Toddler

Well, today I am the mommy of a toddler. She went from those few deliberate steps to taking many steps between things and even purposefully walking to get to something she wanted.

While we were out today at Hallmark, she wanted to be put down again. Once I did, she started pulling me around the store to look at stuff. Eventually, I didn't want to let her near a display so she pulled her hand out of mine and just walked over to it. She had taken a few steps earlier that morning, but this was impressive.

Once Chrys got home, it was apparently time to really show off the new 'skillz'. She decided to walk almost everywhere - around the kitchen, the living room, between rooms. I guess if I'm going to get some video or pix of her crab lady crawl I better get her on a hard surface tomorrow.

She's very close to having another tooth. I think her left front top tooth is about to break through. She's gnawing on anything she can get her hands on, including the foot rail to our bed (which now has LOTS of little baby teeth marks on it). I think this is also the cause for her snifflies. Poor baby! I just hope it clears before we get on the plane.

I need to go get some simply stuffy tomorrow and see if that will help her nose so she can get some better rest. The past couple of nights she's woken only because she can't breathe. After almost a week of sleeping 7:30p to 6:00a, this was quite a blow.

She went through a period of chewing on her blanket while she went to sleep. While not all that bad, she liked to get her bottom teeth hooked in the weave and tug. I don't want her to hurt her blankets from Grandma so I try to distract her with her teether bunny. The ears seem to make an acceptable alternative.

Also, she doesn't seem to like the feel of grass on her legs. We were at Kity's a few weeks ago and Kity kept putting her down in the grass. She would sit with one leg up in the air or try to balance on Kity's legs (which since she's about half the size of Kity is impressive). She wanted to play in it, though, so not wanting to sit in it while she played presented something of a challenge. She even holds her feet funny when we let her walk in it. Such an odd child.

Only a few more days until I head out of town with R on my own. I'm still semi-worried about how this is going to go. Lucky(?) for me, she's still very mommy-centric so we won't have too much separation anxiety to deal with. I think R will be fine (other than deciding to walk RIGHT before we get on a plane...ugh!), but I have no idea how I'll do. Between wanting to walk, teething and stuffy noses, this could be quite a miserable experience. I'm hoping for the best, though.

Not quite a duck

R has started getting very excited seeing birds in the street or parking lot. She calls them all ducks. I correct her to birds - not having any clue beyond that what most of them are. Nevertheless, the duck label perseveres.

Chrys noticed this morning that it seems most things she likes start with a 'd' sound - duck, down or done (can't differentiate yet), 'dat' (which is either cat or what), dada, dog. It makes it very difficult right now to understand what she's talking about, unless it's nini. I realize that it's very early, but we're so close to communication, I think I'm starting to feel some of her frustration because she wants to tell us what's going on and we have to guess through the list to figure it out.

I was also reflecting today on how her nap structure has evolved. For her early months - until 6 to 7, I think - she lived on 4-6 30 minute naps spread througout the day. While it meant we didn't get much time to ourselves during the day, it was what worked best for her. Slowly, her naps got a bit longer; she started sleeping better at night; and lo and behold, she's down to 2 (sometimes 3) naps a day. Even better, they're pretty scheduled. She takes one around 10a and one around 2p. Those may adjust if she wakes before or after 8a, but that's pretty rare.

Yash

Today Ryanne was trying to get into a pile of papers on the end table and I told her "no". She looked at me and said "yash" and went back to doing it. Eventually she stopped, but GOSH, I had no idea this would start this soon. I just got my first book about dealing with toddler behavior in the mail, though. I guess I better start reading.

Right now, she's playing catch with one of the cats on the stairs. I throw the ball up the stairs, Spot bats it back down, Ryanne gets it from behind the gate and hands it to me - Repeat! I think all 3 of us are having fun. Ryanne is also learning about how to pick up the big object through the gate bars and not get her hand stuck. She's also realizing that the gate is sturdy enough that she can pull herself up and not have to balance on the step to avoid falling so she just ends up hanging there - Monkey!

Earlier, she was playing fetch with herself. She'd get a ball, roll it across the floor, crawl to catch it and roll it again. It's so funny watching her entertain herself. She already comes up with little games - amazing to watch the creativity develop.

Well, she just moved on to eating bits of carpet off the scratching post again. Off I go to stop that. :)

Steps

Ryanne has taken about a dozen very deliberate steps this morning. She gets someplace with a toy, stands up, takes a few steps and then sits back down. I think her self-confidence is finally on the rise. I sort of hoped that Gymboree would really encourage her to walk, seeing all the other kiddies walking. I have no idea if that's it or if she's just finally ready, but every day we're a little closer.

In fact, the other day at the mall, she didn't want to be carried or put in the stroller. She would go ballistic until I put her on the ground and held ONE hand and let her walk. She refuses that other hand and really doesn't need it unless she's tired, which she was. I kept having to pull her back up with the one hand so it made the walking rather awkward. Couple that with the fact that she wanted to walk most of the length of the mall and it was a tiring trip. Too bad she didn't think so.

Poor little girl woke up all sneezy, sniffly and snorty this morning, too. I don't know if she's got another cold or if it's more teeth. She's had cold symptoms before all of her other teeth, but usually Chrys or I (or both - ugh!) show some symptoms, too. I hope that's not the case this time. Chrys has been really tired, but I hope he's not getting sick.

Yuck

Last night, Chrys went to give R a bath and she saw the rubber ducky on the window sill. She yelled "yuck" and then started calling it a "du". Oh well, I guess we take what we can get.

Right now, she gets very excited over seeing dogs. She correctly identified the bulldog statue at Benny's Bagels this morning. She also saw the dog on Homeward Bound at Sears today and kept saying "daw" whenever it came on the screen. The link in the title goes to her new Sears pix.

The language explosion is truly remarkable. As Chrys said, "Now we just need to work on enunciation."

Oh...and we had a first today that goes along nicely with the new word. She decided that the bathtub would be an excellent place to forget she wasn't wearing a diaper. Why she can't do this when daddy bathes her, I don't know. All mommy could say, though, was "YUCK." ;)