Countdown to B-Day

Today is Molly's 11-month birthday -- one month from today she'll be celebrating that oh-so-important first birthday. I know I say this all the time, but I can't believe my little girl is already almost one. It doesn't seem like it's been a whole year yet -- my little baby is turning into such a big girl. It's so fun watching her grow and develop, but part of me wishes I could just press pause and savor her babyhood a bit longer. I already miss my little baby -- although Molly is a total mama's girl and loves for me to hold her, she also wants to go off and explore and play. I used to love curling up on the couch and napping with her on the weekends or sneaking her into bed with me in the morning and snoozing for an extra half hour. Our happy little snuggle time is already over -- my little girl is now Molly on the Go and she'd much rather crawl and explore than snuggle with Mama.

Molly's new nickname is "Tree Trunks," because she is now extremely good at standing unassisted on her sturdy little legs -- the girl has wicked balance. She still isn't very interested in taking any steps, but she can bounce in place and can stand all the way up from a crouch. She claps, she sorts, she stacks blocks, and she's already figured out how to put the letters into the LeapFrog Fridge Phonics toy. She's added a couple new words to her repertoire - in addition to "Dada" and "Mama" (which she is now saying ALL of the time), Molly can say "Hi," "Mmmm," "Shhhhh," and "Ta Da!" Her new found vocabulary adds an extra touch of pathos to her middle-of-the-night summons -- it's really hard to resist a little girl who is standing in her crib, peering sadly over the rail, and saying "Mama, hi!" This may also have somewhat explain the fact that she's still not sleeping through the night. As a matter of fact, the last couple of weeks she has been waking up a ridiculous amount, but I'm 99% sure she's working on her molars (I know, I always blame the teeth).

The girl is also working on eating us out of house and home. In addition to a full complement of nursing sessions, Molly is eating three squares a day -- the girl loves her food (especially her veggies)! Recent favorites include noodles, corn, crackers, cheese, and green beans. She had a tiny taste of ice cream the other day and seemed a little put off by the cold. She took a tiny first bite, but after that she wouldn't open her mouth -- she'd just stick her tongue out and let me dab a bit of ice cream on it. Max was happy to finish off Molly's portion. ;)

The kids have all been enjoying the pool. Molly likes to do froggy kicks, splash, and float around in her inflatable "frog," although she gets tired after a little while and wants to get out. Max, however, LOVES going swimming (although he calls it a "bath"). He can't wait to get in and then he doesn't want to get out -- he does all the things in the pool that he refused to do when I took him to swimming lessons this winter -- blow bubbles, lay on his back, kick his feet, etc. As far as Max is concerned, being "ahside" in general is a good thing. In addition to going swimming, Max loves playing the back yard and going for walks to the park. He likes exploring and thinks it is fun to look for bugs, stick, leaves, and rocks. Lately he's been less interested in the playground equipment and more interested in going for walks in the woods.

Max is still every inch a toddler -- he's testing his limits big time lately. If you tell him not to do something, odds are that he'll turn around and do that very thing (and end up with some corner time). He is a total opportunist as well -- if he sees you have your hands full with something (changing Molly's diaper, talking on the phone, etc.), he'll go do something he knows he isn't supposed to do, because he knows you're less able to stop him promptly. Little stinker! But, at the same time, he's very generous with the kisses and hugs and when he accidentally knocks Molly over, he pats her head, gives her a kiss, and tells her sorry ("sawry").

He's also a total little ham -- when he's not pretending to sing opera (thanks Elmo), he likes to pretend to sleep (complete with fake snoring), feed his toy animals and put them to bed, walk around in Mama and Dada's shoes, and put just about anything on his head and declare it a hat. When he's in the bathtub, he likes to look at his reflection in the faucet and make funny faces and wear tub toys on his head. Sometimes he asks to go in the Pack and Play or the Exersaucer so he can pretend he's a baby. I think the funniest "pretend" that he's done recently involves Dad's beer. When Dad cracks open a beer, Max runs to the kitchen, rifles through the silverware door, and pulls out a big, black plastic serving spoon (one of the relics of Max's open house). He carries the spoon over to Dad yelling, "more beer, more beer." He then pretends to eat the beer with the spoon, saying "mmmmm, beer" the whole time. It's good to know that Max is in touch with his inner Homer Simpson!

We aren't having much more success on the potty front -- Max likes to sit on it and read books, but doesn't appear to be too interested in using the potty for its intended purpose. However, he's VERY good at asking to sit on the potty mere seconds after loading his drawers. I'm guessing it'll be a while yet before we're really potty training in earnest. It'll be nice when he's potty trained, but I'm not in a huge rush -- when he's ready, it'll happen and not a moment sooner! Even though he isn't making great strides in the diaper area, Max seems to be starting to pick up his letters. I was getting him ready for bed the other day when he ran over to the baby gate, pointed to some of the writing, and started saying, "A! A!" Sure enough, he was pointing to the letter A. I have no idea where he picked that up -- maybe the new Elmo/Sesame Street fascination is a good thing!

Buying Mockingbirds is brought to you by the letter M and the number 2.