Week 78:
I had a white piece of squishy foam that I really liked, it was firm to squish and the corners were really crisp. It was about the size of a kitchen sponge. Miss Spud found it and before I could stop her pulled a chunk out of one of the sides. She then got the biggest smile on her face. Since there was no going back, I asked what she was doing in a funny voice. She then kept tearing pieces off and getting the biggest smile on her face. I asked if she was making snow and she smiled and handed some to me.
I was using a handheld vacuum on the LoveSac and Miss Spud helped me. She saw me holding the fabric up so that I could get the crumbs in the zipper flap and she helped me hold it up.
She got to try a Simoas Girl Scout cookie after dinner. She had to give it some serious consideration, but she ate all of it. It does have an interesting collection of textures.
Before bed she managed to rip off the cover of one of Bill's books. She was not happy after I wouldn't let her play with the books anymore. After that she managed to spill Bill's drink and was upset when Bill exclaimed about the mess, even though it wasn't directed at her.
Week 79:
When I'm at knitting on Saturdays I like to peak in on Miss Spud during her nap time. This time I kept seeing her kicking her feet and getting up to look outside. At one point I caught her getting out of her sleep sack and pulling open one of the tabs on her diaper. I called Bill to alert him.
On our way back to the cabin we stopped at Buc-ees. That way we could get some snacks and let Miss Spud run off some energy. I took her in while Bill got gas. She saw Bucky himself was there again and she grabbed my hand and lead me over to make sure that I saw he was there. She grabbed a Bucky slap-bracelet and handed that to me for my thing to get. She then grabbed a stuffed Bucky cellphone holder and was running around the store with that. She even ran out the door with it. As she kept exploring she found an Easter PJ Bucky plushie and decided she wanted that one more. It's about half her height and it was hilarious seeing her run around with it. At one point she picked out something for Bill to get.
She kept an eye on the Lowe's delivery people and then got to go play in the snow. Twice she wanted to be picked up, but I told her she had to walk to her back inside. After going up and down on the ramp a few times at our second trip to the door she wanted to go in. She immediately started crying as I took her jacket and shoes off. Bill thought it was because her hands were cold and might be burning when they are warming up. She couldn't decide if she wanted to roll around and scream or be held and scream. I walked around with her wrapped in my hoodie with me. Once I got her calm enough she helped me decorate the new refrigerator with Chi the cat magnets we got from Mary and Denver.
On our way home from the cabin, Miss Spud shared her water bottle Bucky. She also tickled his tummy a few times. She had her radio playing and danced with Bucky at one point before she started singing to him.
We pull out the back of her pants/short and diaper when we are checking her. She has started, every once in a while, trying to pull my pants back to check me. I ask her if I look okay and she usually nods.
Our "final goodnight" has grown recently. It used to be just a hug and a kiss from me and Bill. Then it led to going into the other room to say goodnight to Tank, touching her window, touching the glow in the dark moon and big dipper on her wall, then the window again before the hug and kiss from Bill and me. Now it is going into the other room to say goodnight to Tank, touching her window, touching the glow in the dark moon and big dipper on her wall, then the window again, and telling all of her bedtime friends good night and tucking them in before the hug and kiss from Bill and me. At one point Bill asked if she wanted a hug and she held up her finger for "one more" and nodded.
She has splashed some in the bath before, but this time she really got into it. She splashed so much my leggings were soaked and half her bath water was missing. She had such a great time doing it.
She was in some sort of mood Friday night. She was yelling and screaming long enough that Bill went to go and gave her some more snuggles. She kept pointing to the door so he brought her down and she then had a tight hold around my neck. After a bit we tried to put her down again, but she wasn't happy about that. I went up and tried to nurse her, but she didn't want to fully relax. Eventually I brought her a water bottle and her snack cup with puffs. She held them but didn't drink or eat. I gave her one last snuggle before laying her down, but I stayed in the room with her. Every time I looked over at her she moved her head and looked back at me. After about 20 minutes she was out enough for me to leave the room. It took about two hours to get her down.
Week 80:
Around 4 am Tank decided he needed a snack and potty buddy while Miss Spud woke up crying again. I dealt with Tank and then Bill helped Miss Spud. I wish she had more words to tell us what is going on. Tank even went in a few times to check how everything was. She munched on her snacks while Bill sat in her room with her. She got up around her normal time, even though she went to bed so late.
Since she didn't sleep well, she refused to nap. I almost had her down, but I had to use the bathroom and she woke up when I tried to transfer her. Luckily she went down for the night fairly easily after being a bit of a grump and not wanting to get her teeth brushed or put on PJs.
She saw Steven and Bill on the back porch when we were in the dining room. I told her to flash her little flashlight at them. Later when they came in, Steven said he saw her light in the window.
On Sunday morning she picked out what she wanted to wear. I was going to help her, but she grabbed the pants, sat down, and put them on. She got one leg in, had to rotate the pants a little to get the second leg in, then stood up to pull them the rest of the way up. She also managed to get them facing the correct way.
We are using her cloth bibs more now than when she was little. I like to put them on in the morning because she drools a lot of apple juice on herself when eating her apple. I found out that it has enough apple in it that it will oxidize and stain a light colored shirt. I'm still trying to get it out of her pumpkin shirt.
We thought she was back to normal on Sunday because of how well she slept on Saturday night and she went down for her nap with only a bit of grumping. However, Bill had to go snuggle her to sleep because she just stood there crying and yelling for us. I wish we could explain to her that we aren't going to leave while she is asleep and we won't leave her out of anything she would love to do.
On our way up to bedtime on Monday she got Bill's keys and was trying to figure out which one when to the front door. She also tried to buckle herself into her changing table. She's really good at buckling her highchair straps on her own.
For some reason she had started resisting getting her teeth brushed. She would go limp and shake her head when I tried to brush her teeth anyway. Since she's seen me do it at the sink in front of a mirror, I tried that with her. I sat her on the sink, like when I soaked her toe, and let her watch her teeth get brushed. It worked and she went back to trying to just eat the toothpaste, but not fighting the whole ordeal.
It's supposed to get cool out again, so I made sure we went on a walk before her nap on Tuesday. She didn't want to get off the porch, and would climb back up, until she had a poopy diaper. Then she was ready to go for a walk. I had her on her monkey leash, but at every driveway she tried to go back onto the street. Until about halfway down the road I could turn her and aim her back onto the sidewalk. Once she started sitting and yelling when I tried to keep her out of the street I knew it was time to go back for her nap. She was a big grump until I brought Bucky in to nap with her, then she went down quickly and easily.
On our walk before the weather turned cold again, she had to wave Hello to each mailbox, parked car, and tree/bush. She was better at staying on the sidewalk this time, but she did trip and skin both knees a little. A little snuggle was all we needed before we could keep walking and a snack at home with a bandaid fixed it completely. The bandaid also kept her from poking at it.
When she heard me coming to get her on Thursday morning she plopped back down and pretended to be asleep. I saw her on the baby-camera. She then squiggled to look more asleep and gave me a big smile when I walked in, like she had just gotten up.
When Bill starts to read her a bedtime book she will run over and sit down. She will help turn some unknown number of pages in whatever direction and at whatever speed the fates tell her to. Her favorite pages are ones with dogs or cats on them.
It was pretty chilly out on Friday, but she wanted to eat outside. She held onto my pants as I went to check on our lunches. Then she ran over to the door to the porch and banged on it. I opened it for her and she ran to Bill's chair and climbed on. She smiled at me so largely, even as she started getting goose bumps. I put her sweater on and a small blanket on her lap to try and keep her warm.
Week 81:
She had a great time at the little park/play area during Saturday knitting at the Church. She got to swing, slide down their slide, and try to carry many toys around with her. She insisted on carrying in a dinosaur she found. When I took her to the car she wanted to play more, but then was asleep soon after we started driving. She didn't end up with as long of a nap as she usually does, so she was grumpy when we were at home until she got dinner.
I had moved the candy bowl off the table when we had someone over for dinner. I moved it back when Tank wanted to use his cat tree. Miss Spud saw it and helped herself to some sour gummies. She was so mad when I took them away and tried to give her an apple instead.
Miss Spud has been getting better at grabbing things, but also better at dropping them. She used to try and wrangle whatever she grabbed but recently has just been letting it fall onto the ground off of wherever she grabbed it, and then picking it up from there. Luckily nothing she's grabbed made of glass has broken yet.
She must have heard that people do some crazy stuff on St. Paddy's Day. She stole my credit card out of my pocket before I could put it back in my wallet and hid it in the base of her ball tower. She then climbed onto the table and was playing with whatever she found there while I was getting my lunch started on the stove. While I was looking for my credit card, she climbed up onto the cat tower we have in the corner of the dining room. She was at least "butt down" when I found her in these locations.
I've been bribing her with videos of puppies to make diaper changes easier. She's still fine with everyone else, just not me. When I asked if she wanted to watch puppies she did a little puppy howl.
She has decided that her stuffed fish and Tank's mousey all make a Ssss sounds.
At the club that my parents along with Bill and I belong to, they are talking about raising the yearly dues by almost double. My parents couldn't go because they are at the cabin for the new windows. Bill also wanted to go, but he was out of town for work. Spud and I went to go give a vote. She got to meet lots of people who have heard about her and seen pictures, but haven't gotten to meet her in person yet. Everyone was impressed by her, both by how well she was behaving as well as how well she got around. She was really good even though I didn't get to vote until we were there for two hours. She even got bored of watching puppy videos, so we went into the other room so she could run around. She climbed on all the chairs and couches. We didn't start going home until way after her bedtime, but she stayed up the whole ride. She went down pretty easy, though she did get up again for a bit to tuck in her bedtime friends again.
One morning she got into her closet while I was in the bathroom. When I asked her how she got in there she just shrugged at me.
I told her there was only one more long sleep until Bill got home, so she kept trying to take it. She fell asleep in the car on the way home from knitting, and then laid herself down on the LoveSac and tried to fall asleep again. She went down really easily when I got her in bed for her actual long sleep.
When she got up from her nap on the way to the cabin she got to eat her Checkers fries. I put some into a medium cup for her and she had fun pulling them out to eat. She even offered a few fries to Bucky.
She ran around outside for hours while we were getting the mini-splits installed. She even tried to chase after the truck when Bill and Jim went to get lunch. She was so tired and grumpy when it was time for her nap. She even slept through loud talking in the other room. When I got her up she clung to me, like a little koala and just chilled while we waited for dinner to be done. She did not want to be let go and just snuggled with me on the couch until it was time to eat.
She found a stick and wanted to throw it into the campfire. It was hard to do since I wouldn't let her get too close. Once we got it into the fire she wanted it back. Luckily it hadn't caught fire yet, but it was pretty warm when I got it out.
Week 82: First Part
During my birthday weekend at the cabin, she kept everyone going. She had a great time running all around the fields in front of the cabin and other buildings. She found a few pinecones she wanted to hold on to. She kept trying to join the guys when they were shooting but got really mad at me and Mary when we kept her inside. If she had been willing to run on the other side of the cabin it would have been fine, but she kept trying to run over to them.
On Sunday we went out in small groups on the UTV. Miss Spud and I were in the last group, and we got to sit in the back. I wrapped my legs around her so I could hold on without having to worry about her during some of the rough parts. She had fun waving to some trees and also to some cows. We saw Rick and she gave him a big smile.
She did not want to nap on the way home from the cabin. Pairing that with more running around and getting up early the whole weekend made for a very grumpy Spud. She got her dinner free range since she didn't want to sit for any longer. When it was getting close to bedtime she was yelling and stomping and we couldn't figure out what was wrong, other than lack of sleep. She and I finished watching Encanto and we pointed to all the flowers in the credits. The second it was done she laid her head back on me and started to fall asleep. We got her upstairs and she went through her usual nighttime routine, though this time she was the one to tuck in Pete the cat and her baby.
She's been having some persistent diaper rash, so we got a recommended diaper cream. I was keeping the tube on her changing table but have since had to hide it. During a few changes she managed to get it opened and discovered her finger is small enough to fit in the opening. She's tried to use it as body lotion and lip balm.
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