She's young... there's always next year... but still.

Pumpkin Pie: licks at it tentatively, then shakes her head and says "no"
Fruit Salad: ditto
Snow: "no no no, up up up, brrr"

I guess I'll find an indoor pool somewhere and we can hang out there instead of going outside to play in the snow.

I figured out what to do regarding a Christmas tree in the house of Bug. Stay tuned.

My child and I survived the two hours it took between the end of bathtime and the time her head (gently) hit the mattress, not to rise again for at least 4 hours.

My emotions wavered between abject frustration and detachment to guilt to selfless nurturing and back again, and forth again, and back again. It was a long two hours.

As the title suggests, teething is to blame. Tried: celery, cold washcloth, frozen teether, teething gel, fakenol (last night), notrin (tonight). Celery is OK until it gets warm. Frozen teethers are fun to play with, but she doesn't chew on them in any sort of way that might accidentally relieve pain. As for the drugs... they take away the pain, so that she gets a giant burst of energy and demands to have FUN. Why on earth would she spend a precious painless moment on something as mundane as sleep??? If I didn't know better, I'd think uppers had been slipped into the baby pain relievers...

Alas, it isn't little bug's fault that her gums are the size of Alaska in two separate places. So, why do I feel the need to smash some defenseless inanimate object into nanoscopic bits??? I actually did even get some time to myself today during nap time. If one could call making a soup and sewing curtains (yes, little bug's curtains, 6 months overdue) time to oneself.

The twin peaks show no signs of imminent eruption... Thus, I fear more pain is in our collective futures.

She's almost 14 months now, and I haven't updated for 5 months!

She started walking at 10.5 months. She has been saying simple words "mama" "dada" "baaa" (ball) for quite some time. She started reading at around her 1st birthday, and can now recognize about 50 words either typed or clearly written. So, I can say that the "Teach Your Baby to Read" DVDs actually worked, at least in our circumstance.

Neither DH nor I speak a second language. So, we decided to emphasize reading instead. It makes me feel like all babies should have the opportunity and exposure to learn to read. We'll see if she keeps it up as she gets older.

Most recently she started enunciating trailing Ts and Ks as in "hat" and "milk". It makes me feel like she isn't a baby any more.

I still breastfeed on evenings and weekends. I think I'd like to wean by summer time, but that isn't a hard and fast decision. I didn't even think I'd still be breastfeeding, as I went into the effort with an open-ended "give it a shot" attitude, with few expectations. Now, here we are! I admit its hard to imagine putting her down for a nap or bedtime without nursing. I don't know how dad does it while I'm at work.

Our only issue is some constipation. I'm trying to push more fiber into her diet... but that girl LOVES her bananas.

Our Little Bug is a danger to herself! Her head wants to connect with the nearest available solid object at any given moment (particularly when our heads are turned for a nanosecond). I'd go bonkers with worry, if she wasn't smiling and off to the next headbanging event before I'd even processed the first one.

There is now a baby gate which prevents access to the stairs, and a couple of cupboard locks. But, true babyproofing would require full padding around every surface knee level and below, including walls, floors, doors, desks, garbage cans, dishwashers, etc... I must assume a certain degree of headbonking (especially the minor kind that does not even bruise) is accounted for by the human genetic plan. So, I'm not going to freak out so long as little bug isn't freaking out.

I hope this gets better with walking, but I suspect it will be worse. I estimate walking within a month or two.

What does seem to be freaking her out is the ponderous emergence of a top tooth, on my left. There's some white that can be seen through the gums. There is some tantruming that can be endured each evening. She used to fall asleep peacefully at the breast, but no longer. Some generic pain killer helps, but not enough. A frozen teether is only of brief comfort. I hope that darn tooth shows itself soon so we can have our quiet evenings back.

On the way up side.... she's virtually sleeping through the night. She was whining a bit in her sleep last night, enough to cause me to wake up and go check on her. But, she wasn't awake and settled a bit with some patting and shushing. Now there's a blessing!

A guy in the drive-thru this morning kept looking at her and talking about how cute she is. She's going to be trouble if that cuteness persists!

Little bug is crawling! It started in earnest around May 19th. Now, she can't be stopped.

I came home from work the other day, and I always feel a need to "get rid of" work before I hold her. I need to put away the milk, take off my name tag, use the bathroom, and wash off the germs of employment. She is rarely patient during this process, expressing her desperation with a constant "AAAAHHHHH!" Now, she has added chasing to her repertoire, following me to the fridge, to the bathroom, etc.

Then, yesterday, she crawled over to me right as I came through the door.

Maybe I'll quit my usual routine and just scoop her up next time. :) Daddy Bug can put the milk away.

Speaking of milk, I'm doing the herbal stuff trying to increase my supply. I have 3 bags in the freezer, and I'm not getting as much at work as I used to. We can move to moo milk in about 3 months, so a part of me definitely does not want to resort to formula when we've made it this far. The other part of me says, "You were just trying breastfeeding out without any expectations to start with, and now you're a lactivist? What happened?" I don't know. I don't know why I feel that formula would be something I'd be "resorting" to, instead of just another food we offer Little Bug like prunes or cereal or vodka (oh wait, that was me last night).

I certainly have no superiority stink about any woman who doesn't breastfeed either, even if the only reason is because it cramps her style. Hell, I never had a drop of my mother's milk and I turned out pretty good for the most part.

I guess it just must be another aspect of my overachieving personality. I can't "give up" yet. Besides, feeding little bug during quiet mornings and evenings happens to put a rosy tint in my glasses.

Little bug is learning how to clap her hands! We haven't been trying to teach her specifically, though she's been exposed to hand clapping ever since she started paying attention to her environment. Se seems pretty proud of herself too.

In addition, she has started sharing and taking turns! It seems a little early developmentally, but maybe not. One day she just started offering Daddy Bug and I her toy or pacifier (which she uses as a teether but doesn't suck on). Then we'd give it back. It is so spiffy to see her develop a concept of "other".

No crawling yet, just a touch of commando. We'll see what the day brings!

Do babies have 8 month appointments? If so I'd better get her one scheduled. We are vaccinating 100% on schedule. When she doesn't develop autism I want to share this information with the world. The typical scenario (not a single problem) by definition never makes the headlines or anecdotes. The only thing we're doing differently is not liberally dosing with tylenol. I've been reading some articles which suggest a lesser antibody response when tylenol is used to reduce fevers. That, and LB scarcely shows a reaction to shots besides some extra long naps.

Mamma Bug out!

Indra's first tooth officially broke gum last Friday, April 17th. Tis the bottom left (my left) front tooth, for a split second I considered looking up its scientific name... but then I decided to write about that thought instead of turning it into action.

I think the second one, its next door neighbor on the right, is next if not already poked through. LB hasn't let me get a good look lately, but she has been doing a bit of gnawing.

Thus far Operation: Sleep Weekend has been a success. DB kept the Bug downstairs Friday night after picking her up from grandma's, allowing me 4 unbroken hours of sleep. Then, little bug nursed and slept for another 3.5 hours. I caught a short nap later in the day. Last night was pretty good, we slept from 9:30 to about 8:30, interrupted by only 3 feeding sessions. That's 2.5 hours between feedings, which feels like a HUGE improvement from the 1.75 hours between night feedings we'd been averaging, and the every hour I endured on Thursday.

I think the biggest help has been stuffing the little bug during the day. When I work all day, she tends to eat sparingly from DB. Then, when I'm home on the weekends she continues the pattern, hardly nursing until after 3pm. However, I've noticed she'll take solids much more readily than the boob. I get the sense she thinks solids are more fun. The boob restricts her view too much, and the little curious bug doesn't have time for that. However, DB has been inconsistent with the daytime solids. I'll try to hammer the point home. If he can see the relationship between feeding little bug regular solids, and a happy rested *interested* wife, then there is some hope for us after all.

He did wash some dishes last night, and expertly stacked what he didn't wash. That gave me the energy to load the mini-dishwasher this morning. (Note for next house: a REAL dishwasher will be required). It's whirring away now, I wonder if the background noise will help little bug nap longer.