Miriam is 1
One of Miriam'a favorite storage places is my bra. In particular she enjoys eating half of something, making the other half nice and drooly and mushy, then pulling back my shirt and storing the uneaten half in my cleavage.
Miriam enjoys eating. Everything. In particular fruits, vegetables, meatballs, soups, salads, eggs, deli slices, bread, cheese, yogurt, and other things that she has not eaten yet but really, really wants to try. She makes valiant attempts to steal food from our hands, plates, the countertop, the dog bowl when she is at my mom's, and sample trays at Whole Foods. She is so far lukewarm to ice-cream.
She also likes eating cardboard, paper towels, toilet paper, shoes (especially the velcro straps), books (her favorite food) her own toes, diapers, the plastic box from wipes, plastic bags, computer cords, dirt, wood chips and sand at the playground, the metal bar on the shopping cart at the super market, my iphone, a silicone ice cube tray that makes the letter Pi, and possibly a few other things I don't know about.
She enjoys feeding other people, in particular those who are holding her. She offers them whatever food she has in her hand, and if they don't cooperate she pries their mouths open with a very strong little finger, and shoves the food in. She does not always let it go, just puts her whole hand in, wiggles it around a little, then pulls it out and continues to eat her food.
Lucky for her, somebody is holding her pretty much every minute of the day, with minor exceptions during the day, and major exceptions during the night. She does not like when she is not being held, though that is definitely starting to change now that she is a bit older. When she is held, she "drives" her holder by leaning in the direction she wants the person to walk, pointing with her finger, and saying "DE!". If the grown-up fails to cooperate, she insists that they try harder and usually gets people to cooperate. She can crawl very fast, just about anywhere inside and outside, and does not seem to want to walk yet, even while held by her hands, but she cruises a lot, and stands up at whichever place she crawls to. She enjoys climbing stairs, but wants to walk down instead of going backwards carefully, which she could do right away without being taught.
She loves dogs. When she is outside she points at every dog she sees and says "DE!"She likes it when dogs lick her face and hands. She likes humans too. She loves being the center of attention and receiving smiles, and giving them back. Whe tries to catch the eye of passer-by's when we walk down the street and the store and exchange smiles. She shamelessly flirts with attractive men by smiling, winking and aaaaahhh-ing at them, and then hiding her face and peeking over her shoulder. Turns out she and I have fairly similar tastes.
She "dances" whenever she hears music by raising her arms and twirling her hands in front of her. She also likes clapping her hands together, clapping her feet together, clapping one hand with one foot, and clapping other people's hands. She enjoys drumming on anything that will make a sound. When her diaper gets changed she knows that she will get belly kisses, and also sticks her feet into my mouth to get them kissed. Her toes still look like fat little sausages, but they are getting longer. When she cries hard, her littlest toes stick out to the sides and quiver a little.
Other than "DE" Miriams says many other things, but still in baby language. When she is happy, she sings "guti-guti-guti-guteeee!", when she thinks something is bullshit, she says "ge'e", she has a special sound that sounds a lot like whale song, and other ones that are impossible to replicate with letters. All of it, of course, is completely irresistible. She has gotten a lot better of asking for specific things like water or food, by explaining with "words" and pointing. She is very good at being joyous. She loves to escape diaper changes, and dive, naked, into the blankets on our bed, singing a battle song, and diving up and down in the sea of blankets and pillows like a true moomin.
Miriam likes toys of all kinds, but does not play with anything for too long. She likes containers with water, and puts her hands into cups of tea and water. I am looking forward to little inflatable pools in back yards soon. She might not like them because she hats bath tubs and only takes showers, which she loves. One of us goes in the shower and the other hands her over to them. She loves waiting in the bathroom to go into the shower because she gets to admire herself in the mirror, and to open the cabinet and chuck everything that is is in the cabinet on the floor. Miriam likes to test gravity, which is extremely useful because we always have somebody around who is making sure gravity is still working. She tests is all day long with all kings of objects, edibles, dishes, foods, and clothes. We feel safer knowing she working restlessly to ensure our safety on this unpredictable planet.
There is a lot more to say, of course, but I should go get a bit of sleep before the wakes up for the first party of the night, because she is not a very good sleeper. On a good night she'll get up twice, on a bad night - 4-6 times, and often she will not go back to sleep right away after having a bit of milk, but will stay up for more than an hour, talking and singing and trying to play with us. It's awesome. We have many excellent books that teach people how to make their children stay asleep, but we must be too stupid for them, because nothing seems to work. Of course to be entirely honest we have not tried any techniques too hard because I at least, think that it is unlikely that this will go on forever, and for now we are managing. And for now, getting up, picking up a warm little critter and rocking slowly in the dark room with a fuzzy little head tucked between my head and shoulder kind of makes me think about the reason for doing this whole thing in the first place, and also about the meaning of life, and being a part of the universe, making love that goes out into space and passing it on to my offspring, so we'll probably keep doing it.
Miriam enjoys eating. Everything. In particular fruits, vegetables, meatballs, soups, salads, eggs, deli slices, bread, cheese, yogurt, and other things that she has not eaten yet but really, really wants to try. She makes valiant attempts to steal food from our hands, plates, the countertop, the dog bowl when she is at my mom's, and sample trays at Whole Foods. She is so far lukewarm to ice-cream.
She also likes eating cardboard, paper towels, toilet paper, shoes (especially the velcro straps), books (her favorite food) her own toes, diapers, the plastic box from wipes, plastic bags, computer cords, dirt, wood chips and sand at the playground, the metal bar on the shopping cart at the super market, my iphone, a silicone ice cube tray that makes the letter Pi, and possibly a few other things I don't know about.
She enjoys feeding other people, in particular those who are holding her. She offers them whatever food she has in her hand, and if they don't cooperate she pries their mouths open with a very strong little finger, and shoves the food in. She does not always let it go, just puts her whole hand in, wiggles it around a little, then pulls it out and continues to eat her food.
Lucky for her, somebody is holding her pretty much every minute of the day, with minor exceptions during the day, and major exceptions during the night. She does not like when she is not being held, though that is definitely starting to change now that she is a bit older. When she is held, she "drives" her holder by leaning in the direction she wants the person to walk, pointing with her finger, and saying "DE!". If the grown-up fails to cooperate, she insists that they try harder and usually gets people to cooperate. She can crawl very fast, just about anywhere inside and outside, and does not seem to want to walk yet, even while held by her hands, but she cruises a lot, and stands up at whichever place she crawls to. She enjoys climbing stairs, but wants to walk down instead of going backwards carefully, which she could do right away without being taught.
She loves dogs. When she is outside she points at every dog she sees and says "DE!"She likes it when dogs lick her face and hands. She likes humans too. She loves being the center of attention and receiving smiles, and giving them back. Whe tries to catch the eye of passer-by's when we walk down the street and the store and exchange smiles. She shamelessly flirts with attractive men by smiling, winking and aaaaahhh-ing at them, and then hiding her face and peeking over her shoulder. Turns out she and I have fairly similar tastes.
She "dances" whenever she hears music by raising her arms and twirling her hands in front of her. She also likes clapping her hands together, clapping her feet together, clapping one hand with one foot, and clapping other people's hands. She enjoys drumming on anything that will make a sound. When her diaper gets changed she knows that she will get belly kisses, and also sticks her feet into my mouth to get them kissed. Her toes still look like fat little sausages, but they are getting longer. When she cries hard, her littlest toes stick out to the sides and quiver a little.
Other than "DE" Miriams says many other things, but still in baby language. When she is happy, she sings "guti-guti-guti-guteeee!", when she thinks something is bullshit, she says "ge'e", she has a special sound that sounds a lot like whale song, and other ones that are impossible to replicate with letters. All of it, of course, is completely irresistible. She has gotten a lot better of asking for specific things like water or food, by explaining with "words" and pointing. She is very good at being joyous. She loves to escape diaper changes, and dive, naked, into the blankets on our bed, singing a battle song, and diving up and down in the sea of blankets and pillows like a true moomin.
Miriam likes toys of all kinds, but does not play with anything for too long. She likes containers with water, and puts her hands into cups of tea and water. I am looking forward to little inflatable pools in back yards soon. She might not like them because she hats bath tubs and only takes showers, which she loves. One of us goes in the shower and the other hands her over to them. She loves waiting in the bathroom to go into the shower because she gets to admire herself in the mirror, and to open the cabinet and chuck everything that is is in the cabinet on the floor. Miriam likes to test gravity, which is extremely useful because we always have somebody around who is making sure gravity is still working. She tests is all day long with all kings of objects, edibles, dishes, foods, and clothes. We feel safer knowing she working restlessly to ensure our safety on this unpredictable planet.
There is a lot more to say, of course, but I should go get a bit of sleep before the wakes up for the first party of the night, because she is not a very good sleeper. On a good night she'll get up twice, on a bad night - 4-6 times, and often she will not go back to sleep right away after having a bit of milk, but will stay up for more than an hour, talking and singing and trying to play with us. It's awesome. We have many excellent books that teach people how to make their children stay asleep, but we must be too stupid for them, because nothing seems to work. Of course to be entirely honest we have not tried any techniques too hard because I at least, think that it is unlikely that this will go on forever, and for now we are managing. And for now, getting up, picking up a warm little critter and rocking slowly in the dark room with a fuzzy little head tucked between my head and shoulder kind of makes me think about the reason for doing this whole thing in the first place, and also about the meaning of life, and being a part of the universe, making love that goes out into space and passing it on to my offspring, so we'll probably keep doing it.