13 Months Old!

Dear Cordelia,

I've been falling behind on your monthly posts lately for a variety of reasons. I would love to say it's because I'm so busy soaking up how amazingly wonderful you are, but the truth is, you're so busy that you wear me out and I spend nap time cleaning, preparing for dinner, folding laundry, showering, and watching an occasional tv show. You know, the things that you'd rather not let me do when you're awake.

You're worth every moment of not doing what I want though, don't ever doubt that for a moment.

I'm also late writing this and taking these pictures because I have to wait for the weekend so that daddy can be home to place you on the blanket before you scoot over to me and demand to be held. We're working on this separation anxiety, baby girl, we're working on it.

Let's see though, this month you went to go see Santa at Tilden's Winter Wonderland. You rode the merry-go-round like a boss and you really didn't want to be sit in Santa's lap. I can't blame you, I think bearded men are creepy too, but this guy is really nice, so you may want to think of warming up to him for next year.

This month, you helped us pick out a tree and you had fun looking at the lights and pointing at the ornaments. You were shockingly great at just admiring it from a distance.

This month, you celebrated your second Christmas! We drove down to southern CA and you cried for five hours. Five. It was miserable for everyone, but we figured out you were growing some molars, so the ride back up was much more pleasant thanks to some advil. When we were down in Westlake we met up with mommy and daddy's friends, spent time with both sides of our family, and enjoyed watching you explore Nana and Pop's house. We had two Christmases and it took you a little bit to figure out the present-opening business, but once you figured it out, you were unstoppable! You are one very loved little girl.

Playing with Piper!

Trying to get all the cousins in one picture. Chaos. 

This month, you became attached at the hip to Piggy-bear, the stuffed animal that Uncle Scott and Auntie Coco got you for your birthday. You won't go to sleep without it, you won't leave a room without it, and if you see it during a meal, you're all done and ready to go cuddle with it. It's very cute to see you drag along this little piggy wherever you go.

This month, you are beginning to understand so much! You know when you want something and you are not afraid to make that known. You throw fits when you don't get your way, and you now know how to effectively employ the word, "no." Game. Over. 

This month, you learned how to say "poops." I want to be proud, but I would have liked it better if you had learned how to say mama before poops. Honestly, I'm a little offended. Whenever I ask you to say "mama," you look at me with your little smirk and either say "no, no, no" or "dada!" Stinker, you keep me on my toes!

You also know how to say, please (pee-z!), which is also your word for banana. Your other words include: ball, owl, brush (of every kind), dada, book, bath, uh-oh, hello, bye-bye, O-doh (Olive), woof, duck, quack, shoes, and I'm sure there's more I'm forgetting. You give very wide-mouthed, affectionate kisses to both daddy and I, and you love to give hugs complete with pat-pats. You love trying to brush your own hair, trying to put on your hat, and trying to put on your shoes.

This month, you can often be found tugging at my pant legs when I'm preparing your meals, or playing with your ball track that I found on craigslist. Every time we walk into the living room you yell "ball, ball, ball!", squirm out of my arms, and scoot yourself way over to the ball track. You love the red balls the most. You also love playing with your school bus and tractor, and you dance your heart away when they play music. You love to dance.

This month, you have no intention of walking anytime soon, and that's just fine by me.

This month, you went on an egg strike. You typically have an egg every morning for breakfast, and you decided that it wasn't for you anymore. Your favorite foods are avocado (in any form), black beans, banana, pear, blueberries, strawberries, sausage, green beans, carrots, gouda cheese, baby dahl puree, beef marrow puree, japanese sweet potatoes, yogurt bacon, tortilla chips, ground beef, and carnitas. You like anything that has a nice depth of flavor and you reject anything that's too plain. I still can't get you to try broccoli or cauliflower, but I still try.

This month, you still take two naps from 10:45-12:15 and 2:45-4:15, you nurse at least 4 times a day, but you've been asking for more lately, and I'm happy to oblige. You had a nasty cold this month, and I'm thankful that I can still nurse you when you don't feel like eating much.

Poor, sad, teething baby.

This month, you are still in 12-18 month clothes, with some 18-24 month long sleeved onesies and dresses thrown in there for length. You are still on the middle snap of your cloth diapers, and size 4 diapers when we use throw aways. You have have been teething up a storm this month. You have two molars that just popped through, and it looks like the canines are on their way as well. You won't let us get a good look at what's going on in the upper portion of your mouth, but I assume that those are coming soon also.

Next month, I'm looking forward to some quality time with you at home before school starts up again. You are strong-willed, and I'm learning how to set boundaries and stick to them, and you are learning to push them. I hope your teeth either come in or give you a break from the madness though, it's hard seeing you in pain. Next month, I'm excited to see how much more you will understand and how many more words you'll find. I love our morning snuggles, and I hope that we'll continue that tradition! I love watching you grow from this blob of a newborn to this opinionated little scooter of a baby. And, let's be honest, I would call you a toddler, but you have to earn that by walking.

Cora Lynn, I love experiencing life through your eyes. I'm so thankful that I get to be at home with you and spend as much time together as we do. I can't even tell you how much I love you. You wear me out sometimes, but you're worth every moment.

Even when you learn how to say poops, but you still don't say mama.

Love,
Mama

9 Months Old!

Dear Cordelia,

So, you went and turned 9 months on us. I politely asked time to quit marching on so quickly, but it didn't oblige. I'm doing my best to savor every day with you, and you, you make that so very easy. You are such a happy and sociable baby. You adjust well to new people and new situations and I couldn't be more thankful for how entertaining you've become. It's been a big month for you!

This month, we moved out of our first home. It was so hard leaving the place where we brought you home. We loved that apartment, but it was time for us to move to a home with more space. I'm so thankful you now have a room of your own, lots of space to roam around, and a yard to play in.

 This month, you became mobile. You still aren't crawling, but you scoot along on your bottom and you get to where you want to go, and you get there quickly! It's so fun playing "chase" with you and building towers that you knock down. You love books, balls, blocks, and your new fish bowl toy that Nanna got for you. Most of all, you love playing with us, so that's pretty fun! You love giving hugs and kisses to mommy and daddy, but you occasionally get carried away and bite mommy.

This month, you are beginning to assert your will more frequently, so daddy and I are having a lot of discussions on how to guide and discipline you. It certainly feels like a shift happened from just growing you and playing with you to real life parenting.

This month, we traveled to Southern California (again, I know, I'm sorry love!) for Arya and Saman's wedding at the Biltmore and the next weekend we went up to Portland for Uncle Scott and Aunt Coco's wedding. You were such a good traveler and you had fun spending a lot of quality time with Great Grandma, and Grandma and Grandpa in the mornings as mommy and daddy caught up on sleep.

This month, you grew four new teeth. Which may explain your terrible sleep, or maybe not, who knows. Either way, you have two teeth up top, and four teeth on the bottom now. Hopefully we'll get a break from teething in September.

This month, you became quite the eater. You love to feed yourself little bits of food and we can basically get you to eat anything that way. You love to feed yourself mango (of course), black beans, avocado, nectarines, tofu, beets, and green beans. You're still a pretty slow eater, so we follow up with purees. You love when we feed you yogurt, baby dahl (lentils, blueberries, banana, coconut oil), pears and wax beans, ABC with ginger (apples, beets, and carrots with ginger), and sweet potatoes. I'm so thankful that you eventually caught on to eating, and it sure seems like you are making up for lost time!

This month, you outgrew your mini crib, and continued the co-sleeping habit that you developed while traveling. We got back from Portland and you just didn't fit in your crib! We knew that we were moving in a couple of weeks, so we decided to keep snuggling with you at night until you had a room that could fit a full sized crib. But you're a really smart baby and you know that sleeping with mommy and daddy is way better than sleeping all on your own, so you're still snuggling close to us as you sleep. Unfortunately, we're going to need to kick that habit this next month because you're starting to take advantage and get up every hour or two just for a quick nurse and then go right back to sleep.

This month, you're wearing 12-18 month pants, dresses, and rompers, and 6-12 month shirts, though some long sleeves are getting too short on you. It's crazy how tall you are growing! You are on the middle snap of your cloth diapers, and size 4 when we use throw away diapers.

Next month, we're sticking around the bay and exploring our beautiful city with you. We're working on our version of sleep training with you, and once we feel like you're fully prepared, (well, as prepared as you can be!) we're going to take the plunge and get you to sleep through the night in your crib. I know, crazy.

Baby bear, I feel like these past nine months flew by in a blink. I try so hard to be present with you during the day, soaking up your sweet babyhood and enjoying you fully, but sometimes I get caught up in what "needs" to get done. I hope this month I can really slow life down and just play with you each day while taking care of house stuff on the side. I am so thankful for you and your big personality that continues to shine through and develop. I love how sweet you are and our morning snuggles. I love how you snort when you laugh and how when we tickle you your laughter only spills out after you can't keep it in any longer.

We love you for you, always and forever.