wrestler

I've got a little wrestler on my hands. Who's getting pretty good at standing on her own, too. You can see both in this video if you've got the staying power: it's a little over four minutes long. Wrestling's up front, standing's about half way through.

And the new word of the week: clap (ka! ka!). Baby (baa-byeee) is still pouring out nonstop, too!

standing, head-butting, and pointing (in that order)

Bridget's been eleven months old for a week now (I'm starting to panic about finding the perfect birthday present!) and she seems to be learning by leaps and bounds. This week, she started working on a few things--and not all of them good.

First came standing (good). That is, standing without holding onto anything. To be honest, I probably can't call it standing quite yet, since she only does it for a split second when she's reaching for something and needs both hands to get it. But she's let go of the ottoman/couch/upside down laundry basket or whatever she's using for support almost without seeming to think of it, always when she's reaching to grab something else. The first time I noticed it was Sunday morning (the 14th) when I went in to get her in the morning. I reached my arms out like usual, and this time she let go of the side of the crib to reach back to me. Honestly, I almost missed it! I hesitated right before I grabbed her to look at her, and there she was, standing without support. I'm just wondering how long til she's steady at it...and how long after that til she walks!

Next came head-butting (not good). That's right, I said head-butting. I don't know if she watched videos of goats at daycare or if the kids there have been play-wrestling (I doubt it very much, knowing Auntie) or if she just came up with it on her own, but Wednesday night (the 17th) we were at home on our own while Al went to hockey and she got mad at me, gave me this stubborn look, and slammed her forehead into my face. She hit me hard--if she would have hit my nose, she probably would have broken it. But she got my cheekbone and it stung. I know it had to have hurt her a bit, and I made the wrong move (in retrospect). I was so stunned that I reacted by getting upset, asking, "Bridget! Why did you do that? You hurt mommy!" and by coming close to crying. Well, she must have liked getting a reaction from me because when I picked her up from daycare the next day, bam! Right into my face, although not as hard and more in greeting/fun than in anger. Auntie and Uncle (daycare) laughed saying she'd been doing it all day and it was a "greeting." No, I told them, and told them about the first time. I really hope that if she keeps doing it they'll stop her instead of laughing at her, because it worries me. She was trying to do it again when she was getting tired and cranky last night, only this time was with anything within reach of her head. What is wrong with this child?

This morning came pointing (good). Pointing! Again, I almost missed it. I mean, I saw it, but it almost didn't register what she was doing. Bridget wanted to play in the dog's water bowl and I told her no. When she put her fingers in anyway and looked at me, I pulled them out and gently tapped the back of her hand, saying no. She didn't move away from the bowl, but sat next to it, pointed right at it, and looked at me with a little puppy-dog look on her face that said, "Please?" "No, Bridget," I said. She did it again. "You can't play in the water," I said. "I don't want you getting all wet." And after sitting there with a look of disappointment on her face, she crawled away and started playing with something else. I was so proud of her--and realized right then and there that she really isn't a baby anymore.

Speaking of babies, she's trying to say the word baby now. It comes out sounding more like ba-ba or ba-bye (and no, she's not trying to say bye-bye), but she's definitely trying. She loves looking at a picture of herself from almost six months ago, or board books with pictures of babies in them. She smiles and laughs and talks to them and looks at me and tries to repeat baby after me: "Ba-ba. Ba-Bye." Hasn't quite got the long vowel sounds down yet, but she's getting there, too! Oh, my little girl really is a little girl now. Sigh.

bathtime, part 2: a family affair

It's becoming a habit around here to bathe Bridget on Wednesday and Sunday nights before Al goes to hockey. If Bridget could have it her way, she'd bathe every night. Every time she gets in the bathroom now she pulls herself up by the tub and bounces up and down like she's trying to jump in. At the rate things are going, some day I'll find hear a big boom and find her sitting in an empty bathtub, tears in her eyes and finger in her mouth because she tried climbing in and couldn't figure out how to land. Some day. Thankfully, not yet.

Bathtime, though, has quickly become a family affair. Picture this: A long, narrow bathroom with the bathtub along the right wall and a double-sink vanity/counter to the left. I go in, shut the door partway (otherwise, I couldn't reach the bathtub faucet), and start to run the bath. An 80-pound rottweiler eagerly shoves her way past the partly open door and me, sticking her head into the bathtub and trying to get a taste of the water and bubbles that are quickly filling up the tub. She stands there eagerly, tongue out, looking at me with hope in her eyes. But if I stuck her in the tub instead of my daughter, she'd want out as quickly as I let her in--that is, of course, unless I let her play with Bridget's toys. In that case, she'd grab one in her mouth and then run off when she could. But I digress.

Meanwhile, Al is with Bridget in her room stripping her down and cleaning up a dirty diaper. (If you're thinking, "What a great husband/father! Changing the dirty diapers!" Yes, he is, but he only changes one diaper a day if that, so don't get too excited.) When they're ready, he brings her in. If the water's not done running yet, we'll let her stand at the side of the tub bouncing excitedly up and down, both of us sitting on the floor by her side and Mya (the rottie) doing her best to shove her way into the middle of the action. Finally, Bridget gets to get in the tub and the splashing commences. She kicks with her legs to get the water going, she chews on her toys (she's picked up a new habit of putting things in her mouth since she learned how to feed herself), she crawls around, and she pulls herself up to standing and tries to walk around the tub. Meanwhile, Al is churning the water with one hand (I think he thinks he's making waves for her, and that's exciting, but she doesn't really pay attention) and I'm nervously watching and ready to grab her in case she falls. And Mya, of course, is trying to drink the water, eat the toys, and be on top of or in between Al and I. After a shampoo, a soaping up and rinsing off, and a few minutes of play, it's all over. And Al confessed to me the other night, "This is one of my favorite times of day."

Hmmm. I'm pretty sure the saying doesn't go, "The family that bathes together stays together." At least it's Bridget's bathtime and not mine! And since I don't have any pictures yet of the new bathtime in the real tub (I can't locate my camera), I'll give you a pic of an old one in the sink she tried climbing out of the last time I put her in it. Enjoy!

hide and seek (well, sort-of)

Bridget's first game of hide and seek was a week ago. Okay, it wasn't a real game of hide and seek, but she did love it. I was at one end of the hall and Al was at the other, playing with Bridget on the floor. We didn't have the hallway light on and it was nighttime, so it was a bit dark. Al asked Bridget, "Where's mommy?" and she looked up and spotted me. Since I know she loves playing peek-a-boo, I ducked behind the corner and stuck my head out. She just laughed and laughed, and then turned around to look at Al as if to ask, "Are you watching mommy, too? Isn't she funny?"

While Bridget's head was turned, I darted down the hallway and into her bedroom. The next time I popped my head out, I was closer to her--she found that quite amusing, too. Then she decided to chase me. I ducked back into her dark room and--Zoom!--she crawled right past the door and then stopped at the end of the hall, looking around. I wasn't there, of course. When I stuck my head out again, she came at me again--and passed me again. It was hilarious--Al and I were laughing pretty hard. After about the third time, she stopped outside her bedroom door and sat there, looking at me. "Found you!" probably would have come out of her mouth if she could talk. So fun! 

hi

Bridget's saying "hi" now.

The first time I realized she was saying hi was a couple of weeks ago. She got a talking book for Christmas and the first thing it says is, "Hi, there!" She was sitting on the step down to the family room playing with the book when, suddenly, it sounded like "hi there" came out of her mouth. My head whipped around and I looked at her. She didn't say it again, though, so I wasn't convinced. Maybe it was just my imagination playing tricks on me.

But about a week ago, Bridget started saying hi in earnest. Often, she says it as she's sticking her arm straight out in the air (her signature "Heil, Hitler" version of a wave, which she's got to stop before people think I'm raising a little anti-Semite). She always says it in a little sing song voice and draws it out to two syllables: Haaa-iiii! Daycare Auntie said that Bridget said hi about fifty times yesterday. When this girl learns something, she makes sure she has it down pat--and charms everyone around her when she's doing it.

eating time

I try hard not to be one of those mother's who's always comparing her child with other children her age. I figure that Bridget will pick up new skills at her own pace and it's okay if other kids do it first. After all, she isn't developmentally disabled. She will pick these things up eventually. Although I have to admit that when I saw an eight-month-old feeding herself cereal in church almost three months ago, I felt an eensy bit competitive. I wondered, Hey, could Bridget do that? She was almost eight months, after all, but hadn't had any cheerios up to that point.

Turns out, she couldn't. Bridget has been content to let me feed her up until now, and most days that's fine with me. She tends to eat more that way than she would otherwise, I suspect. But Friday night, instead of just playing with the cereal treats I put on her high chair tray (those Gerber Graduates things), she suddenly popped one in her mouth. Or tried to. Those treats tend to get a little sticky when they've been in her damp palm (they dissolve easily, thus the stickiness) and when she tried to put it in her mouth it stuck to her hand. She hasn't quite got the thumb/pointer finger grasp down yet, although she always pushes the cereal pieces around with her pointer finger on her tray. Even with her difficulties, she didn't give up. She tried it several more times, and since then has been picking things up off the floor and popping them into her mouth. Here we go. Now I've got to look for choking hazards. :)

Since Bridget finally decided to start feeding herself her cereal, I decided yesterday that I'll encourage her to hold her own bottle (and then soon--I hope--transition to a sippy cup). She likes to grab it and play with it when it's gone, even putting it in her mouth in hopes of getting more, but whenever I would try to give it to her full she'd just cry until I popped it into her mouth. Yesterday I decided to let her get going and then let go and see what she would do. The first time she cried. Then I let her drink a little more, put her hand on the bottle, and pulled mine away as it was still in her mouth. She held on and started tipping it up herself! She was doing the same thing again today, but she won't do a full bottle yet. I know, though, that when she can and will feed herself her full bottle, daycare Auntie will be happy! (She's got a kid a few months younger than Bridget now in addition to the older ones, so Bridget feeding herself would be a big help.)

I'm both looking forward to Bridget feeding herself and dreading it, though. I can't believe how fast this almost-eleven-months (on Saturday) has gone! I'm just treasuring every moment that I can and loving being a mommy.

peekaboo

A week ago Monday (January 25), Bridget said "peekaboo" at daycare and then said it at home for me. Ten months and saying peekaboo. Of course, she hasn't said it since then, but that's not the point. This child is amazing. (Said from the biased mother's point of view.)

One of my favorite things she's begun to do recently is give hugs and kisses. I just cannot describe how good it feels to get a hug from my daughter. She may not be babbling on and on in her crib in the mornings (although she does it on occasion again), but when I come in the room she pulls herself up to standing (if she isn't already) and when I pick her up she puts her little arms around me (as far as she can reach) and snuggles in for a hug. One of the best feelings in the world! I love it. The kiss is also endearing, but not quite so fun since it's the open-mouthed, I'm-gonna-slobber-all-over-you kind of kiss that my Aunt Carolyn hates. The kind of kiss that Auntie (daycare Auntie) can't quite tell if she's trying to kiss her cousin Lily or bite her (let's hope kiss...she's already gotten into the hair-pulling, hitting Lily stage, and I'd rather not have a "sibling rivalry" type of thing with her cousin).

I should be working on my comprehensive exams for my PhD right now, but that will just have to wait since I've got more to write about my daughter. She's very good at pulling herself up and walking along furniture, bending over while holding onto the ottoman to pick up toys, and crawling at lightening speed all over the house. A real crawl, not the army thing she used to do (don't know if I ever mentioned the real crawl here). She likes to walk holding onto two fingers, sometimes seeming as if she could do it without us and sometimes relying heavily on us to keep her upright, bending one knee and sticking the other leg straight out in front of her before she puts it back down (training to be a Russian dancer, apparently). She'll be running around the house before I know it. Really looking forward to it and kind of dreading it.

We've also given her her first two baths in the regular tub within the past week. She loves having that much water to splash around in. In fact, after the first bath, which I gave her by myself, I went out and bought a bathmat. While she was trying to crawl in the tub, I put one hand under her so she didn't fall flat on her face in the water. Then both legs shot out from under her. She thought that was great fun and started kicking both legs out from under her, sliding them along the bottom of the bathtub, and almost lunging forward onto her hands to make the water splash. It was hilarious and I wish I could have caught it on camera, but I couldn't leave her and then (after about five minutes) she started trying to stand and hold onto the sides of the tub. I got her out shortly after (mostly to save my arms and back, but she also started to show signs of being tired). One thing's for sure: she loves bathtime! Water in general, actually. Lake Michigan should be a lot of fun come September.

One last thing: bedtime. Up until now, we've been feeding Bridget her last bottle and she would usually fall asleep drinking it. But lately she hasn't fallen asleep right away, so we'd hold her until she fell asleep, sometimes with her fighting it. Until I found out that at daycare she goes down for her nap when they lay her in her pack-n-play and say "Night, night." And thought about the nightmare we might have getting her to bed soon. So the past two nights I put her in her crib a few minutes after her last bottle when she was still awake. She screamed and yelled for twenty minutes the first night, but last night she didn't move around and only fussed a little bit before falling asleep. Ahhh. Enter a new phase of mommyhood (let's hope)--easy bedtimes. Now I've just got to get started brushing her teeth...