Turned a Corner Today

Finding my groove.

The apartment is clean... having a cleaning lady come yesterday really motivated me. Somehow, actually being here while she was here had a much bigger impact on me than just coming home from work to a clean apartment.

I did lots of organizing while she was here, and mainly got my head screwed on straight. I printed out month-long calendars, and am going to start assigning tasks, even menial ones, to each day. Tomorrow's task is going to the post office to drop off some packages and also using the rest of the raw milk to make yogurt while the milk is still good. We also have an adventure planned, to go to the new water Terrace at the Museum of Natural History. It sounds like a it's a big and majestic sprinkler in a beautiful location. And then we will meet a friend for dinner afterwards.

Also on deck, an early morning run and stop at the playground. And maybe a playdate as well.

In other news, Calliope almost fed herself today! Girl has been oddly reluctant, especially since her mother had hoped to do Baby Led Weaning. But at almost 11 months old, Calliope will play with food, and she will eat food that is fed to her, but she will not feed herself.

But today, she twice brought a half a blueberry (also a big new accomplishment -- she's willing to try textures more varied than purees!) to her mouth from the high chair tray. Once she just licked it, and other time she actually put it partway in her mouth before taking it out. Oddly, she will eat them if I put them in her mouth.

I mean, she ate a total of three or four blueberries, halved, so she's still not a big eater, but this is major progress. And despite not eating a lot, she looks like she's chunking up again -- her thighs look a little meatier -- so that's good.

And yesterday, she was standing up and holding on to me when she let go... and stayed standing! It only lasted a couple of seconds, but that was a first for sure, independent standing!

It's wonderful to have her normal sunny disposition back. She is a waving fiend lately and waves at everything -- bathwater, yogurt, traffic -- and everyone... except sometimes she's prompted to do so. Naturally.

Her language skills are blossoming, picking up speed each day. When I say "hooray!" she starts clapping, and sometimes says, "heyyy!" (baby version of "hooray" I think). She might be saying "hi", sometimes, but I'm not sure if that counts because it's pretty garbled and not entirely consistent. And when I ask, "do you want to nurse?" she starts to whimper, so I know she understands that as well.

Tangent: I never imagined myself saying to anyone, "Calliope, I'm going to go take a shower. Do you want to watch?" But so far, the answer is always yes. Who knew that showering could be a spectator sport?

She crawled off the potty last night, and then pooped in the tub just a few minutes later, which I was definitely not happy about, but other than that, life is grand.