Week 61:
Miss Spud sees us drinking from bottles so often she is becoming a pro at mimicking us. She will take one of our bottles, put the cap in her mouth, tilt it back, and then smack her lips together once she lowers it.
During knitting on Saturday I got her to laugh really hard. That let me peak into her mouth and see that two upper molars have popped in. That means she's up to 12 teeth.
Heather from our dinner group has been asking to watch Miss Spud for a while now. Since her partner, Larry does Rocky Horror with us, we decided to do an exchange for a show. I drove her to their place and took Larry with me to the show. They have three cats of varying degrees of friendliness.
When we got there, Amber wasn't sure what to make of the thing that looked like a person, but was so short. They ended up loving each other. Miss Spud even used her as a pillow at one point. When she started to fuss, their other cat, Marbles, came out. Marbles, who is not usually friendly to strangers, started acting motherly to Miss Spud.
I came back to a baby who was so deeply asleep she almost didn't wake up when I picked her up. I felt bad about waking her again after the car ride home. Tank was interesting in her because she smelled like another kitty. Heather gave Miss Spud one of the cat's crinkle toys because she loved playing with it.
On Monday Bill worked from home. I had put her down for her nap, but he noticed that she was crying. When we checked the camera we saw that she was no longer in her sleep sack. She then couldn't figure out how to get it back on. She threw her socks at me when I went to go and put her back into her sleep sack. She had unzipped it enough to get it off to take off her socks. Once I put her back into her sleep sack, without socks, she soon settled back in for her nap.
We tried to take her back to Nectar to see Grace, but I didn't check to see if she was going to be there, and it turned out she was at her other job. Since we were already there, we got food. I got Miss Spud the kid's quesadilla. Everything was too hot to eat when it came out, but when she saw it, she wanted some. We blew on it a little but she kept insisting she needed it. We thought it might be okay, but it was still too hot. She tried to pick it up a few times, but it hurt her fingers. She looked so sad that the quesadilla hurt her fingers. Luckily they were pretty thin, so they cooled down before too long. I gave her some banana while we waited.
Bill walked into her room to tell her good morning on Tuesday and she had her sleep sack half unzipped. She has figured out how zippers work.
Bill tried to test her on if she knows what the signs mean or if she is just mimicking us. He said "More?" while signing "All Done". She gave him a confused look and signed "More" back at him.
I thought Miss Spud and I were going to play in the yard while we gave out candy. Once Miss Spud saw the big kids walking around she wanted to do that as well. She did a lot of just going back and forth before she started to go up one driveway. She didn't know what to make of the fact that they offered her a bowl full of things. She would take something if it was directly handed to her. When Bill caught up to us we started carrying her to the different houses. Everyone loved her costume but she still was confused about what was going on. She was mesmerized by some carved pumpkins with candles in them. Her favorite treats of the night was a bag of Sour Patch Kids because they made the most sound when she shook them and a Lindt ball because it fit perfectly in her hand. Near the end she just sat on a stoop and we knew she was done for the night.
Week 62:
Since we seem to love packing in a lot of things on Saturday, we went out to dinner at Olive Garden before Rocky on Saturday. Miss Spud liked the breadsticks and the Alfredo sauce. At one point she just wanted to play with her food and would only eat something if I placed it into her mouth. She tried to color a bit more and got some marks on the paper.
She had another enjoyable evening at Heather and Larry's place. Though this time she was awake when we got her. She had napped a little, but we were hoping she was going to be asleep. She nursed a little when we got home and was almost asleep a few times but then Tank would distract her. She was so happy that he let her pet him.
The next morning, she helped to unpack some of her toys from the night before. She also pinched her finger in a door when playing with it but soon felt better. Some cookies & creme Cheerios helped her feel better.
She dropped her water bottle off of her highchair. Bill gave it back and told her not to drop it again. When she did, he told her 'no' in a stern tone. She started to make sounds like she was very upset. She squished her face together and then opened her mouth showing her lower teeth, it was like she was trying to remember what her face felt like when she was actually upset.
Bill started a fun game with Miss Spud before bed, we had to put one of her bedtime friends on our head and she would knock them off. She belly laughed about that one.
Her Guess How Much I Love You crinkle book is her favorite book. It crinkles, and has some sound. She loves the "*kissy sound* I love you" that it makes when you hit a button at the end. She hasn't been able to activate it on her own yet, so she brings it over to us to operate. The other day she was able to work it by giving the baby bunny a kiss, which caused her nose to hit the switch.
We had to wake her up earlier than usual so we could go vote and get breakfast before Bill headed to work. He tried to wake her up, but she simply moved her face away from him. When I was pretty much ready to go I tried and was more persistent. I wanted to change her top before I got to her diaper so she could warm it up before I put her pants on. She didn't want the shirt and ended up hitting her head pretty solidly on her crib. It wasn't long before I got her to stop crying, but then she was sadly babbling at me while we snuggled on her rocking chair. She got her Future Voter sticker and enjoyed her food at iHop.
She is getting really good at walking. I've even seen her side step around things she can't step over. She has also started holding onto the frame of the baby gate when we open it for her to let herself upstairs.
She is getting more talkative. It's still baby babble, but she's saying whole sentences with it now. It's so fun to hear her tell us a "story" during mealtimes.
We went to the storage unit to get some things. I let her free and she helped me look through the first box. After that she climbed onto one of the low boxes and just sat there facing the hallway. Once I was done I moved what we were taking into the hallway and closed the door. She was fascinated by that. Once I locked it she grabbed the pumpkin spice pancake/waffle mix. She carried it all the way to the elevator. I tried to see if she wanted to help me carry it inside the house, but when I let her go on the driveway she just started heading towards the cul-de-sac.
I was looking for her sweater and while she isn't normally allowed to be in the master bedroom alone, I had left her because she was busy showing things to Tank. Out of the corner of my eye I saw her hurry down the hallway, giggling, and turn left into the bathroom. In the time it took me to cross the hallway I found her standing in Tank's litter box holding a pair of scissors. I don't know how she managed to find them in the corner near my vanity. She remembered seeing Tank standing in his litter box from seeing it one time when she interrupted him while he was using it.
Week 63:
Miss Spud was keeping everyone entertained all day on Saturday. She kept trying to pull on Jan's shirt during knitting. When we were at dinner she kept smiling at everyone who walked by at the restaurant and kept trying to use Bill as a jungle gym once we were done eating.
On Sunday we were playing with her ring stacking tower and discovered that one ring is missing. We always seem to be missing one, but never the same one. She also put them all on my fingers at one point.
Bill has been talking about it, but I got to see her do it the other day. The way our baby gates work is that you have the latch you have to pull back and then lift it out of a groove at the bottom. Miss Spud is both smart and strong enough to get the latch pulled back, but can't lift it. If we don't close the gate well enough, she can get it open again.
During dinner on Monday she wasn't impressed with the breakfast bowl I made her. She ate all of her banana and kept signing that she was done. I even tried the trick where I eat a bite of her food, but she wasn't falling for it. Later, when Bill got hungry, she came over to him to see what he was having. He gave her a piece of his peanut butter and cheese sandwich. She loved it and wanted more. I don't know if it was because he was holding her, but she ate it like a sandwich. Every time I've tried to give her a sandwich she takes it apart before eating the components.
Every morning we play a fun game where I show her random toys around her room until she decides which she wants to play with during her diaper change. For everyone else, she is very cooperative during a diaper change. For me she fights me and wants to stand on her changing table. During the day we have a similar routine, but we pick from the toys she has in the reading room.
Bill's recliner has two cup holders that fold away and have removable inserts. Miss Spud likes trying to put both inserts into one side. At one point she had pulled both out and then got distracted by Tank. I asked her to put one back, and she did. She was about to walk away when I asked if she could close it. She did before going back to bothering Tank and trying to grab his tail.
I was playing with Tank with the laser dot and Miss Spud got interested. She ended up playing with it after Tank was bored with it. She was crawling around following it. At one point I was just clicking it on and off while she moved her hand up and down over the spot.
On Friday she became overly tired and had a meltdown when she lost her last bandaid from her vaccinations. The bandaid looks like it is Candyland themed. She didn't mind when she lost the others but was keeping that one on. It was half off for a bit, but when it let go she brought it over to me in tears. I told her that I was going to keep it safe and that she didn't have to worry about it. She kept pointing to it and signing "more." I tried to stick some painters tape to her, since it would come off easier than a new bandage, but that was worse than no bandage. Luckily a bottle and some snuggles helped her calm down and go to bed.
At her appointment she was 31" (72%) tall, 20lbs 14oz (49%), with a 18" (54%) head circumference.
Week 64:
She has started making more talkative sounds by putting the back of her wrist in her mouth and wiggling it around. It makes a bleh-bull-eh kind of sound.
In the past when we have dropped her off with Heather for Rocky Horror night she hasn't really been concerned with us leaving. This time she was concerned and kept hugging our legs when we tried to leave. I waved Bye to her and she was fussing but waved back. We heard later that it didn't take much to get her to calm down. She was fast asleep when we got back.
She has started grabbing some of her soft toys in her mouth and shaking her head back and forth, like a puppy would. She also likes biting her soft toys and yanking them back out of her mouth.
She has started doing some Tippy-Tap running. It's where she takes walking steps, but very quickly, so she is going faster.
We went to Sushi Queen and she impressed Mary's parents with how much she ate. She had 1 avocado roll piece, 2 eel roll pieces, and 2.75 sweet potato roll pieces. She wanted to get loose but only went over to play drums on the vacant chair when I put her down.
At one point she brought me over some of her footie pajamas. She put her arms in the sleeves but kept fighting when I tried to put her feet in. She then kept holding the top closed, so I snapped it closed and she walked around with it like that.
She is getting really good at giving hugs. She will hug our legs or wrap her arms around our shoulders. Her hugs are the best.
Remembering the troubles we had during our trip home from our Tour de Spud last December, we broke up our trip to Indiana into two parts. It made it a lot easier on all of us. We invented a new game called throw the bottle. To play you throw an empty soda bottle back and forth across the back of the truck.
During dinner at His Place Eatery we got a broken high chair. We thought maybe she would sit fine as long as I kept giving her food and it wouldn't matter that the buckle was broken. At one point she turned herself around and was kicking her feet while people watching.
After we got to the hotel where the wedding was going to be we let Miss Spud wander around the room. She discovered that she could get herself onto the desk chair in the room. She got mad when she lost chair privileges because she kept standing up and stopped listening when I told her to put her butt down.
When we headed to the Hospitality Room to see if anyone else was still up and being social Miss Spud loved walking down the hallways on her own. She wasn't too sure about the elevator rides, she either held on to my leg or sat down. She spent most of the time there eating or throwing a Clementine on the floor. She flipped some leather/pleather coasters for a while as well.
Week 65: First Part
She got to meet a 3(almost 4) year old boy when we went back to the Hospitality Room for breakfast. He was playing with the wooden train set that was out. She loved following him around and moving the train sections to the couch. At one point she discovered some statues near the fireplace. She was trying to poke the statue's eyes but I told her to be gentle with the statue. She then proceeded to pet the statue's side.
For breakfast we brought her snack cup with Cheerios and fruit melts. She snacked on those while also almost finishing a whole slice of cinnamon raisin toast. During lunch we shared off of our plates because she's not been eating a ton at lunch or dinner while we are away from the house.
During the cocktail hour after the ceremony Aunt Peg gave Miss Spud one of the small roses off her corsage. Miss Spud proceeded to tear it up and gave some petals to some of the other kids. She also figured out where the door was and wanted to walk down the hallways.
She got to try sparkling cider for the first time at the wedding. She spat it out and acted like it offended her. On the second try she swallowed it but still wasn't sure about it.
She got to "dance" with a few of Bill's cousins and both of us. She had decided not to nap during the day, but lasted until after 10 pm before she started to fade. Even back in the room she kept going while Bill and I got ready for bed. Once we gave her a bottle she was out.
At the WonderLab Science Museum we discovered that she wasn't heavy enough to use the Big Piano. She did like watching the fish but didn't like the feel of the kinetic sand. They had a drum that would beat in rhythm with your heartbeat that she really liked that one. We let her free in the Science Sprouts Place where she loved the activity wall, especially the lit button that made a buzz sound.
I feel bad for one boy, Rowan. He came in after she was in there. Miss Spud was sharing all the stuffies with his parents. He was showing her about the slide, but she kept sitting in the top area. I wanted to get her out of his way, so I moved her to the baby area. He wanted to join her but his parents told him he was too tall. Next thing I knew, one of them was crawling into the fort section of the play area and he was crying. They then left that zone, but it wasn't too long before he was having a good time again. If I had known he was that upset about it, I would have moved her back. At one point she found a cave with some clear plastic dowels and a lit board they could be put in. She loved putting them in the basket and taking them out again.
