All Miriam all the time
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Originally uploaded by KatletI was away last weekend (at a kick-ass writer's retreat, which is another post I promise to get up in another month or so) and when I got back, Miriam seemed to have gotten several months older.
Part of it is that she (finally!) started walking. She's been taking a step or two for a couple of months, but pretty much always refusing to do more than that. I'll admit to being a big dork about it. I thought I wasn't going to be one of *those* parents, who compared their kids, but I totally was. Tai walked before he was a year old, so by the time the year and a half mark was approaching and Miriam wasn't walking? I was starting to freak out. She still prefers to be carried most of the time, and once in a while will crawl to get somewhere fast, she's starting to walk pretty regularly. I took her to Payless last week and got her a pair of 'real' shoes, and I think that helped her.
She's also getting more and more words - "hungee" (hungry), "moy" (more), done, apple, "nana" (banana), puffs, eat, water, no, "da"(yes), potty, pee, poop, Foxy (our new dog), "Doh-Doh" (Cocoa), doggie, duck, quack, seal, Ernie, "tee dee" (TV), baby, bah-bee (Airplane), Ba, Mommy, Daddy, "Dai" (Tai), Nina, hot, coffee, "Doke" (coke), "whee" (swing, and also whee), "cok" (car), "dok" (truck), bus, wreath, bird.
I'm sure there's more, but that's all I can think of at the moment.
She still loves Tai more than just about anything. When she's with Tom and Tai, though, it becomes clear that she also loves to torment Tai. It's only fair, because he does the same thing. She loves to watch him do just about anything.
When we go to the playground she's pretty much stopped eating sand and fills buckets instead. She likes to climb, go down slides (usually with me or Tai), and swing on the baby swings or the tire swing.
She's more cautious than Tai was, and also more considering of people. He was pretty ready to flirt with whoever, but she really sizes people up before she's willing to flirt. She's also having more separation anxiety than he did. For a few weeks now she's been screaming for several minutes when I leave. (Even when I 'leave' for the bathroom.) Fortunately, as of Thursday, that might be dying down a tad.
She's not so much on the eating thing. She sometimes likes to eat apples but lately she's been chewing them up and spitting them out. She likes bananas, baby-brekkie pouches (fruit, yogurt, brown rice purees), noodles, beans and rice, sometimes cheese, sometimes yogurt, sometimes cereal, puffs, yogurt drops, sometimes lentil soup... She always wants some of my coffee, Coke or beer. She's still nursing, and the doctor wasn't worried about her weight... I just wish she'd eat more like Tai did. Part of the problem is that she's also got less teeth than Tai. She's got four on top and two on the bottom - and two more on top just popped through this week.
She is so sweet, though. She'll give me kisses and hugs pretty much whenever I ask. When she plays with her dollhouse or Little People animals they are always kissing. (And also dancing and falling down - guess who taught her that last one.) Her favorite toys are still the doll house and her picnic basket (complete with loud, battery operated, inane singing). She is always interested in going through my wallet - she loves taking things out and putting them back in. She likes balls, blocks and cars, but not as much as Tai did.
She can wash her hands, loves the bath and the little wading pool and playing in the water from the hose when I water our flowers. She notices what she's wearing, and has already picked out her clothes a couple of times (once ending up wearing a onesie, dress, jacket and pants, and once wearing her rashguard over her shirt). Tai still doesn't much care what he's wearing. I hate to be gender stereotypical, but somehow I seem to have ended up with a girly-girl and a boy's boy.
Now that she's walking, I'm planning on taking her to some of Rec Center classes like Tai took. Art and Nature experiences and maybe music. Something to get us out of the house and meeting other kids her age. She's usually stuck playing with older kids - sometimes she's like their doll...
We have gone to story time at the neighborhood bookstore twice. She seemed to like it. She loves hearing stories - and she also loves reading books to herself, something Tai didn't really do until he could actually read.
She also sings to herself - both when she's falling asleep on my back in the Ergo and in the car, and when she's having fun. She loves 'Old McDonald' which she calls 'e-i-e-i-o' (like Tai did) and 'Twinkle twinkle'. I need to teach her more songs - like Bingo and Itsy Bitsy Spider.
And, this is totally lame bragging - but I love her big eyes, long eyelashes, dimple and the tiny curls of hair at the back of her neck.