Nothing is Safe Anymore...

Now that the Tiny Overlord is mobile, every item in the house is in danger. The cats are learning to keep an eye on her at all times. She has cleared lower shelves, discovered every dust bunny (and attempted to sample them as well), tried to investigate the fireplace tools, inspected the firewood, surveyed the hallway and expressed disapproval at the gate denying access to the cats' litterbox.

Here's a little video I made expressing the suspense we all feel as she creeps slowly towards us:

(the music is from Jaws)

Vacation's End

Two more weeks left, and then I head back to work. Back to mornings starting at 5am and waking up a sleeping baby. It's so hard for me to wake her up; I want to just watch her as she sleeps and marvel at this person that we've made.

It does help, a lot, to know that she loves her caregiver. I know that she's in good hands and that she loves being with the other kids. And they love her! All summer long we've spent one day a week there, as a play date. All of the kids come over to say hello and many of them bring her toys. Her face lights up and she watches them play excitedly. She smiles when she sees her caregiver, and goes to her willingly, with outstretched arms.

But still, when it's quiet in the mornings I just want to let her have her sleep. Last time I would wake her up with a good morning song. I might make a new one for this year. We'll see.

Here's the first good morning song; she's 5 months old in this video.

Epic Journey

In the short time since she became independently mobile, Her Wee Worshipfulness has increased in speed and endurance. There is no longer any reassurance that she will stay where I put her. No distance is too far to deter her from her explorations.

She is also interacting more with the cats, especially the one who also has plans of world domination. She is taking an interest in his toys, I mean, the objects he amuses himself with while not plotting to take over the world. A squishy round ball that looks like broken crystal is becoming a favorite of both of them. I think I should be worried. In addition, things like the CD player are being added to her favorite distractions. It has buttons, knobs AND it lights up, three of her favorite things. Incidentally, I'm thinking that when she can reach the volume knob, we're in trouble.



She's also becoming critical of my housekeeping, exploring the lower shelves of furniture for dust bunnies and forgotten electrical cords. When she finds them, she pulls them out to show me. I am striving to improve conditions to meet her stringent standards. I am beginning to think that she prefers the Roomba, our robot vacuum, to my company at times. She certainly approves of his cleaning diligence, although she prefers to supervise him, naturally.

Sleep, Sleep My Baby

(The title is a quote from one of my favorite songs, that I mentioned in a previous post, and the picture is from when she was quite a bit younger, but I just had to include it.)

There were definitely days when I never thought she'd sleep. Heck, there are STILL days when I despair that she'll never sleep! But for the most part she's settled into a routine of a short morning nap and a long afternoon nap.

Right now she's still nappinghttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gif in her swing. The side to side rocking motion seems to be soothing and she sleeps better in the swing than in her crib or Pack-n-Play. She wakes up rested and happy, ready to continue in her explorations.

I've learned that things change rapidly around little ones, so I'm enjoying this time, being able to be in the living room, catching up on email, this blog or even napping myself. Since we don't sleep in the same room anymore, I treasure little moments like this.

Today has been one of those days where I've been quietly happy. The rain is falling gently outside, she's asleep in her swing, our house is cozy. I love that we have a family in our house now. Life is good.

Late Nights

We had her out late last night - some good friends that we hadn't seen in over a year were in town and last night was the only time we could get together. We went out for a late dinner and the Cute Contessa was up considerably past her bedtime. She did fall asleep on the way to the restaurant and stayed asleep until our entrees arrived, so that helped a bit. She loves the hustle and bustle of restaurants - she watches all of the people and pays attention to our conversations. I always bring a bottle of breastmilk and several toys for her to play with, and she seems to enjoy seeing all the new sights. And of course it's another chance for her to convert more minions into her service. Everyone always stops to exclaim how cute she is, and how well behaved she is, and what a beautiful smile she has.

After getting to bed far too late, she woke up at 7:30 this morning and then didn't take her morning nap. She had a fun morning playing with Minion #2 while I took a break from being in charge. Then it was Minion #2's turn and I took over. We played on the floor for a while, and then went out on the porch to watch it rain. She loves watching the leaves move, and we had a quiet time just cuddling in the cool air.

Afterwards I served up some oatmeal with banana while squash steamed on the stove. I made her another batch of pureed squash to freeze so that I can send her favorite foods to her caretaker when I go back to work. Then the little on became the Cranky Contessa and I knew it was time for her nap.

This evening we're planning to head into town to buy a new aquarium for her fish. They've officially outgrown the tiny 5 gallon one we have; we're planning to upgrade to a 20 gallon. I'll pick up some plants and decorations; she loves her fish so I want to make sure the aquarium is a good habitat for them and nice to look at for her. A dinner of green beans, which she eats up with evident delight and then hopefully we'll get her to bed at her normal time.

We try to be consistent with her schedule, but she's so good even when we're not. We are blessed to have her as our baby. I mean, Tiny Overlord.

Jeepers Creepers!

The Mighty Mite has added a new superpower to her repertoire: she can now officially creep. Last night she decided that she WAS going to have some of Minion #2's food and nothing was going to stop her. She valiantly fought her way across an entire couch cushion, over the mountain range of Daddy's Lap and grabbed for her prize - Minion #2's burrito. We reluctantly moved it out of her grasp and repositioned her back to the center of the cushion.

Once again she went valiantly forth, finally achieving her goal once again, for which we rewarded her with a tiny taste of the refried beans in the burrito. She was pleased.

From that moment on, there was no stopping her. Carpet, area rug, wood floors - no surface was beyond her powers of creeping. The Tiny Overlord is on the move!

Time for some serious baby proofing.

Trust

She fell asleep in my arms just now, after a late night nursing. The complete trust she shows - it's staggering, humbling, awe inspiring. I would do anything for her.

A few precious moments to spend, holding her in my arms, as the night sleeps around us. It's so hard to put her down, but I do eventually, slipping away downstairs. I need my sleep, too.

Tooth the Second. Also, prunes.

Well, a week after her first tooth, on July 1st the Small Sultan got her second tooth, right next to the first one. No more toothless grins. And boy, are those tiny little teeth sharp already!

On the continuing quest for new and exciting purees, oatmeal was approved and we moved on to prunes. They are both tasty and messy, so of course the Sultaness loves them. Food you can eat, wear AND finger paint with? What's not to love? We got some pictures of the mess but haven't uploaded them yet; I'll post them here when we do.

The next food adventure will be sweet potatoes. I peeled, cut up and steamed two large sweet potatoes and then batch pureed them with some filtered water in the food processor I bought after the Great Squash Catastrophe.