Well, hey this is a good start…I had this written up in draft format in my gmail draft folder.

Dear Li’l Foot,

Today A week ago you like forever ago you turned 23 months.  Have you noticed I haven’t posted your 22 month post, and your 21 month post, aaaaand your 20 month post, hell I haven’t even posted your 19 month post.  It’s not that I haven’t had time to write, ok maybe just a little it is.  And it isn’t that I haven’t thought of things I could write about, ok maybe it is a little of that too.  And it sure isn’t that I lost my 2008 planner book that I refer to when I write these things, which would tell me where we were for all those days so i can remember what you did that was a milestone or a funny thing you did, ok IT’S ALL ABOUT LOSING MY PLANNER!!!  It is awful! How I’ve functioned without my planner for the past 3 months escapes me.  It got lost when we got back from our Hawaii trip.  I know I had it in the house and then you went to touch and hold it and I freaked out and put it somewhere safe so you couldn’t shred it into pieces and I don’t remember where that safe place is.

Needless to say, I feel awful that I haven’t posted your monthly updates for 4 months.  But really 3 of those months you are co-responsible for not having. Had you not touched my planner, I wouldn’t have removed it from your clutches only to put it in a safe place that is safe…EVEN FROM ME!  **sigh** Okay, enough about that!  Let’s try to recap the last 4 months so I can get this thing caught up before you turn 2…OMG…TWO…You’re going to be TWO…NEXT MONTH!!!  How did this happen?  This just isn’t right!!!  There must be some miscalculation!!!  Let me redo the math!  1 + 5 is some number carry the 6, divide by 14, square root of 17…mulitply by 4.  HOLY MOLEY…you really will be 2!  **sigh**

Month 19 ~ 1.7 Upgrade:

This month was fun.  We celebrated “Grampa” Dickie’s (not your real grandfather we just call him that) birthday and boy did you have oodles of fun in the baby pool we brought with us.  Despite the fact that the water was -2 degrees, you didn’t care, you did “butt bombs” and had a great time. You also loved the cake we made for his birthday, Death by Chocolate.  Mostly you loved the M&M’s and the chocolate and the Cool Whip…oh wait, that’s the whole cake.

Oh wait, now I remember why I didn’t get to do your monthly post this month.  At the time I was planning the baby shower for your cousin Lyla, Aunt Pocklock’s shower.  I also was making the baby blanket for LylaBean which was difficult to do with you around.  If I had that blanket out to work on it, you took that as your cue to want mommy time or to start getting into things you shouldn’t get into.  You had a fun time at her shower as did I.  You loved your bucket of goodies you received as a party favor. You were also still kind of in the cling to mommy phase and it was very difficult to get things done around the party with you wrapped around my leg.  You were good for the most part though.  You did love seeing your friend/pseudo cousin Jaime that day too.  She flew up from Florida for Auntie’s shower with her mommy (hi LJP, I see you lurking !!!  It rained HARD that day.  And when i say HARD, I mean I think there were not only cats and dogs raining from the sky, I think they were the tigers and St. Bernard’s of cats and dogs that were raining from the sky.

We also took you to the North Salem Vineyard for the Drive In movie, to see “Bee Movie”.  We had a great time there.  They had a little bit of a glitch getting it going at first, but they showed the movie and you started out loving it, but it got to be late and you fell asleep in my arms while we stayed to watch the rest of the movie.  Next year hopefully they will set the screen up the right way to begin with and you can better enjoy the experience.

This month we also were in the thick of daddy’s softball season so sometimes he brought you to Auntie Pocklock’s office and sometimes you and I went with him.  You liked when we would go with him because you loved playing on the playground nearby and visiting the doggy park across the street.  Let’s go back to the playground though, shall we?  You loved the playground and I was always a step behind you.  This one time though there was this one kid who decided that whatever you were playing with was exactly what he wanted to play with and he’d push you aside.  WELL, let me just tell you if this is any indication of what’s to come we’ll be reevaluating where you’re allowed to play.  The hairs on the back of my neck stood up and I was on that kid like white on rice.  I knew his every move before he even did.  And I was not afraid top push him back.  I know, I’m that bully mom, but he had no right to touch you at all and his mother was on the other side of the playground not the least bit caring about what her child was doing or the havoc he was wreaking!!!  It pissed me off.  And I rose to your defense.  I’m sorry, but if a parent isn’t going to care what their kids is doing on the playground they lose their right to have a say as to how it’s handled.  Believe me I didn’t do anything to him to harm him in any way, but he needed to be put in his place so any time he made a move to push you, I stepped into his way. I have a few choice words at this time, but I shall keep them to myself. Needless to say, we didn’t stay at the playground for very much longer. I can’t talk about this anymore. I’m having flashes to 3, 6 and 10 years from now when you really encounter the bullies and it scares the crap out of me.  Hopefully daddy’s at the park with you, not me.

We also took you to the antique car show in our town.  You enjoyed that and wanted to touch every single shiny one of those antique cars.  The owners of those cars didn’t really like that idea, and we kept you at bay as best we could.  I took a ton of pictures that day.  I didn’t dare pose you next to one of the cars though because I knew temptation to touch one of them would be too great.

So that was month 19.  Nothing earth shattering I suppose.  No huge behavioral changes I guess.  I don’t really remember that stuff right now actually.

Month 20 ~ 1.8 Upgrade:

This month was one of mixed emotions. Oh sure, we had a good month for the most part. Your “cousin” Lylabean was born and you were oh so excited. I took you to the Animal Farm and you just loved all the animals there. What a wonderful way to spend the day together. Definitely keeping that on our “to-do” more often list for this coming spring and summer that’s for sure! And if that wasn’t enough we went to the Bronx Zoo the very next day! My oh my did you love that experience.

We also had a bunch of family and friends over to our house for our annual Lobster feast. It was really just a BBQ, and we kept it pretty low key this year. We only had maybe 5 people. But it was still very nice and you had a great time in the kiddie pool. The water was super cold but you didn’t care one bit. And the diaper you had on came off at one point and I thought I’d throw it up towards the back of the house to get it out of the way. Well that proved to be the wrong thing to do when in MID AIR it spontaneously combusted and the diaper jelly bits inside decided to explode and rain down all over the yard until it finally hit the ground and completely was obliterated into a pile of jelly goo! Yeah, so that was fun cleaning that up and stuff! Remind me not to do that again!

We enjoyed a trip out on our friends boat on the lake. It was your first time on a motor boat. There was a grin plastered on your face the entire time. The pictures are priceless. You didn’t even mind the life jacket you had to wear because you were having such a great time. It was a beautiful day too, a perfect day actually. I will forever remember that day.

But also this month LF we learned that my godmother, a very special pseudo grandma to you is sick. Sick with cancer. Metastatic cancer. It is all through her bones and body. I wasn’t quite sure how to take the news. I think looking back on it now, I was in a state of complete denial. And I was in that state of denial for quite some time. She means the world to me and you just love her so much! You especially love playing with all her chotchkies she ahs in her home. And she is so very patient with you and how you want to hold every single one of them.

Month 21 ~ Upgrade 1.9:

This month we packed ourselves up and went on a two week vacation to Hawaii to visit your Uncle T and Aunt CA and your two cousins. I’ve been chronicling that trip so I won’t touch very much on this month. I will continue to chronicle the trip when I get my hard drive contents back and all my photos. So stay tuned for those posts. Look fo them in maybe April I think!

The one thing I can say about this month that is not covered in the Hawaii posts is that you got to meet Lylabean for the very first time. You were in heaven and loved every second! She is all you talk about!

The other thing I can mention is how we went to the pumpkin patch when we got home from Hawaii. You were less containable than you were last year in the pumpkin patch. Last year I could just prop you up to stand next to a pumpkin and you’d hang out there. This year you were a bit more independent and wanted to wander and explore so the pictures aren’t quite as good. But you had fun, so that’s really all that mattered.

Month 22 ~ Upgrade 1.10:

This month was monumental. We’ll get to that in a minute. First though…Halloween? Oh goodness, did you think that was heaven! We went over to grandma’s and stopped by grandma D’s and you did a little trick or treating at both places and then we went over to Auntie Pocklock’s and went out with Auntie and LylaBean. What fun you had. I wasn’t quite sure how you would do with going door to door of strangers houses, but once you realized the goodies you were getting, you wanted more, more…MORE! And actually Auntie and LylaBean got cold and we stayed out for a little while longer while they went home. On our way back to Auntie’s house though I had realized yu got quiet, unexpectedly and when I looked down at you in your stroller, you were gnawing on the end of a mini M&M packaged, basically sucking through the paper until it disintegrated to nothing and you were getting chocolate oozing out of the package. No wonder you were so quiet. Oh, and you were a pretty little butterfly. And brace yourself because you will be that very same butterfly this year too. I bought it a size too big, so you could wear it again. You won’t mind, will you? Ok, good!

You had your first time with Auntie and Unc since LylaBean was born, without momy and daddy. Daddy and I went to an adults only Halloween party. We had a lot of fun, but you weren’t sure what to make of daddy in his Big Bad Wolf costume. You were actually a bit scared of daddy in his costume…it was really cute.

One huge monumental occasion of this month of your little life was that an African American man was voted into the White House as President of the United States. This was a big day in our history Li’l Foot. Some day you will understand just what this means. For now, just know that it made me proud to know that you are part of that history. I had never been so interested or engrossed in politics. Never before had I watched the debates in previous elections.

But the most monumental of moments this month was that your daddy took care of you for an entire weekend. From Thursday night until Sunday night so that I could go on a retreat. What a wonderful weekend I had. And on Saturday that weekend, you and daddy came to the place where I was on retreat and you dropped off a huge batch of Black & White cookies. I cried when I realized you were there and I didn’t get to see you. What I would’ve given to have seen you and daddy when you stopped by to drop off the cookies. I really missed you so much that entire weekend.

Month 23 ~ Upgrade 1.11

This month we went to the International Picklefest for the second year in a row. You had a great time taste testing all the treats there! You didn’t particularly care for the life size pickle mascot that was walking around juping at the chance to become part of people Kodak memories. But at the very end of the day before we left I had daddy take you without you realizing the pickle was standing behind him, so we could get a picture of you and the pickle unsuspectedly!

We also celebrated your second Thanksgiving.  We were supposed to go out to a restaurant for dinner, but at the last minute decided to go to grandma’s because Grandma D wasn’t feeling up to going out. It was just as well, because going out to dinner just didn’t feel like Thanksgiving to me.

We attended the Down Town Glee Club concert and while I had this notion that you would embrace it and enjoy the time and not be a scootch, it just wasn’t the case. You were definitely a scootch. Every other second you wanted to go potty but didn’t have to really go. You wanted to run around the church and make noise and I got frustrated. I’ll be honest. The Down Town Glee Club concert holds special meaning in my heart because your grandpa used to sing in that club when I was a kid and I enjoy going to see the concert in memory of him. I won’t say you ruined my night, but I didn’t have that deep feeling of being in the presence of my dad, because I was so focused on keeping you contained. Focusing on you took away from my focus on visualizing my dad up there singing with all the other men. The sound of their voices resonating in the church is like nothing I can ever explain. It’s sheer joy to listen to. Perhaps this May you’ll be better behaved for their Spring concert. We’ll see how that goes.

We took you to my company to the children’s holiday party. You didn’t have much in the way of patience for that either, so I didn’t feel quite as badly that you were a scootch at the concert a few days prior. And a picture of you with Santa? HA! That’s a laugh! It was more a picture of you AND me AND daddy with Santa. And the gift you were given? HA! That’s hidden in my sock drawer at the moment. It was a Dora mermaid doll. Dora can bite it! You are not a Dora kid…I just simply won’t allow it! She’s just so annoying. I’ll explain in month 26 why Dora mermaid doll is in my sock drawer suffocating a long painful death!

Month 24 ~ Upgrade 2 HOLY COW…TWO! As in 2 years old! An entire 24 months I’ve helped sustain a whole other life besides my own (and the dog and the cat, but they don’t count!)

We spent Christmas Eve with Auntie Pocklock and Unc and the family! Always a good time, but especially fun when the party is a “wear your best plaid” party and daddy attended in his plaid kilt that he bought at Hot Topic during St. Patrick’s Day season last year. What a site THAT was! Later on in the night Unc went to go move daddy’s car and left the head lights on, so when we went to leave the car wouldn’t start. It took some finagling and Unc jumping their car up over the neighbor’s lawn, in the snow to get it out from behind daddy’s car and it front of it to jump start it. Oh…by the way, shhhh, Unc doesn’t know he left daddy’s headlights on and was the reason for the car not starting. We didn’t want to make him feel any worse than he already did so we havent told him yet. We’ll tell him when we’re old and gray!

Christmas Day we got up usual time and went downstairs to find a very full of presents Christmas tree. But we couldn’t enjoy them just yet because we had to go to church and then come back and have grandma over for breakfast. We did however let you open one present at first. After I realized which present it was that I gave you, I had to let you open another one. The first one was one that would make too much noise (the ABC magnetic Leap Frog) and you were intent on bringing it to church, so I distracted you with another gift that was less noisy (a My Little Pony).

While we were at church I had a moment which I wrote about already. It was a nice moment, one I won’t forget, but will also laugh about for many years to come.

Back at home after church you were so into opening presents! You loved every minute of it! You didn’t like it very much when I handed you a present for grandma and told you to give it to her though. You took that kind of hard. You wanted it to be for you and didn’t quite understand that 2/3 of the gifts under the tree were for you from Santa Clause. I was able to distract you though by handing you another present that WAS for you. Then you were able to give grandma her present. Among the Christmas presents you received were a Melissa & Doug piano, some clothes, a Magna Doodle and an Aquadoodle. You also received a Irish dolly from Grandma and Grandpa Farkle! It is the most precious dolly because it has a handmade Irish sweater and woven skirt.

After presents and yummy breakfast quiche, we made our way down to the hospital to visit Grandma D. We did presents with her there. She so appreciated us being there.

Then we made our way up to grandma’s and had dinner. It was a really nice Christmas. You received a dolly from Aunt MJ and Uncle H and your cousins. By the time we got to the part where we opened stocking stuffers and I think by that point you had enough. You didn’t make it through opening all your stocking stuffers. I wound up having to finish it for you. I think if you are totally exhausted by that time next year, we’ll just save the stockings for the next day or something. It took the fun out of it doing it when you didn’t want to. Oh well, live and learn.

For New year’s Eve we spent it with Auntie Pocklock and Unc and had a really nice and quiet night. We stayed over at their house and had some pizza and some appetizers that we had around midnight. It was a good time.

On New Year’s Day we travelled up to Aunt P’s house, your great aunt. We spent the weekend there. It was that weekend that sent your sleeping habits into a tail spin, of which we are just getting back in order.

And then on Jaunary 14th, 2009 you my dearest sweet little girl turned TWO! I can’t believe how fast the time seems to have gone. You are such a little person now. You talk up a storm and keep us on our toes. each day we are amazed at the new things you do and say. Here’s a sampling…

Each night when it’s time to go upstairs to take a bath and go to bed, you tell the dog, “Come one Guinness!” and then you turn to me and/or daddy and say, “Come on mommy!”, “Come on daddy!” You know not to even tell the cat because she’s never allowed upstairs.

You climb, my oh my, do you climb…everything you can, but shouldn’t, climb on!

You eat. You eat things I test to see if you’ll eat it and when you do eat the things I put in front of you, I sit there stunned that you eat it! And if you eat just a couple bites and I think you should’ve eaten a little bit more, I ask you if I should give the rest to Guinness and you tell me, “No mommy!” and then proceed to eat more! Every parent should have a Guinness dog to taunt their picky eater with! Your Aunt P could’ve really used the Guinness dog when she was trying to get your cousins N-Boo and Beaner to eat when they were little!

You’ve discovered the little budding artist inside yourself and lvoe to do art. The Crayola Color Wonder is a favorite art supply of mine because it’s mess free…mostly!

You love your bath at night. You love your bath at night so much that if I pull the lever up to start letting the water down, you whip around where you sit and give me “the eye” and declare, “NO mommy!” It’s cute, so I keep doing it, so you do it over and over again, each time getting a little bit more peeved! Maybe, just maybe it will give you a taste of what it feels like to not be listened to! But most likely it has no effect!

You love your jammies! LOVE! When daddy picks you up from school you tell him on the way home in the car that you want your jammies. And he has no choice when you both get home but to get you into your jammies STAT! I think because we bought you about 6 pairs of fleece feety jammies at the beginning of the winter, all with different animals and things on them, you love those things on them. Like the froggies, or the duckies, or the piggies or the LylaCane Jammies that you love so much.

You help yourself into the refrigerator and freezer despite our pleads with you to shut the doors and put back whatever it is you’ve taken out.

You have a routine in the morning. You wake up, you fight me about going potty, you plead for a cup of milk or juice and a cereal bar. You also want to watch either Classical Baby, Elmo but not the rest of Sesame Street, just Elmo or Blue’s Clues. You also fight me while I try and get you dressed because you want to remain in your jammies forever and ever Amen! Yeah well, so would I but I can’t so neither can you kid!

You want YOUR music in the car. If it’s not your music, then you want to watch daddy’s iPod. The good news about this is, that when you watch the movies on the iPod you could care less if there is sound that matches up with your movie, so we could play our music on the radio and you can watch daddy’s iPod and it’s a win-win for all of us!

In an effort to get you back  in your normal sleeping habits we’ve tried multiple things. We tried taking off the crib rail and putting up a bumper guard rail. That lasted all of a couple days then we put the crib rail back on. You’ve taken to making an art of climbing out of your crib. It’s a port to you! But you don’t do it all the time. Only when your super mad and pissed off that you’re in there. You wake up in the morning happy as a clam and hang out in there, but god forbid I put you in your crib at night and leave the room, you god batshit crazy and climb out!

I’ve also found that if I put on music in your room it helps.

I also sent daddy to the store for a humidifier because a humidifier was my biggest ally last year around this time, so that goes all night long as white noise.

And if all those things aren’t enough I’ve started to lay down next to your crib on the floor and put my hand through the slats so you can hold my finger. I love this time with you. It’s my favorite part of the day. Should you be putting yourself to sleep without me in the room at this point…sure, maybe so, but I love how simple it is that we hold hands and you fall off into sleepy land! I consider it a gift of the time I get to spend with you as you fall asleep. Some day you won’t even want me in your room, so I relish in the time we share together now.

A couple weeks ago you apparently woke up in the middle of the night and I listened to you scream for me and I let you cry it out for 1/2 an hour. I was going to go in any minute but you decided to quit nad fell asleep. I went in a little while later to find you had climbed out of your crib and were curled up in the blankets that I lay on next to your crib. Cutest. Thing. Ever. I thought it was so cute in fact that I went in a woke daddy up to have him come in and see too!

You love to watch Horton Hears a Who.

When you aren’t watching Horton, you’re watching Nemo.

Month 25 ~ Upgrade 2.1

We celbrated your 2nd birthday with all your closest family and friends this month. We had the party at the same place as last year. All had a great time and I made the cake for your party. It was a Horton cake. I think it came out really well if I do say so myself.

You went to the doctor for your two year check up. The doctor was very impressed with you. She actually used the word “extraordinary”! I think she’s right! You are one smart cookie. Your stats…

30.4 pounds

34 inches tall

Everything she asked about development wise was spot on with how you have progressed…speech, social interaction, toddler tantrums, you know…the basics.

Your sleep is much better these days. I attribute it to the fact that you’ve decided you want to sleep with a dolly. And here’s where that dumb Dora mermaid comes back into the story. You know, the one that is shoved in my sock drawer, left to suffocate? You first discovered your need to sleep with a dolly when you brought Dora upstairs to the bedtime routine one night. I wrapped her up and you slept with her all night. The next day you turned your back and I hid her in my sock drawer. That night bedtime routine came along and I had you bring up the doll that Aunt MJ bought for you and the doll Grandma and grandpa Farkle bought for you. You were allowed to choose one or both of them, but you were going to realize you needed to get over Dora. She’s just got no place in our house…sorry kid! And so ever since that night, you’ve slept with either of the other dolls and you’ve forgotten all about Dora, which is just fine with me.

And so, with that, I am caught up on your Monthly Upgrades! Whew! Never thought I’d get THAT task done! I’m thankful I caught up though. I’m sure they weren’t as detailed as I would’ve made them had I done them when I should’ve written them month by month, but they are a good representation of the past 7 months of your life. You’ve got the basics.

I love you Li’l Foot! I’ll try my best from here on out to do your monthly upgrades when they are current! Maybe you could make things easy on me and cooperate when I sit down to the computer to write for you!

Love you always!

Momma

This month is monumental.  I can’t believe I’ve kept myself from blogging this, but perhaps it’s a biter sweet type topic.  This month you are weened.  It happened just on a total fluke I guess.  You had been only nursing in the morning and that was only because I was really just too lazy to go downstairs and get you a cup of ilk or something.  Plus, it was also in part that if I walked down the stairs, you would hear me and get really really mad that I forgot you.  I know that’s crazy sounding, but it makes my heart break if you think I’ve forgotten to get you in the morning just because I walk down the stairs.  A couple of mornings a couple weeks ago, you were doing your own thing those mornings and didn’t pay attention to nursing or not.  So I think in some way we both decided it was time.  You looked for it (read: tried to lift my shirt to try and nurse) a couple days later but at that point we were too far into it to turn back.

I have to say the way you weened was perfect.  We’ll call it an even 18 months even though it was just shy of that mark.  I’m proud of you.  I’m proud of myself.  I’m proud of us and the bond we shared and cultivated!!!  I am proud of the gradual weening process we established.  It was just right for us!  I thought it would be harder and more emotionally challenging to finish this last leg, but it wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be.  Don’t get me wrong, I had my emotional attachments along the way and as sessions were eliminated I knew the end was coming, but gradual was definitely the way to go for us.  The gradual method alleviated any weening engorgement which was so nice not to have to deal with.  I am so happy I was able to give you this, and that you were able to benefit from it and we were able to form that special bond.  And so ends another awesome chapter in your life.  Only to begin something new…what lies in store next?

Let’s see what else can I share from this month?

On July 8th you went to the aquarium for the first time since you were in my belly.  You were so excited by all the fishies!!!  I don’t think you could’ve been more in heaven with all the fishies you saw.  That day, daddy and I took you to the aquarium and grandma and your auntie Cass (and yet to be born baby Lexi) joined us.  We had a fantastic day!!!  The iMax theater is always one of my favorite activities there.  It held your attention for most of it, up until maybe 10 minutes from the end.  Daddy had to run out to the stroller to grab your cup at that point, and even then that’s not really what you wanted.  Each room of the aquarium was a new exploration…yet you were always wanting to go to the last room we were in because something in the last room was so interesting.  It took some coaxing and showing you that what was in the next room was also interesting to convince you to leave the last room behind, but you always found something interesting.  You really were in love with the otters though…I think they might’ve been your favorite!!!  It really tuckered you out too, because we weren’t too far away from the aquarium before you passed out in your car seat.

You are loving grandma’s pool more and more every time we go!!!  You have the best time whether you’re just standing on the stairs splashing around, jumping off the side (or as you refer to it “twothree”) or frollicking around in my arms as we do laps around the pool.  You also love being tossed back and forth from one of us to the other.  You are not afraid to go under water, although most times have been by surprise.  You also love to grab a gulp of water and then cough it up!!! I just love spending that time with grandma too.  I love that she lives so close to us and that we can go visit her and you’ll have a really close relationship with her.  Now when we go visit her, you realize where we are as soon as we pull in the driveway.  You notice the pool and say “Wa…wa…..wa…..wa” (that’s Li’l Foot speak for water for those who are not on the toddler speak up and up!)  And one of these days we will be going to grandma’s and not be going in the pool and that day I will prep by taking a couple of Tylenol befrehand to avert the headache that will ensue (in my head) when we tell you we aren’t going to the pool.  It will not be a pretty day!!!  But I must say, you are already developing (dare I say) your own internal GPS system, just like your mommy?  Pretty soon you’ll be giving out directions!!!

I think 18 months is some sort of growth spurt!!!  You are a eating machine.  Iin the last few weeks we’ve been out and about and to this party and that and you’ve been grazing all day long!!!  It’s not jumk either.  It’s good foods, including veggies…gosh do you love your veggies!!!  You also will basically try anything, which is great!!!  You ate your first piece of sushi (ok, really it was a Caliornia roll which is kind of fake sushi, but still, SUSHI!!!)  and you loved it!!!  That’s an expensive taste bud you’ve got there kiddo!!! Heehee!!!

Since this is the month of July, I should mention the fireworks display we saw on the 4th.  It was just the small one right in our town, but you loved it.  And I loved being there with you and daddy!!!  Just us!!!  Our little family!!!  I absolutely love this picture of you and daddy watching the fireworks display!!!

This month we also celebrated daddy’s 3nd Father’s Day (we count the Father’s Day when I was pregnant)!!!  We celebrated by going out to breakfast in Ridgefield at the Early Bird Cafe with grandma and grandma Durry!  It was a very nice morning and surprisingly the wait wasn’t too long.  I still find it amusing that I didn’t pull your pantaloons back up after walking out of the bathroom from taking you to the potty and I couldn’t figure out why you were walking so funny!!!

You are learning a tough lesson in sharing.  You love animals (as evidenced by the fact that you can sit still through any animal show on Animal Planet).  You love the kitty and the doggie.  You also love to make sure the kitty does not go hungry.  Point two seconds after I walk through the door at night, you immediately know that is when I feed the cat her dry food and will help me poor one little cup full into her bowl plus a few little treats on top of the dry food.  You love to help me with this task.  During the weekends however, you don’t understand time so much and think since I’m home it must be time to feed the kitty…all weekend long.  On the other hand you love your Polly-O String Cheese.  What does this have to do with animals?  Well, there is a method to the Polly-O sting cheese consumption.  It starts with you opening the refrigerator door, like you own it or something, and yes, you open the refrigerator door all by yourself now.  The next is to incessantly repeat until our ears bleed, “cheese…cheese…cheese…cheese” until we get you a string cheese.  We then tell you to go sit on your chair, and you do.  Then we give you the string cheese and you gnaw on it, unti lit bores you and then you get up and walk around with it in your hand until the dog finds it much more intersting than you do at that particular moment when we snags it right out of your tiny paw!!!  He thinks it’s fair game!  You don’t!  Much hysterics and foot stomping ensues!!!  We are usually able to give you accolades for being such a good sharer and the situation is resolved, except those times when you really just weren’t done with your cheese yet, then we have to give you another one.  It is quite funny to watch!!!

Sadly, this month was rounded out by probably one of the last times you will be able to spend one on one time with Auntie Pocklock before she has Baby Blinkie!  Auntie was awesome enough to take you last Friday afternoon because I had to work and daddy went camping, and then Auntie insisted I go do somehting for myself so she could spend more time with you…so I went and got a manicure/pedicure and then met up with grandma for a delightful sushi dinner.  Again…spending time with grandma is so wonderful, especially one on one!!!  Auntie watching you for one of the last times one on one is both happy and sad.  Sad because I know how much you love Auntie and spending time with her, but happy because when Blinkie does arrive I can not wait for you to meet your little cousin.  When I picked you up from that afternoon with Auntie, she asked you “where your cousin was” and you walked over and poked her belly!!!  So darn cute, heart melting and giggle inducing!!!  While things with Auntie won’t be one on one so much anymore, you will have a best friend to play with.  Just wait utnil next year at this time when Blinkie is interacting with you…squeeeeeee…I can’t wait!!!  But for now…Auntie is still all yours…

And so Li’l Foot this wraps up your monthly upgrade.  I can’t believe it’s done so close to your actual 18 month mile marker!!! It’s not posted the day before next month’s is supposed to be posted.  w00t!!!

I love you Li’l Foot!!!

Momma

P.S. Please stop growing, it’s not funny!

This month was perhaps the healthiest month we’ve seen in recent months past.  I can’t say I’m not thrilled by this.  In fact it’s made me want to scream from the roof tops!  This is also the month we’ve really seen your sleep habits transform.  While you’ve always been a good sleeper and had the sleeping through the night thing knocked at 7 weeks old, consequential factors such as teething, loud neighbors and illnesses including but not limited to runny nose, cough, vomiting, diarrhea and all that fun stuff…sleep becomes a challenge.  This month has actually seen many changes in fact.  I can put you down in your crib and you fall asleep on your own.  I’m no longer nursing you at night before bed.  I am also not swaddling you anymore.  In truth, that was phased out at maybe 14 or 15 months or so, but I forgot to mention it.  And really it got us through this past year and 4 months so it needed to be recognized for the power that is “the swaddle”.  It really is a force to be reckoned with.  (Note: anyone needing lessons in swaddling, there’s a sign up sheet in the comments section! Okay, no there’s not really a sign up sheet, but just leave a comment and I’ll be glad to give you lessons!  It’s the best investment you’ll ever make in sanity!)

This month you rediscovered many things you loved last summer.  You rediscovered the pool (thank you so much grandma for sharing your pool with us!).  You rediscovered the great outdoors!  This makes me so very happy.  Well, except when it’s time to go inside and you pitch a fit about not “wanting” to go inside!  As much as I would love to stay outside when I pull up from being at work all day, there’s dinner to be put on the table, books to be read to you, baths to be splashed in and a crib calling your name!

I also must mention that in this month we are rid of bottles!!!  It was just one of those things, you didn’t need them anymore, your daddy and I had enough with cleaning them and you weren’t really using them very much anymore anyway except ont he weekends, so DONE…be gone you silly bottles!!!  Thank you for your services, but we are so over you!  And despite many protests from interested parties, I stuck to my guns and insisted and there are no scars, so it’s all good!  You survived, we survived and we’re all the more happier for it!  It could’ve been done sooner, but whatever, at least I can honestly say that you will not be that 3 year old toddler walking around a mall with a baba hanging out of your mouth (or a pacifier for that matter, because those are so last year!)!!!

And on that note, I’ll finish writing this post so that I can move on to other important posts like “Monthly Upgrade version 1.6 which is the one I should be posting today!

I love you with all my heart and soul Li’l Foot!  You are my pride and joy!!!

Loving you,

Momma

Yes, this is two weeks late…sorry!!!  I’l do better next month!!! (Wait, didn’t I say I’d do better with doing this post on time last month too?  Oh well!!!

This past month has again been a rollercoaster of illnesses.  From ear infections to boogers, to coughing and sneezing, and lest we forget the poop…oh my gosh the poop!!!  Darn antibiotics are evil, I tell ya, pure evil, until they’ve run their course and made LF all better and the poop stops being so foul!!!  But I should note, this month was with less puke…so there’s that to be grateful for!!! 

But let’s not dwell on the illnesses this month, because really?  I’m over it and actually you are too!!  Let’s talk about other things, shall we?

Let’s talk about your ever expanding vocabulary for a second!

flower (“fa-fa”)

juice

bubble (“bu-bool”)

yes (thank goodness…”no” needed it’s positive friend!)

CD (“ceeeEeee”)

please

thank you

cereal (“ceeeEal”)

shoes

socks

down

outside

bottie (this is where I confess I called my blanket bot when I was a kid (ummm…still do and it might live under my pillow), and am passing on the tradition and LF has made her own version of it by adding on the “tie” at the end…pronounced…bot-tee!  Cutest darn thing EVER!!!)

(I’m sure there are more, just can’t think of them right this moment…I really should write them down as the month goes along!)

This month we taught you “Hot Feet”!  This would be the phenomenon which has you marching quickly in place so as to get your little feet up and off the floor because oooooch…hot feet, hot feet, hot feet!!!  (We discovered in other corners of toddlerville, your friend, baby Dorkus and family do the same routine only it’s called “Happy Feet”…heehee!!!)

I’m not sure why but you have developed this fascination with putting on your jacket.  It’s very funny.  You stand under the bench in the front hall and point up to the hook with your sweatshirt and say “prettyprettyprettypretty”.  Apparently you equate being pretty with putting on your jacket!!!  My best guess at this bizarre phenomenon is you LOVE being outside.  If you could live, sleep, breath and eat the outdoors, you’d be as happy as the Pope in his red shoes!!!  So what I can gather is that when you want to go outside you communicate this to us by saying “prettyprettypretty” which tells us to put on your jacket.  The problem is, we can’t ALWAYS go outside when YOU want to, like when it’s dark (mommy’s scared of the dark) and when it’s raining (I like rain and all but you’ll just get sick again and I can’t have that!).  It’s at these times that we simply put your jacket on and then make you walk around the house with it on.  It seems to work most times.  Other times, not so much, but eventually you get over not being able to go outside and all is well.

We’ve been visiting the park and the playgrounds more and more as the weather has become warmer.  You absolutely LOVE the playground.  The swings are always the first stop…ALWAYS!!!  And then you like to climb.  LORD have mercy, you love to climb.  Whether you are simply climbing onto the couch via your Adirondack chair arm or taking on other climbing feats a bit to big for your britches, you want to climb, and goodness…you want to do it by yourself!!!  (Nerves?…mommy has none!!!  Actually daddy is more the nervous-Nelly on this front!!!)

Another thing…what’s up with the carousel at the mall this month?  Last month?  The carousel? In the mall? Loved, loved, loved!!!  This month?  The same carousel?  In the mall?  Not so much.  Oh sure, you suffered through it, and survived but it’s not on your top ten things you love to do anymore.  What happened?  Last month you would not let us leave the mall without riding the carousel, yet this month, you detest the carousel and could’ve passed it by, no problem!!!  I don’t get it.  Perhaps we’ll try again next month and see how it goes.

We should probably talk about church too.  While yes in your early months of life you “slept” through mass on Sunday mornings?  Not really the case these days.  You are all go, all the time!!!  We can only distract you for so long and then you want to get down and run around like you own the church.  So we’ve resorted to taking you to the back, and then all you want to do is run out of the doors of the church and down the ramp and, and, aaaaahhhhhhhh!!!!  Can’t they just speed up the Mass.  As it is we go to the uber-early mass at 8 o’clock and there’s no music and no filler, just the basics and only lasts a ½ hour.  You now realize you love Fr. William (whom we also love as well), and we sit pretty close to the front, so when he says his homily you pay attention to him.  You’ve taken to saying hi to him, only it’s more of a “Hi-hi-hi-hi-hi-hi-hi-hi” and you don’t really stop saying Hi until he acknowledges you and says hi back!!!  And then of course the entire congregation erupts in fits of giggles and I feel the burning stares through my head from all sides!!!  Oy…it’s going to be a long road to teaching you how to behave in church!

All in all a good month, mostly noting a toddler on a mission to independence!!!

Okay, I’m over it…onto bigger and better things and an in depth look at the past month of your life Li’l Foot…

Four words!

Seven syllables!

That is all it will take to sum up the past month of your life!

You.  Are.  Into.  Everything.

If you can test it out and see what will happen if you do this or do that, you will.  Cause and effect is your number one objective every day.  If it can be moved by any means of LF force, you will move it.  If you can pull it apart, you will.  If you can climb it, then call it Mt. Everest and have the oxygen tank ready.  You are one determined little girl.  You are also obsessed with being outside, which I LOVE!!!  I can not wait to take you hiking or go on picnics and walks int he park or whatever brings us outside as a family.

This month you are talking up a storm.  I don’t know where you get it all, but you speak new words every day and I’m always taken by surprise.  I know you hear words every day and I have always given you more credit than most adults give babies for being smarter than we think, but that doesn’t diminish the surprise every time you come up with something else.

The words in your vocabulary at 15 months include…

doggie
kitty
moo
roar
woof (read: “ooof”)
quack (read: “kack”)
cheese
milk (read: “mee”)
baba
mama
dada
meow (read: “ow”)
no (read: “nono nono nono nono nono nono nono nono”)
tree
cassie (read: “aaassie”)
bath (read: “baaa”)
ball (read: “bah”)
duckie
balloon (read: “baboon”)
poopoo
potty
moon (read: “moun moun moun” ~ thank you Laurie Berkner!)
pretty
fishy (read: “sheshe”)
sit

silly (read: “siddy)

birdy

There are additional things you say that we just can’t decipher yet, but I give it another month and I’ll have another list of however many words and then more that are undecipherable and then following month I’ll understand those words and…lather, rinse, repeat!!!

This month, just yesterday in fact, you had your First Haircut.  Let it be recorded in the LF history book on April 13, 2008 you got your bangs trimmed.  This is how that all went down:

This hair cut although not “officially” a hair cut in the sense of shaping and styling something out of your locks was still traumatic…to me…not you!!!  I mean, this was your first adventure where hair met scissors so for all of my intents and purposes, it was your first real haircut.  I hemmed and hawed about this activity for the past couple of weeks since you first started wearing pigtails.  Maybe even sooner than that because I started noticing your hair getting in your eyes even when your hair was down, long before the pigtails entered on the scene.  There was so much pressure to make sure you “looked” good when the “ssshhhhhwwwip” of the scissors made their debut cut.  I probably could’ve found a more appropriate time than 5 minutes before we were supposed to leave to be on time for church to take up this activity but I couldn’t take it one. more. second.  And what if God couldn’t see you in church behind those bangs?  He would understand we were late because I had to cut your bangs. right. in. that. exact. moment.  So what did we do?  How did we accomplish this task?  Well, I sat you in front of the tv in your little Adirondack chair, daddy was behind you and I was in front of you.  When it was time to snip, daddy clamped your head between his two hands and I grabbed your bangs and ssshhhhwwwip, I cut them!  OH M GOSH, I cut them.  Wait? Are they even?  Did I screw up?  I couldn’t look.  It was too much for me to bare.  And then I did look, and they were totally fine.  A few minor adjustments and voila…oh my goodness, you have blue eyes under all that hair LF!!!

As I sat there in church watching you take in your surroundings I was taken aback by how you’ve grown.  And I don’t know if I’m imagining it or if it’s real, but if it is possible, I think cutting your bangs to about your eyebrow line actually made you cuter.  And then when I looked closer, I think the cut bangs make you look older.  And that’s scary.  And also sad…so very sad!!!

Where has the time gone?  How did a whole 15 months pass?

Last night as we were watching America’s Funniest Videos, you started toshow your little personality.  You love watching AFV.  Now I don’t know what’s funnier, watching the dumb dog watch the dogs on the show or watching you watch the show.  Last night when you enjoyed a certain part or were surprised by what was shown you would take both hands, throw them across in front of your mouth, take a gasp in and your eye would get wide.  It really was the most adorable thing.  You make me smile every day.

I love you Li’l Foot!  You are the light in my world!

Love,

Momma

Well, the reason this is all sorts of late Li’l Foot, is because you were all sorts of sickies during the duration in between your Version 1.1 Upgrade and your Version 1.2 Upgrade!  There was very little time I had to breathe in that time frame let alone post blog entries.  And if sitting down to write a blog entry wasn’t hard enough, then sitting down to write a well thought out post about your milestones for the month was beyond conceivable.  But here I am, doing it…albeit late, but still, doing it.  I know this is not the first time I’m writing late and I’m sure it will not be the last.  Just so we’re all clear!

Well since this time frame was consumed with sickies, and I’m not feeling all that compelled to dredge all that stuff up again, because everyone has had quite enough of reading all about it in all the posts during that time frame, I’m thinking up something else to write about you in this post.  Please give me a moment while I brainstorm…(enjoy the elevator music while you wait for me to think!)

Eeeerm, I’m finding it hard to find anything else notable to talk about from this particular time frame.  It was an all consuming sick time.  It was a dark time.  I felt like there was no end in sight.  It was definitely a tough time.  (Are you getting the idea that I was overwhelmed with how difficult this was?)  And that was just me having to tend to a sick toddler, I can’t imagine how you felt living in that little body of yours.  It just seemed it was one thing after another after another.  If it wasn’t an ear infection, it was throw up.  If it wasn’t throw up, it was diarrhea.  If it wasn’t diarrhea, it was boogers.  If it wasn’t boogers, it was a hacking cough.  If it wasn’t a coughing hack, it was an earth moving succession of sneezing.  I gotta be honest, this was not your best month.  I thought November was bad?  November was rainbows and sprinkles compared to this past month.

In a few days I will be writing your Version 1.3 upgrade and it started out with much of the same but there were some really good things that happened and stuff so I’m looking more forward to writing that one.

Either way, I love you LF, and let’s not have the sickies come visit for a good long time, okay?

Love

~mama

THE 1.0 Upgrade???

OH. MY. GOODNESS.  Did you read that? 1.0!  It doesn’t have a zero in front of the . anymore!!!  There’s a 1 there now!!!

Oh my!  How did this happen?  How did Li’l Foot get to be a year old already?  Yes, you read that right my little baby turns ONE TODAY!  I can’t even stand it.  Throughout this whole weekend, starting on Friday night, I relived this entire weekend as it unfolded last year.  It was hard adjusting to the days of the weekend not coinciding with the real dates like last year, but it was fun.  For instance, on this past Friday night at about 5:09 I turned to hubbie and said, “hey honey, this time last year, we were on our way home from the Dr.’s office so we could walk the dog and get my bag for the hospital, which we didn’t think we’d be doing that night!”

This morning as I drove to work (on a 2 hour delay, because Mother Nature dumped 6 inches of snow on us last night), I looked at the clock at precisely 9:37, and relived the birth of my little girl.  It was at 9:37 in the morning last year on this date my little girl graced this world with her presence (only last year it was a Sunday).  I had been in the hospital since Friday evening, going through inducing drugs.  I feared having my baby on Saturday, which was the 13^th, and as luck would have it my body fought the labor thing tooth and nail and I made it well into the 14^th before I would have Li’l Foot!

So I guess, without further ado, I should get down to business and write my little girl her 1 year letter.  Here’s your warning people…grab the hankie and get comfy.

My dear sweet Li’l Foot,

Today is perhaps the biggest milestone (oh jeeze, I can’t even get through the first sentence without my eyes welling up) of your first year.  Sure, you’ve hit some major milestones like, taking to breastfeeding like a champ, smiling at us on cue, sleeping through the night at 7 weeks old, rolling over from front to back and back to front, eating a various array of solid foods starting at 4 months, giving up on the pacifier without being prompted to, sitting up unassisted, standing, cruising along the furniture, walking unassisted, using some baby sign language to communicate with us, getting 9 teeth (two of them being molars…blast those molars…they were my least favorite) and of course talking and saying various words.  But really, for me, making it to your first birthday means so much more than any of that.  It means we did it!  Your daddy and I made it through the first year.  We didn’t fail at parenting (yet!)!  It means we (your dad and I) sustained a human life aside of our own with only a few bumps and bruises along the way.  But all in all, it was a really good year. 

Li’l Foot, from the moment I first laid eyes on you at 9:37, that rainy January day last year I felt love like never before.  I confess I’ve kissed you more times than I think I’ve ever kissed anyone from the top of your sweet baby smelling head to tippiest of tips of your toes, I can’t refrain from the kissing.  I’ve hugged you close to my heart, so close and so tight, at times I thought I might squeeze your stuffin’ right out of your ears.  I’ve been so lucky to have such a wonderful baby.  You’ve never failed to surprise me.  Those first nights home with you were some of the best.  You’d need me in the middle of the night, and I’d nestle up in the glider chair with you in your room, with the shades lifted on the window, and some nights snow would fall outside and a feeling of peace would fall over you and me.

Over this past year, I am lucky to have also felt your love.  Whether you know it or not, you’ve made me feel so loved.  I’ve felt more loved than I ever thought anyone could love me.  Oh sure, I knew I could love you, and I realize now just how much love I am capable of, but you loving me and wanting me to hold you and cuddle you is a whole other thing.  Okay, so not everyday is that happy-go-lucky feeling of rainbows, pink hearts and unicorn butts, for goodness sake we all have our moments, but the times when we’re in tuned with each other are so special to me.

It’s hard to imagine life before you, Li’l Foot!  We’ve been so many places and traveled so many miles and done so many things, they wouldn’t have been half as fun without you.   

Okay, I’ve been writing this all day and I am fried.  There just aren’t the right words to truly express to you how much I love you and how much this past year has meant to me.  You’re the bestest kid in the whole wide world, I know it and your daddy knows it.  Oh and speaking of your daddy…he has done a fantastic job with you.  When you’re old enough to read this, you need to go and give him a huge hug for being the bestest dad ever!!!  He has really stepped up to the plate and taken the bull by the horns baby by the diapers!!!  You are very lucky to have him for a daddy and that makes me happy!