Day 199 - July 18

Cate is ONE!!!

This has been, hands down, the fastest year of my life. It seems like just yesterday that I was trying to get through Michaela’s third birthday party while contracting every 20 minutes or so, and getting excited about the idea of having my VBAC delivery.

Fast forward (like, when you get the 5 arrows when you’re zooming through commercials on your DVR) a year, and I’ve now got a toddler on my hands. A toddler. Oh my.

So what has Cate been up to in the last month of her first year of life? Well, the big news is that she’s walking. She took her first couple of hesitant steps just a week or so after turning 11 months and has been practicing diligently since then. We went from a few tenuous steps to a few more confident steps. Then there were more steps going a little more quickly until she learned to turn corners. From there, she started to just do laps around the living room. On about the third day that it happened, I realized that she’d spent the bulk of those days just continuously walking around and around the living room, just practicing her newfound skill. She’s still doing it a week later, but now, it’s with a sound track of baby talk.

On the talking front, she’s still not saying very much. I wish I could remember what Michaela was saying at this point, but I think Cate has fewer words. That’s ok, though, because one of them is “Mama.” It’s actually more like, “Mom-mom,” but I’ll take it. Michaela didn’t say “Mama” until she was much older – apparently she decided she didn’t need to because I did everything she wanted anyway – but Cate is all about it. I hear a lot of “Mom-mom! Mom-mom!” all day long as she tries to get my attention. She also says “Dada,” mostly when she’s watching him work outside in the yard through the backyard window. Her other big word is “baby,” though she says it, “Day-day.” But she loves to see herself in a mirror or the phone, and she loves any other baby she sees, so we hear that a lot. That’s really the extent of her vocabulary. I talk to her all the time, though, and so does Michaela, so I’m sure it’s just a matter of time until she starts putting it together.

Let’s see… sleeping. I remind myself pretty much every night that she’ll sleep through the night eventually. Her sleep schedule probably wouldn’t suck so much if it weren’t for the fact that I insist on staying up so late at night myself. She is, at least, taking naps mostly in the crib or pack n play now, so I’m able to get some things done around the house during naptime without either holding her, or being afraid of waking her up in the swing in the living room. In fact, we actually packed the swing away right around her first birthday, awaiting its sale. That was sad for me. Very sad. It’s just another reminder of no more babies to come. *sigh* Anyway, back to the sleeping… she’s been keeping with the one wake-up a night to nurse, and sometimes one other to check in and say hi (or, ya know, cry and wait for someone to come pick her up and cuddle her until she deems it ok to go back to sleep). We’ve even gotten a few 5 hour stretches, and at least one 6 hour stretch again. I’m eagerly waiting the time when there will be no wake ups. I wonder if putting her in her own room would help that process along, but I’m worried about putting her in there and having her wake Michaela up (they’ll share a room, eventually). It’s a catch-22 if there ever was one. So, for now, we just don’t sleep a lot. It won’t last forever.

Moving on… food. Now that she’s a year old, breastmilk no longer has to be her primary nutrition. Basically that means that I have to stop being lazy and feed her actual meals and snacks and stuff. I’m telling you, nursing is definitely the lazy mama’s way to feed a kid. At least when you get past the first couple growth spurts. Since the 11 month update, Cate has decided she doesn’t like frozen peas anymore, so those are no longer a go-to. She loves fruit of any kind, pretty much any meat we give her, and will even eat all kinds of legumes. She prefers if I simmer them in a little chicken broth and garlic instead of eating them just rinsed out of the can. I can’t say I blame her, though. Who doesn’t want a little flavor on their beans! I’m trying to get her to eat more veggies to go along with the two hundred tons of watermelon she’s eaten already this summer and I’ll also probably start to introduce more grains, just in small quantities. She’s had Cheerios and a few bites here and there of other things like bread, but never a full serving of anything.

Cate’s little personality comes out more every day. She thinks she hilarious and will laugh at herself for just about anything. One of her new skills this month was to tickle me and just laugh hysterically. She thought it was so funny to tickle my feet one night and has since moved on to tickling my neck and my tummy on different occasions. Too funny. She still loves her Daddy more than me and flips out when he gets home from work. Now, though, instead of just yelling for him to come see her, she scrambles down out of my lap, or up from playing on the floor to walk over to him as fast as her little legs will carry her. She will no longer crawl anywhere now that she’s got this walking thing down, and works every day to get faster. She smiles and flirts with strangers, waves to anyone and everyone – but usually two minutes too late – and chatters whenever Daddy is around. She doesn’t make a whole lot of noise when it’s just us during the day, but she’ll “talk” up a storm once Jason is home. She LOVES the pool and apparently thinks she can swim since she’ll dive head first off the step if you turn your head for even a half a second. She doesn’t love being in a float because she’d rather be in your arms, trying to swim on her belly and kick up a storm. She loves a bath – with or without big sister – but is not a fan of the shower (our preferred method for a quick rinse). And she really, REALLY doesn’t like being told no. Crocodile tears and a tantrum will ensue.

I think those are the highlights. I really and truly can not believe she’s one. I think everyone says that, but, seriously, this has just been so fast! I think I lived a little in denial that time marched on because I just don’t want my last baby to grow up. But grow she did, and my baby is now a toddler.

Happy Birthday, Bug!