12:11AM -- Do you know where your soothers are?

At 12:11AM this morning Alice woke up crying. This is pretty rare – she hardly ever wakes up in the night, and almost never wakes up crying. I knew something was wrong. I went to her room to find her standing in her crib holding onto the rail. There were three soothers on the floor directly in front of her; a fourth was on the floor behind her crib. She was very upset. I picked her up and told her it was okay. I got her a soother and she immediately quieted down again. After a minute or so it was clear her only concern was her soothers. She didn’t object to being put back in her crib. I tucked her in and made sure she had all four soothers. She was probably asleep again before I got back to bed.

Alice's first day in the dayhome

Alice had her first stay at Donna’s (the dayhome) on Friday. I dropped her off just before 9am, and picked her up at 4:15pm. I think it was harder for mommy than it was for Alice…Donna said that Alice didn’t appear to notice I had left, and she was fine all day, except when she woke up from her nap she was clingy. Donna said she didn’t cry and had a good day. I’m glad that Alice seems to like being at Donna’s, and she gets to play with other kids of different ages. Alice will be there 2 days/week starting in December.

Alice is almost walking

Alice takes more steps every day now, several at a time. She is slowly gaining confidence and getting her balance. When we walk with her she can now walk holding onto only one hand instead of two, she’s getting so good!

Trick or Treat

Alice went out trick-or-treating for the first time today. She enjoyed it very much. Alice was dressed up as a pumpkin; this was her very first halloween costume. Mommy took Alice to Jack and Connor’s house, and they stayed there for a little while. It was very exciting because kids were coming to the door and getting candy and stuff. Alice liked that a lot. When Mommy and Alice came home, they went to the neighbours on either side of our house. That was also very exciting. Alice can’t wait until next year, when she’ll be two years old and can go to more than three houses. That will be lots of fun!

Alice's 400th Day

8:00 Alice is awake, talking to her soothers, rolling around in her crib, playing with Ocean Wonders (twinkle, twinkle little star…). 8:30 Daddy comes into her bedroom, Alice points to the spare soothers on her dresser. Four is not enough. Lots more rolling around in her crib, laughing and giggling. Daddy changes her into her daytime clothes. When Alice is told to put away her soother, she puts it in her crib, then waves goodbye to it. 8:45 Breakfast. Alice puts on her bib by herself, but Daddy does the snap behind her neck. Breakfast this morning is:

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You know you're a mother when...

You discover cheerios at the bottom of your purse!

First Tentative Steps

On Thursday Alice took her first little steps on her own. They were baby steps – what else would we expect from a little girl? She didn’t go very far. But she did it without our help. Her confidence is growing, and she seems to have better balance. She walks faster with us than she did even a week ago. Other things Alice can do at 13 months:

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Learning to Walk, With Help

Alice is getting closer to walking on her own. She really enjoys practising with Corinna and I. We have to hold both of her hands though – she’s not comfortable holding only one hand. Whenever Alice comes over and holds our hands, we know she wants to practise. It’s kind of difficult, since she holds her hands about 30" off the floor – we’re kind of bent over, and have to watch out for her little feet. Cor and I take turns; we can only keep up to her for so long before we need to stand up straight again. Alice is making us feel pretty old. Alice is not too steady on her feet yet, but she’s been practising really hard. What she really enjoys is walking around the coffee table chasing one of us. That’s hilarious, and leads to all sorts of giggling. Alice also has a practice walker, sort of like a tricycle you can walk behind. She practices with that too, and she can even turn it so she can navigate around the room. It has all sorts of buttons and a steering wheel, and makes sounds and music. She loves playing with that. In other developments, Alice now helps put on her socks, and can take off her shirt. She only does that when we’re changing her outfits. We’re starting to wean her off of baby food; she’s eating more and more of our meals. P.S. Alice is in bed right now, and I can hear her on the monitor. She’s been playing with her Ocean Wonders crib toy. When she presses the big button on the front, it plays “Twinkle, Twinkle.” The music continues for a minute or so, then it stops. There’s a brief silence, then I can hear her reaching up to press the button again. This has been going on the whole time I’ve been writing this. How cute can you get, Alice?

Finger Play

Round in the garden Like a teddy bear One step Two steps Tickle under there!

Facing Forward and Thanksgiving

Since Alice is over 22 pounds and taller than 29 inches it is safe for her to ride in a forward-facing car seat. We made the change last weekend. Alice had always been pretty good in the car, even though she couldn’t see us and couldn’t see where we were going. Now that she’s facing forward she has a better view of her destination. Yesterday we were in Olds celebrating Thanksgiving. There were lots of other children to play with: Charlie, Jack, Connor, Sean and Sarah. They range in age from 7 months to 2 years. Alice had lots of fun, especially with Charlie. They got along great and Charlie was really good with her. He’s a pretty impressive little boy, and he’s only 22 months old! Alice had a great day. She had a good long nap (about 2 hours) in the playpen upstairs. She ate some ham, turkey, potatoes, carrots and sweet potato. She also had lots of Corinna’s pumpkin pie. The ride home was pretty good. Corinna and Alice had a giggling session that lasted for about 45 minutes. This would not have happened if her car seat hadn’t been facing forward. Alice was laughing so hard she was turning red. It was pretty adorable.