Stowaway

A certain furry someone tried to attempt stowaway status under your crib while you were sleeping. I'm sure he was waiting for me to leave so he could nap in your PotteryBarn chair again. You don't care though...you love that cat! 'Kitty' was one of the first 3 words you learned.

The Phone Game

Hi Baby. I'm not sure if I've already written a note to you about the other day when you were playing with your phones - you handed one to me and I realized you wanted us to 'play phones' together. Of course I had to use the Razr while you made sure you got the BlackBerry every time (smart girl). So anyway tonight you were on the bed with Dad-dad and I, where you found the house-phone handset. You kept putting it up to your head and saying stuffs. Sometimes words like Hi Mum, or Hey, but mostly just super-cute babble. Then you did the same thing with the remotes, putting them up to the approximate area of your ear and saying "haaaaaiii". Dad-dad and I started following suit, and you seemed very happy for us when we figured out what you were doing and played along with the game.

Oh, and that little foot game we play...while you and I were 'on the phone' together, I asked about your foot, and you grabbed your leg to hold up your foot to me :) Maybe tomorrow I can catch it on video.

Crazy Baby Hair Contest

I entered you in a Disney contest. One of our mama friends saw it and suggested we enter. It's surprisingly difficult to get a good picture of your extreme hair wackiness (EHW). You've got some serious Einstein moves goin on most mornings, but to capture that in a photo is a different story. I chose to enter a pic I already had of you, instead of taking one specifically for the contest. It's a little over-exposed, but it's one of my favorites of you. I keep a print of it on my desk.

Readers, check it (and vote!) here: Crazy Baby Hair Contest | Disney Family.com

The grand prize is $5,000 towards your college education.

Stinky Feets

For a long time now we've been playing a Stinky Feets game. I hold your little toes up to my nose, sniff, and say "peee uuu!", "oh peee uuu". Rinse. Repeat. It always amuses you. Then to throw you off, every once and a while I make you do a baby yoga pose and say "here, YOU smell" and hold your tootsie up to your nose. Of course, you don't sniff, but you insert one or more toes into your third hand (aka your mouth). Oh, BTW, they don't smell. It's just for fun. Really, they are suuuuper soft and the only human feet I would willingly touch.

So that's the Stinky Feets game. Evidently that game taught you the meaning of the word "you". Here's why: Last week I noticed you understand the word "foot". Now I ask for your foot, and you either point your ballerina feet up in the air, or if feeling a lil lazy, you grab your ankle with your hand and offer up the feets. This morning I asked to kiss your foot and you held it up for me. After I kissed it, I said "YOU kiss yer foot". Then I watched in amazement as you grabbed your foot and moved it from my hand up to your face, and proceeded to put your toes in your mouth!

What's more amazing to me, is that no matter what kinds of fits you may throw or how late you decide to stay up tonight, I will consider this a good day because of the above 3-second accomplishment. That's how you keep winning me over every day, you're so tricky like that.

Get Up, Stand Up

For your first birthday I decided to get put some money in your account, give some money to others in need (in the form of a charity donation), and get you the cute upholstered baby club-chair from Pottery Barn. By now you know I like to tackle birthdays early, so I ordered the chair in April for your July birthday. It's a good thing too, because after ordering I found out the fabric was back-ordered until July 2nd. Turns out the fabric came in earlier than expected, and the chair (embroidered with your name) arrived last week. I couldn't wait to see you use it so I decided to give it to you for your 10-month gift, which was just 2 days away. Perfect to let it off-gas a little before you get those tiny little buns in it.

Before I bought it I asked some of our Mommy friends about theirs, and a few of them said their bebe's walk, because they had to stand up to get out of the chair. Well you've been using it for only a couple of days and already it helped you stand up on your own without pulling up on anything. I was clipping your nails while you sat in it, and when I finished you just stood right up and hugged me. Of course after a celebration I ran to get the camera to document this momentous occasion. It's uploading to YouTube as I type this. You're basking in the glory with a baba. I already called Dad, he can't wait to come home so you can give him an encore.