Some Thoughts and Baby Updates

I don't know why I do it to myself, but I love reading other bloggers' updates about their children. I guess when you feel like they're your friends, you care about their kids, too!

But then sometimes I go into 'panic mode' after reading them, especially if they're anywhere near the same age as Cora. For a lot of milestones, Cora has just been a lot later doing them than other babies. It has never been an issue, and we know she's fine. But I can't help the comparison! Instead of dwelling on what she's not doing, I'm going to focus on all the things she actually does today. I haven't done monthly updates on this blog (I never planned to), so here is just a general update on my little one.

Cora turned 14 months old today! Here is her chair picture from this morning:

I'll be keeping up these pictures monthly until 18 months, then we'll switch to yearly. And we'll also be doing first day/last day of school eventually.

So what has Miss Cora been doing lately?

She says 2 words: "yeah" and "dada". She occasionally babbles "mamamamamaaaaaaaaaaa" which I guess means she is addressing me? It also sometimes sounds like she says "Degas" so I like to ask her "Who's your favorite artist?" trying to get that response. She usually answers, "Yeah." (So much for tryin'!)

She has discovered both her nose and her belly button recently. She sticks her fingers up her nose a lot, and we make her take them out. I love that she has discovered her belly button because it has made diaper changes easier. She just plays with her belly button while laying down. This is much better than when she just wanted to touch her poopy butt.

Loves that belly button!

She sorta took her first 2 steps this past Saturday (Mar. 23) in her great grandmother's kitchen. She hasn't done it since, and she prefers to crawl everywhere. She can walk next to us while only holding one hand, and she laughs when we do it. She has a ton of control over her motions and can go down into a perfect squat and also push herself up into a "downward dog" position.

She can pull up on her ride-on car and push it around. It's pretty obvious from all of this that she knows how to walk, but she's just too stubborn to do it.

She loves playing with the magnets on the refrigerator. And she will let go and stand independently while holding magnets. I don't think she even realizes what she's doing.

Look Ma, no hands!

She sleeps with some toys in her crib, but sometimes has her arms around her stuffed kitty. I named the cat Bianca, even though it's really Marie from The Aristocats (which I've never seen).

She sometimes sleeps with her Mousey, too (no name yet).

Cora goes to bed at 7:30. Our bedtime routine consists of me nursing her in the living room while watching Wheel of Fortune on mute (B can't stand the clapping and that ticking wheel). Then she gets in her pj's an comes back out to the living room where we read a book and then do her bedtime prayer. We do the nighttime joyful prayer from this book and look at the picture on the page.

 "Father, Thank you for the wonderful day. 

Watch over me as I sleep and bless me and all those I love." 

Then we do the sign of the cross. She had been doing the "Amen" part on her own (sometimes just kept clapping), but has since stopped. She then kisses her daddy goodnight, and we go to her room. With the light on, we rock with her over my shoulder and I sing a verse or two of "Amazing Grace." Then I put her in her crib and wind up her musical giraffe that plays "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star." I say good night and turn off the light while the giraffe continues to play. Most nights she falls asleep within 15 minutes and never cries at all. She has some toys and board books in her crib to play with, so sometimes I don't actually know when she falls asleep.

For naptimes, we do basically the same as bedtime, except that we don't nurse and we choose a daytime prayer. And Daddy isn't usually here. Some days she takes 2 naps, some days she takes one long (2 hour) nap. And some days she refuses to take the second nap and is a big fussball in the evening, so we move dinner earlier and she goes to bed earlier. She throws her toys and books out of her crib sometimes, too.

She hates wearing socks and takes them off any chance she remembers she's wearing them. We don't put her in shoes much yet, and I would like to just keep her barefoot but our apartment is a bit cold for that. She doesn't like hats or hairbows either. I really think my baby just wants to run around naked.

She loves books, especially an old NMCRS 2012 dayplanner. (The 2013 one has her picture in it!)

She has 10 teeth, including the 2 first molars on the top that sprouted about a month ago.

We started brushing her teeth about once a day (when I remember). I tried to just do it with water, but she resisted. So I broke down and bought the Oral-B toothpaste for babies. She loves it. I hold her on my hip in the bathroom and brush her teeth. She likes looking in the mirror during that, of course. Then I let her brush her own teeth, and we use a plastic shot glass to drink water after. She still makes a mess with the water, but we're getting there.

She eats almost everything we do, and she eats a lot. She eats an entire banana when she has one. Then she'll eat some cheerios and raisins after it and we'll call it breakfast. She gets half a sippy cup of whole milk at lunch time every day, and sometimes cries for more. She ate almost an entire apple whole last week after eating her dinner. B tried to give her a bite-size chunk to eat, but she threw it on the floor and went back to eating the whole apple. We had apple slices the next night, and we found out she will eat those.

We still go to story time at the library at least once a week. We have learned some fun rhymes there that we do later at home too. One of her favorites is Icky Bicky Soda Cracker. She also loves "The Wheels on the Bus" and will do some of the hand motions, including the wipers going "swish swish swish."

I made a book of her first year, and I love it. I ordered 3 copies, so each of her grandmothers could own one.

I made it on Mixbook. If you want to try it out, here is $10 off your first purchase!

Even though she's not walking, Cora seems to get into everything. She can reach the top of the kitchen counters and pull stuff off if I leave it close to the edge. If I'm loading the dishwasher, she comes over and takes the silverware out of the bucket. Including the knives. She always wants to push buttons on my computer, especially the Windows button (it has a picture!), so I can't use my computer when she's awake unless it's at the dining room table, running on battery power. The same is true if I try to use my Kindle or read a book. She always wants in on the action. I now only use those things when she's asleep and play with her or do household tasks while she is awake.

Cora is also a pretty awesome shopping buddy, so running errands just has to be after a nap and a meal, and she's good to go. She's a pretty happy baby, and loves to make noise.

Overall, Cora is a lot of fun. B and I are having an awesome adventure as first-time parents, and our little girl lights up our lives every day!