Cuddlebug's Febraury 2006 Photos

February 2006 Update

Well, this has just been a really fun month, other than the fact it's been wintery again. Payback for the nice January we had. It seems like every day Mira does something new and fun and as soon as I go to write it down I forget what it was because she's gone and done something else. Or it could be the complete lack of sleep.

She's really getting communicative these days. She's picked up some more signs - she loves to go up to the fireplace or stove and say/sign hot. On a recent walk, I pointed out some crows and she signed bird. She's beginning to nod yes at appropriate times. What else - hat, all done, down, bath, milk, cup/drink, eat, more (and she's using the more sign when she wants us to continue doing something). Oh, and she's said cheese, sheesh, three, dirty, daddy of course! and I can't think of anything else right now, but she tries lots of words.

We've had about 2.5 colds this month and she hates to have her nose blown, sucked, picked or touched in any way shape or form. So when there's a booger that must come out, I tell her I'm chasing tigers that are up her nose. Apparently this was not such a good idea. Mike was reading an ABC book with her and came across a picture of a tiger. He said Mira what's that, a Tiger? and she pointed to her nose! On Monday, my friend Amy and I went to the Science Museum and in one of the collections they have a stuffed tiger - when Mira saw it, she yelped and ran right to it!

This last week she's had a bad runny nose and I've had to hose it with the nasal aspirator several times a day. She really fights it so I usually lay her down between my legs and place her hands under my legs. Well, several times, she voluntarily put her arms under my legs as if to say - Ma, I don't trust myself to not fight you, but I know I'll feel better once it's all over, so I surrender. Sometimes her sweetness just brings tears to my eyes.

As you can see from the pictures, we took her on her first amusement park rides. She didn't cry or go nuts with excitement, just kinda ho hum about the experience. I can't wait to take her on a roller coaster ride!

Sleep has been such a struggle this month. Lots of night wakings, and since we've night weaned, several screaming episodes. She certainly lets me know when she's angry about something. The colds haven't helped and one canine just popped through, the other one is close on it's heels AND the third set in on the bottom are making there way up as well. No wonder she can't sleep. On a good sleep note, after waking from a nap, she usually fusses to let me know she's up. Twice this past month, she's gotten out of bed by herself and opened the bedroom door to come find me. Again, tears. And did I mention I cried on that carousel ride? Tears. Lord help me when she graduates from high school, college, or gets married, and dear jesus, buy stock in kleenex because when she has a baby I will cry myself silly.

So I hope the beer gif from last month was up. I think I had it in the wrong folder. If you missed it, go back and take a look, it's really cute. On that theme, she's expanded her putting away skills to include helping me with groceries and laundry. I gave up keeping the clothes in one of her drawers folded, so when it's time to put away laundry, she can just shove crap in there. Then take it all out, re-arrange it and put it all back again. Very cute.

We think she's really close to running. I think I may have caught her run a few steps a couple of times, but she still hasn't gone all out in a trot. I think it's time to buy a real pair of shoes so that we can go walking as the weather gets nicer. Love to Robeez, but they don't keep the cold slush out. Oh, and she also walks backwards!

One of her favorite things to do is look for our next door neighbor's dog Abby. She hears her bark and she trots into the kitchen, begs to be picked up so that she can look out the window to look for Abby. She's even said Abby a couple of times. So I thought it time she had her own step stool. And now she's really good at moving the stool around to explore drawers shelves, put keys in keyholes, and whatnot.

This has been such a wonderful month, yet it has also been so hard. The weather just gets me down and I'm tired of everything being gray/brown. And she's learning so much, and testing boundaries and when I say no, she definitely lets me know that she's not happy with that. My first reaction to her crying when I say no is to feel defensive I guess, and I just want to make it stop. It's hard to hear her protests as just that, protests, and not yelling and screaming at me that she hates me or that she thinks I'm doing a bad job as a mother. That will come soon enough. So if anyone has suggestions on how to weather the temper tantrums, I'm all ears. That said, she usually recovers very quickly.

And yes, I have lost my wallet for the second time. My fault for giving it to Mira in the first place, but still. This is the second time I've had to have the credit card, library card, and insurance cards replaced, and now I have to figure out replacing my driver's license. So, on the way home today, I bought some blank keys so she can have a 'real' set of keys. She'll also be able to take over my old wallet and with my new wallet, I'll learn to not give it to her to buy a few seconds of peace, and she'll learn that mama's things are mama's things, daddy's things are daddy things, and mira can have her own things as well.

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