I'll Do It Myself!

Kayla has been a busy busy monkey lately. At nine months old, she is truly queen of the castle and she has taken to asserting this fact regularly. For instance...now that Kayla is becoming a Big Girl, she is eating more and more finger foods. No longer confused by having a hunk-o-somethin' in her mouth, nor confused by how to use that pincher grasp, Kayla is conquering foods left and right. She now eats steamed carrots, slices of avocado, flakes of fish, and as many puffs and yogurt melts as she can get her hands on. Based on the fact that she is fast becoming an accomplished self-feeder, she has decided that there is clearly no reason that Mommy should still be involved in the feeding process. Mommy wield the spoon? I think not. She can do that herself, thank you very much. Oh, and Mommy, puree actually IS a finger food, mmmkay? It may not be pretty, but darned if she isn't having the time of her life.





What else...Kayla is a crawling, climbing, lunging, jumping, dangling, yanking menace. Nothing is safe. Example A:



You would think at her height, she wouldn't have access to most things. You would be wrong. Like the giraffe stretches its neck to reach the highest leaves, Kayla somehow manages to stretch herself to reach dangerous objects that appeared to be FEET above her head. Chris has taken to calling her "Snuzz Croft" because with Tomb Raider like maneuvers, she will put one foot on your shoulder, one hand on your head, will then launch herself upward to grasp a shelf and swing herself over to a nearby ledge, before finally reaching the coveted...well...in the bath it is usually the coveted bottle of baby shampoo, so maybe she doesn't quite understand "treasure" yet, but hey...the determination...steel.





She's also proving to be more and more clever. A prime example, this week Kayla invented...THE WHEEL!







We can only hope that fire isn't next.

She's also being taught some important life lessons, for instance: Being a Steelers fan is no easy task. Having watched the last couple of weeks' games, Kayla now knows the meaning of a "nail biter".



She also knows how to wield the Terrible (Toddler) Towel. (Video Proof Coming Soon!)

She might love nothing more than watching football with Mommy and Daddy. Maybe she has no clue what's going on, but the yelling and jumping and cheering is all right up her alley and she joins in with gusto.

Other than that, Kayla is just learning what it means to be 9 going on 10 months old. It means lots of smiles, lots of laughs, a few growing pains and a little separation anxiety. It means learning to stand and to cruise, it means learning to love books more and more and learning that you have a will and can exercise it. Sometimes the will becomes a little too exercised and then Daddy and I have to try to redirect the angst, either changing to a new activity or creating some kind of diversion. In the case of dinner time temper tantrums ("I sai-aid, I can do it myself!"), Mommy has discovered that if Kayla starts to whine and pitch a fit, Mommy can puff up her cheeks, and then, if Kayla doesn't stop whining, Mommy can send a big *poof* of air into Kayla's face. This may sound like baby torture, but what happens is that Kayla startles and then falls into giggling. Sometimes she'll then remember "Oh crud, I was supposed to be all angry!" and she'll recommence to whine, but at that point, it's all over, because if Mommy puffs up again, she can't help but giggle, anticipating the puff of air hitting her face, and it's all over. Mommy 1, Baby 0. Of course, there are plenty of other battles Mommy's not winning...but hey, baby steps, we are finding, are really more for adults than for kids. Babies make leaps and bounds. It's only the adults who have to proceed slowly, ever so slowly, learning all the lessons that you can't find in some book.

V is for Victory

I think it's official...We're declaring "mama" Kayla's first word. I was initially hesitatnt, not wanting to jump the gun. She's been babbling the "ba"s and the "ga"s and the "da"s for some time now, but she indiscriminately applies them to everything from her bottle to the TV to a passing stranger to her bed. The "ma" however, well, it's focused. That's not to say that she won't occasionally just babble it too, but she definitely uses it to name me. She calls to me from her crib and on Monday, when I was getting ready to leave for DC, as I started to walk out the door, she reached up, pouted, looked me right in the eye and said (in a very heart breaking little voice), "Mama!" She now crawls over to me, tugs on my pants and with a focused expression calls, "Mama". She also tends to repeat it when she wants to be rescued from her crib in the morning, when I disappear around a corner and she's looking for me, when something scares or upsets her and when she is crawling toward me from across the room. Now, as I said, she also occasionally does the "mamamama" when she is clearly not even remotely thinking about me, but as my mom pointed out, babies only have so many sounds they can make, so it doesn't discount her using it in reference to me, just because she also occasionally babbles it at something else too. My mom is the best. At any rate, first word or not, I love that she finally has the "mamamama" down. It is so fun to hear her calling it in the morning as she sits up and stretches in bed. Slightly less fun to hear her whine it when she has woken up at 3am or when she's mad because she doesn't want to have her bib put on or her diaper changed, but hey...never look a gift horse in the mouth, right? (Side note: Weirdest Idiom...)

I Don't Believe in New Year Resolutions

I don't believe in New Year resolutions. I've definitely made them before but the older I get, the wiser I get and the more I realize that making a resolution in the new year is just a sad way to try to make yourself feel better about all the crap you didn't accomplish the year before. That's right, I said it. If you hadn't slacked on your workouts last year, you wouldn't have to resolve to work out more this year. If you hadn't been a mean schmuck last year, you wouldn't have to resolve to "live and let live" this year. Sorry, but I call 'em like I see 'em. So, this year I have resolved not to resolve because yes, last year I made some ridiculous promises I couldn't keep (a zen "let bygones be bygones" promise that ended as soon as the first Jersey driver almost ran me off the road). I have resolved to quit thinking I am so imperfect that I require 50 New Year resolutions just to be an acceptable human being. I will let myself work out a little less, I will let myself go without make-up a little more. I will eat a little more ice cream and I will let myself laugh a little more freely. I am making anti-resolution resolutions (which are really still resolutions which makes this whole resolving to not resolve thing a little confusing), but regardless, this year I just plan to be happy being me.

Along those lines, I am getting back into some of the things I love. The problem with having a baby is that the baby is all consuming. They are adorable and entertaining, demanding and time-consuming, sweet and distracting, tiring and complicated. You have them and they take over so much of your life and yet, a few months on, when you're actually getting some sleep and the baby haze clears, you remember that YOU existed before baby and YOU have wants/needs/goals and that's when YOU reclaim some independence.

For me, that independence is first manifesting itself in the simple form of running. Before Kayla was born, I was becoming an avid runner. In fact, two days before
I found out I was pregnant I ran the farthest I had ever run in my life. As those of you who've read the blog know, I then kept in shape throughout the entire pregnancy, running, walking, lifting weights and swimming. I felt amazing the entire ten months. But now, keeping up with the exercise post-baby has proven a significant challenge. Between the sleep deprivation early on and the baby's non-stop schedule now (bottles, naps, solids, baths, playtime, diaper changes...) it is really hard to find an ideal time to get in a workout. And now that the weather has turned cold, taking Kayla out for a run is almost impossible. I just feel mean running her up and down the snow-crusted roads while her little nose turns red and her eyes tear up. Yes, I know she'll survive, but it just doesn't feel right. I could go to the gym. I definitely could. I am even paying extra each month so that Kayla can hang in the gym daycare center while I workout. But, the problem with the gym is that by the time I get Kayla fed, dressed and ready to go, get myself dressed and ready, get to the gym (either a 20 minute walk or a 10 minute drive) and get K settled in daycare, it is, without exception, about time for another feeding or nap and now our whole day is guaranteed to be thrown off. And so, my workout routine has definitely suffered. As time has gone on though, I've realized that I miss it. I miss it so much. I need to workout each day; it gives me energy, it gives me endorphins...I need it. And so, in order to force myself to get back on the horse, I signed up for my first Half Marathon last week. When I get back on the horse, I get back on the horse. So far, training is going well. Of course, this is week one. I've been getting up early so that I can get in my runs before Chris goes to work and I've been hitting the gym for cross-training either with Kayla or when Chris is around in the evening. I'm already wondering how this will all go once the runs start to get longer though. It is a whole lot easier to steal 30 minutes to run than it is to steal an hour and a half. It's also, frankly, overwhelming to think that in just 12 weeks I should be able to run 13 miles. 13 M-I-L-E-S. That is a long long way. And realizing that I'm going to have to train during travels (DC trips, a ski trip out west...) and potentially so early in the morning that it is still pitch black and a whopping 20 degrees or less outside...oi, but, part of me is also relishing the challenge. Part of me is relishing the fact that I now have a goal for me and only me.

If you're interested in following my mission, I'm starting a running blog: mytwowebbedfeet.blogspot.com

Yes, I know, again with the duck theme, but I already had the avatar of "webbedfeet" on a running message board I'm on, so it just felt right.

Alright, enough about me. This is Kayla's blog, so I promise the next post will be back to being focused on Smush-tastic smiles and crawler-baby antics. Sorry Smush, not trying to steal your thunder, but considering that most of mommy's Christmas presents this year were really for you...you kind of owe me one anyway. :)

MAMAMAMA

It's official, Kayla can now say "mamamamama". It may not necessarily be directed at me and it may be true that thus far she mainly says it during times of extreme frustration, but she is, nonetheless, saying "mama" and that is all that matters to me. I think I actually gave Chris a slug on the shoulder when she did it earlier today. I haven't slugged someone in excitement since...well...maybe never, but today, like one of those movie-portrayed dads who is running around the waiting room handing out blue cigars to strangers, I reached over, slugged my husband and said "Did ya hear that?! Yahoo!"

Baby Gaga

Since I knew Kayla wouldn't be all that into Christmas this year (Sorry, Santa, but I think she just wanted you for your ever so fluffy and ever so chewable beard), I decided to make up for her potential lack of enthusiasm by dressing her in an outfit so festive that she almost looks like Christmas chewed her up, spat her out and went "Look what I made!" Judge all you want, but there are only so many Christmases in your child's life when you can dress them in red and white striped leg warmers, a ribbon-wrapped shirt and the most Seuss-ish Christmas hat ever made without them whining "Maw-aw-aw-awm! So embarrassing!!!" And so, in anticipation of maybe not successfully being able to brainwash Kayla into permanently believing that dressing like an elf is "cool", I went all out this year. Take a look...



Hello Christmas Awesomeness!

The reality is that while the specifics of Christmas might have been lost on Kayla, the spirit wasn't. She was in an awesome mood all day, smiling, laughing, playful...she stayed up for a solid six hours that morning (that's four more than usual) and was an absolute ball of fun. I'm starting to think that I will find myself saying this every month, but this month she is even more hilariously entertaining. She is crawling and standing and playing and is just a total character. She's developing this devilish little personality that leads her to give you sneaky grins when she's doing something that maybe isn't a great idea (mmm...nummy wrapping paper, mmm...nummy DVR, mmm...nummy package of NyQuil tablets that Daddy left on the ground). She's also learning all these fabulous new tricks like clapping her hands, climbing the stairs, giving high-fives, bopping to a musical beat...It seems like every day is something new. Of course, none of those new tricks get demonstrated when I have her on camera in front of her relatives, then she turns about as exciting as a pet rock, but that's okay...(darned babies). She's started babbling non-stop. I think she even outdoes the homeless man on our corner at this point. And she might know more consonant sounds than he does, although he knows a few more choice words. She is now going "bababa", "dadada", "gagaga" and is clearly trying to communicate. You can tell that although she may not have said her first word, she is clearly aware of the fact that making sounds can MEAN something and so sometimes she'll give you this very focused look and will raise an eyebrow and go "dadababababa?" Like, "Hello? Can you hear me? I am TRYING to communicate with you, parental unit. Do these words compute?" She's also getting to be so independent. I put her down on the ground and she just crawls around and plays with her toys, babbling away to them as though she and they have some sort of elaborate game they're engaged in. I almost feel left out.

We made it home from WA Monday night and all is well, although we're now trying to get Kayla over her jet lag so that she will maybe go to bed before 11pm. I will do a full WA/Christmas post soon, but for now, here is just a mini-sneak preview in photo format. I'm off to feed Kayla her homemade dinner of sweet potato/broccoli puree and apple/blueberry puree. Lucky girl. It may be mush, but this shtuff is T.A.S.T.Y.! She honestly eats better than Chris and I do. This point was driven home yesterday when, after feeding her a homemade meal of butternut squash and pear puree, I then scanned the fridge and found that I just barely had the makings for a peanut butter and jelly sandwich for myself. I say again...darned babies...

But I digress, the photos...