Happy Birthday to me!

I'm a big girl now.

Uggh, Mommy is getting so sentimental. All she talks about is how big I'm getting and how old I am, and how I'm not a baby anymore and this toddler thing crept up on her.

We went to the park on Sunday and Mom clearly did not understand that I needed my jacket in the 70 degree weather. 

Where is my jacket, woman! You're hiding it from me.

Oh jacket, I need you.

(Mara can kind of SAY jacket - or at least it's a two syllable word that sounds similar to jacket).

I am in a Daddy phase right now and looooove my Daddy!

I got to meet baby Max yesterday and I think that's partially what made Mommy realize just how big I am. Compared to a newborn, I'm a gigantaur!

And I have my own hobbies. I like to garden.

And select small stones to give to Daddy.

And I hop through the hose and up the stairs.

I find treasures and wonder about their origins.

And then I ask the mighty God why he put this here.

I haven't gotten an answer yet... but we'll see. Do YOU know?

Well, have a great start to your week! I'm practically running now! Mom and Dad won't know what hit them.

A whole new world

I don't have a baby anymore. I have a full out toddler. Where did my baby go in the matter of a week or two??

Why do some milestones take so long to reach and come along so gradually, and then others, it's BAM and she's 16 and driving and has a boyfriend and I have a gun safe with a secret combination to keep Daddy at bay? Okay, slight exaggeration and flash forward... but it sure seems like it happened so fast.

I mean, can't you see her coming around this corner with a backward farewell to Mom and Dad - I'm going out for the evening with friends and I'll see ya' later? Or her little prom dress??! Sigh. I must stop this.

Sunday started out overcast here, and the perfect weather for a promised stroller ride. I took Mara and the pups around the neighborhood, but misjudged the NC weather and got stuck in a little downpour! You'd think the investment in a stroller with a retractable hood would come in handy... but my child hangs out as far as she can to get wet. I'm pacing along with a jacket hood that won't stay up and soaked jeans, the dogs are pulling me with their ears flat back in complaint, and my daughter is hanging out the stroller, eager for more. I had to convince her once we got home that we couldn't go back out in that weather (Dad tried to rescue us but chose the wrong end of the neighborhood to patrol). What did I get? Disappointed Mara. This just makes my heart ache.

What really tugs at my heartstrings is she will go find her jacket and bring it to you, or try to put it on.

Daycare's note from today - "Mara is really growing up - today she took her coat out of her cubby when it was time to go outside - then when we came in, we took her coat off and gave it to her and she walked and put it in her cubby." 

I think I make up for that disappointment, though, by allowing her in the shower with me. After I let her come in once, the second time, she was at the door banging to get in, and when I opened the door, she was immediately stepping over the ledge before I'd gotten her clothes off. She mostly sits on the floor and plays with shampoo bottles and splashes around, but if I'm holding her, she'll open her mouth to catch the water, like you do when you catch snowflakes, and we giggle and giggle. Those moments are so much sweeter than these:

Scary, right? 

So on rainy days, we stay inside and read well beyond our age level.

(Or just try to rip the pages out, same difference.)

And then snuggle with Daddy.

And this cute stuffed animal is from a nice lady at work (thank you, Diana!)

Happy Monday!

Proof

Haha! Got it!

And that's her favorite thing to carry around - a travel shampoo bottle. Whatever!

Jammy Day

Hi everyone. Sorry that I've been slack about posting this week. My goal was to get some videos of our little star walking since she's taken off towards the end of last week, but I can't seem to catch any decent/noteworthy strides with my camera phone.

Here's the messy eater who loves lasagna. Oh, but after the piece of lasagna, she also wants fruit, and a nice serving of mac n' cheese. Piggo.

We had to pick her up from daycare Monday afternoon because we were told her eyes were gooping to the point where they'd wipe them and it would immediately return, and her face was swollen. So, back to the doctor's office we went! She has eye infections (a continuation of her pink eye?) and a right ear infection, poor girl. Now she's on 1x a day antibiotic, which I like a lot better than the 3x a day eye drops. She's a trooper, although threw a HISSY FIIIIIIT when the doctor wanted to look in her ears.

She can now sign "please" so I can get a "more" "please" together when she wants something. She gets excited about coloring and will point and make noises at the shelf where I keep a ready pad of paper and a box of crayons. She'll make some scribbles but seems to get more enjoyment out of dumping the box and returning the crayons to their spots.

Check out the fuzz!

I find myself donating so much time to stalking her throughout the house and watching the courses of her decisions. What seemed like a quick decision to climb the stairs (and make Mom or Dad leap from whatever we were doing to now monitor the monkey) turns out to be a longer-term plan (so it seems) to crawling up the stairs to the bathtub and stomping her feet in excitement (clear indication she wants a bath), to the keyboard standing trying to bang on the keys, or a turbo crawl into our master bedroom to point at the dog cookie jar, sign more or an attempt at signing cookie, proceed to gleefully fatten the dogs up (this happens several times a day), and then head back, belly down, down the stairs. This is a child with a plan. (She can actually get the keyboard to do things I have no idea how to initiate).

She likes to help get the mail and will open the mailbox and cling to whatever piece you give her until otherwise instructed. Sometimes it's a hand off to Mom, sometimes it's a drop in the trash. Such a big helper.

She thinks she's a fish and I juggle her curiosity/mischievousness with the dogs' thirst - opening the crates when she isn't looking, closing them when I catch the blur of a speeding crawler towards the bowls.

She's getting really good at dressing and undressing. We watched her try to pull on her sleeves the other day! And when she pulls off her socks, she'll hold them up to your or her nose and make a scrunchy face while we say "Ewwww stinky socks, stinky socks!" She'll also now wave her hand back and forth in front of her face, imitating us batting away a smell. She's grinning the whole time. Sometimes I get the shoe shoved up my nose, too.

I did a somersault in front of her for the first time the other night and she found that QUITE amusing. Next thing I know she's on her back rolling around (not a somersault, but we'll get there).

Check out the awesome purple marker on the side of her face.

 Her little body is looking less babyish and more toddlerish by the day. (More muscle and shape to those legs). I find myself doing triple-takes when she walks across the room or around the corner because I'm unaccustomed to seeing her so tall. She's Miss Popularity at daycare, with the other kids in her class still calling her "the baby" and touring parents exclaiming how everyone knows Mara when the director takes her along for the tour (and Mara's fans greet her).

She's my little precious angel and I just can't soak up enough hugs or kisses. We read books sometimes three times in a row and I'm struggling with disciplining as she tests her limits (throwing food, throwing her cup, getting into a cabinet she isn't supposed to be in).

That's about it for now. Mara clearly told me the jammy photoshoot was wrapped.

Bigger update

Okay, now that I have our bandwidth all to myself, I thought I'd make a slightly bigger post. Mara's "asleep" up in her crib as I type... and by "asleep" I mean talking to herself, swapping binkies, cuddling belly down with a soft blanket and tapping her legs on the mattress. I just had to go rescue the water cup that we usually leave resting on the ledge since she was flinging it around her crib and making a racket. I also took her shoe shopping tonight and she picked out her own set of shoes. I gave her several options in different sets and each time she chose the same pair of shoes. She is now a size 3 instead of a 2.5. We knew all that food had to be going somewhere!

Here are some more pictures of her at the park with the Darden clan.

 

And what goes in one end,

 Must come out the other end...

 Just kidding!!!

Now when I try to get my picture taken with her... here's the treatment I get.

Grumpy face, followed by backwards bucking baby:

Oh, well. Cheryll snapped this photo of us:

So, Mara's 14 month photo shoot didn't last long. She was grumpy from Saturday until about yesterday (molars again?)... so this is the best I could get:

Mara's SOOOOO big.

Hope you enjoyed the post! I'm battling either the flu or a very bad cold and it's limiting my creativity. Sorry!