Count Down to the Move

From my brother's phone: out for a celebratory family lobster dinner

in Rhode Island.  Calliope liked lobster. 

Newsflash: feeding yourself a lobster while feeding a baby who avoids
dirtying her hands means you take twice as long to eat as everyone
else at the table

Calliope and I returned from our Rhode Island vacation today. She was a total rock star in the car and we only stopped for one bathroom break the entire time -- four and a half hours in the car, including that one fifteen minute break.

What a change from my car-hating newborn! Who continued to hate the car until about a month ago. What a relief. Thank you Calliope Sage!

Now she's a lets-get-this-over-with-as-quickly-as-possible traveler, just like her mother. Phew.

In other news, she's been chowing down at meals a lot more often, ever since a couple days before her birthday. Her whole frame has filled out a bit and her face is looking rounder. I wonder if it just took her body longer than other babies to realize that solids are the way to go, long term? Or just too many illnesses, too close together?

She continues to be much more likely to eat if I am eating with her. But if I leave her at the table with food on her tray, she throws it (even if I'm gone only a minute or two, or if I leave her with her grandmother, also eating). She is also more likely to try anything on my plate after she sees me taste it, and especially if I offer it to her on my silverware and not on a baby spoon. She clearly gets the memo about growing up -- she wants to do what all the big people are doing.

I make a big point of not commenting that a food is yummy, or praising her for eating. My mom does this whole, "Mmmm, this food is YUMMY!!!" thing that kind of drives me crazy. I think that putting that kind of pressure on food only increases the odds of issues. If she "gets it" that I care if she eats, she can use that to manipulate me.

Naturally, since I had to say no when the pediatrician asked if she has any words on her birthday... she started talking more the day after her birthday. She now says "yeh" delightedly when I ask her if she wants to come with me, has said "no" to food (she also shakes her head vehemently... but then often her opens her mouth to taste the offered food a moment later). She also says "mama," mainly when she wants to nurse or cuddle. My mom and brother swore they heard her say "doggy" a few times, since she is obsessed with my brother's dog, who we shared a house with for the vacation week. She may also say "up" at times.

She's suddenly doing much better with sign language as well! She definitely has "more" and "all done" down, as well as "doggy," and is figuring out "water" and "food" as well. The hardest thing about it is that her signs are a little vague and I'm usually not thinking about sign language when she uses them. So someone else has to point out that she's trying to sign. Doh.

And she loves to climb stairs. Since we don't have them in our NYC apartment, she makes a beeline for them in people's houses. And since the ones in the vacation home were carpeted, I wouldn't hear her climbing, would just look around and realize she was missing. Ooops. Calliope would laugh maniacally when I came running to pluck her body off the stairs. Girlfriend definitely knew what she was doing!

The beach we frequented in Rhode Island had a shallow "crab pond" that was mostly just a few inches deep. Calliope loved it and would go plowing right in, on all fours, giggling and squealing to herself.

I was mostly too nervous to take her in the surf, especially after hearing a story about a two year old that went missing at a Massachusetts beach after her mother went a few steps to retrieve a lost ball. It makes me sick to even think about it.

We got home in time for Eleanor's birthday party, just barely, going straight there. After her nap, we went and visited our new apartment, with brand new re-finished floors. It looks great!

We also dropped a load of hand me down toys and my bike with baby seat at my friend and neighbor's house. One less thing to move! My friend lives just one floor down from my new apartment, and since she is also a SMC, we are both excited to trade babysitting.

Tomorrow I hope to do the final bits of packing, and maybe squeeze in a trip to Ik.ea as well as a trip to the farmer's market.

Monday morning the movers show up at 9 am. I have one week to get settled before I return to work. I sincerely wish I had more time... but I am also grateful that at least the move isn't after I return to work.

Just two more nights of sharing a bedroom with my night feeder! (Sharing a house with others is NOT good for this.... "anything to keep the baby quiet" does nothing good for mama.)

Photos to follow... though I didn't take a single photo while we were on vacation!

One year old!

Hilarious failed attempt to re-create birth photo of her
lying on my chest. She was obviously not enthusiastic.

A few of the many attempted "one year" shots