Dear Madeline,
The other day we were in the car. You were sitting in the center of the backseat, facing forward, cause you can do that now being over 20 pounds and over 12 months old (You are awesome!), and I was looking at you through the rear view mirror periodically as I was driving - in a safe manner of course. Anyway, you were fiddling with your face and you suddenly discovered your left nostril. You immediately got this look on your face like, "what in the world is this?? Let me investigate!" Then you stuck your tiny little finger up your nose and just let it sit there for several minutes. Then you took your finger out and stuck it up the other nostril. "Whoa!", was the expression that followed. Then.... TWO fingers - one in each nostril. It was so exciting to you! So Fascinating! And so adorable. No - I never thought watching someone put their finger up their nose would be cute, but it was just that, extremely cute. And yes, I did just describe what it was like watching my child pick her nose... so what. That moment was like many of the moments you have had this past month where you discovered something new.
You are now 13 months old and this month has been just like that... a month of new discoveries. A month full of, "Hey! I can do that by myself!" and, "look what I can do!"
Every morning the first thing you want to do is pet kitty. You pat your leg or the floor - any surface near you really - and you do a high-pitched call for "di di" - that's "kitty" in babinese - and you make meow noises. You are quite obsessed with her. You love her so much. You are very good at petting her nicely, but you are also experimenting lately with other ways you can touch her and testing the limits. You do things such as try to step on her, pull her ears off, lay on top of her... all while saying "awwww". You don't mean to hurt her and frankly I don't understand why Kitty stays there allowing the torture to continue, but she does. Kitty is a constant companion.
You are such a loving, gentle soul with a fiery spirit. You love people and animals of all kinds. You give the most delicious hugs and kisses to your dad and me and you always say "awwww" when you do it. I could be doing the dishes or making dinner and all of the sudden I will feel you hugging my leg. Your hugs are like a power recharge. You run toward me and plant the biggest sloppy kisses on my cheek. You hug your dolls and your stuffed animals constantly... and kitty of course when she will let you. Another form of affection you feel is apropriate is to sit on people or kitty. It's cute... unless it's another baby. Maybe it's because you sit on our laps when we talk or read... I don't know, but we have to watch you closely so you don't hurt anyone.
You also like to blow, what my family calls, zerberts on mommy and daddy. A zerbert is when you take a deep breath and place your open mouth on someone’s skin - say their belly - and then you blow really hard and it makes a loud fart noise. We have laughed a lot having zerbert sessions - usually started by you. And this may be TMI but you sometimes do it when you are nursing and it makes us laugh really hard.
Sometimes, you bite. It’s my fault really because I have nibbled on you since you came into our lives as a form of tickling and happiness and love and so sometimes you just lean down and bite one of our arms usually with a great big smile and the best intentions. You have some sharp little teeth missy. I am proud to annouce you no longer bite when you are nursing though. Phew!
You have 7 full teeth and 3 that are partially poking through your gums. You are getting two of your back teeth on the bottom. I found them one day when I was pulling some paper out of your mouth. You still love to brush your teeth (or suck the baby toothpaste off of your toothbrush) and I am hoping that will never change... this year alone we have spent lots of moo-lah on dental bills for me and your dad. Lesson learned!
You are a very picky eater. This is normal - I read. You skip some meals entirely just throwing all your food on the floor, but you will eat when you are hungry. I still try to offer you a variety of foods, hoping someday you will accidentally taste a vegetable and realize it is the most delicious thing you have ever tasted in your entire life and "oh my gosh mom give me more broccoli, more! More! MORE!!!". Your skin and hair is beautiful and you have so much energy, so I'm not too worried about your eating habits.
You still love to nurse. When you are thirsty for some milk you come up to me and tap on my clavicle or my neck and say, "boob," and then do this gigantic smile. If I don't respond quickly enough the pulling of the shirt begins. You usually nurse in the morning when you wake up, mid-day, and then at nighttime before story time/bedtime. Some days it feels like you are reverting to when you were a newborn. I have introduced you to soymilk and cows milk, but you still prefer breast milk. We are starting to wean... S L O W L Y. It will be a task, but we can do it. I have to admit it, I will miss nursing you... it has been a very good thing for you, and for me. For now I'm just going to go with the flow. I’m not in a rush to stop, but then I am. I never really thought about how long I would nurse. I knew I wanted to for at least a year. I won't go past 2 years. We'll see what happens. I am hoping it will just naturally happen?
September 19th, 2009 at precisely 7:27 pm you started walking on your own. Yes I recorded the time – this is a big deal! It was so exciting and joyous for your dad and me. You love walking and you are very good at it now. In two short weeks you went from hurriedly taking a few fast steps and then falling over to getting up from the ground without holding onto anything, changing direction, running a little, picking things up and walking… it is all happening so fast. You no longer crawl unless you absolutely have to. You used to always want to be held when we went anywhere but now you’d rather walk and you have great pride in your capabilities. It is SO much fun to see a little person walking around all the time. You do still have some balance issues - especially when you are tired. It is often your Dad or me will say, “She’s really a little person isn’t she?” because you’re starting to do so many things on your own. You also love to climb - the stairs, your playard, kitty’s scratching post, and the gate on the stairs. When we go on walks outside you enjoy walking on the grass most of all. It would probably take us a couple hours to get around the block if we let you do all the exploring you like to do.
Along with this new freedom and independence comes your aching urge to investigate and test everything out. You love to go through the cupboards and drawers. You find a lot of things on the floor – no matter how clean I try to keep it – and usually if you find something you will give it to me, but only if I am watching. If I am not watching I may have to fish something out of your mouth. Usually it’s just a tiny piece of paper or some lint or a piece of cat food… nothing too scary.
You say several words and love to copy things that we might say or sounds we might make. A lot of your speak is still baby jibberish, but I can understand what you mean. You have very strong facial expressions and body language – like your dad. You watch us very closely and attempt to do a lot of the things we do. Some examples: when I fold laundry I usually shake out the shirt or pants so they are straight before I fold them. When I set a new pile of clothes down to be folded, you immediately grab a piece of clothing and shake it. Now we need to work on you folding them.
You understand a lot of the things we are saying to you. If I tell you to “go get a book,” or “get a new diaper,” you do it. If I tell you to “put your clothes in your drawer,” you go open the drawer and stuff the clothes in it.
You still love music and you love to dance. Your favorite songs right now are I’ve been working on the railroad, Mr. Sun, and Head Shoulders Knees and Toes. You love to be read to and you point at pictures you know and say what they are. Your favorite book right now is Dimity Duck. Your favorite shows on PBS are Sesame Street and Super Why. You love to go bye-bye. You love fake talking on the phone with your toy phones. And you love being outside and going on walks. You wave at everyone you see and it always brings a smile to his or her face. I love that about you. That who ever sees you or is lucky enough to meet you always leaves with a smile on their face.
It is getting harder to write these monthly messages. It’s not that I don’t have a lot to say about you… I do. It’s not that there isn’t anything going on… there is so much. It’s just so very hard to find the time. It sort of makes me mad that there isn’t enough time to do everything I want to do. If I could have a super power, it would be to have the ability to slow or stop time. Yep! And it’s not that I don’t love spending all of my time taking care of you and your dad and the house and the cat and the laundry and going to work… this is life. I realize that. And I love my life so much. I am SO THANKFUL for everything about my life. I am so in love with my life, I want to marry it. I really do. Life is beautiful. And you are a huge part of my life Madeline... You are beautiful.
Love,
Momma
