Relaxing Doesn't Make Babies

Not a baby anymore

June 9, 2013 — 1:04 am

We have a walker! It’s amazing how fast they pick up on it. She’s been letting go to stand for some time now, May 25 she took five-ish tiny halting steps with encouragement. Then right around her birthday (June 4) she started standing up and walking, just because. Now it’s common to turn around and see her wobbling her way across the room, looking pretty darn pleased with herself. Then she’ll trip, land on her knees, and continue on her way crawling.

We also have two teeth coming in, also the week of her birthday. One is now clinking, the other wasn’t quite through yet when I checked the other day. She’s not very fond of me sticking my fingers in her mouth. She’s not been sleeping her best, but it’s not been horrible either so for that I am thankful! Kate was unbelievable – screaming all night long, only sleeping on my chest, sobbing during the day. Ember’s just a little whiny and wakes frequently at night. I don’t even bother dosing her with anything unless she seems really angry and can’t sleep.

I made a cake for her birthday, mostly because I love cake and why wouldn’t I make a cake if I had half an excuse? But also because it was her birthday and I wanted a photo. I gave her a slice of cake on a plate, took some photos, and even gave her a fork. Why not, right? I’ve never given her one before (she’s nabbed Kate’s a few times), or even a spoon at the same time as food (too messy), but she really seems to get excited about the concept. And there I stood blinking as she used the fork to eat the cake. She held it properly, stabbed the cake, brought pieces to her mouth to eat. Perfectly. What just happened here? I guess she has a lot of experience with other tools, she’s always loved using drumsticks and toy screwdrivers and spoons. She has very good fine motor control.

Her two favorite things in the world right now are my keys and my pants drawstring. (The drawstring on Den’s hoodie was a favorite all winter.) She gives a shriek/yell when she hears my keys and will dive right out of my arms for them. She sobs when I take them away. What is so utterly fascinating about keys? I have clipped on a few spare no-idea-what-these-do keys, and my entire ring is different things on a caribiner so I can un-clip what I need without disturbing her.

She also has a longstanding obsession with climbing onto Kate’s little trampoline – she holds on and bounces! Now she is obsessed with Kate’s little toddler chair. Ember absolutely loves climbing up to stand on it, turning around, sliding down to sit on her bum, then sliding down and forward until her feet touch the ground and she stands up. Then she shrieks with laughter, turns around, and flings herself back on it. I think she may be a climber. I already caught her standing on the arm of the chair, holding the windowsill.

She’s not big on toys. She likes objects, like Little People, that can be dumped out of bins and tossed around. She’s started putting things into containers now, which is really cute to watch. She likes scribbling on the magnetic drawing pads we have, she’s been doing that for months now (see above about good fine motor control!). Mostly she enjoys dumping out containers. Or, even better, throwing things into the bathtub. Any chance she gets with the bathroom door open she beelines in there and throws all available tub toys and shampoo bottles into the tub with their satisfying clang-clang-clang noises. For her birthday I (we) got her a sippy cup and two board books. Super fancy this year!

So happy birthday to Ember, who has suddenly morphed into a toddler. I’m not all emotional, just kind of left gaping at the year that’s gone. Also thinking that I have a lot of scrapbooking to do. Damn I’m behind.

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