A year later, things are good

During the first 11 or so months of Carolina's life, when she had the hiccups it meant that we needed to get her to sleep IMMEDIATELY. That she was over-stimulated and needed a break. Around month 11 that changed to just being a bit overwhelmed, and sometimes just having hiccups. I've been so conditioned to act quickly when she starts that I have to remind myself when she's just gotten up from a nap that if she has hiccups, she just has hiccups.

She's talking more, and by talking I mean making more noises. There are some new ones and I can definitely tell when she means her father [dah dah or bah bah] and Dora [doh-dah]. She says "yum yum" when she's hungry and when she just feels like having that sound roll around her mouth. She still loves blueberries more than anything else, and has learned how to push food out of her mouth with her tongue so that I know when she's done eating because the last spoonful in is being shoved out. Sometimes she will get the food out of her mouth with her fingers and then give it to me. Fun stuff.

Her handprints are all over our computer monitor, I'm not sure her father has noticed since they have been there for a good few days and he's used it every night.

She's gotten used to having a babysitter come at least once a week, which is nice for me so that I feel less guilty. She's not crying when I leave. In fact, she pretty much ignored me this last time because she knows Hannah so well and was glad to see her. Phew!

Naps are still twice a day but sometimes the morning one gets pushed 30-40 minutes later or is only about 45 minutes. I'm beginning to look forward to the day there is only one nap. It's kind of a bummer since right now we can go out during "lunch time" to see people, and when it's one-nap-a-day that's when the nap will be. So mornings and late afternoon will be the new outing times.  I'm still wondering when her bedtime will be more like 8pm.

I realize that to someone without a baby, the following probably doesn't make much sense but for Carolina it's tried and true: If she is on a "late schedule", which means she either got up later or her morning nap is later than usual (and/or she slept over 2 hours), and then her afternoon is later (and/or she sleeps for over 1.5 hours), she still needs to be in bed around 7pm; no later than 7.30pm. One might think that because she's slept a lot and is on the 'late shift' that she could stay up later. But no, she really can't.

I was looking at photos from 2007 and noticed one where we are all at dinner in Vallarta with the families and our then-one-month-old niece is in her stroller napping at the dinner table. Mind you, dinner in Mexico is like 8pm or 9pm. My sister-in-law looks a bit stressed in the photos but mostly really good. It wasn't like that for us, meaning for me and Carolina. There is no way in hell I could have taken her out like that, even though in the beginning I was expecting I could. She just doesn't roll that way.

But I got to say, my kid is totally awesome when she's well rested. She's funny, happy, relaxed, and sweet.

She's even a bit clever, having figured out that if she cries -- especially in public -- I'm more likely to give her back whatever it is I just took away. I'm trying my best to be flexible about giving in, but there are some things that I just won't. Crocodile tears in public or not.

When Brasil was playing North Korea the other day in the World Cup, when North Korea scored Carolina was watching with me. She heard them say "Gooooooal!" and the voices got excited. She started to clap. It was really funny and cute. She was clapping that North Korea got a goal.  While walking down the street today with her in her stroller, there were two teenage boys in front of us listening to music. One of them started to clap a bit and slapping his hand on his leg. She started to clap with them. Again, super cute and made me laugh.

She still hasn't started to walk on her own yet, but she's getting close. She is a quick walker if we hold her hands and she sometimes "crawls" upright with one leg under her and the other going like she's going to stand up but then doesn't. I call it her 'crab walk'. ha!

Next week is her 12 month checkup, even though she'll be nearly 13 months. So update on her weight and length to come!

again, thank you, new york!

I am yet again glad to live in a large city with good public transportation, filled with otherwise friendly people. Carolina being entertained, even for a few, brief moments, is so very much appreciated by me. Especially on days when she's otherwise about to be at the end of her rope and we're 3 stops from home, it's lovely to have a complete stranger start to make faces, clap, wave or just make noises at her. Distract her from her teething pain or boredom or impending-sleep agitation. THANK YOU!!!!

She's really working on figuring out how to stand up from a dead sit and walk. She's cruising everywhere and she's gotten taller. Every time I realize she's gotten taller she's either standing under the kitchen table or next to the couch and I can see that her hands and head are now reaching higher and about to hit something that before was MUCH taller than she was.

Along with this growth, I believe, is the recent smattering of long naps. I keep waking her up early from her morning nap to go to a music class or some other thing we have. She gets at least an hour but she clearly could use some more. So I've been protecting her afternoon nap as much as I can.

I even left her with a babysitter twice this week. Two different women came over to babysit her. It went really well. The first two days I left her and she cried while I walked out the door. I just had to leave and make it quick. By the 3rd day, I was actually wishing I had the money for a sitter again since it was SO NICE to get out of the apartment and not have to worry about her being hungry, tired or entertained. Even though I was waiting in doctor's offices for appointments, but whatever.

Now, don't get me wrong. I do really enjoy traveling around with my little Monkey. In fact, she was great when we went in the boiling heat (because I thought that was a good idea for some reason) in her baby carrier to the Union Square Greenmarket this past wednesday. We got some SUPER tasty apple and lemon juice from the Red Jacket Orchards stand. I'm really looking forward to going back tomorrow to get the BIG liter bottle this time. Carolina enjoys waving and clapping at the stall owners and I like checking out the produce. Tomorrow it's supposed to downpour, so maybe not...

We're waiting for Papa to come home on Saturday night from his most recent business trip. Thankfully, she hasn't noticed that he's not come home during her bathtime and isn't there in the morning when she first wakes up after I change her diaper, like he usually is. So, she hasn't been complaining and we have been having a very good time indeed.

One of the local moms moved away yesterday which was a bummer since I liked her a lot and her son and Carolina are the same age by about a week, have been 'friends' since they were about 5 months old. That'll teach me to be friendly with people in the neighborhood ;)

She's still loving the blueberries and has started to indulge in strawberries. I bought a bunch at the local farmer's market and then I noticed she was getting little pimples on her face, neck and then one on her ear. It went away after about an hour and the one on her ear which had gotten pretty darn red went away overnight after I put on hydrocortizone for babies. It might have gone away without the cream. Who knows. So we have to avoid strawberries for a few weeks and then re-introduce them to see if it was heat rash (since it's been damn hot and we only got her an A/C for her room the last of the 2 hot days) or food rash.