Thirteen Months

Punky is thirteen months old today!  How time flies...

She has changed so much in the past month.  Comparing her to how she was at her birthday is like comparing two totally different children.  Once she began walking she seemed to change almost daily as she made new discoveries and learned new things.

Two weeks ago I sat with her while she played with her cookie jar toy.  For whatever reason, right from the beginning I would always tell her the colors of things as we played together and she attempts to say them sometimes.  I wondered though if she really understood the concept and knew her colors, even if she can't say the names yet.  She had five different color cookies (plastic shapes) in her cookie jar and I asked her to hand me each color in turn.  She got every one correct.  Hmmm...

Thinking it may have been a fluke, I repeated the test a few more times and asked for the colors in a different order each time.  Completely correct each time.  She knows her colors.  Wow.  It simply blows my mind.

This month she has also learned how to point as a means of communicating what she wants, and how to grab you by the hand and pull you where she wants you to be...whether it be to play with her, read to her, get her a snack...she takes you to it and points and attempts to tell you what she wants if she knows the word.

She also points at object in books and tells you what they are, or waits for you to tell her.  There is a picture of an apple in one of her books.  She points to it and says ball.  I tell her it's an apple.  She again points and says ball.  I say apple.  She says ball...louder.  If give up and tell her it's a ball.  We can work on apple some other time...balls are more fun anyhow.

She is still getting into everything, even more so now, and simply saying 'no' isn't having the same effect on her as it used to...she likes to see just how far she can push it sometimes.  It's really time to be consistent and hold our ground with her.  This could very well be the turning point where she will either learn to behave or learn to be a brat and get away with things.  It's hard to be tough when she's so darn cute...giving you that adorable, angelic smile while she shakes her little finger right back at you. 

One night while I was getting her bath ready, she was playing with her blocks and she wanted to toss them in the tub.  I told her she has lots of bath toys and that she didn't need the blocks, too.  She listened and put her blocks down, but when I turned to check the water temperature, a Reader's Digest came whizzing over my head and into the water.  Well...technically I didn't tell her the book couldn't go in the tub, so I had to let that one slide.  Little stinker.

But, a few days later when she followed me in the bathroom, she threw one of her bath toys into the toilet before I was able to flush.  That one I didn't let slide.  She definitely needs to learn not to throw stuff in the toilet, especially since she keeps trying to flush it and I don't take too kindly to picking things out of an unflushed bowl...  Gross!  And the bath frog went right in the garbage.  No harm done...she has a bag of them and won't even miss one.

On Sunday, we had our first experience with a bloody boo-boo.  With her daredevil attitude I'm surprised it took this long to see the red stuff.

What happened? Neither one of us can say for sure. She was looking out the dining room window, like she does many times each day, and suddenly she was screaming. Our guess is that she tripped and banged her chin on the window sill. Her two tiny bottom teeth must have really slammed into her upper gums and blood was running from her mouth.

Talk about a damn heart attack! When I saw her bleeding I went into full panic mode...for about thirty seconds. I can't say how, but I actually managed to calm right down and keep it together while we figured out where the blood was coming from, what to do to soothe her, and how to stop the bleeding. It was scary, but we all made it through the ordeal.

After the crying eased up a bit, we gave her some tylenol right away in anticipation of the sore mouth she'd have for a few days. I also drew her a bath, knowing that it would both calm her and distract her. It worked for the few minutes she was actually in the tub, then she went right back to crying and whining. It was only seven-thirty, but I knew her bottle and blankie would soothe her and I wanted to do whatever I could to help. She drank the milk and was asleep on me in the rocker by quarter to eight.

I expected a rough night, or that she would be wide awake by five a.m., but she slept right through till after seven the next morning. She must have been completely worn out from the company we had over the weekend as well as the trauma of the newest boo-boo.  

I have been slacking in the picture department this month, but he's been shooting tons of video of her.  My next task is to figure out the best way to store all of those files somewhere.  Anyway, I wanted to do a photo shoot for her birthday and never got around to it so my plan is to attempt it this weekend.  A month late but oh well.  She doesn't sit for a second now, so I may fail miserably.

Punky has really gotten the hang of dancing this month.  Boy can she shake that little toosh...for entire songs at a time.  Whenever she hears any music, she starts to boogie.  Do I even need to say how freakin' adorable she is when she dances?

She still has a great appetite and rarely refuses anything.  We have eliminated all bottles, except the one right before bed, with absolutely no problem at all.  As I expected, the night time one is proving difficult.  It is pure comfort, not necessity, but I don't think she's ready to let go yet.  She is still drinking some of the second stage formula every day, but is getting better with whole milk now.  It seems she is starting to like it, and her digestive system is finally adjusting to the proteins.  For a week or two, she was blowing out diapers and I was close to saying forget it.  Too messy.  But it seems her body has worked it all out and we are back to regularly scheduled, manageable poops.  I know...TMI...

I don't know if I've ever posted about Punky's Jeopardy obsession before, even though it's been ongoing since she was born.  I try not to let her watch much TV.  She may glance here and there at a cartoon in the morning, but nothing really holds her attention...until Jeopardy comes on in the evening.  When I tell her Jeopardy is coming on, she squeals in excitement and runs to the TV.  During the opening music she claps her patties and bounces up and down.  And then she stands there...almost mesmerized as clue after clue appear on the screen.  She claps along with the people in the audience.  I don't get it.  I can't seem to understand how a program like that can hold a baby's attention, but she loves it.  My sister even joked that we should've had a Jeopardy themed first birthday party.  Maybe we'll actually do it for her next birthday.  Strange little girl I have...

All in all, she's doing great.  She is learning things quicker than I ever imagined was possible, and every day is a new adventure...  It's exciting to see her discover and develop, yet part of me does miss the tiny little baby I held in my arms for hours just one short year ago.  

Most nights she goes to bed awake.  She does well with putting herself to sleep; I usually have to go in once.  It's part of our routine and she never falls asleep until after I have gone back to check on her.  Once in a while, maybe one night a week if I'm lucky, she will fall asleep in my arms on the rocking chair.  When she does it's hard for me to put her down, and it's getting harder every time.  I just can't help but wonder what if...what if it was the last time she would ever fall asleep in my arms like that...  It's really the only reminder I have left of exactly what it was like to have that little baby in my arms... safe, warm, content.  She is growing up so fast and any time can be the last.