I definitely have a full-fledged toddler now. In fact she is now running. I discovered this while in Toys R Us and she spent the entire time pulling everything off of shelves, then running off down the aisles while I put everything back. It was exhausting. She had a ball, though. There were people to greet and toys to play with and interesting colors everywhere. She was clearly in toddler heaven.

Shopping carts are now more frustration that they are worth. When I stick her in the kid seat part she spends the whole time trying to turn around and stand up – and for the most part she’s pretty successful. Why the hell do they put the belt straps at their armpit level? I mean, really? NOT helpful, especially with a smaller child; she can easily stand up while still strapped in. So I spend the entire time holding her arm and hissing, “Sit DOWN!” I finally got tired of that and stuck her in the main basket part with my car keys. She kept toppling over when I turned corners, but at least she was in a cage. Though she still tried standing up every 10 seconds. Thankfully she is short. I can’t really blame her, though. I mean, stores are really cool and it’s way more fun to run around than sit in a cart or something. It’s just… tiring for mama. If I know I’m going to be somewhere for a while (like the grocery store) I still pull out my mei tai and she’s happy in that, though she still tries pulling things off shelves if I get close enough.

Her words are getting clearer now. She says “bye-bye” clear as a bell. “Kitty” sounds more like a slurred two-syllable “key,” and “dog” still sounds like “dah,” but she knows what it means and says it when we see our dogs or I point to a picture of a dog. She says “dada” and “mama” randomly, still not really sure she knows that “mama” means me, it’s more of a general term of “I want something” at this point. I think those are all her words still. And I find it very funny how she’ll throw a real word into a gibberish sentence. “Bye-bye gleeber dooble buh der.” Uhhh…. yes, dear. Right.

She understands a lot more, though. She understands and follows through with simple instructions and questions. “Sit down,” “Give dada a kiss,” “Get your book,” “Where’s the kitty?” “Where’s your mouth?” “Push the button!”

Clothes-wise she is getting close to moving up from 12M size, but then some shirts she wears are 9M and they fit fine. She’s definitely not a wide baby, but she’s not stick skinny either. She has some chunk to her thighs – while she’s still wearing Fuzzibunz small diapers, I had to go out a snap around her thighs (but she still has a small waist). And most of the reason to move her up a size in clothes is fit around her thighs and diaper butt. I am still very happy with the Fuzzibunz, though; I’ve tried a few different styles and brands and I keep coming back to the FB for fit on her. And I don’t like the one-size FB either, the extra fabric in the butt just makes it puff out like a giant pillow. I’m picky about trim fits. I have also discovered that anything with one row of snaps (Thirsties snaps, GroVia snaps) don’t fit her well, they sag. And for velcro/aplix I actually like the GroVia best, the Thirsties really lose their staying power after a few months of constant use (since she stays in the same size forever and a day – she’s still in size small Thirsties, too, and they’re pretty much done for, both elastics and aplix). Plus I’m thinking that at this age, especially in summer when she’s running around in just a diaper half the time, I’m not too keen on letting her experiment with taking diapers off, so snaps are safer. lol I do wish I had found a one-size diaper that I loved so I wouldn’t have to buy more diapers, but then again buying new diapers is fun. ;) I just don’t let myself do it very often. (I LOVE the Crushed Berries color!)

We have been doing a lot of swimming this month, which is so much fun! Kate still is not a huge fan of just hanging out IN the pool, she wants to climb out and in repeatedly. Whether it’s a ladder, stairs (her favorite!) or just pulling herself up and out, then turning and jumping into my arms. As long as it’s on her terms she loves the swoosh! (Unfortunately we’re having issues with my pool not being level so we had to drain it and now we’re trying to figure out what to do next. Of course, the hottest week of the year. I’m so irritated.)