Baby Kisses

The Baby Kiss is kind of a unique, open-mouthed experience. As in, "Remi, can I have a Baby Kiss?" and if she's in the mood to comply she leans in to carefully place her wide open mouth over yours. It's charming, really.

Making Resolutions

Okay, so, Remi's not big on the language thing yet. She's got "Mama" down, though it's got a pretty liberal application (Dylan, Drake, visiting grandmas, aunts, and even Chris has earned a "mama" or two). She's also got "uh-oh" (often preceded by a purposeful dropping of some sort), and the other night she managed "hot," though that hasn't been repeated since. There are a few animal sound in her repertoire, as well: ruff-ruff and a rather unusual meow.

For a small person with very limited language skills, though, she's sure got communication down.

There's the purposeful push to get a person out of a chair, whether it is to then sit there herself or lead said person elsewhere. There is taking the hand to lead... somewhere. There is patting a spot to show a person where it is acceptable to sit. There is moving one's hand to a proper position, pointing, "aaahhnnn"-ing, and, when all else fails, there is screaming.

So Remi's got some resolutions this year. Printed in crayon. With a little help from Drake.

1. Learn Some Words
2. Learn to use the Potty

Pretty simple. And already, since the time I started this post (a week ago, mind you), she's got another word: "Wow." Used in appropriate context. Multiple times. With appropriate reverence.

the sorting game

remi's really into sorting things these days. on a very basic level. like, she moves all her animals from one side of her to another, one at a time, then back to the original side. this can go on for quite some time (and believe me, i'm pretty thrilled about her ability to self-entertain!).

but i guess what i find really interesting is more about the exclusion. like the other night at grandma's house (we're staying with drake's mom right now), she dumped all her bath toys into the bathtub, and i added this toy that was sitting on the side of the tub. and she got very upset.

"aaahhhnnn! aaaahhhhnnnn!" pointing to the toy, until i figured out the problem and removed the offender from the crowd. the offender then had to be returned to the place it had come from before all was right with the world again.

and i can't quite figure out how the exclusionary system works. in this case, you might think "new and nonfamiliar vs. familiar." but later we were piling animals into her sled to go for a ride around the living room, familiar, nonfamiliar, new, old. and all was harmony until the ape got in. she picked out the ape and tossed him aside. i went to adding animals and tried the ape again.

"aaahhhnnnn! aaaaahhhhnnnnn!" and out he went again. why the ape? who knows. perhaps he'd been a bad ape. perhaps she just didn't like his looks. at any rate, today he's out of the doghouse and into the sled.

Remi and the Baby Dolls

wow. what kind of a pathetic mother am i. here remi is 15 months old, and not only did i post nothing about her birthday party (a pink pirate theme, by the way), but i've posted nothing at all for the start of her second year. jeesh.

but she is a font of fascinating development. currently she's way into dancing to toddler tunes and chasing the dog around with her baby stroller. she runs after him and just laughs and laughs. thank god the dog is good for something more than just cleaning up after toddler eating.

beyond being used as a torture device for the dog, she just loves dolls, which i find kind of interesting. she cuddles the dolls, feeds them, bathes them, and, on one occasion, even attempted breastfeeding. i guess, really, it's just all about imitation, and childcare is something she sees a lot of right now.

First Teeth

There have been a lot of firsts for Remi recently.

First it was the teeth. Then, one day, she slipped and hit her chin. Those teeth hit her tongue and voila! Remi discovered she had a tongue. For days she went around experimenting with her tongue. Before discovering her tongue she discovered her head, which she occasionally holds with both hands. Does she think it will fly off? Perhaps. It's hard to say.
She can go up stairs now. The first time that happened, I was working in the front yard, and off she crawls to the stairs. I redirected her a couple of times, and then I just let her go. That first day she climbed to the top of the steps three times before she pooped out. Now she'll climb the stairs any chance she gets: We're no longer allowed to carry her up to the front door -- she practically flies out my arms whenever we approach.

And she's discovered doors. That they open and close. Over and over. And that she can stand on one side of the french doors and look in at us. And make faces. And smash her face against the glass. And then she just giggles and giggles and giggles...

The Sacred Coffee Hour

Before we had Remi, Drake and I used to sit in bed for the Sacred Coffee Hour. We sipped the sacred beverage, read the paper, and shared tidbits of news. We made lists and planned our day. And oftentimes, we crawled back under the covers and went back to sleep.

Such decadence is no more.

Now we're lucky if we sleep till 6:30. We wake to a bouncing baby, a girl on the go. She grabs for coffee, steals the paper, and crawls for the edge of the bed. Protecting yourself, your elixir, your reading material, and the baby takes fast hands and a quick eye: The Sacred Coffee Hour has become a precision sport.

But we hold out hope.

Someday, calm will be restored. Hot coffee will be safe again, the news will be read and absorbed, our ninja reflexes will be tucked away, unused. If only we could instill into a 9 month old the glory of the sacred hour.

Remi Eats Manhattan

I never thought I would raise a carnivore. In the baby food section I buy a wide variety of jarred fruits and vegetables, but NONE of the meats. And all was fine. Until Remi got hold of a chicken bone.

She loved it. In all fairness, though, she loves all food. At times, it really is kind of like a Godzilla movie in which the protagonist -- in this case a giant baby in diapers -- lumbers through the streets of New York putting anything and everything into her mouth. To date, she has attempted to eat

• the letter Q
  the number 7
• our wine saver wine stoppers
• wood chips
• corn cobs (sans the corn)
  

and pretty much anything she can get hold of. A list of her more conventional diet at her current age of 9 months includes

• peas
• carrots
• squash
• hummus
• guac (and any form in which avocado comes)
• potatoes
• yams
• mashed fruit (apples, blueberries, pears, mango, apricot, bananas)
• Annie's organic bunny crackers
• cheese (cream cheese, cheese sticks, monterey jack cubes)
• cottage cheese and yogurt

And most recently we have discovered that she loves steamed artichoke hearts.

Keep in mind that the child still has no teeth. They are coming in now and making our lives h--l. It feels like these teeth will never make it through, but when they finally do... look out, Manhattan!