All That I Can Say: January 2011

Jordan Mae (aka: Stinkerpot, Little Miss, Booger Bear, Snuggle Bunny, Little Gene, and most recently "La-La", per Daddy, since that's what she says 24 hours a day) is 9 months old today. That means we are 3 months away from her first birthday. I feel like we have gone from counting up to a countdown. A countdown to the age of one!

Our girl went from crawling one day to pulling up the next. Literally! For a while she was doing her own version of crawling that looked a little disorganized and was not the most efficient method of getting around (even though eventually she would get where she wanted to go). Then one day she finally figured out how to organize all those limbs into working as a team and then the next day she decided it was time to move on to the next thing. Now we can hardly keep her off her feet because she uses everything to pull up on. Our legs, tables, couches, the ottoman and she's even tried the wall a few times but without much success.

She has also been learning how to feed herself. While she isn't completely sold on most solids that we've tried, she does enjoy feeding herself little puffs. The first time I gave them to her she must have sat in her high chair for 45 minutes just focusing on getting those little pieces into her mouth. For a while there were more going into the chair and onto the floor than in her mouth but tonight I only found six in her chair. I'd say her accuracy has improved quite a bit! She also finally cut two teeth on the bottom. Hopefully someday she will be willing to put her teeth to good use.

One thing that is fun about this age is her personality is showing more and more. I find evidence of who she is in all the things she is doing. I am even doing my best to put a positive spin on the fact that she has quite the opinion about certain things.

1) She is always reaching for things and going out of her way to get her hands on things she probably shouldn't have. Translation - She will be a goal oriented person who won't give up on her dreams.

2) She gets so mad at me when I remove her from an area she shouldn't be. Translation - She won't let society tell her what her limits are.

3) She doesn't sleep much and often thinks it's time to play when it's really time to sleep. Translation - She will be the life of the party and a lot of fun to be around. (That's fine as long as she doesn't have too much fun.)

4) She would rather be held than sleep in her bed. Translation - She is a very affectionate and loving person.

Of course she is not always getting into trouble. There are times that she will just crawl over to me and lay her head on my leg. She also will lay her head on my shoulder and give me a quick snuggle every once in a while. I know every parent probably believes their child is intelligent but I truly believe we have a smart little cookie on our hands. Her pediatrician pegged her a genius months ago. While I think "genius" might be overstating, I am willing to agree that she is going to have her Daddy's smarts. Apparently a high needs baby can often mean a smart child, so with that in mind, the bags under our eyes are merely evidence that we have created someone special.

Visions of sugar plumbs are dancing in her head. Asleep on Christmas Eve.