Normally I let Beatrice learn things on her own time. I haven’t tried to teach her to crawl or walk or whatever, but now that she’s climbing up on things I decided to give her a little lesson on how to get OFF of them - feet first.
Because, you know, catching a baby mid-air while she tries to dive off of a couch, bed, etc, is only going to be successful so many times.
I took the cushions off of half of the couch and put them on the floor creating a super swell, multi-level, playground for her. She did some nose dives. She liked it. She liked it so much that she might have started doing it on purpose.
Feet First Training = FAIL
At some point she found a pack of crackers and held them in her mouth while she continued crawling wildly over the cushions. Later that night she held her rubber duck in her mouth during most of her bath. No hands, no biggie. She kills me.
This weekend is the Woodruff Place flea market aka best garage sales EVER. If you live in the Indianapolis area you must check it out. Woodruff Place is this gem of a neighborhood with fountains in the middle of the streets and big old Victorian homes with carriage houses lining the alleys. Last year I scored some amazing vintage frocks for my then bun in the oven and I can’t wait to see what wonders I find this time!
All week I’ve been trying to figure out how to transport Bebe to this event. I could ride my bike… but then would have to carry B around once we got there and she’d certainly fall asleep on the trip home. Since she’s so small, her head doesn’t reach the headrest on the WeeRide, which means she falls asleep with her chin falling forward on her chest and wakes up periodically to scream. Not good.
I take the wagon so she and Wes could hang out together in it… but Bebe would try to stand up the entire time and all of the contents inside of the wagon would end up in a trail behind us on the sidewalk. If Wes was a little smaller, he’d probably be thrown overboard too.
I could use the stroller but drama baby has an all-out meltdown when I strap her in, and then periodically lets out a fit of rage to remind me that she’s pretty mad about her situation.
I could wear her, but depending on the heat we could be two very sweaty girls.
Why is this so complicated?
Why am I so neurotic?
I need a van so that I can take every single mode of baby-transportation with me. Like a full-size conversion van. With a bunk in the back for a quick nap…
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Currently Beez is…
Eating: not greens. She loves CHEESE, steak, chicken, blueberries, oranges, applesauce packs, and whatever we’re eating at that moment. Everything else is flung from her tray. It’s hilarious. It’s also very sticky.
Wearing: 0-3 month clothes. No joke. She can fit into 6 month clothes as well, but is EASILY fitting into her 0-3 month stuff. While we’re on the topic of clothes, can we take a moment to discuss how precious little summer rompers are? And how precious her little roll-covered thighs are? Kills me.
Wanting: her mom. All of the time. She loves me and I don’t mean kind of.
Listening to: the Train song Drive By. Train isn’t really my style, but we always listen to Sirius Radio’s Coffee House station in the evenings and whenever that song comes on she perks right up… and then we have a 5 minute dance party. It is definitely her favorite.
Watching: her grandma via Skype.
Currently I am…
Cooking: Everything green in hopes that I can get some veggies in my girl.
Wearing: Wedges! John ridicules me every time I wear my new salmon-colored wedge sandals, but I don’t care. They make me tall, they don’t hurt my feet, and even my klutzy body can walk in them. I’ve also traded in my dresses for skirts because nursing in a dress is awkward.
Wanting: to wash my hair… one hour of free time a week… a little credit where credit is due… and to learn to play guitar… or the uke…
It’s been a rough couple of weeks.
Listening to: My Bon Iver Pandora station.
Watching: Mad Men on Netflix. Betty is pretty much the most lovely girl I’ve ever seen. Also, I want to be a dress-wearing housewife. Maybe in my next life *sighs*
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morning
This morning Beatrice woke up at 6am. As usual, I brought her into our bed, nursed her back to sleep, and promptly fell asleep myself. We slept like that for an hour – a little girl safe and sound between the two people who love her most. Then she woke up, crawled directly on top of me and fell back to sleep. Another hour later it was 8am and I was terribly late for work, but when you’re running that late, what are another few minutes? Bebe was giddy at the sight of BOTH of her parents and proceeded to climb all over us, stopping only for quick snuggles here and there.
She is the best little girl. So funny, so spunky, and oh so very sweet.
Beatrice dug through the rice to find the broccoli and carrots. Is it a full moon?
It was a long time coming, but our little wildcat is finally starting to appreciate a good snuggle.
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It seems like whenever Beatrice goes through one of her crazy stages there is this buildup where she becomes more and more out of control while exhaustion slowly consumes me. Then just as I think I might possibly lose it and go on a blog rant about the crazies, it’s over.
Two nights ago Beatrice stayed up a little later than usual, but I didn’t have too much trouble putting her to bed. Before John and I slept, we marveled at the cuteness of our little girl, who was using her bear as a pillow at that point. We quietly asked her to please be good to us that night, and fell asleep.
We woke up at 8am. Beatrice had slept 10 hours straight. Miracles do happen. She was amazing at church, took a little nap, and then was a gem at lunch.
We crossed our fingers that it wasn’t a fluke… and last night we got another full night of sleep.
I don’t know what her deal was – maybe it was teeth. Maybe it was a wonder week. Either way, it was just a phase. So until the next one, I will cherish the fact that even though my nearly 11 month old daughter still rarely sleeps through the night, at least she’s only getting up once and not once an hour.
There is a book out there called The Wonder Weeks. I have not read this book but the general premise is that kids go through “wonder weeks” where they take significant leaps forward mentally and developmentally, which throws them for a loop and creates some serious clingyness since their world suddenly looks totally different. I take books like this with a grain of salt, but Bebe’s craziness caused me to google week 46 to see if it was a wonder week and bam - suddenly I am a believer, because they hit the nail square on the head:
Wonder Week 46:
The World of Sequences
Babies are natural mess-makers. During the last leap in your baby’s mental development, this talent probably seemed at its peak. You may have marveled at your baby’s knack for destruction as he disassembled, tossed around, and squished everything in his path. If you are alert for newly developing skills in your baby, at around 46 weeks you may suddenly notice him doing things that are quite the opposite. He will begin, for the first time, to try to put things together.
Your baby is now ready to discover the world of sequences. From this age on, he can begin to realize that to reach many of his goals, he has to do things in a certain order to be successful. You may now see your baby looking first to see which things go together and how they go together before trying to put them in each other, pile them on top of each other, or piece them together. For instance, he may concentrate on aiming as well as he can before trying to pile one block on top of another. He may push a peg through a hole in a peg board only after he has compared the shape of the peg to the hole.
Bebe is totally putting things together these days! She loves to put the lids on containers and spent the evening putting her toys into her toy box! Do you know what this means? It means she’s going through a phase and will soon stop acting like the world is ending if I move out of arms reach!
Beatrice has been nothing short of crazy this week. Her emotions are all over the place, she flips if I’m out of arms reach, and her energy level is RIDICULOUS. And by ridiculous I mean high. Very very high. Probably ADHD high. Girl is a hot mess.
Anyway, the crazies hates the sleeps, which makes things even more fun.
Thursday night things peaked when Beatrice woke up at 11pm ready for action. I tried to feed her and she said, “A BOTTLE mom? Is this a joke? You have the GOODS.” Problem was, I didn’t have the goods because the goods aren’t used to happening at 11pm. So Bebe chewed on my boob for a bit, stuck her finger in my nose, and then launched herself upright and off my lap, ready to play.
I hunkered down with her in the guest bed which is usually sleep magic, but Bebe pulled out her inner mountain goat and climbed all over me, picked the fuzz off the blanket and ate it, buzzed spit all over the place, poked my eyes, nose, mouth, etc… you get the picture.
Girl is hilarious, really, but I have to work in the A.M.’s.
Finally I let out a growl, John came to the rescue, I declared that I don’t need pillows (don’t ask), and he proceeded to hang out with her until TWO-THIRTY IN THE MORNING.
That is insane. Go to bed kid.
Since Beatrice has the energy level of a 6 year old on red bull, she was up bright and early the next morning. Maybe John cried real tears at this point… maybe I sprinted from the house half dressed and put my makeup on in the car… maybe that happened every day this week…
moving on
The kid slept MAYBE two hours the whole day. Two. She set a record for the longest period of awake time in a row. She wasn’t even fazed. And then she went to sleep at midnight. Holy jkfdskdlahknvker.
So this means she’s going to sleep through the night and wake up late right?
ha. ha. ha.
At some point in the night she woke up and I put her in bed with us. I thought it was 5am. It definitely was not. Bebe proceeded to sleep ON TOP OF ME for the rest of the night, waking up periodically to rearrange her position. She thought it was fun. She is crazy.
And then she woke up for good at 6am. This time I cried real tears. Go to sleep kid! Just go to sleep!