Aaaaand we're back

As soon as we arrived at Nana and Papa's house, we discovered a problem: Gaz could easily open the bathroom door and the bathroom door didn't lock anymore. The old doorknob was replaced with one that locks quite nicely, but now the door doesn't latch.

Today Papa was in the bathroom when Gaz busted in, ran past him, wedged herself between the toilet and the bathtub, and asked, "Papa, why peepee coming out of you finger?" Poor Papa was doing some elaborate leaning trying to preserve a modicum of privacy and Nana was trying not to laugh so hard that she peed. And dear Gaz kept asking why peepee was coming out of Papa's finger, clearly fascinated by this strange new way to pee, but not so fascinated that she listened to any of the answers we tried to get out between hysterical laughing fits.

I think we're getting back to normal.

Bushels of New Tricks

Greetings from Evansville! We're at the end of our visit with Nana Cel and Papa Charley, and Gaz has been having a mostly lovely time. There have been the usual amount of tantrums, most of which have been related to tiredness or hunger. Those are the easy fixes. Her mouth has been bothering her, too, but not nearly as bad as it has in the recent past. I think we may have a molar that's finally cut (2nd year molar; all her first year teeth are already fully erupted).

Anyway, those tricks I mentioned:
- Mostly new sentences, such as "I love it!" "No like!" "See you later" and many more I don't remember at this time of night
- Asking for bed and leading me by the hand to the bedroom
- Greeting people she really likes with many kisses (it's unbelievably nice to be on the recieving end of this trick) and blowing more kisses with less prompting
- Trampoline jumping!
- Singing "Twinkle what you are!" over and over again
- Swinging on the big girl swing, followed by falling off the big girl swing, followed by getting back on the big girl swings without any tears.
- Going in and out the dog door in the back porch wall

We've had good visits with Great-Grandma Kathy and Great-Grandpa Charlie, Amber, Beth-Terry-Kate and Patty-Jaimie-Cody (thanks again for the trampolining and the big sistering and big brothering!), and of course, Uncle Sean and Aunt Hillary. Gaz loves her Uncle Sean so much she made him walk around outside with her and also attacked his beard-braid with the full power of her toddler grip. Uncle Sean's poor chin will perhaps not be so bearded when next we visit (for unrelated reasons mostly, but I'm sure the memory of Gaz hanging from his chin wiskers will ensure that he doesn't forget to shave).

We went to the zoo (where Gaz was very well behaved) and looked at the wild bald eagles (where Gaz wasn't quite so well behaved, but she didn't run out into the road so that's a definite plus). It's been a very full not-quite-a-week.

Tomorrow we drive back home with Papa Charley, and hopefully we start a new round of Wiggleworms on Thursday. I had to call and beg for Gaz to be moved into the 2-3 year-olds class because she's one month shy of the typical cut-off for moving up. It's rather a necessity, though, as she's way too rambunctious to be running around twelve-month-olds these days. I'm sure she'll love the more active stuff that they do in the 2-3 class. My only regret is that we couldn't get into the class with one of the little boys from this previous class. I'm sure she'll have a great time meeting new kids, though, and she will probably attach herself to a new someone-else's-caregiver too. Maybe not one as cool as Bella's nanny, though.

Overwhelmed!

I don't know what to say, except I am continually amazed, agog, and so deeply grateful for the love and support of our families. We have experienced such generosity this holiday season, it doesn't feel like "thank you" can suffice to show how much all your gifts mean to us.

Thank you all so much, from the bottom of our hearts! You all mean so much to us, not because you give us gifts, but because you're here for us. Words just cannot sum up my feelings adequately enough.

So to all of you--and you know who you are--our deepest thanks and our prayers that they blessings you bestow on us are returned to you a thousand-fold! (And yes, for some of you that would mean that we're hoping you get a thousand fabulous children's books. ;-) )

Holidaze

Christmas with the Mitchells was a smashing success. The best present Gaz got was days of constant playing with her cousins. This is not to say that she didn't receive completely awesome material gifts, but the highlight for her was definitely playing with The Goils. It was a raucous house of little blonde girls, and when we weren't all running after them to keep an eye out for Polly Pocket shoes in toddler mouths, we were happily (if wearily) enjoying the fact that all our girls were truly enjoying themselves, and not destroying property.

When we went to church on Sunday, the older girls were persuaded to stay with Gaz in the nursery during the service. When we first got there, Gaz looked around a bit unsure. The two ladies who minded the nursery were the only other ones there apart from us. Then Brynn got out a toy grill and Gaz noticed that there were a couple of plastic drawers full of toys. She never looked back to see me after that. This was a bittersweet moment for me--proud of my girl for being so independent and sure of herself, but a bit sad that our time of being a mama-and-baby unit is slowing winding down. I know it's not a lightswitch and she still needs me quite a lot, but it sometimes seems to be daily and not so much hourly now.

But as I was thinking on this last night in the shower, Mark and Gaz came in to join me. She'd woken up and cried and cried when Mark tried to get her to calm back down and go back to sleep. She still needs me just enough.

Weaning is a process for both moms and babies, I think. We both want the same thing, but it's going to take us both a while to ease into our new roles. While we haven't begun any actual weaning, I feel confident letting Gaz set the pace.

Family Update/New Gaz Tricks

My grandpa is doing much better all of a sudden. He recognized me and Gaz last night and was amused by her antics before he fell asleep again. Three cheers for some real progress!

Gaz has done some cool things too. She now repeats strange new words with a good degree of accuracy. She just said "funky" just a second ago, and she's said "cracker" and a whole lot of other words that haven't quite joined the vocabularly but she's really working on the variety of sounds she can make. I'm all aglow. One big new thing is that she calls Grandpa Charley "Papa" as reliably as she calls me Mama and Mark Dada. So now we're seeing if "Nana" sticks for Grandma Cel.

She's also mastered climbing into chairs. Last night at the nursing home she climbed into the chairs in Great-Grandpa's room over and over. At Nana and Papa's house she's got her own little rocking chair (which used to be mine) that she can get into and use with relative ease. Now she hates being strapped into her little high chair booster seat thing, so we just set her in it now. She also refuses to use the tray most meals, preferring to eat at the table like a big girl.

My, how they grow.

Good and Bad

You'll have to forgive this not-entirely-Gaz-related post. There's a lot going on these days, and it's all overlapping.

The Good: Yesterday we went to an Attachment Parenting group and had a wonderful time. Gaz got some quality play time in with a bunch of kids of varying ages, I got to spend some much-needed time with other moms, and it was generally a positive experience. Gaz didn't get too unruly or tantrumy, and even ate a whole strawberry (including the green bits I couldn't get away from her in time), some pineapple chunks, and a lot of floor Cheerios (they seem to be instantly more attractive on the floor). I also got to poke around a bit at the venue, BeBYBaby, and they've got this whole wall of nursing bras! I was amazed. I will definitely have to go back sans Gaz, plus checkbook to see about getting some attractive underthings. (Oh, the woes of nursing. ;-) ) Gaz was also a total champ about running errands after the meeting, including a trip to get Proton his prescription food, and stopping by Whole Foods to try to find some toothpaste our little vegetarian will tolerate. Speaking our little veggie girl, I could not believe that she willingly set aside the oreo that J. gave her as we were on our way up to the apartment for lunch in favor of tofu and peas! Whatta gal.

The Bad: My grandfather had a stroke on Sunday. Gaz and I are going to head home this weekend to stay with my folks for a while. I'll be able to help where I can, and everyone can benefit from having a little dose of Vitamin Gaz. Mark is driving us down so that I don't have to try to make the long drive by myself.

The Ugly: Today after lunch I was trying to clean up the table when Gaz, who had stolen my seat now that she's figured out how to climb up on the dining room chairs, was splashing around in some liquid on the table. Just as I was about to take her sippy cup away and shoo her off to play in the living room, I saw that her sippy cup was nowhere near her and still sitting upright. Then I noticed that my sweatshirt was completely soaked and dripping onto the table. I'm not sure what set off my milk-ejection reflex, but I definitley couldn't blame the mess on Gaz. She was a good girl and helped me wipe up the table, and now that I've got on a clean dry shirt, I'm a happy mom again.

Blogity blog blog

I don't have tons of time for blog-reading (go figure), but I do love Tending Violet. I mean, she's got pink hair so you know it has to be good. I especially like the Week 39 entry. Take that, Dr. Phil!

Back to the bidness of this blog, Gaz is on the verge of walking. And by "on the verge" I mean she's already taken her first unaided step. It was totally unexpected, which is why she was unaided. I mean, we were right there, but we weren't holding her hands or anything. If you do hold her hands she takes off, so she's clearly putting two and two together. Sunday evening we spent some quality time with our landlords in the back yard and M. kept saying how ready-to-walk Gaz looked, and since she's raised two walkers recently I believe her. We had a great evening and it only took Gaz, what an hour? two hours? to warm up to everyone. And she let a total stranger hold her for a minute or so without crying. Progress!

Gaz is generally being a progressively more complex little human. She's been on a serious blueberry kick since the early days of solid food, but is cooling on them now. Peaches are most fun for smearing everywhere (everywhere!), tofu is fabulous, cereal puffs are the new rice cakes, and so on. Peas wax and wane but continue to be rather well loved, and beans are a special new treat (we've been eating out at Mexican restaurants lately). Hooray for the incredible edible legumes.

So many little moments feel blog-worthy to me, but they all blend together in a mishmash of daughter love. So: I love my kid. She's the best kid ever. I'll leave it to y'all to sort that out into its composite moments of joy/befuddlement/frustration/triumph/peace.

P. S. - Gigantic congratulations to Mark's sister Emily and her husband Kyle, who welcomed little Merynn Deborah into the world on Thursday (three nieces! how did we get to be so lucky?), and a big fat "HELLO BABY!" to Miss M. We all can't wait to meet you, particularly Gaz! Is there anything cuter than babys' obessions with other babies? No way!

Update! Finally!

I've got some spare minutes, so let's see if I can do a whole update.

First, the doctor's appointment last week went very well. She's (as usual) totally on target developmentally, and her growth (height= 30.75", weight=24#, 7oz.) continues to make the loveliest of arcs above the 97th percentile. Big girl, as always. She was a total champ about getting her thumb stuck for a lead poisoning test and hemoglobin test. She was more interested in playing with the paper of the lead test and the nurse had a hell of a time keeping her from chewing on it. Gaz managed to get blood all over her Frankenstein t-shirt, but I managed to not pass out or anything. Woo! All should be happy to note that our vegetarian baby is chock full of iron. I've been vegetarian for more than a decade (closer to 12 years, off the top of my head) except for that weird pregnancy craving for ham/bacon/kielbasa/sausage, and I've never once been even slightly anemic. She must have my blood. She was a brave little toaster yet again with her shots. The IPV shot was over before she could react, but the last of her Hep vaccines was big and right in a muscle, so there was much howling. Until we went across the room to look at the lion picture and the butterfly hanging from the ceiling. She's such a good girl, I can't begin to express how proud I am of her at the doctor's office.

Then we piled back into the car and drove many hours to visit Aunt Emily, Uncle Kyle, and cousins Brynn and Evynn for Evynn's fourth birthday. Gaz did not like the pool party, but mostly because it was loud at the pool and other kids splashed her. Oh, and the water was pretty cold, too. I didn't linger long in the pool either. It was a short visit, but a very good one. Gaz loves playing with her cousins and the goils (as I call them) love playing with Gaz. In fact, there were arguments about who was going to play what with the baby. It was very cute. Those girls are growing so fast. It was fun and at time harrowing to get that glimpse into our future. We also got to spend some quality time with Grandpa Will. We missed Grandma Judy, but I bet we'll get to visit with her soon.

Now Gaz is home with Grandma Cel who's helping us out this week as Lisa is out of town visiting family. She's got some neat new tricks, like leaning and grabbing for her high chair when she wants some food (she did that today after her morning nap when Grandma was carrying her through the dining room), and the all-important pointing at everything in sight. Waving is still hit or miss, but pointing is forever. She will point at everything and everyone. It's mostly cute and occassionally socially awkward (she's really good at pointing at the one person of a different color than everyone else, staring somewhat vacantly all the while) but it's so wonderful that she can indicate better what she's looking at. She's working on parts of faces and has discovered noses (inside and outside) and continues to go for moving lips and teeth.

The talking is still mostly babbling, but more and more often what comes out of her mouth sounds like words--some of them even appropriate words for the conversation. We spend a lot of time talking to her, reading to her, and singing to her. It sounds much more dull than it is in practice. It's easily as good as having cable, which we only sometimes miss.

That's the big stuff, I think. More later, as time allows.

Easter travel and Gaz goes to the vet

We went to visit Granpa Will and Grandma Judy over Easter weekend. Granted, we weren't there for actual Easter, but we did have a nice visit. Gaz got to experience her first big Crazy Midwestern Weather (hail storm, strong winds, and much rain/thunder/lightning) and took it all in stride. She got to sit on the grass in Grandma and Grandpa's yard and wasn't too sure about the stuff. Most importantly, she got to spend quality time with her Shelbyville family, ranging from the youngest (Baby Ava) to the oldest (Aunt Justine). It was a good, fun visit. I wish we could scoot Chicago and Shelbyville (and Evansville and Midland, for that matter) closer together. We didn't get to see the Claytons, but Emily did send us some wonderful hand-me-downs and we got to unload some on Chuck & Christy and we left a box at the Mitchells' for Baby Clayton. Yay! Everyone loves free clothes.

The drive back went very smoothly, like the drive down was supposed to be. Next time we're dressing her in her jammies before the road trip so she's more encouraged to sleep. Compared to some trips (and resulting baby meltdowns) this one was a breeze.

Yesterday morning we had to take Mr. Proton Accelerator to the vet for a check-up. He's officially an old cat, so we're encouraged to take him in twice a year. Considering the last time he went to the vet was maybe five years ago, we'll see how well we manage that. We should hear back on his lab work tomorrow and I hope all is well with his various body functions. Gaz wouldn't know what to do with herself without a Proton to harass. Anyway, the important thing is that there were a lot of strange new dogs to look at in the vet waiting room. She had a great time screeching at Tulip, this little mop of a dog who was sitting next to us. There were also kitties, but they were hard to see through their carriers. The highlights of the trip were Gaz urping all over my coat as I got her out of the car and the bed-head mohawk I hadn't noticed until we got out into public.

She's got some weird new sounds she's just started making over the weekend, and we're not sure if she picked them up from Ava or from all the birds that were frantically building and re-building their nests in the back yard. It hasn't interfered with her attempts to talk, and I'm very, very happy to be hearing "mamamamamama" much more often. It makes the aggravations of my homeward commute all melt away.