Almost One

Being a birthday girl (almost) is no laughing matter

I get very nervous when anyone other than Mommy holds me!

Change seems to be in the air.

We finally got a closing date... and it's two days away!

The mortgage was on again, off again, for weeks now. As of Thursday, it still looked like it was going to fall through. Then my lawyer wrote a letter to Citi, threatening to sue them.

I received the closing date later that day... we close on Monday

Calliope and I returned from six days visiting family in MA, and the boxes I ordered arrived the following day. I've started packing, doing my best to keep the apartment safe for Calliope and also neat for my own sanity -- I do not do well with mess. At all.

It will be a challenge to get everything packed, but my goal is to pack before we leave for vacation, and to move as soon as we return.

In case you're thinking that toddlers (or nearly toddlers) are none too neat, yes, you are right. It's a struggle sometimes.

Case in point: eating.


She's become much more picky about food recently, but often times, she refuses a food, shaking her resolutely, without even tasting the food. If I leave it on her tray, she throws it. Often she has no idea what I'm offering. I physically forced her to taste desert last night, something I've never resorted to before, because my friend and her daughter had brought ice cream to celebrate (early) Calliope's birthday. I felt badly about it, but of course, her face lit up once she actually tasted what I was forcing upon her.

I could just let her be, and not worry about it, but I fear that not eating enough during the day means she will wake up wanting to nurse during the night.

Have I mentioned that I am sooooo excited to move to a two bedroom apartment???

Sleep was an issue on our latest trip... I tried to let her cry and it work everyone up. Which led to me nursing her in the middle of the night just to keep her quiet. It doesn't help matters that she's teething and latching poorly and I got very sore and anxious about nursing all over again. Luckily that seems to be healing. Nursing a teething baby is not for the faint of heart. Every time this happens, I think about weaning. And indeed, I will talk to her pediatrician on her birthday about when to wean.


Calliope's fever never came back after the morning of our trip to the ER. The next day, she had a single bump on her forehead and several on her bottom. My pediatrician said that, for her, two bumps or more equal a rash, which means it's roseola (in light of Calliope's other symptoms -- basically, a high fever and nothing else, plus not having had roseola before). Anyway, in hindsight the whole debacle seems a bit ridiculous. She looked a lot more sick with the sinusitis than she ever did with this virus. I wish we wouldn't have been sent to the ER but it's hard to disagree with your doctor.

We had an early first birthday celebration with family in MA that was lovely. I got choked up during our off key rendition of "happy birthday" and couldn't sing. What a year (almost) it has been!

We also got to see an old childhood friend of mine... we've been friends since I was 9 and she was 8. And now instead of playing with dolls together, we've both got real live babies! Wild!

Both girls got a turn to hold Calliope

With the mommies

Calliope's latest developments:

She's just started to hand me things, which she immediately wants me to hand back. Mainly things from her box of "treasures" that we keep next to the potty in the bathroom. Her favorite is not the empty deodorant but the miniature tube of nipple cream. I don't know why, but as far as she's concerned, it's pure gold. So it's a huge compliment that she "lets" me hold it, even for a moment.

Also, for the first time yesterday, she put a few of these treasures into the box. Until now, she only removed them, generally flinging them as far as her short little arms will allow.

She doesn't have any definite words yet, but she might be saying, "yeah." Sometimes when I ask her a question, like "Calliope, do you want to go for a walk," she looks up at me and answers sweetly, "Uh Yuh!" in the approximately appropriate tone.

And sometimes when I say "Mamama" to her, instead of just answering, "Dada!" with a grin, she sometimes answers, "Nanana" which is progress.... right?

She's still crawling, but climbed to the top of a full flight of stairs at my mother's house while my back was turned for one minute, I swear, calling my sister to ask her to pick up diapers. I almost had a heart attack when I looked up and saw how high up her gleeful self had climbed.

In summary, she's not winning any medals for her physical or intellectual prowess... and I am just fine with that. As long as she's healthy and happy, I'm happy. I think I was far too achievement oriented in my younger years, and it brought me lots of stress and little happiness. I hope I won't pass this trait on to her. Easier said than done in today's achievement oriented world.