Rush (don't get too excited Erik, it's not what you think)

I have a problem and I'm sure it's not unlike many parents. As much as I enjoy the stage Maggie is in, I can't help but be anxious for the next stage to begin only to wonder what I was in such a hurry for.

It started with wanting her to be in a "big girl carseat". I justified in my mind how much easier it would be walking into daycare just carrying her and not the big heavy infant seat. How it would be nice to actually hold her rather than a plastic handle that was the cause of my calloused hand. How since she was a big girl (I mentioned she's averaged 95%ile most of her young life?) she should be in a big girl seat.

So we moved her into the carseat at the beginning of winter. We didn't think about the fact that in her infant carseat we could put her warm little body in the warm little seat, put blankets around her and plop the seat in the carrier. We didn't think about the fact that since she couldn't stand on her own, walking into daycare with her in one hand, bottles in the other and having to put the lovely blue booties on over my shoes all at the same time was next to impossible. And God forbid I put her down on the floor for a second while I do this...mental breakdown! And we also didn't think about the size of the backseat of my car in comparison to the size of the carseat and the unbelievable blind spot that size issue creates.

Maybe we rushed that one a little...

Yesterday we put Maggie in the "big girl bathtub". I recently read that we have been doing her baths all wrong. The purpose of the small infant/toddler tub is to avoid having to crouch down over the tub, the tub can be placed on a table instead and your back loves you for it. I really don't understand this concept because Maggie is not unlike every other kid in water...she splashes...constantly. And the more she realizes that hitting the water creates a splash the more she splashes! So wouldn't that create a mess on the table, floor, etc? Anyway, I'm sure other parents do this with great success it just wasn't for us.

So, of course after I read what "they" say to do I had to get rid of the little bathtub and put her in the big girl bath. I didn't really consider what all of this new found freedom would cause...her toys are everywhere now and she gets MAD when she can't reach them so she tries to crawl to them (yes, Maggie is crawling*...the stubborn little girl who will not crawl on the floor crawls in the bath). As you can imagine, this is not very safe. And now that she can pull herself up, she's pulling herself up on the side of the tub, the soap dish, the faucet, anything she can get her hands on. I have to admit, her little naked butt sticking out of the water is pretty damn cute but, again, not very safe. And for some reason now she hates getting her hair washed. She used to be a champion bather...she played and played while I did my thing never bothering her at all. Now she just seems aware of everything that is going on and she does not like it!

After 10 minutes of this I am soaking wet and exhausted and Maggie is not too happy because the water is now cold, she is cold, I am cold...and then we get to start the fun process of getting her ready for bed. See February 26th post for a a little background on how much she loves her changing table these days. Let's just say there is a lot of crying and screaming "ma-ma" during this process.

So what's next? Of course I will not change...I'm already rushing the walking, I'm sure I will rush getting rid of the changing table to change her on the floor or something like that. Stay tuned...

* One more note about the crawling...little miss "too cool to crawl"...guess what I caught her doing at daycare today? Crawling with a smile on her face!

A year of firsts

This year is flying by. This past Easter was officially Maggie's last first holiday. No more "Baby's 1st enter random holiday" bibs, ornaments, captions under pictures...you get my point.

So as I sit here trying to think of 1st birthday party ideas I am reflecting on every milestone this year has given us. I won't bore you with them (if you have been an avid reader you already know...if not, scroll down!) just suffice it to say I am feeling very lucky right now.

Now for the one paragraph catch up on what she has been doing the past few weeks:

She waves (real waves, not the backwards ones), she kisses (more like open mouth mauls you but she means well), she drops toys just so she can pick them up (over and over and over), she eats whatever you give her (who would have thought she'd jones for risotto?), she laughs like a kid (you know, where you can't catch your breath) and she is so on the verge of walking she can taste it.

I have a feeling my next post might start something like "remind me why I wanted her to walk?" but for now I cannot wait to see her take her first steps...and just in time to make this year complete. See...she looks ready, doesn't she?

Fine line

Generally I am very happy with our daycare provider and as much as I hate the fact that they really spend more time with Maggie than I do, I like what it is doing for her. She plays well independently, she does not cling to me when a friend or relative that she doesn't see often wants to hold her and she's just a happy kid. But I'm starting to wonder if we don't have a little "Hand that Rocks the Cradle" action going on with one of the daycare workers.

There's that fine line of assuring parents that you are taking good care of their child while they are away and being a little obsessed with your child. And no, I'm not talking about the former daycare worker who had pictures of Maggie on her phone. In my opinion, that was sweet and since her general demeanor about kids was dislike I'm not sure it would have ever turned into an obsession. Surprisingly, she is no longer there...wonder why? Could it be the kid-hatred thing?

I digress...

Ever since Maggie moved into the Infant II room, there is one teacher who feels obliged to attack you as soon as you get in the door with how well Maggie is doing ("she's number 1 girl!!") and how much fun they have (her: "we hold them and cuddle every chance we get"; me: "too bad Maggie doesn't like to cuddle unless she's tired"; her: "oh no, Maggie loves to cuddle"; me: (in my head) "shut up b.." did I say that out loud?).

So this has happened a few times and I have pretty much ignored it, just chalking it up to her wanting to make sure we are comfortable with where Maggie spends 8 hours a day. But the other day when I showed up Maggie was sleeping. I said I would wake her up after I gathered up her stuff. So I walk over to her crib after getting everything ready to go and who's waking up Maggie but HER! What is THAT all about? And the time before that she took Maggie from me as we were leaving so she could kiss her goodbye. I could understand this if Maggie wanted to go to her but she was clinging to me (oh yeah, I mentioned earlier that she doesn't cling, but it's better for the affect in this part of the story).

I need to be more like Erik...he is so no-nonsense. He picks her up, barely says a word to anyone and leaves. This is the reason why when we are sitting in an airport waiting for a flight, the random stranger next to us chooses ME to talk to and not HIM. This is why at parties (like we go to those anymore) I am the one who is stuck in a corner talking to the most boring person alive while he is laughing in the distance. And this is also why I am bothered by mundane stuff like this enough to write a blog about it and he doesn't give it a second thought.

OCD Revisited

Let's revisit a few blogs ago where I mentioned Maggie was pretending to clean the floors and that this might indicate OCD behavior. She has a fairly new thing now where she will find the tiniest crumb, piece of dust, etc. and examine it forever as if she's thinking in her head "who cleans this house?".

This morning, she was sitting on the floor picking up every piece of lint she could find and handing it to me. I think she's trying to give me a hint and I'd like to say that I have a bad vacuum but we just bought a Dyson...it's doesn't get much better than that. In my defense though, we have an area rug that sheds incessantly over a white carpet so it shows everything! I am explaining myself via blog to a 10 month old. How pathetic.

Erik, if you are reading this, I found my reason for needing hardwood floors. YOUR OCD CHILD!

Updates

I'm a bad blogger...I may have lost my only fan (thanks Jen). But since it's been a while I wanted to give some Maggie updates:

* No teeth yet. This has got to be a marathon teething process. But still we attribute every time she is fussy to the poor thing must be cutting teeth. Nothing has changed in that regard.

* She mimics. You say la la la, she says la la la; you say ba ba ba, she says ba ba ba; you say ma ma ma, she says da da da; you say give me a kiss, she goes bpbbpbppb right in your face. Which leads me to...

* She has a great sense of humor. She knows what she's doing when you ask for a kiss and she gets so close to your face you pucker up only for her to blow a raspberry instead.

* She's just figuring things out...

...she tries to put her socks on now (not the least bit successfully but you have to hand it to her for trying)

...she knows how to put the rings on her Rock-a-Stack(granted she repeatedly puts the blue one on, removes it, then shakes it in the air while we cheer for her. Is there such a thing as too much praise?)

...she knows the tray under the ottoman in the family room has treasures (Wii remotes) for her and she takes every opportunity she can to uncover them

She's just fun. More fun than ever. I think what "they" say is right that every stage is better than the last. Except I may take back that comment when she is 16 and hating me for not buying her $300 jeans. Or then again, she and I may be sneaking those jeans into the house so Erik doesn't find out. That remains to be seen.