Miranda is a Year Old! 2015

The perfect little Miss Miranda

I'm kind of sad my baby is already a year old. She is the most beautiful, smart, sweet little baby we could ever have hoped for. We love her little raspy laugh, seeing her dance, hearing her say tickle-tickle-tickle, and have her give us "kisses" by smacking her tongue against her lips. Miranda, your dada and I are so in love with you that it's a little ridiculous!

She's in charge of the sticker this month.

Growth- Miranda had her 1-year doctor's appointment yesterday! Her measurements were 31.5 inches tall, and 22 pounds and 8 ounces. She's wearing 12 months pants (or he would if we had any) and 12-18 month and 18 month shirts.  She has 4 adorable teeth that she chews and smiles with.

Cute smile!

Eating- She just came off formula (hurray!) and she can, and does, to eat everything. She loves meat and sweet things, especially.  She feeds herself finger foods and has co-opted her brothers sippy cups for extra water and milk.

Her passion for food mirrors mine.

Sleep- If James doesn't disturb her, Miranda sleeps through the night from 8:00 p.m to 8:00 a.m. (2 more hours than her brother used to sleep at night at this age). She takes two naps a day in her crib, by herself, one 45 minute nap, and one 45-120 minute nap, depending on how much she slept the night before. 

Can you handle the cuteness? I cannot. 

Moving- She's been walking since 10 months, and within a few days she was running and carrying heavy toys with her. She had a little trouble at the park at first because she was still too little to do anything besides eat the wood chips, but she's gotten a little more comfortable with the concept and will run around for a little while before sitting down with Dada to enjoy the sights.

Running at the park

 

Enjoying the swing (sort of)

Language/ Social- She says, "dada," "mama" (though I rarely hear this one lately), "tickle-tickle-tickle," and "go!" She makes kissy noises to communicate love or playfulness, claps and dances when she likes a song, and points to people she knows because she thinks it's funny. She shakes her head no and yes, and when she does the latter she looks like Barbara Eden in a "I Dream of Jeannie." She scribbles on a little etch-a-sketch, and sometimes she steals the milk bottle to "paint" the coffee table.

Chilling with her etch-a-sketch masterpiece

She understands some things. She gets a book at night time when we ask her to. She understands, "no," but chooses to ignore us. Except for this stubborn streak and her HATRED of driving places, she's a pretty easy baby on the whole.

Sweet and innocent...

I would describe her personality as "purposefully mischievous." She thinks it's funny to do little mean things. This aligns pretty well with her father's sense of humor, though his is more witty, and hers is, so far, more slapstick.

Example: Pulling her sleeping brother's ear.

Fairy on the move! Watch out!

• Miranda at 11 Months, March 2014
• James at a Year Old, April 2012

Miranda is 6 Months! 2014

Six months!

I have been looking forward to 6 months because this is when I remembered James "getting better," by which I mean sitting a little and playing by himself a little. She's not exactly sitting yet. She still falls over almost immediately unless you're propping her.

She can roll over and she did it at the beginning of the month at 5.5 months, but she chooses not to. She said "dada" at 5.5 mark too, although the jury is still out on whether or not she's talking about Kevin (we're leaning yes). She jumperoos for 5-10 minute stretches, and sometimes plays in the baby gym for that long if you put her in it when she's just woken up, but the rest of the day we must hold her.

Oh hi.

Cracks herself up!

Jump-jump-jump!

How cute is this? Kevin buttoning her little sweater.

Sleep: Her sleeping has gotten worse. I hold her for all her naps and we can only put her down from 7:30-11 pm but she stopped even tolerating that, so we had to Ferberize her into sleeping by herself for just those 3 hours. The rest of the night she sleeps with us. She does not sleep through the night yet.

Food: Her pediatricians keep insisting she doesn't need food because she's nursing and gaining weight, but Miranda feels differently about it. She tries to snatch food from us, and when we feed her she freaks out because we're not shoveling it in fast enough. It's actually pretty stressful so we don't feed her food too often.

Trying to eat the spoon

Trying to figure out if she can steal the Cuban sandwich I made Kevin

Growth: She's in 6-month clothing. Her check-up is next week but I think she's like 19 pounds.

She rolled over a few times, but stopped doing it. She tries to chat and says dada. She can stand leaning, but she's still pretty bad at sitting. She can kind of high-five.

Standing

Personality: She is indomitable! She will rule her little universe now and always. She hates: being put down, loud noises, and green beans. She loves: being held, kisses, jumping in people's laps, dada, mama, James, the new baby sitter Sierra, oatmeal, apple sauce, chewing on toys.

Who me?

Meow

Me: This month has been the hardest month yet for me. I've been busier than I've ever been at this job, Kevin's been traveling a lot, I'm surprisingly still nursing, Miranda is still not sleeping through the night and actually sleeping worse. The good thing was that due to my stress I finally bit the bullet and found a mother's helper/babysitter for a couple of hours on the days that Kevin's not working from home.

Kevin: She reaches for stuff, sits if you hold her, she drinks from a bottle, she eats food. She says "dada," and prefers dada. She has a babysitter!

Loves Dada!

James: James and Miranda are best friends. He hugs her every day and plays with her a little but loses interest kind of quickly. He likes stealing toys from her but he's very displeased when she grabs something of his. No one is surprised by this.

"Sharing" the kindle

Playing in the baby gym

Baby gym turned into tent with James's comforter.

Six months!

We're tired!

• Miranda at 5 Months
• James at 6 months

James's First Word? 2012

So James has been saying "ma-ma-ma-ma," for months, and recently started saying it with a bit of conviction, like he wasn't just making random noise, but meant something by it. Then yesterday at breakfast time, I thought he said the Spanish word for milk,  "leche," or maybe more of a failed try at it, "eche."  So I asked him,"leche,"?  Which I realize is sort of an unfair set up, but he said,"eche" again.  Wherein I ran into the bathroom where Kevin was attempting to have two seconds to himself while showering, and announced, "James said his first word! James said his first word! Well, sort of..."  This first word stuff is tricky.  

How did you know when your son or daughter said their first word for real?

James in February (9 months) loving his leche

James is 11 Months Old 2012!

Wow, James is almost a year old! How did that happen?  I mean don't get me wrong... it's been a lot of long days, but it's like Gretchen Rubin says, "The days are long but the years are short." So true.

James at 11 Months, March 20

Moving- He runs around the apartment like a crazy man. Full run. You turn around and he's zipped into the bedroom to admire himself in the mirror, or to the kitchen to look at my fridge picture-magnets. If you leave the bathroom door open, it takes him exactly two seconds to go in, open a drawer, and pull out my hairbrushes. If I let him be in his room for two seconds, he immediately starts yanking all the clothing out of his drawers, or EATING his books. Yes, his books look like they were attacked by starving mice. Teething has been hard for James.

Sleep- James is still sleeping through the night (mostly) and thanks to Daylight Savings, he now usually sleeps from 8:30 p.m to 6:30 a.m. Sadly, he still makes me hold him during all his naps which is a sad waste of precious recharge time.

About to grab my hair brushes, February 22nd

Eating- He eats anything you give him. Anything.  A short list of foods he's tried: beef, chicken, ham, turkey, egg, apple, banana, blue berry, cucumbers, tomatoes, peppers, potatoes, sweet potatoes, cheerios, oatmeal, pasta, rice, wheat bread. That's just off the top of my head. He's the least picky eater ever (so far).  Note, above, he eats books. More interestingly, he can now grab little bits of food with his hands and shove them in his mouth, although he's not terribly graceful about it. Sometimes he ends up licking the food off the back of his hand. He also actually sips liquid out of his sippy cup, though I've limited him to water because he likes to drool it out wherever he's dragged the sippy cup.

Eating Cheerios (making a funny chewing face), March 14

Licking the mango baby food, March 18

Growth- I'm not sure because we didn't have a doctor's appointment this week but he's been outgrowing a few items of clothing here and there.  He has 7 teeth, 4 on top and 3 on the bottom. He has 13 baby teeth to go!

Social- Oh boy. This is a mixed bag. He gives hugs and kisses sometimes, but it's not a daily occurrence. He shows the most affection when he "hides" behind you and you wonder out loud, "Where is James?" He run out and surprises you. He loves this game and finds it hilarious several times a day every day.  I think it's pretty great too.

On the other hand, he's learned to throw tantrums when the tiniest little thing frustrates him.  I didn't think that sort of thing happened until children were 2 and as it's impossible to reason with him I try to calm him down without necessarily giving him what he wants. That's not always possible though because if what he wants is to be picked up, it necessarily goes along with calming him.  In related news, my back is sore every single morning.

Oh and I'm not sure if this is good or bad, but when Grandma Kathy was here she taught him to shake his head no. So now when I tell him not to touch this or that, he shakes his head, and really his whole torso.

Getting a super awesome hug from James, March 2

He loves mirrors, maybe he needs some friends?, March 12

Language- Some days he says "mama" a lot. This isn't actually new to this month, but this month I became convinced that he meant something by it, if not precisely me. He either means me, milk, parent, or attend to me. I think he means something though. I've also started pointing at things more when I talk about them, so he points at stuff now too, though he points without any meaning behind it. He just randomly points. I try to respond to the pointing by telling him the name of stuff, but he doesn't actually care yet.

  

Close-up at the park, March 20