Bits and bobs

I've been really bad about posting things Maia's been doing lately. And when I don't post them, I forget them which sucks since this is the only record I'm keeping of when and what she does. Here's a random list of things she's been doing lately.

* A couple days ago I asked her where her foot was and she pointed at it. She's done it a number of times now so I wasn't a fluke.

* May have posted this previously...a while back she was doing a motion that looked like the one you do for "the wheels on the bus go round and round" so I started singing that line when she did it and after a couple times of doing that she picked it up so now she does the motion whenever you sing the line to her.

* Tonight I heard her talking to Todd before she fell asleep and I swear it sounded like she said "when can I get a puppy?" Obviously she didn't say that.

* One night we both thought she said "bay of pigs". What's weird about that (besides that we both immediately looked at each other and said "did she say bay of pigs?") is that it was the night before the anniversary of the invasion. I recalled hearing that earlier on NPR but Todd had no idea.

* Maia is working on her 5th tooth the past couple of weeks and it's kicking her butt! It's the top one to the right of the front tooth. We can see it just under the skin. This is by far the most difficult of the 5 teeth. So much whining and clinging. One night this week I think she was up 5 or 6 times to nurse. This sucks extra because **sorry, TMI alert** she's been destroying my nipples by gripping really tight with her top teeth. They hurt like hell and are raw. I'd always felt so lucky that we hadn't had a single nursing problem - I feel like everyone I know has had some issue or issues and so many people had a lot of horrible pain but I really had no idea what they had experienced since Maia had always had an excellent and non-painful latch. But no more. She doesn't always use her teeth so I know she doesn't need to but she does most of the time. I'm really hoping she stops this soon because I don't know how much longer I can continue with this pain. But I really want to nurse her for at least another year.

* Maia's eczema has gotten worse on her neck/face and right hand & wrist. We decided, based on Jeff's recommendation from his personal experience, to first experiment with not using any soap on her in the hope that's the problem. She's always had very dry skin and has many other dry patches so it would make sense that the soap would be drying her out. Even though it's a pretty mild organic one. Her face and neck have been looking better but her hand looks terrible. So now we're using some calendula cream on it. So far I don't think her hair is fairing well without shampoo. I'm sure it'll look better once it gets used to it.

* The other night when Todd was wiping up the floor under her highchair after dinner, Maia got her babylegs and wiped the floor with them. She sees us doing that all the time so not surprising she finally decided to copy him. Pretty adorable.

* I've taken her to the garden with me a number of times, thinking I can actually get some gardening done and expose her to the joys of gardening. And then I just get irritated with her because she isn't satisfied to play with her toys and dig in the gravel on the path. Not sure why I would expect her to, but I do. Instead, she pulls up my sticks to discourage animal digging and sucks the dirt off the ends, tries to climb into the beds, pulls up unsuspecting little baby plants, rips leaves off larger plants and gets incredibly wet and dirty. And then I regret bringing her down there and rather than feeling relaxed and peaceful, as I do when I garden alone, I leave feeling annoyed and stressed. I really wish I could just let it go and not be upset by her destruction, but I can't. The odds are really stacked against my poor garden due to the ridiculously large number of urban predators, the inadequate amount of sunlight, and of course my sometimes greatly lacking garden maintenance. And now Maia is the largest urban predator of them all.

* Maia really loves her Beco carrier and gets super excited whenever I take it out. Often she will demand that I take it down for her and she gets all riled up and whines until I put her in it. Today while she was freaking out at some point, I assume because her mouth hurt, she got really upset and wanted me to take it down and then she screeched until I put her in it. Then she tapped her head which clearly meant she wanted her sun hat. Shortly before this she'd been cruising around screeching/whining while putting it on her head. Apparently she really wanted to go for a walk. So we did. At least she's finally accepting that she has to wear her when she's outside!