off to the races

Olivia is walking about 98% of the time now, and she seems to be quite tickled by her newfound skills. She often squeals/shrieks when she walks, sometimes pumping alternating fists in the air, reveling in her sheer magnificence. It's pretty hilarious, if I do say so myself -- this kid is spunky. She occasionally breaks into a brisk walk/run, usually when she's headed for something she knows is verboten. You should be able to see the latest video of her practicing her strut using the video link on the left side.

So, I broke down and joined a moms' group about a month ago. While there, you leave your kids in their childcare room so you can -- gasp! -- have uninterrupted, adult conversation without having to shoo grabby hands away from your food, jump up and chase your offspring who is inevitably teetering toward something perilous, or give a brief seminar on No, We Don't Pick Our Noses In Public; It's Gross. Olivia does not like being left in the childcare room, as you can imagine. All of the ladies in there are sweet as pie, but apparently 14 months is prime separation anxiety time and she doesn't care how nice they are -- she does NOT want to be there. I end up practically jogging down the hall, fingers in ears, la-la-la-ing to myself so I don't have to hear the plaintive wails of "Maaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa-ma! MAMA!" (translation: "Get your fool ass back here, woman!")

As you can imagine, between Gymboree and the childcare room (a.k.a. Places Babies Can Put Filthy Toys In Their Mouths For Fun), Miss Olivia has had quite the streak of colds for the last month. She handles it like a champ, but is still not a fan of having her nose wiped. The blue hospital-issue bulb sucker thingy? Yeah, that's a no go. So out of sheer desperation, enter the Nosefrida.

Uh, yeah. I'm (sadly) serious. I mocked this very device last year on a message board. I picture the scenario playing out like this:

Mom: Hey, baby! You know what would be super fun? I'm going to put a HOSE in my MOUTH and use it to suck your boogers out! Are you ready?

baby: Uh, lady? This seems like a very bad idea for many reasons.

Mom: Here we go!

baby: *throws arms up in surrender, mouth agape with terror*

Here's the rub: the thing is actually recommended by her pediatrician, so I'm going to give it a go. The website assures me that no baby boogs will even make it up into the hose, never mind my mouth, so we shall see (it's on order -- you know I'll be updating with results if I can ever get up the courage to use it).

The Nosefrida is probably second on my list of Creepiest Baby Products Ever. Coming in at #1 is the Zaky:

See how that baby is sleeping with his eyes slightly cracked open? I would too if two giant, limbless, 1970s-pantyhose-nude bean bag hands were hovering over my cranium and butt.

the maternal instinct kicks in early

And yeah, that is a bottle. I'm a wimp, you see. A wimp whose child's cries of "BA-BA! BAAAAA! BAAAAAAAAAA!" could be used as a Waco-style audio torture method should I ever choose to hole myself up in a house and refuse to come out. Ba-ba will go bye-bye ... soon.

a few days shy of 14 months old ...

She's finally getting the hang of this walking thing!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hYH0di_5LDU

She also learned how to raise her hands above her head and yell "TA DAAAA!" when she's proud of herself about something. If only adults could do that without looking odd ...

the month in review

Olivia had a busy month -- so busy that I was a bit of a slacker at uploading. So in photo-essay form, here's what the fabulous Miss O has been up to:

she suffered through the indignities of a ponytail

got stuck in a box

swiped my car keys and attempted to flee the scene

gave Up Up Elmo a much-deserved smackdown

"helped" by cleaning out the pantry

honed her artistic prowess

and most importantly, learned the finer points of relaxation from dad

supposedly no more

I just saw her take a few steps! She would have been able to keep going, but she stepped on her Charley Harper puzzle and decided that was enough.

supposedly walking

We're finally all over our Gymboree- or playdate-acquired colds, thankfully. I think it lasted the longest for poor Olivia, but you'd never know (other than the insane quantity of ... um ... output from such a tiny nose) that she was sick. For the most part, she was in a good mood as usual. And she's slept through the night for 4 days in a row now, which makes me very happy.

I've had a bit of freelance work lately, which means that daddy plays with her in the living room while I'm at the dining room table working. I can't tell you the number of times in the last week that he's claimed that Olivia has taken several steps on her own. As soon as I run in there, she plops on the floor and starts back up with the take-a-knee scoot she's mastered. Yesterday we had dinner with friends at their place, and while I was upstairs chatting, Olivia allegedly took 10 steps on her own while down in the basement with the dad and his son. She also -- and again, I'm going to say allegedly, because I won't believe it until I see it! -- stood up on her own without holding onto anything, and then did it again this morning. My husband described it as sort of a downward-facing dog for babies. So while she's way behind my mom friends with babies her age, maybe she actually will walk eventually. ;) Now if we can just get her off her beloved ba-ba and purees ...

In other news, we're thinking about enrolling her in a mom's day out program in the fall. If my freelance continues to be as busy as it has been, I need some daytime hours other than her unreliable naps in which to work. It would be two days a week from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m., and it would be much less expensive than hiring a sitter to come to the house. The program is NAYEC accredited and looks really great. I sent a small deposit in to hold the space for now, and I'll have until August to figure out if I can really go through with it. I have a lot of guilt even thinking about it. I feel like because I chose to stay home with her, I should be responsible for her care 24/7 (which I know is irrational), she'll get sick, I'll get sick ... So we'll see.

conquering germophobia one playdate at a time

This week -- spurred by near insanity brought on by cabin fever -- we went to a Gymboree class on Tuesday and had a playdate with a friend and her son on Wednesday. I was proud of myself for not getting (too) twitchy when she put a ball to her mouth at Gymboree or when she chewed on some toys during the playdate.

But today Olivia has a runny nose, and now I too am sniffling/sneezing and have that nagging tickle in my throat that means a bad cold is on the way. I'm trying to convince myself that this is a good thing: she needs to be exposed to things to build her immune system, and I don't want her to be sick nonstop in preschool and kindergarten, but ugh. I'm a wimp and a sick baby is the saddest thing ever. It sort of makes me want to hunker down in the house a la Howard Hughes surrounded with vats of hand sanitizer and face masks.