I'm calling it. First official (non greeting) word!

Miss Alice has a (second) word:  Book!  Grandma called it last week while we were on vacation (apparently I'd forgotten my usual please-don't-tell-me-if-she-does-anything-for-the-first-time-while-I'm-away request), and yes -- sure enough, Alice says "buh, buh" everything she picks up a book.  (Which is quite often, I should add -- the kid loves flipping through board books right now.)   Let's just hope this doesn't mean she's going to be in the humanities...  (Kidding!  Sheesh, lighten up...)  ;)  For the record, Alice has been saying "hi" for quite a while, though opinions vary on when it morphed from a happy-to-see-you coo to official first word.

The developmental blur

Alice is changing so fast, and every day her personality comes out more. She is very curious and inquisitive. She tries to figure out how things work, and is always willing to try new things. While not always successful, she has tried to put on her own shoes, tried to help build a block tower, and tried switching the balls from two separate ball toys. I get the feeling that she is always thinking "what happens if I try this," and "that didn't work, I'll try it a different way." Quite a little problem solver.

Of course, this all comes with some frustration...and a few mini-tantrums. When things really aren't going her way Alice will cry inconsolably, rejecting toy after toy that is offered to cheer up. Occasionally she will toss or slam toys parents bring to try and cheer her up.

It is probably fair to say her first word is "hi". It sounds more like "aye", but she responds when you say hi, and will offer an "aye" when you come to get her from her crib after a nap or when you enter a room.

She has a new way of showing excitement -- quickly stomping here feet up and down. When she is really excited or happy, she will add her usual "tssss" sound.

She and her big sister have a new game. It amounts to Lizzie sitting in the push-wagon and calling Alice until Alice pushes her down the hallway. Then Liz gets out, turns the wagon around, gets back in, and calls Alice to push her back down the hallway. It is quite a sight.

Have you ever pooped a barette?

'Nuff said.

Happy Birthday, Alice... I'm Sorry!

Alice turned one on September 24th.  We celebrated with family party at our house;  Alice celebrated by coming down with a terrible cold and feeling miserable for the subsequent week.  Poor dear.  But she was a trooper for her party.  Didn't eat cake, but nibbled some ice cream and loved playing outside with her cousins and big sister (who happily "helped" her open and play with her presents).

But as any parent knows, the real marker of baby's first birthday is a trip to the pediatrician for shots.   We went today -- just returned in fact.  The highlights, starting with the good:  Alice and Lizzie's new doctor seems great.  She's young, smart, friendly, and has a 15 month old of her own.  So that's good.  Alice got a gold star for baby-wellness.  She's now at the 60th percentile for height and weight (up from 50th), and quite strong, expressive, mellow, and mobile.  Nothing we didn't know, but it's always nice to get the nod.     Her recurring rash is almost certainly from diaper irritation (we've switched brands and it seems to have abated), and almost certainly NOT from food allergy.  So yay!  It's fine if Alice doesn't eat much these days -- also good, because she doesn't -- it's just a phase and the doc says not to worry about it one bit.  (We weren't particularly concerned, but again -- it's nice to hear that we're not simply neglectful.)

Now the bad:  FOUR shots (MMR, c'pox, pneumococcal, and flu).  Alice turned the most awful shot of crimson before finally letting out a horrific wail (again and again and again).  Those shots clearly hurt.  Then we were sent downstairs for a "quick finger prick" to test her iron levels and for lead (apparently standard here at 1 year).  We waited nearly 30 minutes to get in for the lab, before Alice's finger was pricked and "milked" for enough blood -- must have been at least 3 minutes of screaming baby and flustered lab tech spilling blood all over...  I was unimpressed.

Alice fell to sleep for her nap almost instantly, poor dear.  Knowing her, she'll wake up right as rain, happy and delightful, in a few hours.  What an amazing little baby she is.  Or rather *sniff* _toddler_.

Quickie update

Alice did her first clapping a few days ago, at the end of a game of "Arms up". Very cute. She is getting so much better at walking, and hardly crawls any more at all. She loves to pick stuff up and bring it to you. She is so proud and happy when she brings you a little toy and puts it in your hand. Again, very cute. Music and dancing continue to be sources of enjoyment for this little one. She'll dance to music on the TV, music from toys, etc. and she is good at dancing while standing up. The fridge farm is a big favorite. Again, very cute.

Verbal sounds are progressing. We've heard some ma-ma-ma, or muh-muh-muh sounds. Some ba-ba-ba, na-na-na, and of course der-der-der. Liz and Alice will have der-der-der conversations sometime. Raspberry sounds are popular these days too, and one can have a conversation a few minutes long with Alice using only raspberry sounds. Her other favorite is sort of a tsss sound.

We've seen a bit of stranger anxiety lately. At Grandma an Grandpa's last week the freezer repairmen came into the living room an Alice totally erupted in tears. But it passed as quickly as it came.

Alice and Lizzie are getting along better. Lizzie has a new "playhouse" in her room (its really a sheet tacked up in the closet door, plus some decorations courtesy of Mom). Anyway, their favorite game is to take turns walking through the sheet into and out of the playhouse. Its a game that Alice started by just walking through the sheet. Then she would fall down, start laughing and the turn around and go back through. She really is a silly little one.

On a more serious note, Alice is experimenting with dropping a nap. Dad is not particularly fond of this development. It has become routine for her to take an hour to fall asleep for naps, and sometimes not at all. Part of the routine involves her "experiments with gravity." That is, dropping her pacifier and CCBB out of her crib. Side note: experiments with gravity also includes tossing much food off the side of her high-chair tray. Back to the point, it can be particularly frustrating to listen to her protest cries and cries for her CCBB and pacifier, and it can be particularly disruptive to go up to her room however many times to give them back. So, there has been some nap FAIL and some nap frustration. I remember going through some of this with Liz, and I recall it took a few good sessions of crying and ignoring for the situation to correct itself. Alice certainly seems to think that dropping her bunny will cause Mommy or Daddy to appear. SO, while Mommy is away on a trip, we are experimenting with some tough love...so far so good. The goal is for her to get the message that naptime is for napping. We'll see how it plays out, but for now, she needs two naps because she doesn't sleep that long at night.

Bye, I promise some pics and movies soon!

Arms up!

Alice continues to amaze and delight. She's such a little gem -- her personality comes through more every day, and boy is she SILLY! Lots of fun...

New tricks: Alice's main drive continues to be gross motor development. She's an adept walker now, with little difficulty stopping to bend over, pick something up, and continue on her way. She's especially keen on carrying this week -- as many little lovies as she can - her coco bear bunny (the CCBB, named by Lizzie, quite clearly); a little blue matchbox car; empty seltzer cans; cups, bowls and spoons from the kid drawer (which she regularly pillages).

Alice is a climber. She'll go up pretty much anything -- over the edge of our quite-deep bathtub, onto the armchairs if the footstool is close enough to give her a foothold -- up the stairs in a moment -- or her favorite game: up and over me, Lizzie, or her daddy. We've decided the best description for Alice is "scrappy." She's rough and tumble, smiles all the way.

Perhaps most exciting have been Alice's recent forays into language. No clear words yet, but her signing is clearly intentional. She has "all done", "hello", "bye bye" and "milk", but they all look basically the same: one or two hands in the ASL "milk" hand squeezing gesture. She knows exactly what she's doing -- if I say "Alice, would you like some milk?" she immediately smiles and signs "milk." And if I say "bye bye," she'll sign right back. Alice loves copycat, too -- "Arms up" is a favorite family game, and Alice has even started clapping when we clap for her. Very endearing. And while Alice has yet to use any spoken words, her babble is pretty impressive. She makes all sorts of syllables, coos, and giggles with a conversational cadence. Again, very cute.

I think it's safe to say Alice is thriving. :)

It's Official: Alice is bipedal!

Alice took her first official-undeniable-superbly-walking steps tonight: 10 in all, quite of her own accord, during the bedtime story. She pulled up to hold onto Lizzie's bed (not unusual), then turned to face Lizzie (not unusual), giggled (not unusual), then marched the three or so feet to Lizzie to grab Coco bear (remarkable!). Lizzie is very proud to have been the catalyst to it all. When we started clapping and yay-ing at Alice's feat, Lizzie exclaimed "It's a party!" and gave Alice a big hug. (awwwwww.)

There have been big changes in Alice's life -- all of ours for that matter -- since we last posted. In short: we moved from VA to NH in June, moved into our new place at the beginning of July, and have been settling in ever since. Lizzie, at 2+ is quite aware of all of the changes; Alice is not. (Hallelujah!) So her past two months since the move have been amazingly consistent, despite the commotion. (Or so I'd like to think, anyway.)

Let's see if I can recap the big changes... Alice was an able crawler before we left VA, but became increasingly swift and fearless each week. Her crawl is marvelous -- sort of like a charging rhinoceros (because I have so much experience with those...) By 9 months she was pulling up frequently, and could even squat herself back down (most of the time). By 10 months she was cruising, but it's really not until last week that she really got into it. She mastered stairs just last week, too, while staying with O'Ma and O'Pa. She's FAST. (Read: dangerous -- we have an open stairwell with NO banisters! Think we'll have to get on that stat.) Tonight she walked. 10.5 months, almost to the day. I do so hope she continues to crawl often -- it's so much fun to watch her charge around -- but I'm not holding my breath. This is one determined, mobile, kid.

Language is developing, too, but we have yet to hear a recognizable word. Alice does, however, copy sounds exceptionally well, and has a great time blowing raspberries at dinnertime. Good girl, but please remember to swallow first. (And ask Lizzie to do the same.)

Fine motor skills are on target -- pincer grasp has been mastered, and Alice hasn't let a spoon into her mouth for months. She has to do it herself. Independence. Good stuff. Unless we really want her to eat quickly. Dining efficiency is not high on her priority list.

Two more things Alice likes: the Kelty backpack, in which she has been spending more and more time as we explore our new surroundings (beware her ability to reach (and eat) leaves from low branches!), and the bathtub. She's a NUT in the water -- with as much as 2-3 inches of water in the tub, she'll just plop backward, grin wildly, and start thrashing her legs in a double frog kick. Amazing. She doesn't mind getting her face wet in the least, and often does. Just a few days ago, Alice started doing the same thing on her tummy -- pushed up on her forearms just enough to keep her face out of the water. Between the two positions, she's literally flopping back and forth in the tub. It's quite something!

And one thing Alice doesn't like: the car. The poor dear has decided she'd really rather NOT be in the car, thank you. This development is particularly problematic given her younger-sibiling-in-the-country status, which means she'll have to spend a bit of time this fall helping Daddy pick up Lizzie from pre-school. *sigh* That's what we call a lose lose lose proposition.

Alrighty. There's more, no doubt, but that's it for now. I'm off to bed. Among Alice's many endearing traits is her enthusiasm for watching the sun rise. At the moment, here in NH, that's about 5 on the dot. (And this is a marked IMPROVEMENT of her 4:25am days....)

Goodnight!