What Lies Beneath

Our little bug has figured out that there is an "underneath", i.e. under the couch, under the bed, under her crib, etc. She gets close to something and then squats down, or gets on the ground and looks around under the couch/bed/crib. When she sees something she gets excited, turns to whoever is in the room and claps. She is so proud of herself.

She's also started to splash in the bathtub. She bangs her arms around to make waves. If the water hits her face, it reminds her that this is the same stuff that she drinks, so she puts her mouth in the water to slurp to get a big swig of it. Face first, she is fearless.

First Class for Mommy

The flight back from Chicago was awesome. Little bug fell asleep in my arms as the flight took off and didn't wake up until the wheels hit the ground to land. The people around us even commented that they can't believe that she slept through the entire flight, all the announcements, and the beverage carts rolling around. Having her sleep the whole flight was my version of First Class flying.

First Class

We booked our trip to Chicago so long ago with frequent flyer miles that they bumped us to first class. I'm not sure what computer glitch allows a passenger with "infant in arms" on their ticket to get the free pass to first class, but who I am to judge the Delta system.

They start boarding the plane as we walk to the gate and we realize that we haven't changed little bug's diaper. So I run off to the ladies room to change her 'quickly' before we board. I use the word 'quickly' in a loose sense, since I never know what Eve has planned for public diaper changings. This changing table was a very nice Corian area of counterspace that had a full size mirror on two sides. Heaven for my little narcissist.

As soon as I laid her down, she popped up on her knees, pulled herself up onto the mirror and started kissing her reflection. I caught some of the ladies in the restroom giving me the "how disgusting that you let your daughter suck on a bathroom mirror" which I return with a big grin and my "why don't you come over here and try to do better" look. We exchange these glances because we are all from the South where you clearly don't say what is on your brain, if we were in the Northeast I'm sure the exchange would have been a little more vocal.

Anyway, back to my diva. She kissed herself during the entire diaper change and we hurried back to the gate. We are one of the last people to get on the plane just in time to see the 100% male first class look up, see daddy toss our diaper bag into seat 2B and sigh that "who brings a baby into first class" sigh.

As luck would have it, little bug decides to start to cry. So the glances get a little meaner in our direction, which I return with my "if you pay extra for the seats in first class, you can afford those noise canceling headphones" smile. We get a bottle ready to plug her when the flight takes off, but we can't hold off because she's really starting to get going. So I tell her she needs to coast on the bottle since she needs to drink some while the plane is going up so her ears don't pop. Of course, she downs the bottle when we are halfway up to the 10K feet mark. So I tell daddy to get a bottle of water ready to pour into the bottle. Which he does, after spilling some all over the two of us while the plane hits a bump.

So, little bug is trying to figure out how she just got a 16 oz bottle since she keeps sucking on it and it isn't ending. But, it quieted her down, the captain turned off the seat belt sign and I scooped her up and took her back to coach to walk around. I sit her down in an empty seat and decided to let her pull the magazines out of the seat pockets to entertain her. Her favorite toy of the flight was the barf bag. Once she found it, she wouldn't let go of it. So here I am walking around the flight with my little girl holding onto a barf bag like it is her life support system. It was instant "parent-dar", anyone who was a parent laughed and told me a similar story about their kid latching onto something gross, all the non-parents looked at me like I was the worst mother in the world. I've really come to enjoy that look of disgust that non-parents give me. I actually try to egg them on, I guess this is preparation for when little bug is a teenager and I need to be able to embarrass her.

Margaritas on the Deck

Little bug and I met the girls out last night for happy hour/dinner on the deck of a Mexican restaurant. It was her first time out eating her own food at a restaurant and sitting in her own chair. She did great! She sat there and ate her puffs and drank out of her sippy cup, all the while giving everyone at the restaurant her cold hard stare. She isn't one to give out the smiles that easily.

There was even a clown at the restaurant that was making balloon animals (which was a little random). Little bug didn't cry, she just stared at him, and then at her balloon puppy which I think entertained us more than it entertained her.

All in all, I actually got to eat and enjoy the evening with my girlfriends while she entertained herself for the most part with books and toys that I brought. And that was even better than having a margarita!

Wheels are Turning

You can see the wheels starting to turn inside her head. She looks at you when she gets close to something she shouldn't touch, and when you say "no" she'll hesitate because I think it is registering that it is wrong. Of course she'll go ahead and do it anyway, but I think she's starting to understand.

She has also picked up a cute habit from the little girls she is with during the day. When she smiles big, she squints her eyes and closes them.

Making Her Mark at Macy's

We hit the mall today and were heading into Macy's when she needed a diaper change. Just a wet diaper, nothing major. Turns out that the bathroom I went to didn't have a changing table. They had a lounge but no changing station. So I pulled out her changing pad and decided to change her on the floor.

All she wanted to do was crawl to one of the mirrors, so I tried to entertain her with everything. A rattle, the wipes case, my watch...nothing worked. I decided it would be easier to just stand her up and change her that way since I do that on her changing table at home sometimes. So I stand her up, take off her diaper, and as I'm reaching for her wipes she pees all over my jeans, the floor, her socks and her changing pad.

Now I have to wipe down her, the pad, sponge it out of the floor and make sure it isn't running down my leg. While I'm wiping her down, she spots a yellow M&M wrapper on the floor that she has to crawl to. I'm using the hoodie she was wearing as a leash to try to pull her back to me and stop her from crawling with one arm while I'm cleaning up her mess with the other arm.

All the while women are coming in and out of the restroom highly entertained at the show we were putting on. Now that she is mobile, these diaper changes are getting more and more interesting!

Hi-yeeee

With her newfound arm coordination, she's learned how to wave in addition to her clapping. So now she'll wave hello or goodbye and then she is so proud of herself that she'll give herself a round of applause. She waves at everything and says "hi-yeee"...the top of the stairs, her toys, mommy and daddy.

She hasn't quite yet learned to wave hello/goodbye to strangers yet. She is still too busy studying them and giving them her wary stare...

Drool Kisses

After a week home with daddy for Spring Break, she learned how to give kisses. She'll lean in close (with her mouth open of course) and kiss you on the lips. Slobber and all. Her best trick is crawling up to your face when you are on the floor and she'll lean over you and "kiss" you which means she transfers all of her drool to you.

Rough Reader

I was sitting down reading the Parenting magazine when little bug crawled into my lap and decided to read with me. She curled up for a while and listened to the article and then she turned it into a choose your own adventure. Her ending? Rip the pages out of the magazine and then try to eat them.

She didn't get through too many stories before we moved onto another fun activity.

Stair Climber

We knew little bug could climb over pillows, but didn't know she could manage stairs. Luckily, she crawls as quietly as an elephant. I was in the kitchen and heard her clopping around, then it sounded like she was on carpeting. She had climbed up the one stair and was on the landing heading into the bathroom.

I turned her around and she started to climb up the stairs. Waiting to catch her at any moment, I watched her crawl up five stairs with no problem whatsoever. Clearly we bought two more baby gates that are going up tonight!

Where's Mimi?

Little bug has a little bath book called, "Mimi's Toes" that we read to her when she's in the tub. She is getting so good at playing peek-a-boo that I covered up the face of Mimi the monkey in little bug's book and asked her, "where's Mimi?" She pulled my hand away and tapped at the picture of the monkey that was underneath. Impressive.

The next night, daddy did the same thing and then he covered up a picture of a duck that is on the opposite page of Mimi. He asked little bug, "where's Mimi?" She was not fooled, she pointed to Mimi the monkey on the page, not the duck that was covered up. I think she's a genius.

Kitchen Utensils

I was changing little bug on her changing table and noticed that there were new marks on the wall right next to her. I asked daddy if he knew where they came from, and he replied, "That is from the spatula". Of course.

Apparently since little bug is a moving target when you try to change her since she tries to crawl off the table, daddy brings things she has never seen before to play with. It distracts her long enough to change a diaper. This would explain the random items that have shown up in her room lately.