Miranda is 10 Months 2015

 

Skills: She says Mama sometimes to me, and sometimes says Dada to Kevin. She says "J" sometimes in the general direction of James. She points to stuff she wants. She claps with delight or to music.

She understands "no" but just laughs and shakes her head when you try to tell her she can't do something. We're in so much trouble.

The face she makes when you say "no!"

She can stand and balance, cruise from furniture to furniture, and occasionally dances on the spot, and has attempted a step forward, but she hasn't successfully walked yet. But we're sure it's going to happen soon!

Standing and bopping.

Sleep: She's still sleeping through the night but waking up a bit earlier.  She's been sleeping from 7:40 pm to 7 - 8 am. I am definitely worried about what will happen during daylight savings time.

We still hold her for naps, but to be fair we haven't even tried to put her down in ages. Because she defeated us.

 

Shaking her finger "no" while sleeping!

Food: She eats everything. If you try to give her something you wouldn't personality eat, she calls you out on it by spitting it out and pointing at what you're eating. But if it's delicious enough for you, it's delicious enough for her. Her favorites are probably bread, mac n' cheese, and beef.

I eat cheerios and judgment for breakfast.

Growth: She basically has 4 teeth now. I can see all 4, though the most recent one is about halfway out. She's in 12 month clothing.

 

Dada brushing her 4 teeth.

Personality: Oh she's the best. Feisty and determined. She has her own little rebel sense of humor, and giggles all the time. She gets her way... or else.

 

Just microwaving some veggies and ...

... grilling up some chicken.

Kevin is obsessively in love. Me too.

Bedtime snuggles

Naptime selfie.

James is her best friend. It's them against the world. Even when she tortures him, which is several times a day every day, he's very patient with her.

Oh I just took your seat. Deal with it.

Playing in their room.

Hugs.

You're in my way!

Making sandwiches.

When James tries to go to the potty alone.

Little late-night cooking.

It's a ghost!

No it's James!

Oh, okay... here then.

This happened.

He loves her!

And she loves him!

If you're still here, I lost all the Miranda pregnancy weight, though I'm still rocking about 6 pounds of James pregnancy weight still.

Miranda is 9 Months 2015

9-month old speed-crawler

Sleep: Around New Years, we started sleep training again... I couldn't bear to let her cry for more than a few minutes so I moved into the kids room temporarily, but as a few nights ago, I'm back in my own room, sleeping sans baby (most of the night). Victory?

We still hold her for naps, but now I rock her to sleep in the glider since I don't nurse or walk-bounce her.

Food: I have been trying to wean her because she has 3.5 teeth: the two on the bottom, one and half on top. She's been somewhat cooperative until recently when she went on formula-strike.  This is because she's really smart now. Seriously. She's also pretty confident at this point that if I'm eating something different than her, it's better than what she has. The fact that she eats so much food is pretty helpful though. I feel like formula is more of a beverage for her than her main meal.

She looks most like herself when she makes these expressions.

Growth: She's an expert crawler now, though she has her own peculiar style with her right leg sticking out to the side. But she's really fast and can be to the exact spot she's not allowed to be in just a second. She sat up for the first time when we tried to sleep train her on December 30-31. She pulls up and tries to balance standing sometimes. We think she might try to walk soon.

She is in size 6-9 months, 9 months, 9-12 months. I sometimes squeeze her into 6 month pajamas because we don't have the right size and are too lazy to buy them. As mentioned above, she has 3.5 teeth.

Her height versus James's height.

Personality: Miranda has a great personality. Everybody loves her. She does whatever she wants all of the time and gets everything she wants, which suits her. On the rare occasion that she's unhappy--this only happens several times an hour--she cries until whoever is closest to her cycles through the several hundred things that might make her happy. Then she eats.

She has 1 real word and a few made up ones: 1) Dada- refers to Kevin, and possibly also me, the lesser "dada"; 2) Bwah- made up word meaning "I don't like that"; 3) Num-num-num- means "this is yummy"; 4) Ah-tah- Made-up word meaning "Awesome sauce" I think; 5) Rrrrrrrrr- Look ma, I can roll my rr's.

Making art

Me: Miranda and I have a strange relationship right now. She has what we call "mama-itis" which means that if enter the room I have to stay in the room and hold her. But she actually favors Kevin. Unless she's in a bad mood, then she'd rather make me suffer. She's teething, and I'm trying to wean her, and sleep train her, so she has every reason to kind of hate me. But I love her. So much!

Smooshy faces

She's sneaking up from behind me

Kevin: Miranda and I are in the midst of a honeymoon phase that I expect to last until she moves out or her mother places her on the Orphan Train. Things Miranda and I do to bond include my holding her, my pretending to eat various parts of her anatomy, and my feeding her bottles while I stand in front of a mostly sunny window. She also enjoys almost drowning in the bath.

The romance is real

James: Oh they are hilarious! They're not really the right ages to play together yet, but they don't care. They think they're friends.

And they share a room now for real! Over a year after I redecorated the nursery so they could share, but better late than never. The move in was bumpy at first because Miranda cried a lot and James would get up and come to tell us "she was hurt." I slept on an air mattress in the room for a while while she learned to sleep through the night and he learned to stay quiet and not wake her. But now it's going great!

Playing hungry hippos together

Teaching her to use a sippy cup (in progress)

"Sharing" Legos

Sibling love attack!

   

In their room together.

One more.

• Miranda at 8 months old 2014
• James at 9 months old 2012

Miranda is 8 Months 2014

Eight months!

Sleep: Her sleeping is the same as last month: we hold her for all her naps. I put her down at 7:30, she's usually up by 8:30 pm, and again at 10:30 pm. She sleeps in the bed with us, and snacks all night long. We haven't even tried to move her to the crib because we're traveling at Christmas. One thing I love is that when I burp her at night, she pats me on the back too. And when she gets tired she rests her head on my shoulder. So sweet.

Perfect when she's sleeping

Food: She nurses, drinks formula, and eats everything. She prefers finger foods and anything I'm eating.

Eating a toy camel

Growth: She's outgrew 6-month clothing. She wears sizes 6-9 months, 9 months, and 9-12 months. I think she's 18 or 19 pounds.

She rolls away but it doesn't seem like she does it on purpose. She sits safely without falling over 90% of the time. She's still in the pre-crawling stage where she gets in crawling position and then either lays down or sits back up. But between scooting and half crawls, she goes quite a distance from wherever you sit her down.

Slithering, beginning of the month

Pre-crawling, end of the month

She can stand leaning for a few seconds on her own, and she pulls up on us but not on furniture. She dances even though she can't stand or walk!

Cucumber Stand

First time pulling up on her own! 12/2/14

Her two bottom teeth came out!

Personality: She's a troublemaker. She prefers James's toys, and anything off limits, especially computer cords. She gets her way 100% of the time. She plays innocent in public.

She's not that grumpy anymore unless her naps are interrupted.  She takes a third nap still but she's thinking about switching to two.

Around 5 pm her mama-preference kicks in. Kevin can talk her out of it by feeding her a lot of food.

She only says "dada" but she says it regularly. Here's a conversation I have with her every day:

M: A-dada?
E: Mama! Ma-Ma! Ma! Ma!
M: Dada. Dada. Dada.

She continues to hate sitting in the bath (we have to stand her up like she's taking a shower). Kevin has called her out on how unreasonable she's being but she's unmoved.

Ribbon destruction, like bra-burning but more precocious

Me: The not-sleeping-through the night thing is really getting to me. My personality does not sparkle like it used to.

Sparkle!

Kevin: Kevin is eager to move Miranda to her crib but like me, he's worried about going through sleep-training. She makes Kevin stand while feeding her formula, and he does because he's wrapped around her finger.

She makes him stand when he feeds her. Just because.

James: James loves school, going out anywhere with us, and his babysitter. He can now spell many more words than I have bothered to keep track of- James, mama, dada, Miranda, nana, Grandma, and lost of others. He's been really acting out lately. I think it's a bad combination of not sleeping enough, not going outside enough to burn off energy because it's winter, and general Miranda jealousy.

Competitors for Duplo (toddler) Legos


Also best friends and musical sensation

Bye-bye.

• Miranda at 7 months
• James at 8 months

Miranda is 7 Months 2014

Seven months!

Sleep: Her sleeping has gotten even worse. I hold her for all her naps. We used to be able to put her down from 7:30-11 pm but she doesn't always tolerate that. She sleeps in the bed with us, we don't even pretend to put her in the co-sleeper crib anymore, and disassembled it. We're planning on maybe moving her to the crib after Thanksgiving, cutting night feedings, and sleep training her. We'll see!

Food: She nurses, drinks formula, and eats baby food every day now. She likes: oatmeal. apple sauce, bananas, yogurt, carrots, sweet potatoes, squash, and she kind of hates green beans but still eats it because it's better than just milk all the time. She sort of like apples in the little mesh baby feeder.

What I do when I have to cook. She doesn't feed herself, but
entertains herself trying for a while.

Growth: She's still in 6-month clothing. I think she's 18 or 19 pounds.

She's still not interested in rolling. When James was this age, he'd roll anywhere he wanted to go. She sits somewhat dubiously and we put little pillows behind her in case she falls. On her 7-month birthday she started scooting forward from her sitting position to get to toys (usually James's toys that she shouldn't have). We have nicknamed her "Scooty."

She still likes us to hold her so that she can stand, and she can stand leaning for a few seconds on her own.

She's teething so she spends all day chewing on things. The two bottom teeth have made holes in her gums but so far the teeth can't be seen.

Personality: She's very inquisitive. She likes going through her little toy box and struggles to reach for James's toys, but also things that belong to me and Kevin like our phones, laptops and remotes.

She's also pretty grumpy except for right after her first two naps of the day. She takes a third nap still but she's never really that cheerful after that one. Although in her defense, she's easy to soothe- she just wants to be held constantly.

She's been having some stranger-danger reactions to our friends and to the babysitter but usually gets over it shortly. What she doesn't get over is her mama-preference. If she's with anyone else and I walk out of the room, or in and out, she gets really upset.

Kissing her favorite baby.


Going through her toy box.

Catching up on a little reading.

Likes:
Eating everything
Me, Kevin, James
Putting everything in her mouth
Looking at herself in the mirror
Having her picture taken
Sleeping in our bed snuggled with me
Her favorite song is "Do your ears hang low?" Runner up: Twinkle, Twinkle

Doesn't hate:
Walks

Hates:
Sitting in the bath (we have to stand her up like she's taking a shower)
Driving in the car in the daytime
Being ignored, like at all, even for a second

Me: I'm back to pre-Miranda weight! Hooray! But I'm not back to pre-James weight, which was itself not so great. So 5 more pounds to pre-James weight, then I set my new goal. I think breastfeeding is actually helping, though I was dubious for a long time. I think the trick for me was to keep nursing past the 6-month mark. Work was crazy again this month, though it was really helpful to have a babysitter. I was hoping my work would slow down a bit after our big hearing but it has not.

I still like to rock my maternity wear though because it's comfy.

Kevin: Kevin didn't volunteer anything this month but he's totally wrapped around Miranda's little finger. That's probably what he's doing right now actually, holding her while she sleeps or something similar. The other day he was smooching her, and I walked into the room. She whipped around comically like she'd been caught red-handed.

Hugs

The look of love.

James: James and Miranda are starting to experience a little tension over sharing or not sharing toys. He's really in love with her though, and seems convinced that she's some kind of pet of his, so that smooths over their difficulties. Plus James has a lot going on in his world! With school and the babysitter, he has an active social calendar. He's teaching himself to spell all sorts of words (he already spells James, mama, and dada on his own), counting past ten (they might be doing that at school?), addition, and reading the clock. Seriously, these are James-led activities. I am not tiger-momming him, I swear. I am trying to get him to understand a little Spanish now but it's slow going. The phrases he understands are: me gusta, muy bien, por favor, de nada, ten cuidado, ven.

Miranda stealing Legos

Hi, we're cute.

James and his mini-me.

Ta-da!

• Miranda at 6 Months
• James at 7 months