa)
Video and ABC book from Gamma Ree
Mini Robosapien from daddy
Duplo Dragon castle from mommy and daddy

She did really well opening them. She opened, played for a bit and then moved on. She spent quite a while tonight cutting her carrot in her kitchen. She also managed to leave Legos ALL over the floor and, later, trip and fall on top of one. This left a pretty ugly mark on her cheek that "huhts".

We got her an ice cream cake tonight and she barely touched it. She liked the candles and was able to blow them out all by herself (after 3 or 4 tries...stupid camera died so I was distracted). She ate part of the chocolate name plate and had a forkful of ice cream that I carved out for her. She didn't want the cake or icing or anything. She's not much of a sweets fan, though she always has a place for "chokkit".

Oh, and upon arriving home, she proudly announced that there were 2 papers waiting in the mail slot. Now, if we can just get her to say she's 2, we'll be set.

Fangs

Ryanne just cut two canine teeth. She cut one last night (lower right) and one the night before (lower left). Aside from her waking up screaming bloody murder in the middle of the night for those two nights, they've been pretty easy on us.

Of course, if I can blame tonight's sniffy nose and the last two weeks' worth of daytime crankiness on them, I may do that, too. Honestly, what kid throws a fit when told she's going to the park? Yeah...let's call that teething irritability.

What's wrong with 6

RC can count. 1 to 11, but she leaves out 6. I wonder what 6 did. Regardless, I'm pretty proud.

She seems most enamored by 8, 9, 10 and 11.

She was doing 8-11 last night in the shower, just babbling. This morning, though, we counted her 10 markers. Well, she thinks there are 11, but that's because there was no 6.

I guess we need to find a taller building so we can work on 12-20.

The road to weaning

This week, we've started having Chrys put Ryanne down for bed. This means I'm not in there. This is supposed to help her wean that before bed feeding. I thought I was ready.

There are major parts of me that are ready to be done nursing. My goal was 2 years. I am so grateful for the time I've gotten with her. We are so lucky to have had it 'work' and sustain itself.

Then, there's the part of me whose heart just breaks when she looks at me as I stand in the living room and she gets taken into her bedroom. The part that cries when she is saying "ilt" and on the verge of tears. I want this to be gentle for her, but I want to encourage her.

Tonight we sang in the living room and that made it better. I got a hug and kiss instead of her refusing. Chrys sang to her some more. She still asked to nurse.

The part of me that loves to sleep is enjoying not hearing a peep from her until after 5am these nights that she's gone down without nursing. The part of me that loves to cuddle misses those frequent night time wakings and feedings.

She still asks to nurse during the day. She still wants it before her nap and when she wakes up (around 5 and for the day). These requests are eagerly granted - moreso than before and maybe that's a benefit that will come from losing this one nursing. I don't think this is a permanent end, but it sure feels more final than I expected.

I thought that this would be our "easy" one. I thought that Chrys putting her down would go smoothly and there wouldn't be a fight. I think I'm scared that this will be the hard one and the others will fall by the wayside as she gets busier during the days and naps less frequently (we're still skipping them now and then). I'm worried that she'll never nurse again once she starts preschool because the day ones will be all that's left and I won't be there during the day.

I know that if I want it I have to be strong. The problem is that right now, I can't remember how much I wanted it before I heard her cry in Chrys' arms that I wasn't there, nursing her.

I'll get through this, right? She won't nurse until she's 18 and ready to move out. There has to be an end at some point. She has to grow up. This one, though, is more painful than I expected now that I've started it.

Foffee

Most mornings, RC helps her dada make his coffee. Right now, we have one of those plastic single cup things that holds a filter and sits on top of your mug. He makes himself a thermos to take to work and a big mug on the weekends.

She loves this. She knows the thermos. She knows each of our coffee mugs. She knows that I stir mine (and loves to help). She identifies all hot brown liquid (and sometimes even cold since I rarely get a soda when we're out) as "foffee".

What's really fun is that she makes "foffee" for herself. This involves sticking any object from the kitchen (sometimes it's a plate, sometimes she actually manages to get hold of the one Chrys uses, sometimes it's a bigger cup) on top of any cup looking object (bowl, mug, glass). She stacks them carefully, gets them balanced so she can stop holding on and then proudly announces "foffee" for all to hear. It cracks me up every time and she knows it.

Television with daddy

From Chrys:

RC and I periodically watch childrens' shows on my computer. Sometimes I can't stand it, and we watch a show I like. One day, this was Star Trek: Voyager. Those familiar with the show may be familiar with a character named "Seven". She has several pieces of technology as part of her body. The show depicts this with metallic coverings, such as the very visible piece of metal covering her left eyebrow.

*gasp*

*whispering* eyebaw.

*quiet voice* eyebaw.

Eyebaw.

*loud voice* EYEbaw.

*shouting* EYEBAW!

At this point, she grabs my face, squeezing my head with a hand on each cheek. As forcefully as she can, she turns my head to face her.

*shouting* EYEBAW!

A dozen seconds after it began do I actually understand what she's so desperately trying to communicate. Seven's metallic eyebrow covering is the most novel thing RC has ever seen.

Stats (aka, the long overdue brag post)

We took RC to the pediatrician while we were in the US. She is 34" tall and 27 lbs. This puts her 60-70 percentile for both. Overall, the appointment went very well. She got 6 shots: Hep A, DTaP, Prevnar, Flu, Varicella, MMR. All were Thymerisol free. She also had the TB test done on her arm. She wasn't happy about the shots - she screamed "ow ow ow" and almost broke my heart. I wrestled with the Varicella (chicken pox). I'd like her to get them naturally, but I fear that most people (especially in our area) are giving the vaccine so the likelihood of her getting them is dwindling. I just have to hope it was the right choice.

She's wearing 18-24 months, but some of those are getting a little tight. I'm buying 2T and those are a little big. She's in that awkward between sizes stage that I'm not fond of.

Her feet measured size 7W so she's wearing 7.5W. She swims in an 8. 2T to 3T sizing seems to stop at size 7 so she's ahead of the pack there - got daddy's feet, I guess.

The pediatrician asked about potty training. We confessed that she let us know she needed to poop before going in her diaper more than 50% of the time. She told us we were very lucky and that we should get some training pants so RC would know when she was wet - absorbent diapers can delay that, apparently. I bought those today, but I don't know that I'm ready for this stage. (Cute aside: We were at the library today. There is a mini-toilet in the kids section. RC went into the stall, tried to pull down her pants and couldn't. She let me help her. She let me leave them around her ankles like a big girl. She sat on the toilet and peed. She wiped. She flushed. She let me help her pull the pants up. She was crazy excited. I figure I need to get over it fast.)

We figure she's saying well over 200 words at this point, though we haven't counted since we hit 125 6 months ago. After our week in the states, she's putting together 2 and 3 words more regularly. (We got "dog bahking owside" yesterday as we walked into the apartment.) Her favorite is "No, peas" when she doesn't want something. I like it much better than her just screaming "No," though she still does her share of that.

She'll be 2 in 23 days. That's craziness. We're taking her to Harmonyland since she is a bit "titty" obsessed. (Yeah, figured out that her saying that isn't all that embarrassing here, but a different story in the US where passersby know what that means.) We got tickets to an African Safari park for Sunday so she can see the big cats, too. I think it will be a good time.

This one's for the cap'n

Since I don't think he reads much, maybe his lovely bride will pass it on.

RC *loves* baysbowl (baseball). If I flip past it on television, she goes completely nuts. She'll actually sit and watch for 10-15 minutes. At this point, she even understands to cheer when they hit the ball and groan if it's caught. She doesn't pick sides. She sort of understands that the ump yells something loudly and she'll yell with him (strikes mostly). It's amazingly cute.

We get American and Japanese broadcasts and she doesn't seem to care which she watches. The biggest difference is that the Japanese don't have the constant stream of commentary to go with them. I find it rather nice and RC gets to pay more attention to what's actually happening instead of trying to understand what they're saying.

They play in the park sometimes. Actually, watching today, I think it's fast pitch softball, but she can't tell the difference. Chrys said she got really into it last time they stopped by. Today we didn't get a good view and they were done when we came down from hiking so she didn't get to watch much. That didn't stop her from talking about it all the time.

Cats

Ryanne loves our cats. They're the first thing she asks about when we're pulling up to the apartment, every time. Minuit (mimi) seems to be her favorite. Julia (joo-ya) comes in a close second. I think Max (macks) and Spot (spa-tuh) are neck in neck for 3rd. Poor Preta (Petta) is too easily confused with Minuit and gets misnamed.

Of all of the cats, Preta puts up with her the most. She'll have her tail pulled without a peep. She seems to occasionally initiate games of chase with RC. She'll get her attention and then - somewhat slowly - run to the hallway. Ryanne will follow. When she gets close enough, Preta will run back to the bedroom. Ryanne only plays for a few minutes. I'm pretty sure she doesn't *quite* get that Preta's playing with her.

Max, amazingly, is also pretty good around her. He'll spit a bit when she tugs his tail. He also yowls at her when she pets him. All the same, he'll put up with a little kiss on his nose or side. He'll "talk" back when she meows at him. He'll sit, cowering, as she comes over to tackle him. He doesn't even flinch anymore when she 'pets' him, complete with deep little girl voice saying, "Tittle, tittle, tittle."

Minuit and Spot will tolerate her if they're in our laps when she comes over. Usually, though, they want to get away after just one full body hug.

Julia...yeah...she runs. It doesn't matter where she is - if Ryanne gets within 5 paces, she's out of there. Nevertheless, the lack of tail seems carry quite a bit of notoriety in RC's book.

They're all getting more mellow with age. They're also getting more mellow as Ryanne ages. I think someday, they'll all end up good friends. For now, they are little more than (im)patient roommates.

Escape artist

We're on take 3 of naptime today.

First take was ended when she had to go potty. This has been a pretty regular thing. She notifies us either right before or right after a dirty diaper. She can't stand to be in them any more. I prefer the days when it's right before.

Take two ended when I heard screaming and went in to find her standing in front of her crib...

Take three just ended with her walking into the office to catch me writing this.

'Cuz naptime wasn't fun already...

Taller

I'm not sure when it happened. One day, she was clawing at the elevator, trying to get to the numbers. The next, she stood (barely on her tip toes) and pressed the one to go down.

She helps me do the laundry by throwing the clothes into it. She gets really upset if she catches me helping her get a heavy piece over. Luckily, she's not so tall that she can see my hand if I keep it inside the machine.

She can open the fridge and thinks that's a necessary prelude to requesting whatever she wants from inside it.

She can get things off the TV if she stands on her tiptoes - remote, cat brush, VCR (yikes!). She doesn't even need the extra step of moving the cushions out of the way anymore.

She struggles much less with the steps to the taller slides at the park. Sometimes she even forgets to crawl up the platform ones and just steps up. Same thing goes for stairs - she takes them one at a time, up or down, with ease. She'll hold my hand, but I think that's just to make me feel better. She prefers to have me walk behind or beside her so she can hold the hannle (handle) and do it herself.

She climbs out of her highchair and can almost get into it. If only there were a bit more lip on the chair...

Anything slightly taller (and there are fewer of these) than her is used to brace herself as she swings from her arms with her legs curled underneath her. She tries to do this if Chrys and I are both holding her hands - we usually don't let her because she doesn't always ask first and it can throw us off balance pretty quickly.

Today, I caught her with a leg thrown over the top of her crib and her chest on the bar. I think she was ready to heave herself over when I told her to get down.

She can reach untold new things on my desk and doesn't have to climb on top of it anymore to get to them.

She easily climbs to the top of the cat tree, even though there's nothing to hold on to save for the edge of the surface. She used to need something taller to get the right leverage.

She confidently climbs on the table to turn the living room lights on and off. Her favorite dismount (from the table or the tree) is to then climb over the arm of the couch and slide down to the cushion.

Did I mention that I'm pretty sure she's part monkey?

Piwoh

With that, I was dismissed.

I bought it a few days ago hoping to kill some of the obsession with trying to nap in our bed. It wasn't going well as she doesn't want to stay there once I leave the room. There's still too much freedom. After all, she was just in it for the pillows.

She was sick last night - fever, puking, runny nose, the works. She went down around 7pm, having thrown up her dinner and the milk before it. She didn't nurse before bed...just let daddy put her down.

She slept until midnight. Then she called for me - loudly. I went to her and she wanted to "eye dow" so we laid down in my bed to nurse. Her fever had broken so I wasn't worried about this one staying down.

When she was done, she tossed; she turned; she smacked me; she kicked me; she sucked on my fingers; she bit my fingers. After about 15 minutes, she rolled onto her back, looked at me, and said "piwoh". I said it was in her crib so up she got. She ran to her crib. I picked her up. She gave me a hug and kiss. I put her in the crib. She asked for a book. I'm not sure she was still awake when I brought it back to her minutes later.

Stickers

Well, she calls them tiTTers. Whatever the name, she's in love. She loves sticking them on things, most notably her body. She always starts with the face. If you're special, you get one, too. First one is usually the forehead, sometimes the nose. From there, it gets kind of random.

When we were in Disney, she stuck one to her thigh. She loved this...until it was time to take it off after she'd fallen asleep with it on there. It was *stuck*. She couldn't get it off. I had to do the fast pull and just get it off. She was very mad. She had an angry red circle-shaped welt on her leg that took a bit to go away. That didn't stop her from sticking them all over herself as soon as she got a new one. It didn't take long to get a new one as every cast member wanted her to have one, at least. I still have a stash that I collected when she was already busy with one.

It wasn't just Disney, though. Everywhere we go, it seems, she gets stickers. She got them at the dentist - what happened to a toothbrush? Those were Hello Kitty ones and they made her day. Today, the lady at the post office recognized me and I have some for her from there, too. Between those, the dozens we have from Mr. Donut and the handful from the Pocky boxes during their promotion, we're going to be covered...literally.

Dentist Take 2

Ryanne went to the dentist for her check-up on Friday. We talked it up beforehand. The dentist was going to have her say "Aaaaah" and he would look at her teeth. We told her that he would really want to see the new ones - molars #3 and #4 cut in the past week or so. She was excited.

We got to the dentist and she smiled and played with the nurses. She played with the toys. She kept running into the exam room yelling "teef" and saying "aaaah" with her mouth open. She seemed really excited. I kept telling her she had to wait until they called her name.

Then they did call her name. I had to practically drag her into the exam room.

We got in there and they wanted her in the chair. She wanted no part of that. She sat in my lap in the chair with her body practically wrapped around me.

They asked her to open her mouth. She shook her head. We couldn't even get a "no" out of her.

I asked for the toothbrush to get her to open up. She clamped her mouth shut and bit her lips to keep me out.

Eventually, she opened up and let me brush - occasionally. We showed off the molars one at a time with me holding her cheeks out and moving out of the way so the dentist could see around me as she tried to turn away.

The poor dentist tried everything. He was talking to her. He talked to me. He waved the dog at her and made it talk - first as him, and then in a funny voice. He showed her USA*HA*NA and tried to get her to open up. The nurses gave her Hello Kitty stickers and she scorned them. She was totally unimpressed.

When we finally got enough shown to the dentist and flouride (I think) rubbed on most of the teeth with the toothbrush, we gave up. The dentist asked to see her in 6 months. I said we'd be back in the US by then. He looked totally crushed. I agreed to bring her back in November or December so he could "say goodbye".

Her appointment is in early December. Hopefully we can convince her that it's ok by then.

Listen to me

Ryanne has decided that the best way to make sure we're listening is to put her hands on the sides of our faces, hold us steady looking at her, and address us.

Incident 1 (secondhand until he gets his own login and I can add him to the editor list): I'm shopping for Yukata robes and Chrys and RC have wandered off. Ryanne starts asking for me. Chrys makes her repeat "Where is mama?" At the end, she grabs his face, gets really close to him and says "whe-are?" He promptly came looking for me.

Incident 2: It's somewhere between "jeezus it's early" and "are you kidding me?", i.e., the hour of 5am to 6am. Ryanne has woken up, nursed, and decided she needs to go potty. We're in the WC (which is literally a closet in our apt and gets DARNED hot). I'm barely awake. I'm squinting because I don't have my glasses on and, well, my eyes don't really want to stay open because I'm barely awake. Ryanne is practicing one of her new favorite faces - furrowed brows - in an imitation of the face I assume I'm making. She's alternating between this and a big smile. It's funny; it's cute. I can barely manage a smirk because...I'm barely awake. She leans down from her throne, grabs my face and flashes this HUGE smile. I guess I managed to smile enough at that because she went about her business and left me alone.

I've also gotten grabbed to give kisses, or rub noses, or get bonked in the forehead really hard (*love* that last one). It's definitely an attention getter.

The "Mom" chop

Back in May, I chopped my hair. Above is just before and a shot from July to show the now. The last cut was Memorial Day 2003, when I was pregnant. I donated it, again. The new cut is a layered bob - shoulder length. I just wash and brush. Some days it flips out, some days under. I *love* it!

Can you tell mama which way to turn?

We're not to that point yet, but I have a feeling that will be me in 5 years. I am HORRIBLE at direction. I am a total landmark driver and if those change or someone gives me street directions, I get so turned around. Ryanne, on the other hand, can tell me where we're headed on a regular basis. Today, we were going to Nafco (a home goods store) and she kept telling me "ice keem". Well, it's on the way, and she was disappointed that we didn't stop. She gets very excited when we near the clinic where we "pway". Too bad it's next to a grocery store I like. She knew we were going for my "owie" on the way to the doctor's office the other day. This happens all the time...with lots of things. It's not like I'm conditioning her for it, either. I usually avoid telling her where we're going because it makes for a long 15 minute car ride since she doesn't understand how long that is and thinks we're there immediately.

Beyond that, I've taken to wearing a bracelet on the wrist corresponding to which side she should nurse on next. With her only nursing about 4x per day, I forget which one we're on. Well, today I forgot to switch it and put her to the breast that didn't correspond to the bracelet. She looked at me and said "oer side bwace-et". *sigh* Can't put anything over on that kid.

She's now an excellent jumper. She likes to yell "An Man" (Anpanman, a Japanese cartoon character and what they yell instead of 1-2-3 to get the kids to jump at swimming) and then jump off of things...anything...out the car door, off of the car stop in the parking lot, the bed, the couch...

She's picking up more Japanese. She says "denki" (genki - well, as in "I am well"), "hiyo" (ohayo - good morning, but she uses as a general greeting any time of day), "gato" (arrigatou - thank you), "mashte" (do itashimashite - you're welcome), "dodo" (dozo - please take it), "iwa" (konnichiwa - seldomly used as she prefers "hiyo"), "kootoo" (kutsu - shoe). She also is starting to recognize the words for water (mizu), cat (neko), dog (inu), let's go (ikimashou), etc. I try to throw in both words whenever I can as it helps my vocabulary, too. There are others...I'll try to remember them.

Her coloring and eating skills are improving. She's doing spirals with the crayons and can get the fork to her mouth with the food, but has a hard time collecting it on the fork. I'm still not really seeing a hand preference most of the time.

She puts her sandals on 100% by herself and understands if I tell her they're on the wrong feet. She'll even fix them to the right feet. She's also starting to give me the correct foot when I say left and right (this credit goes entirely to Chrys).

She toys with getting herself dressed and undressed. She always gets stuck getting her pants over her diaper (up or down) and shirts are horribly confusing. She gets the pants to her thighs pretty well, though.

She loves to swim and no longer lets me really touch her when she's in her floaties. Last class she started kicking herself in circles and thought that was hilarious. She also practices her kicking. The other day, it was on the kitchen floor (ton ton ton ton - Japanese for kick - as she lay on her back kicking her feet).

We overcame her fear of the mushroom fountains at the pool. I held her in my arms and ducked under. She squealed with delight and wanted to be put down. Now, she thinks it's hilarious to run in and out of the ring of water and get just drenched. She has enough fun that the other kids end up trying it out.

She LOVES hats. We got her Mickey ears and she enjoys wearing those. She also drags her little sun hats out and wears them around the house. I even got her a pair of sunglasses at the 100 yen store. She wears them in the car. She was quite the sight at the store last week - sunglasses, hat, demanding to carry the basket as she put things in it at random - crazy girl.

We're also working with her on using more words. Her favorite game right now is to say a word and make us guess what she wants - to do it, that she sees it, that she wants to see it, that she's telling us a story about the last time she did it, etc. So, we've found that if she says the word and we try to get her to repeat "may I please have (word)" and she does, she wants it. If she turns away, we were just being told about it. She's to the point of often anticipating the "May I please" part. My favorite one of these so far went something like this.

Me: Mama
RC: Moemee
Me: may
RC: may
Me: I
RC: I
Me: have
RC: hat
Me: some
RC: MILT!
Me: *sigh* Yes, RC, you may have some milk.

I guess it's not that she doesn't understand what she's asking for and how the words go. I don't want to rush her, but some verbs might be a nice addition to that 150+ word vocabulary she's got.

ice keem

Tonight we stopped by Baskin Robbins on the way home. (They're doing 3 scoops for the price of two right now and we couldn't resist.) RC knows what the store is for. We drove up and she got all excited, "ice keem," she says. We told her we were, in fact, getting ice cream. Unfortunately, none of our normal spots were open.

We drove around the back to an area where she could no longer see the store. From the back, we hear, "ice keem?" in the tiniest little voice with a touch of quiver in it. She sounded like she was only moments from disappointed tears.

Confused, we reassure her that we just have to park and we'll go get some ice cream. We park. We walk back to the store. We go in. We order. We sit.

With pure toddler glee, she says "waKer." We got her her typical free cup of water and she was just thrilled. She ate her 2-3 bites of ice cream (hence the confusion at her disappointment). She dumped her water. We left.

I had no idea that a cup of water was that exciting, but I guess she told me.

Wrappers

RC can open wrappers now. She opens her little cheeses all the time.

Today she came running to me with a half eaten haichyuu yelling "bite bite". She was pretty proud of herself for finding the package on my desk and unwrapping one. I just let her finish it. She loves those things...

Where'd my baby go?

I was looking at a picture of RC tonight. It wasn't her. In that picture, there's a little girl. The posture, the stance, the expression - there's no baby. It's amazing and a little sad.

It has been a crazy month. She's grown and changed so much lately.

She puts on and takes off her shoes with ease. She has slightly better than a 50% hit ratio getting them on the right feet.

She's getting much better at feeding herself with a fork and spoon. Scooping and stabbing seems to be her biggest problems. She does pretty well getting the utensil to her mouth without spilling.

She will gladly help you put things away or fetch things for you. She loves to clean up water that she spills on the tile (so no one will slip). She says "keen up" when she's putting away toys or wiping up spills.

"Fissit" (Fix it!) and "Hep" (Help) are very popular. If her feet are in the wrong position in her shoes, or the straps come undone she asks for them to be fixed. She asks for help eating when she can't get it right quickly enough.

She understands what an "Owie" is. She is getting better at leaving bandages on. She is showing signs of scarring as easily as her daddy so we are quick to respond with neosporin and band-aids when she gets a scrape. She likes wearing "Elnyo", "Tookie" and "BiBird" on her owies to help them feel better. She also understands that mommy's toe has a bad owie right now and she needs to be careful of it. When she falls, she doesn't really cry. She gets up and asks me to "tissit" and then goes on about her business. I get pretty specific locations on what to kiss, too.

We are about 75% mommy and daddy instead of mama and dada.

Her comfort objects seem to be her books. She won't go to sleep (nap or night time) until she has a book. When she wakes up in the morning, she immediately wants to go get a book. She usually doesn't want us to read them to her. Sometimes she'll read them to herself or to us. Other times, they are just there.

She's fascinated by body parts and loves to name things.

She talks a lot, but still mostly single words. She strung together her first 3 words today - "mommy paypa cray" (me, paper, crayon) - wanting me to take the paper off of the crayon she was using. We don't get many 2 word strings, though. She still babble strings of things at us, but usually we just understand her name at the beginning. At the same time, she has a vocabulary over 125 words (as of a month ago) so we're not worried about her development. I guess she's busy storing words instead of putting them together. She communicates really well for not using multiple word strings. She even has a few Japanese words in her vocabulary and "gato" (arrigatou) is a sure winner for anyone she talks to here.

She does pretty well with "peeees" "tayntoo" and "sowwy" in the appropriate places. We've used sorry a lot as she really enjoys hitting the cats and pulling tails and we always make her apologize for it. She still confuses please and thank you, but does use them.

Overall, though, she is doing better with the cats. Minuit will sometimes come to her for attention and RC will pet her back. She loves to give "tweats" to Minuit and Preta. They'll actually eat out of her hands most days and that's always good for a laugh. She can identify Max and Spot pretty reliably. She has a lot of trouble distinguishing Minuit from Preta, though. I think she's vaguely aware that one of them doesn't have a tail to grab, but since we don't see Julia very much she's not had much opportunity with her name.

She loves to imitate me putting on "doshun". I give her fake squirts of my lotion (though I have to throw in a *tiny* real one now and then since Aunt Fyoire gave her some while she visited) and she rubs it on her hands, feet, arms, legs and sometimes face.

She loves to hear us sing "AB"Cs and "twintle" Twinkle Little Star. She also sometimes asks for "bewwa" (part of Twinkle Twinkle in Latin). She hasn't really identified any letters, though. She can pick out the number 8 and sometimes 2 and 3. I think she knows the colors red, blue and maybe yellow.

She is fascinated by "buCKles" and loves to fasten them. She will strap herself into her booster chair and her car seat. She has identified that the cats have buckles on their collars and loves to play with them (usually pulling the collar without regard to the cat she's choking).

She has mastered drinking out of an open cup and that is her favored method. She loves her Elmo mug and her Blue's Clues cup. When she's done drinking, she'll dump it into the nearest container so we have to keep an eye on her. If she wants more than the sip we offered, she'll quickly ask for "moe". That goes for just about anything.

She loves to play with her tea set. Usually this involves handing us a tea cup, letting us take a sip, then taking it away while politely inquiring (ordering) "moe". Repeat...for a LONG time. Sometimes we can distract her with the tea pot song. She's good at tipping over...all the way over.

Her favorite part of swimming is the "fwoaties". Once she's in the floaties, she doesn't really like for me to hold on to her anymore. I can reach out and help her steer occasionally, but she likes to just float and kick and see where she ends up.

She had a great visit with Grandma G (meemaw), Grandpa G (paypaw), Gamma Ree (ree), her aunt and Pixie (pitsie). She talks about them still on a near daily basis...especially Pixie (sorry grandparents).

She's still nursing about 4 times a day. At this point, I am becoming convinced that she may nurse until she's in school... I swing back on forth on my feelings about this. Some days, I'm almost ready to wean. Others, she reaches up to caress my chin or pull me down to wrap an arm around me while she's latched and I can't imagine giving up those moments.

Tonight at dinner, she didn't like something she ate so she grabbed her tongue and smeared the contents of it across her face. Almost.died.trying.not.to.laugh.

She climbs. Everything. She also loves to hang from her arms and swing - from our hands, the kitchen table, the shelf in her closet. She started that at the playplace outside of B&N in Chandler mall and hasn't stopped.

She plays ball with Chrys. She loves to "woll" it to him and have him roll it back. She's getting really good at distance and some accuracy. Occasionally, she tries to play with the cats, but they aren't really interested.

She loves wind in her hair. Whether it's from a fan or outside, gentle breeze or strong wind on a boat doesn't seem to matter. She adores it all. It's to the point that we have to have the fan on in the office and if it's not, she asks for it. She also points them out everywhere we go.

We took her to see Star Wars 3. She slept through a good part of it. At the beginning, all of the ships flew by and she just said "ooooooooooo" like a good little geek. Chrys has apparently also gotten her interested in Star Trek and she has a similar reaction to the appearance of Enterprise or Voyager.

Ok...I'm sure there's more, but I'll have to think about it for a while longer. That gets me mostly caught up, though. Man, a lot happens in a month.

Molar!

Sorry, no chemistry this time...

The first of RC's one year molars has FINALLY cut through. Her poor gums have been swollen and working on these for months! As of this afternoon, we saw 2-3 points of exit on the lower right molar. I think we first felt it a couple of days ago.

(She's been really good about making it easy for us to see them. At this point, we can ask to see her teeth and we're greeted with an open-mouthed "Aaaaaahhhhh". Of course, one drawback to this is that when she's done, we have to respect it. She was nice enough to let us look; we have to be nice enough to get out of the way when she gets tired.)

We can see the lower left and feel the texture through the gum. We can also see the beginnings of white on the two upper molars. We're hoping they're not too far behind.

Then we have canines and 2 years and then the long wait for all of 'em to fall out. Seems almost anti-climactic that way. Oh well, at least we might be done with getting new teeth before she starts losing them.

Adventures with "baby"

While we were in Fukuoka, I decided RC needed a baby doll. She loves the one that she got for Christmas, but we've left that at Grandma's (Meemaw) house in Phoenix. She plays with the one at gym every time we go. Most importantly, she was obsessed with Fyoire's "baby" and wanted to hold it which was NOT a good idea.

Given that, we stopped at Toys R Us. I spent *forever* in the baby doll aisle. They have an amazing selection of dolls for the younger girls here. In the states, I had real problems finding more than one or two that were good for a one year old.

She now has a Popo-chan. There are dozens of styles to choose from. We got the one pictured because it was a) good for 1 and up and b) she liked the bunny mittens. I was impressed with how many of them were labeled from age 1. This doll can really grow up with her. We also brought home a summer outfit, pajamas, and a feeding set (bib, spoon, onigiri and squid). I got a watch for the doll, too, but it's for 3 and up (couldn't find the age until I got back to the hotel) so she'll have to wait. The best part was that that one was on clearance (probably 40% off).

Anyway...she loves the doll. The first day at the hotel, she was carrying her around, cuddling with her, trying to teach her to walk (baby wak, wak, wak - while dragging her along upright on the floor), giving baby (well, the floor) water to drink. It was pretty cute.

When we got home and she learned there were more outfits, she was thrilled. Baby puts on her PJs before bed and usually has to get dressed when RC wakes up. She's spent the past few days in bed, but she's still asked about only not when we're home. RC feeds her, when RC isn't busy spitting the onigiri ball as far as she can across the room. We have some troubles convincing RC that the baby's clothes, bib, etc won't fit her. She gets very frustrated when she can't get the bib on her neck or the shoes on her toes.

The other day, RC decided that baby needed a diaper. She got one of hers and tried diligently to get it on. Unfortunately, she's not 100% sure how these things work and it didn't get finished. She also wants to dress the baby in RC's clothes. They're a touch big.

I have found a couple of places closer to home that sell the accessories so we'll see how she continues to go with the doll and ponder accessories for birthday and Christmas. Age 2 opens up lots of things, including diapers that will fit the baby. She's already seen the carrier for the baby ("hohsey" as the baby is being carried on the child's back), but usually decides that she doesn't want to carry her baby like that. I hope she continues to enjoy the doll, but it's a gamble...like all things with a toddler.

"Here's a llama, there's a llama"

(First off, I'd like to say how happy I am that the gods of pop culture and Google programming have come together to allow that to be the first link in a search for "llama" saving me from page upon page of useful information on the species when all I wanted was to get that stupid song out of my head.)

Ryanne went to the Nagasaki Bio Park today. She had a blast. She is convinced the best part of the WHOLE thing is the llamas.

We had a bit of a debate as we viewed the llamas.

RC (spotting the one at the entrance): HOHSEY!
Me: Nooo...that's a llama.
RC: Hohsey?
Me: Llama
RC: Mama?!
Me: Llama

Lather, rinse, repeat...

It took the 3rd sighting before she stopped addressing them as horses, but boy was I confused when she started yelling "mama" at the 4th before I saw it. She is obsessed enough that we had to stop at every single llama so we could pet, hug and air kiss them as I told her, again, that she couldn't ride them. I don't think they knew what to do with my overaffectionate little girl.

She now has a little llama - he's apparently the Bio Park mascot of sorts. She played with it on the train ride home. He ran up and down the windowsill. "MammaMammaMammaMamma - wunwunwunwun" She apparently saw FAR more active llamas than I. I only saw the ones that just sat there in the heat and rested.

Toddler perception is truly amusing, I mean amazing.

Weird Science (A Chemistry Quiz)

This one's going to get ugly. I will try to label the parts that aren't for the squeamish, but consider yourself warned.

I have a chemistry predicament. It's stumped Chrys and me (and Fyoire, Chrys' sister that's visiting us). Luckily, I also have friends that teach chemistry and like weird problems, sometimes both in one person (oooo). I'm hoping one of them can help me.

RC is sick. She woke up yesterday with a bit of a fever and a really runny nose. It progressed into a really bad fever. Today, it was just a runny nose and a lot of cranky pants. I digress...

Yesterday, she woke up and nursed. It was maybe 6:30ish when that happened. Around 8am, we went to breakfast and she didn't eat anything. Around 8:30am, we dropped Chrys off at work. RC had been sucking on his finger, trying to go to sleep. At this point, she was tired, she wanted consolation and she was left in the back seat alone.

RC started screaming. Fyoire and I couldn't do anything to stop her. She screamed a lot. She gasped for air.

*This is where you want to stop if you have a weak stomach. Look for more '*' to see where to start again: She threw up. Repeatedly. It wasn't that much liquid, but she heaved a ton and it sounded very unpleasant. We got her home and I went back to clean her up. I saw bunches of mucous (from the runny nose) and some curdled milk. To get all of the unpleasantness out of the way, I'm guessing she threw up stomach acid (evidenced by the curdles of semi-digested milk), breastmilk, and phlegm. Why this is relevant will be obvious later.

*OK...I'm done for now: I got her out of the seat and looked at her shorts and they were bleached. I was a little disappointed. They're cute: short, fitting, baby blue with a little drawstring. They now had two huge bleach marks on them.

Alas, there was nothing I could do. I took her inside, stripped her down and put her in new clothes. The shorts went into the laundry basket.

Today, I pulled them out to wash them. I looked at the mark. It was big, pure white in the middle, complete with the hints of purplish-pink at the edge that come when you incompletely bleach something blue. Into the laundry they went. Ruined shorts are good for when she needs to get dirty. They needed to be clean.

Imagine my astonishment when I pulled them out of the laundry and they were perfect. They were all blue. They look as if nothing has happened. I should have taken pictures because I don't believe it. I certainly don't understand it.

And that, dear friends, is my question. How on earth does that combination of liquids combine to form a bleaching agent, much less one that's only temporary? I know I'm not nuts. Fyoire saw it, too. I'm confused. We're confused. Help...

Smarter than the cats

You know, aside from the obvious things like walking upright, talking, picking things up with her hands...

We got a laser pointer. We have one at home, but we didn't bring it with us. The cats were mightily disappointed as chasing the dot was one of their favorite pastimes. We now have a newer, smaller, brighter one. The cats are happy.

Turns out, RC is happy, too. She likes to crawl around chasing the dot while the cats run willy nilly around her. This was quite amusing, especially when the dot decided to snake up her hands, feet, belly.

One difference - RC quickly figured out that the dot came from mama's hand and then wanted mama's hand. *sigh* So much for mutual entertainment of the babe and the furbabes.

Your head a'splode

With the good, comes the bad, I guess. Ryanne is severely into the temper tantrum phase. Her big thing is bashing her head into the floor (or fridge or wall or anything hard, really). She will start screaming and carefully put herself down and then THWAP her head into the floor. It certainly makes the crying more genuine. It gets her good and angry. It's hard to know whether to feel sorry for her being in pain or laugh that she thinks that's an effective way to get what she wants. We don't give in, and she gives up quickly. It's really hard to watch her do it to herself, especially when she slips and really smacks her head. Then, it's all I can do not to cuddle her. I wish there was a way to talk her out of it. We just encourage her to use words to ask for what she wants and if she's angry about being disciplined, we try to ignore her. She certainly doesn't make it easy on us, though.

The "other" side of Peek a boo!

Ryanne truly discovered her privates in the bath tonight. We don't discourage her from exploring, but she's never shown any real interest beyond a quick grope now and then. In her bath tonight she grabbed both outer extremeties and was tweaking them all over the place. What got me, though... At one point, she pulled them closed and then opened them WIDE up and yelled "peet ahhh (peek a boo)". I just about hit the floor I was laughing so hard. I had to leave the bathroom so I didn't risk embarrassing her. I'm still just cracking up thinking about it.

She's also learned to fake cry. Two days ago, she put her hands to her eyes and started going "wahhhh". I asked her what was up and she said "shhhh...daibobu" like she does when she's trying to calm another baby. I asked her if she was pretending to cry and she did it again. She'll now do it on demand. It's cute.

The baby bond

I was reading about how some women feel that the instantaneous bond with one's baby is something of a myth. It made me start to reflect on my bond with RC and I came to some rather surprising realizations. The biggest one was that I did not fall completely into the category of the women that just sit and enjoy their babies. The Hallmark moments of a mom just sitting there enjoying the child. I interacted with her when I was awake, but when she slept, it was rare for me to just sit and enjoy her. Most of the time, that was my chance to escape for a little bit.

Don't get me wrong, I felt that first intense rush of "wow, that's my baby. I made that and I love her." After the first night, where she was awake and cluster feeding every 30 minutes or so, that wore off some. I handed her off to Chrys and asked him to just keep her quiet so I could sleep. Of course, I'd been awake since 2am the morning before and gone through labor so I was beyond exhaustion. I think my bond with her was greatly tied to my exhaustion level and breastfeeding successes. When my breasts were raw and cracked and I cringed when she latched on, it was hard to sit and look at her and enjoy her. That started calming down around 5-6weeks and then I started to really have a day to day bond with her instead of just the strictly maternal instinct.

However, I lost my dad when she was just 2.5 months and I remember not thinking too much about her during that time, except that I had to get up to take care of her and it was a hassle. Then, I didn't really deal with her on a day-to-day basis. Chrys took care of her much of the day while I sorted papers and talked to lawyers, etc. Looking back, it wasn't fair to me or to her. I abused what I had with Chrys being 'home' because I couldn't deal with her. He was better at soothing, better at getting her to sleep, better at stimulating. In my mind, I was a milk wagon so that's what I became.

When I left my dad's estate behind and we returned to Austin, I was able to get back to her and start bond with her all over again - it's sad that she was almost 9 months old by that time. At the same time, I was still somewhat detached because I didn't know her. I was very frustrated and we spent a lot of time out where I could easily stimulate her because I just didn't know how to deal at home. I still didn't completely enjoy her presence.

I think all of the stress I was under, in addition to being in that time where I was really just getting to know her contributed greatly to my feelings of desperation when we got to Japan. I had been caring for this little girl, but still hadn't clicked with her. I started to wonder what I was doing as a stay-at-home-mom. I felt this overwhelming need to go back to work. I couldn't deal with her. I didn't know how to keep her busy or happy or out of things. She was my responsibility and I loved her, but I still wasn't in love with her.

Since hindsight is 20/20, I realize now that the click was when I was overwhelmed. I think that was the instant that I really bonded with my baby. When I completely fell in love and wanted to spend every moment with her. Part of me feels sad that it took 15 months. Part of me knows that she got everything she needed from me as a caregiver and maternal figure. She is very loving; she still wants to be around me; I didn't push her away; I just didn't enjoy her as much as the books say I should have been able to.

On the other hand, I don't think I've missed out. I think I came to be in love in my own time. I love the little person she's become and I love spending time with her and interacting with her. This time, this person - it's a million times more rewarding than the baby time to me. She knows what she's asking for and doing and I'm still high on the list. That makes my heart swell even more than those first few baby smiles that everyone tries to tell you aren't real anyway.

Story time

Ryanne told her first recognizable story in the car this weekend. We went to Marine World in Fukuoka on Sunday. She loved it, especially the dolphins. She saw them in a tank and in a show. She was mesmerized and just belly-laughed at the stunts and antics.

She fell asleep as we were leaving so I was able to pick up a little stuffed dolphin in the store without her knowledge. I gave it to her in the car on the way home. Then we talked about seeing the dolphins.

Well...she had a LOT to say about those dolphins and she wanted to act it out with her new toy to boot. This little dolphin was jumping all over the back seat and touching his nose to the "ba(ll)" and flipping and waving his tail and everything. It was absolutely adorable seeing her talk so excitedly about what the dolphins had done. She'll still do it at home, but she's not near as excited about it anymore.

Other than that, she did pretty well on the trip. Bedtime and naptime were both nightmares since she was sleeping in her own big bed in the same room as us. Makes me really want to consider a suite and requesting a crib, but I have a feeling that would blow up on us, too. It also told us that she is in no way ready for her own big girl bed. We tried leaving her in it and she would climb down and run around the hotel, even with it dark and quiet. Given all of that, she took about 2 hours to calm down for anything, but slept ok after that. The last night was the worst - she woke around midnight and probably every hour after. The good news is that there don't seem to be any long term effects from the changes. She's right back into her routine here. Let's hear it for a good traveller.

Speaking of those wedding pictures

The link is in the title. Click on "CLICK HERE TO VIEW PICTURES OF WEDDINGS". Event is "Gumbert - Rosenburg" (shame they can't spell the groom's name). Password is aaa.

There are lots of RC. It's not like she's cute or anything. That's the dress I made and me in the dress I LOVE (What an awesome bride to let us pick our own, huh?) Chrys looks pretty dapper in his tux, too.

Enjoy!

"ah cee ig irl"

Ryanne has been very, VERY good at helping lately. Yesterday, I told her to go turn off the television (which she had turned on) and she did. She also got her shoes, as requested. She will put things back in their correct location when I ask her. She's really turning into a little person.

This afternoon, she and I were playing Legos. She got bored and wanted her Weebles. I told her we had to clean up the Legos and she did (and the blocks that were with them). Each was carefully put in it's proper container. When we started the process, I commented on what a big girl she was cleaning up. I always try to praise her with "good girl" when she helps with things.

As we finished, I thanked her for her help with cleaning. As she put the last thing away, I hear "ah cee g irl". I don't know if RC's a big girl or a good girl, but I'll agree with either.

Peet ahhh

Ryanne's favorite game is Peek-a-Boo. She will play it whenever and wherever. She's getting creative - hands over her eyes, hands over my eyes, hiding behind curtains, the sofa, blankets, etc. She gets quite in to it and always giggles like a fiend when we play.

Today for her nap, she decided to take her Peek-a-Boo book to bed with her. She grabbed the book and ran into the bedroom. As I walked in, I hear "peet ahh" over and over again. She was interacting with the book (for the first time that I've seen). She lifted all of the flaps and yelled "peeet ahhh" at each one. She was in heaven.

As I headed out of the room, she lifted up the blanket that I always throw on her and yelled "peet ahhh" at me. Then she blew me a kiss. What fun!

Return of face plant

I almost forgot...she's been falling a lot lately. Mostly carelessness on her part. She gets running and her feet just seem to get tangled up. When she was learning to crawl, she would push herself up on her hands and then fall forward - face plant - to move so I dubbed her such. I think I'm going to revive that nickname.

Yesterday, she decided she could take one of the big hills at the park by herself. Going down. She started down ok. Picked up some speed. Ended up running. Got going really fast. Splat! Next thing I know, she's gotten away from me and is face down, sliding the rest of the way down the hill. She only went a few inches, in reality. She was SO close to the bottom. She's got some little scrapes from her forehead to her cheek. They're nothing big.

She also thinks she's VERY tall. She wants to take the stairs on the slide two at a time. Mind you, these stairs are each about half her height. This weekend, she missed and almost went down them backwards. I caught her before she even finished slipping, though.

Ironically, Chrys and I had just been discussing when we would be able to just let her go running through the park and not worry about her. We decided it would probably never happen because we'd worry about something. After she slipped, I told him it certainly wasn't today, or anytime soon. She has no concept of her limitations - what 1 year old does? - and I'd hate for something to happen. I see moms with little kids not much older than she that just let them run while they sit on the sidelines. I'm too worried about her falling and really hurting herself. Maybe it's because she's fallen some that I worry more. I'm just not that cavalier about her safety, though.

"Daibobu"

We went to the park for a little bit today. Ryanne was playing on the swings next to a little girl that was "pushing" her daddy. The little girl tripped and fell pretty hard. She was crying. Next thing I know, Ryanne's launched herself out of the swing and is "shhhh"ing the little girl. I told Ryanne that the little girl was ok, daijobu (it's alright). Ryanne started saying "daibobu" and walking around the park with her finger to her lips. She kept looking back at the little girl until the little girl moved on. I was surprised at the compassion from my almost 18 month old (YIKES!).

She also spent today saying "ma-mee" and "da-dee". Her pronunciation of them is kind of cute. Chrys and I call each other "mama" and "dada" so I guess she's making this transition mostly on her own, which I find interesting. I wonder what will stick when she's done experimenting. I don't mind either title, really. I figure she'll pick something she likes to call me and as long as it's not profane or "mother", I'm good.

Free Lovin'

Ryanne loves everybody these days. Her favorite thing to do right now is "bye bye. Ah dub du" to any and everything. Today, I got as many hugs and kisses as I could ask for. She was more than willing to dish them out, and I loved every one of them. She's a great hugger.

She is also getting more into clean up. She'll put books on the shelf or toys in the bin if I ask her to. She'll also clean up her messes. (Like tonight, she was dumping water from cup to cup - went well small to large, not so well the other way. She cleaned up the spill so no one would slip on the tile. Loved it!) The big one, though, is her diapers. As soon as I'm done wiping her off, she starts yelling "Toe Away." I am lucky to get the new diaper sealed most days before she's grabbed the dirty one and is running for the trash can.

She's learning to blow her nose. Most times, she'll refuse to even try. If you can get her to wrinkle up her nose, though, she'll give you a little blow. This is particularly handy right now as she's battling yet another runny nose. Teething, bad sand at the park - who knows. The tissue, though, gotta throw it away, too.

Her current obsession is bare feet in the car. Most days, I'm lucky to get in the front seat before she's pulling the velcro open on her shoes. Those come off quickly, then the socks. Then the socks go on the hands. Pretty effortlessly, which demonstrates some coordination that I feel I lack some days so I'm impressed. Then she'll wave, fake blow her nose, clap (noiselessly which cracks her up), or just plain goof off with her socks on her hands. We couldn't get her to wear mittens in the snow, but socks on her hands in the spring - sign her up!

Today we went swimming. She kicked til she could barely move her legs. She loved being in the floaties. I let her go a couple of times so she could really experience just being in the water. I was right there, but I let her know I wasn't holding her. She'd kick a bit and propel herself forward a bit. Loved that! She showed her typical new place apprehension, but warmed quickly and was giggling and cheering by the end. I even got a bonus fit when it was time to stop playing with the toys and get out - go me!

Yesterday, we went to her gym playgroup for the first time in over a month. She actually cried when the lady first came up to her. Now, this is the kid that loves everyone. Strangers in the park are allowed to hold her, yet she CRIED on my shoulder when we got there. Not sure what was wrong with it, but it took her most of the first hour to warm up to the place and end up laughing and running around with the rest of the kids. Maybe it's because her naps were messed up so we could go to the bigger kid class. Maybe it's that she's feeling a little under the weater. Maybe the lady is just TOO in her face. Maybe it's just been too long since we've been there. All I know is that I hope she's better there next week - I felt so bad for her.

Legos

Finally...some inkling that this is our child! She has really gotten into her Lego blocks recently. Chrys and I are Lego freaks, shall we say. Ryanne loves to "help" us build stuff with her little set. Of course, right now, her favorite thing is to sit on whatever I build when it's done. I think I started this by first building a slide. She could sort of slide down it and thought that was cooler than letting her little Pooh doll slide down it. Today, I built a chicken...she sat on it. *sigh*

The slide is her favorite thing at the park. There's one that has a central stair that goes to two slides. She loves it. She can easily climb the ladder and then gets to pick which side she goes down. This is no baby slide, either. She's a daredevil!

She is currently obsessed with facial features. Eyes, especially. Unfortunately, this means we get poked in the eye a lot. Oh well, at least she can identify features - eyes, nose, mouth, ears are reliable.

She has a couple of new animal noises - elephant (hand to the nose and raspberry) and pig (oi oi oi). She still gets birds and fish confused sometimes.

We went yesterday to preview a swim class. We have our trial lesson tomorrow and then may sign up for 4-8 sessions in the next month. They've got a good deal going on them for the month of May. Not sure if we'll continue after that. I guess it depends on when the pool across the street opens up.

We got some new family & friends pictures for her picture book. I put them in there last night. She is obsessed with her aunt Fyoire. She grabs the book and starts saying her (real) name - very clearly. She opens to the right picture. Then, she usually beeps her nose. She has also attempted the Cap'n's name. She beeps MK's nose. Others, she looks at, but those she's picked out for now. She has another book with grandmas and grandpas in it that she loves. Of course, she likes to identify her dada in those.

We've also entered the era of seemingly constant skinned knees. This led to her learning "owie" and wanting mehcine (no di yet) and banays (band-aids) on all of them. We target the freshest and get them treated each night before bed. She hasn't had a new on in a couple of days, but it's been a couple of days since we went to the park. This summer should be fun. She'll either get more careful or we'll need to invest in Neosporin and Band-aid.

No harm, no foul

Turns out, she must have a hard head. She was a little clingy on Friday, but showed no signs of any permanent damage. She ran and played her heart out at the park that afternoon and didn't seem any worse off than normal. I still feel bad, but at least she's ok.

She's adding a few new animal 'things'. The octopus makes a weird noise and paws her chest (popping and paws anything, but Chrys points out that I usually start with her chest). The monkey screams "aaaaaaaa" (not quite ee ee ee aa aa aa, but hey).

I also apparently use "I know" to calm her a lot. One day she and I were walking around and she got upset. I put her head on my shoulder and was "sssshhh"ing her. All of a sudden, she starts babbling "iknowiknowiknow" and got calmer. Now, she babbles it regularly when she's upset. I try not to abuse it, but I'm amused with myself and it's hard. I guess that's what toddlers are for...

Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day

Amazing how a bad end trumps anything else that may have happened.

Ryanne hit her head today. Hard. We were at Baskin Robbins and she was crawling all over the booth and me, as usual. She had her body mostly in the booth and was putting her head on my knees. She was squirming a lot.

Next thing I know she was sliding off and I heard the thud before I could even react. She hit the top front of her head, in the arc between her eye and her ear. Left side, right above the hairline.

It seemed like she screamed immediately so I don't think she blacked out for even a second. She threw up as soon as I went to walk her outside because she was inconsolable. I just held her as she cried and I shook.

We brought her home and Chrys googled while she and I took a bath to smell better.

It seems that it's normal to throw up once, and concern happens if she does it again. She was able to answer simple questions - animal noises - correctly and without hesitation. She knew when we got home and was eager to play with the "deedong" (doorbell). She went through her normal bath and bed routine without hesitation. I think she's ok, but I still feel like the worst kind of person for letting her fall.

It will be 24 hours before we can be mostly reassured that she's going to be fine. In the meantime, I'm setting an alarm to check on her every couple of hours. Hopefully she'll sleep normally and I won't have to wake her. We're sleeping in the same room so we'll be more likely to hear her if anything goes weird.

Today's cute fix

Ryanne's Easter Outfit
  


Ryanne with her first pineapple...man, was that good, even if she didn't like it once we cut it open
 


Ryanne and her Godmother



Ryanne in the snow in Boston



The rare sleeping toddler shot...

Seg fault (core dumped)

So many things I've been meaning to write about so here goes...

Ryanne says her name. She's either "eye-yah" or "eye-c". We're not 100% sure that she completely associates these words as her, but she has shown the ability to do 'roll call' - dada, mama, do itoe, eyec - so she's got some understanding of herself and who should be there.

The snapping alligator is now associated with her denim jacket (from Grandma G, remember buying that SO long ago?). We have always zipped her winter coats and now that she's in that one, it must be sealed for her to be comfortable. Well, I started asking her if she wanted it snapped when she'd go ballistic on the way out the door. After watching the video again (and again and again...) she knows that the alligator goes "snap, snap" so she now reaches her arms out and snaps when she wants her jacket closed. Pretty clever and much nicer than the fit.

She got a tricycle on Sunday (yikes...such a big girl). She can just reach the pedals, but not if she steers too hard right or left. It's got a little basket that she started putting things in immediately (blocks on Sunday). It has a handle on the rear that can steer the front with little effort. The front pedals can lock for pedal action or be free for us to just push her without worrying about her feet getting tangled up. The whole thing folds up nice and tidy so it sits in the corner of our entry way, easy to get to. We 'rode' to the park on Sunday afternoon and she had fun. She wanted to push it home, but it kept getting away from her (and both would hit the ground) so dada pulled it and I carried the big girl.

She had a rash of two word sentences at the park on Friday. She said "bye bye do(g)", "bye bye chay-uh (swing)", "chay-uh sit (to get into the swing)". That was more than we'd heard out of her in a long time. They were largely unprovoked. We've heard one more bye bye (object) since, but that's it. Amazing to hear the language develop.

She now sleeps (shhhhhh...) from 7:30 to about 6 every day. When she wakes up for the day, she just stands up and calls "mama". One day, I didn't go get her immediately. She yelled "mama" over and over. Eventually, progressed to "dada" for a bit, then alternating mama and dada. After those got no response, she threw in a "do itoe" and then quickly went back to "mama". I guess she decided that her uncle wasn't a valid choice after all.

She has also developed quite an attachment to her Elmo in the past couple of days. Saturday night, she kept waking up so I brought her to bed with me around 4:30 just so we could sleep. When we got to bed, she asked about "nyelno". I told her "mama had her. Elmo was still sleeping in her bed and everything would be fine". She calmed down and eventually fell asleep. Now, when she gets up in the morning, I go in to get her and she bends down to get Elmo before reaching her arms up to be picked up. Guess I know where I rank. She's also pretty attached to her Elmo phone in the car and it's hard to get her to leave it behind these days.

Lastly, I think (because it's late), she's developing an infatuation with shoes. She loves to get my shoes, put them on and try to walk around the house. She does this pretty much daily. Well, she also will go and get her nice shoes that we bought for her Cinderella dress. I think she likes the noise they make. She'll bring them in, want to put them on and then will run (clomping) throught the tiled areas of the house giggling like a mad woman. It's quite the racket. On Sunday, it was warmer than it had been, too. She was in her tennis shoes and sweating tons. She kept pulling her shoes and socks off, even wanted them off to eat lunch - yikes! I suggested we get her sandals if we could find some. They didn't have much of a selection, but she went nuts over all of the "sues" we looked at. We ended up with this garish pair of blue foamy sandals with writing and some little character on them. They are obviously Japanese...obviously. She was happy, though.

Pig on Her Head

Today, Ryanne crawled into my lap and started clapping her hands like the Alligator in the video. I started it up. She was overjoyed and just giggled like a mad woman when the alligator segment came on.

Given that, I think it's time for an animal sounds recap.

• Cow - mmmmoooooo
  
• Cat - Mrow
  
• Dog - Aaaa Aaaa (in her best little girl squealy voice)
  
• Duck - Qua Qua
  
• Frog - Ree Ree or Tah Tah
  
• Lion - Raaaa (in her best deep voice)
  
• Bird - Wee Wee
  
• Fish - kissy lips that move
  
• Bunny Rabbit - some funky combination of moving her lips, squinting her eyes and sometimes pushing her nose up (trying to wiggle her nose like mama)
  

We need to get the series on video, but that may take us a bit as we'll need longer than the 30s allowed by our digital still.

Oh, and I'll bury these since they're no fun to talk about. She's just about given me a heart attack twice in the last week. First, she cut herself on one of L'il bro's knives. He was cutting up boxes and she got to the knife as he tried to keep it away from her. It nicked her finger pretty deep so it took a while to stop bleeding. She hated having to sit still while I put pressure on it.

Second, I followed her out on to our 11th story balcony today. She walked into my bedroom, up to the door, unlocked it, walked outside, shut the door behind her and climbed onto the bottom of the rail (about 6" off the ground). I'm pretty sure the bars are too close for her to ever squeeze through them, but I'm not 100% happy she has this new skill.

Bring on the grey hairs!

Drama Queen

Ryanne is turning into quite the little drama queen. These days, when she doesn't get what she wants, she will throw herself on the floor or flail herself into my knees and just 'cry' and scream. We reached new heights on Sunday, though. She would get mad, run into the living room and look at her reflection in the television screen and then cry. She'd practice (I guess) for a minute and then run back into the kitchen, fling herself on the floor and use the cry she just perfected. It was SO hard for me not to laugh...so. very. hard.

Today, she also started singing. She stared out singing the little song on her morning program (but it was during the afternoon repeat). There's a segment where they sing "pa ja ma" with various repetitions while the selected 3 year old of the day puts on a pair of PJs. Today, I hear a tiny "pa pa pajama, pa jama jama, pa ja jama" coming from her as they sang on TV. It was SO cute to hear her little voice. Then, she started singing the "we're going to get dada" song while we were in the car. Her version was just "dada dada". *melt*

Today was also, apparently, naked baby tv day. It was really nice outside, but every time I tried to get her to play or do something else, she threw a fit and went back to the television. She watched some REALLY boring stuff. It wasn't worth the tantrums to get her away from it, though. After she spilled water on herself, she sat in a diaper, watching television. I was reminded of the years of my dad watching television in underwear in his favorite chair. Yeah, she's related to him, alright. She was perfectly happy. My attempts at clothes did no better than toys. Oh well...maybe it'll be nice again tomorrow and the park will be a better option.

Easter

Ryanne had a terrific Easter. Chrys and I colored eggs for her after she went to bed on Saturday night. The Bunny came to hide them and left her what he could for Easter. Turns out Easter isn't a major deal over here so I was VERY glad I picked up a few items for her in the US.

She had a great time hunting eggs. We coached her to look for them and then she ran around yelling 'ay guh' and picking them up. She was a great huntress and tracked most of them down with little help. The one in her bookcase confused her a bit...not sure where she thought her books were when we suggested she look with them. She kept running into the office when they were two steps away in the kitchen. Oh well... I think her favorite part was bashing two of them together to listen for the crunch. She did that with most of them.

Of course, now, she won't eat any of them. She'd never had a hard boiled egg, but has eaten lots of scrambled ones. I can't even get her try a bite of one of them. I guess I'll be eating lots of eggs...

Speaking of Easter, I took her to see the Easter Bunny while we were in Vermont. I had a hard time keeping her away from him while a littler baby got her picture taken. Turns out the first baby liked seeing other babies and that was a guaranteed smile from her so Ryanne did some good. When it was finally her turn, I told her to go give the Bunny a hug. She ran up to him with her arms outstretched. He picked her up and we got a HUGE smile on photo. I need to send those out soon - bad mama!

Hi-yo

Ryanne has said her first Japanese word. We were playing as we waited in line for the bus at Narita yesterday and we were saying "ohayo". After a bit, she looked at us, bowed (which we hadn't been doing so I was very impressed) and said "hi-yo". I was so proud and the people around us smiled and 'awww'ed at her.

She finally cut tooth #8 while we were in the states. We're guessing around 3/12. It's the lower right eye tooth. We've been waiting on that one for a while now. There's been quite a bit of swelling in her back gums (molar territory), but nothing sharp or visible yet.

She was a HUGE hit at the wedding. She behaved very well and even napped at the reception. She did the perfect amount of dancing and just being too darned cute in her little blue dress. Many people commented on how good and sweet she was. It made me feel good to have our efforts recognized by so many non-family members. I didn't even get too much 'drive-by' parenting advice so I must be doing ok. ;)

We've had a rough couple of days getting back into schedule here. I think part of it was that we never really got into a schedule in the US this time. Our days were SO full and hectic that we never knew when she'd be going to bed and we'd need to wake her up. I think we're lucky she didn't just go into full meltdown while we were there. We got more whining than normal, but not near as bad as it should have been given how sleep deprived she was. It just makes me realize how thankful I should be that I got such an easygoing kid. Right now, I'm not afraid of doing this again. She's such a joy and doing so well at everything that I'm sure she'll do great with a sibling (NOT that we're trying right now, but we all know it will happen).

Right now, though, she naps so I'm going to take advantage of the time and finish getting unpacked and the place cleaned up.

Sick baby

Poor RC's got a runny nose. Right now, that seems to be the extent of it. She just has constant flow. She's also got the blotchy cheeks and *NASTY* diapers. All that put together and you get...that's right, teeth (at least mama hopes it's just teeth)! Yeah...we can feel a sharp one below the surface. I can't tell which one it is. She's waiting on her lower right eye tooth, but this almost feels too far over. A canine, maybe. I need to find a tooth map and see what all we're in for.

Of course, she was also swapping cups with everyone at her gym class so she might have picked something up. For now, though, I'm going to be optimistic. I mean, we're getting ready to cross the Pacific Ocean. Her body HAS to know it's time for another tooth to pop because that's what she does over the ocean. Nothing better to do on an umpteen hour plane ride, right? Oh well...it's not going to change anything regardless of what it is. I just hate trying to keep the booger nose clean, especially when she likes it less than I do.

In other news, she now says "do-uh" which usually means she wants to out the door. She mimics most words we say, but few make it into the daily vocabulary at this point. "dider" is used to identify a need to potty as well as the done deed and need of a new one. She can now "raaah" like a lion in as deep and rumbly a voice as a little girl can muster.

She still loves to brush her hair (hay-uh) and teeth (tee) and does so multiple times a day some days. She identifies her eyes, nose, belly and sometimes belly button. She's starting to identify numbers and be able to pick them out of the mess of ABC123 magnets on the fridge.

Her plans for today stopped at sitting with her head on someone's chest and drooling while she tried to breathe. Given that, we started watching "My Neighbor Totoro" today and she seemed to enjoy "toto". With any luck, we'll get to the Ghibli museum before we leave Japan, but that's something else entirely.

She asks for "boo dd" multiple times a day. I have to wonder what they put in kids' videos that makes my one year old so addicted to "Blue's Clues". For my own sanity, we'll get a couple of new Blue DVDs for the plane ride home.

Just a few things to hand finish on her dress before it's done. She's going to be a very cute Cinderella next week!

1...2...3

Ryanne and I walked up the stairs to our apartment yesterday morning. We did it again today. When we take the elevator, we always point out the numbers and count as we're going up. Well, much to my amazement today, she made appropriate sounding number noises from floors 1 to 6. She got a couple of extra ones in there from 6 to 11. I'm just floored. I'm pretty sure she was actually saying the numbers since she always said them as we came around the corner and she looked at the sign.

She's also interacting more with the show she always wants to watch on television. Well, let's start by saying that somehow she knows when 8:30 rolls around and goes in to turn the TV on. Pretty much every day. I think it's based on our schedule, but it's interesting nonetheless. She's been watching this show for a while. There are 3 segments she loves. The first is a woman that does a sort of modern "dance" as various animals or elements. Ryanne has started looking at me when she starts and just giggling with glee. Sometimes she'll try to move her hands around like the woman does, but since it changes from week to week, it's not always easy. The second is a segment where the cast of 4 dress up as cats and sing. Ryanne just likes to stare and yell "ca". Last is a guy that does various hand and body motions to a little song. She adores this one. She gets all excited and tries to jump and lean and move her hands like he does. Sometimes, she just ends up spinning in circles in front of the TV - her rendition of his dance, I guess. It's the only show she watches with any regularity and it's 30 minutes so I don't feel too guilty. Plus, she's just so darn CUTE!

She's also trying to jump. Right now this consists of running in place as fast as she can.

She's also climbing...everything! She climbs the first level of the cat tree. Today I saw her throw her legs over the couch and slide down the arm from there. Then try to get from the arm to the top cat tree level. She got really close. This kid needs Little Gym and controlled, safe climbing places. In the meantime, I try not to discourage her unless she's doing something dangerous. I figure she's going to do it and I don't want to squash the curiosity or physical development.

Chrys and I are dismissed now. When we put her down for bed (and me for her nap), she starts saying "doo-er" as soon as she hits the sheets. That is our cue to exit via the door as quickly as possible. Right...don't want us there to go to sleep...got it.

Lastly (and I HOPE I don't jinx it by saying anything), she's sleeping again. Chrys and I moved into the living room 2 weeks ago. We move our futon in there at night and back into the tatami room during the day. This way, we don't wake Ryanne up when we come to bed. Result, she now sleeps from 7:30 to 5ish, nurses and is up for the day. She also naps better - taking a 60-90 minute nap without the previous wake up after 45 minutes. The bad side of napping on her own is I no longer get to take a 45 minute nap with her. Oh well, I get cuddles other ways so I'll just enjoy those more.