Milestones

So you’ve seen the pictures, but, you wonder, what else has our little heroine been up to? Well, let me tell you:

• Growing teeth – we’re currently at 8 with molars on the way. Yes, molars, those pesky teeth way in the back that hurt like heck and entice little girls to jam long skinny objects into the back of their mouth until they pierce their tonsils.
• Moving, and moving, and moving - Amelia has officially mastered the art of cruising, pulling up onto anything within reach and using it to steady herself as she walks along. The girl simply refuses to sit still now, even for diaper change. Cleaning poop from a moving target is one of those things they really need to prepare you for ahead of time. Those amazingly annoying safety gates are actually paying off now that Amelia’s learned to climb up the stairs. She can do a full flight now. I was thinking that would be a great way to wear her out, but after 4 laps I was sucking more wind than she. She’ll even move around in her crib. When we go to get her up from a nap she’ll dive back into her crib, run away from us and basically do laps until we grab her (only to take her to the changing table where the poop-in-motion fun continues). Walking isn’t too far away. She’s getting better and better balance and will even stand unsupported for 5-10 seconds (or until she realizes that she’s doing it).
• Bonding – Mostly with her blanket. She doesn’t have on favorite blanket, but she is completely inseparable from the blanket-du-jour. There are times when she won’t go anywhere without it. It’s to the point, that she’ll crawl naked from the nursery to the bathtub, realize she forgot her blanket, turn around and drag it to the tub.
• Defying her parents – Now that she legitimately understands what “no” means, she can also legitimately show us who’s in charge. Her typical response to a firm “Amelia no”, is to shake her head, smile, stop for a moment and then carry on as if nothing happened. She’s coming around though, there have been a couple times where she’s shaken her head when she knows she’s doing something wrong even before we tell her.
• Learning new tricks – Amelia is getting to the point where she’s learned to do all kinds of things for herself. She’s right at the point where she’s about as talented as the smartest dog you’ve ever seen. And she’s very trainable too. Between Uncle Jeff’s last visit and his most recent visit last week, we taught her how to give him five. Her first trick was giving people kisses; now she will initiate a kiss, but mostly with a reflection or picture of herself! She can point out a light to you, she can wave bye bye, she can fill and empty a watering can in the bathtub, she can open the drain to let out her bathwater and she’ll even tap you on the shoulder to get your attention.
• Talking, and talking, and talking – And she doesn’t even have any words yet. She uses an occasional “mama” or “dada” in the right context and there have been a few “nana’s” when she wants a banana. She’s started to have a few two-syllable sounds. So, I don’t know what she’s saying, but man can she talk. Especially if the adults in the room are trying to have a conversation, she’ll just blabber right along. She can get particularly irritated sometimes and just start screaming if we keep talking without “listening” to her. She really loves talking to her grandparent’s puppies…and they love to talk back. But the three of them in a room and they’ll just talk for hours.
• Eating – Yes, I know, shocking, my child is eating, ain’t she special? She’s been eating just about anything you put under her nose, except baby food. She insists on having whatever is on our plates, and she’s been quite the adventurous eater….she’s had tacos, pasta dishes, blue cheese, pork chops, and even a small rock (yes, that was on Dad’s watch).
• Playing – Another shocker. This girl thinks the entire world was created for her to play. She’ll play with anything and everything. I really wish I could be that happy and content with a pen, a hair brush and a straw. She’s even learning to operate all those toys that she’s been just staring at for 10 months. Her favorite game is a peek-a-boo of course, but the best thing in the world is a push toy that she can walk behind and push around (although she hasn’t quite mastered the art of turning around).
• Changing my wife – Those of you who know Beth know that she has a certain appreciation for organization and neatness in her life. Somehow the little one is managing to change that. In just 10 months, she’s made more progress than I have in the last 10 years. Case in point, the other day we had the stroller out somewhere and Amelia was snacking on Cheerios. I picked up the customary dozen or so half-eaten, soggy, and otherwise discarded pieces and asked Beth what she thought I should do with them. The response….not, “there’s a trash can over there”, nor “put them in this little zippy I brought just for that”, nor “leave them in the stroller cup holder”…but instead “oh, just throw them in my purse”. Who is this woman and what has she done with my wife?

In some non-baby news, we bought a house last week. We’re really excited about it and can’t wait to actually have some extra room for all of Amelia’s stuff. It was actually the first house I had looked at a few months ago. We liked it a lot, but not wanting to buy the first thing we looked at, we just kind of forgot about it. After almost buying a different house, we saw that it was still on the market at a reduced price and decided to go for it. We should close on it around the end of the month and we’ll probably move in sometime in October after we finish changing a few things around.