Meow, Melmo and Christmas

Oh Christmas! (A recap)

Christmas Eve was lovely. The Animalia and I woke up lateish (8:30am, yes, gasp, but we're used to it now) and went to pick up a deli tray and other supplies at Costco. Then we went home and did other things but I don't remember what. Then we showed up at Nana and Tata's for lots of food and family. Eventually the kids opened presents and of course the Animalia ended up with TONS of stuff including Elmo Live! the crazy Elmo robot thing that tells stories and asks to be picked up when he's tipped over, or in this case, thrown to the ground. The Animalia was puzzled when her Elmo talked and after awhile even tried to close his mouth for him. Later, he would bite me when I accidentally pushed his foot as I was carrying him out to the car. We stayed at Nana's late and came home to get some rest before the morning and more present opening.

Christmas morning we woke up late again. We immediately got to eating and opening presents. We thought we'd be back to the Nana and Tata's by 10 but the Animalia took more time to open presents than I thought she would. She liked ripping the paper OK, even did it once or twice but once she figured out that the paper contained boxes that contained THINGS FOR HER she didn't really want to finish the unwrapping and went right to trying to pick the boxes apart. This was somewhat unsuccessful, so we finished the unwrapping for her and opened the boxes. Then she had to inspect things, play with them, touch them each before she'd move on to the next thing. This was somewhat hilarious though time consuming. She got lots of awesome stuff that she seemed to like, not the least of which was a piano from Santa Claus. She doesn't play it that much but she checks in with it every single day, pounding the keys as soon as she sees it before moving onto other things. She also likes to use it as a bench and also a step stool, something we're discouraging. She also got some mice in a box that she loves to kiss, ANOTHER ELMO, this one a TMX that laughs and speaks Spanish, clothes, stacking boxes, books, etc., etc. We made it to the Nana and Tata's house for MORE PRESENTS and breakfast about half an hour late. I think they thought we weren't coming over at all because they seemed absolutely thrilled when we arrived. Anyhow, there were more presents and there was breakfast and we were all very happy. Later, we'd all have dinner together, the Animalia showing off her toys and seeming totally excited that we were all there again, at the same time, and no one was working, and she was the center of attention.

A couple of days later she started saying Melmo, very clearly, for Elmo (duh), and not Ehrmoh, like she'd been saying before. Learning language... baby steps, people. And she finally started saying MEOW for cats. She mastered "babao" months ago but "meow" was elusive and now she says it with gusto.

I hated having to work the day after Christmas and having to suppress the desire to cuddle the Animalia indefinitely but it had to happen. We did, however, get a visit from the Nina AND the Nino and the Animalia was most happy to accept even more gifts from them. The boots the Nina gave her were a hit and she insisted on me putting them on her so she could stomp proudly around the room. She also got this cutest book with her face on the baby's face inside. We were excited about that too, probably more than she was, but she was nice and read it and had me read it to her. The Nino gave her a Sock Monkey that got besitos. It was enclosed in a lovely box that had awesome stencils on it. We'll save that one for later, when her tiny hands aren't so destructive.

This Christmas was fantastic actually. It was so much fun to have Christmas with a baby in the house and decorate and have friends over and just enjoy it. It's different (cliche, I know) when there are kids to celebrate with. It was fun. We even put up Christmas lights, a first for us, and her Daht promises to make the display more elaborate as the kid grows. Funny what kids do to us, especially the most cynical of us (me, obviously).

Next, a new year.

Abrazos a Baby Jesus

The Animalia's Nana has nativities galore and The Animalia loves them.

She loves to wave hello to all the figurines and most specially loves the Baby Jesus, tiny Baby Jesus. She's the big lumbering giant, picking him up and delicately hugging him. He's tiny in her hands. She puts him up to her shoulder and pats his back. Then she puts him back to his bed to go mimi, patting him once more for good measure.

My Little

Every day during my lunch break I run over to see the Animalia at the Nana and Tata's house. I open the door and sometimes she hears me and runs and says "Mama!" and I say "Hi, my little!" Sometimes she hugs my legs. Sometimes she throws a mini tantrum, revenge, I think, for not being there all morning. Those times her Nana says that she didn't cry til I got there. But I never touch her until I've washed my hands. Most of the time she's ok with this but sometimes she's impatient and wants me to pick her up and makes slightly angry, slightly dejected sounds. I tell her "lavando las manitas," which is actually a lyric from a song I sing her when I'm washing her up. Sometimes she knows, and it's fine, but sometimes she's still impatient after the explanation.

As soon as I can I lift her up and give her besitos. I ask for an abrazo and she mostly obliges. Sometimes she's too excited though and has to show me what she's been working on. She'll point to her project, usually a pile of libros or her Elmo that is wearing a new vestido or needs to be diapered, a packet of seeds that needs shaking or a puzzle that needs putting together. We'll go look at that for a few minutes. She starts telling me things, her own language, punctuated with the words Nana and Tata. She's telling me what they did so far and I respond appropriately with "ooohhh" and "mmmmm" and "¿si?" and "¿y luego que pasó?"

Then Nana takes over. I need to eat. Sometimes the Animalia is ready for food too though. Sometimes Nana feeds her, sometimes I do. Sometimes she acts like she's not hungry until she sees my food. Those times she wants the food off my plate and hovers around me, mouth open, like a baby bird. Sometimes she's already eaten but does the baby bird thing anyway, with me, with Nana, with Tata, with Tío Tío, whoever is there and eating.

Sometimes she hasn't napped yet and she's cranky so I take her to a quiet room, close the door behind us, and put her to sleep. Sometimes she takes me there, expecting to be put to sleep I think.

Then lunch is over and it's time to get back to work and leave the Animalia behind for a few more hours. I never actually want to leave but it's easier now that we're used to it. I guess.

Did I tell you that she's a puppy?

Did I tell you that she's a puppy, or more specifically a babao?

Here are the signs:
1. When asked, "¿Como te llamas?" she answers, "¡Babao!"
2. She's into tipping her food out of her bowl and onto her high chair tray and just eating it straight from the tray, no hands! She'll also eat from my hand like that, not even bothering to take the Cheerios from me with her own hands, just mouth to hand.
3. She cannot be trusted around dog food. She hasn't eaten any yet, that we know of, but sure seems fascinated by it. She'll even say "Babao" when she approaches it.
4. She'll drag around Cooper's leash and collar as long as we let her, all day even.
5. She loves his tags, wants them even, gets mad at Cooper when she's playing with them, still attached to his collar, still around his neck, and he moves away from her. She gets MAD.

Poor Cooper

Poor Cooper. First he was replaced by this tiny screaming pooping thing named Animalia. Then, when he reconciled himself with that, we wouldn't even let him lick her. He didn't want to bite her, he just wanted to lick her and nudge her some. Sometimes he even wanted to protect her from other dogs and random noises. Sure, he knocked her over a couple of times. She wasn't steady on her feet then and he can't help weighing 100lbs and all he did was brush up against her. He was sorry those times, he even whined appropriately. But he thought they'd finally gotten to the point where they could be friends. The Animalia would pet him and sometimes pull on his ears and he'd sit patiently and desperately fight the urge to lick her tiny face. Sometimes he'd lay next to her and roll over and she'd pat his belly. She'd even share her Cheerios with him, giggling as he licked them out of her hand. He was happy those times, even if we told them both No. He'd even learned, somewhat grudgingly, that we weren't always referring to him if we said the word papa.

But now. She starts saying "NO!" when he's within two feet of her and will complain loudly when he's too close to her or her stuff. The answer to the question "¿Que dice Cooper?" The Animalia says "¡NO!"

Poor Cooper.

Love, love, love.

So the Animalia was invited to the Peanut's birthday party. She started out upset, a little nervous I think, because of all the people. When we walked in and her Daht tried to put her down she wailed Mama over and over again and seemed so sad. The Peanut's Nana said "Tiene vergüenza." Then Elmo showed up, walked right through the back gate, and she was fine. She was more than fine, going on a hugging rampage. First she loved all over Elmo (picture coming soon). Then she loved all over the birthday girl. The birthday girl was just not having it though. She wasn't totally angry, she was tolerant, but that was it. Tolerant. The Animalia however was full of bliss for her friend, hugging her more than once, much to the Peanut's dismay. This photo prompted an observation from the Nina that "Why is [Animalia] me and [Peanut] you?"

The Tantrums

The following conversation is not imagined but rather inferred.

Me (singing): Poniendo los pantalones, pantalones, pantalones.
Animalia giggles.
Me (singing): Poniendo los calcetines, calcetines, calcetines.
Animalia giggles again.
Me: ¡Manitas pa'rriba!
Animalia complies happily.
I take off her shirt to replace it with a clean one.
Animalia screams: MOTHER. I DO NOT WANT TO WEAR A SHIRT TODAY. ONLY PANTALONES AND CALCETINES. PERHAPS ZAPATOS. PERO NO QUIERO UNA CAMISA. NO. NO. NO.



Right after her first birthday she started throwing these tiny little frustrated tantrums. I've read that it's right developmentally, no big deal, but damn. They only last a minute or so, sometimes less, but still. Damn. She just TELLS me but good. Sometimes she throws herself backward and if I'm right next to her, I'll grab her and lower her tiny little head to the ground where she'll proceed to roll back and forth for a minute until she's not as mad anymore. This also happens when we take something away from her. You know, like a dime or a button or something else tiny and potentially hazardous. Sometimes, unconciously, we take something away from her that isn't hazardous and she gets mad before we realize that we took a spoon or a cheerio, something totally safe. Sometimes she finds an errant cheerio on the ground and puts it in her mouth and we see her chewing and automatically sweep the mouth only to get smooshy cereal on our fingers and a guilty look from the Animalia that says, "What the hell?! Why did you force my papa out of my mouth? I was eating!" And then she screams and we feel bad and give her whatever it was we mistakenly took away and also we apologize. Profusely. Because she's rolling around on the floor and at that particular moment, we could have avoided it by not taking our eyes off of her for a second and knowing, somehow, maybe telepathically, that it was indeed JUST A CHEERIO.

More zapato tales

So The Animalia. Last night, she put on her own shoe. Isn't that amazing? Isn't she brilliant? Putting on her own shoe, patting her pansa proudly, wiggling her foot at me to show me and her Da. OK, so she put the shoe on the wrong foot. Whatever. That part of the story is inconsequential. So is the part where she insisted on walking around, one shoe on (the wrong foot), one shoe off, and she kept stumbling because it was on the wrong foot. Inconsequential I say. But so damn cute, and also accomplished, I had to call her Nana to make a cuteness report.

"Who am I?" she asked.

So I have no idea who I am anymore. The Animalia got a birthday party invitation, a very special Elmo invitation for a 2nd birthday party for a kid that we love. And on the Elmo invitation it said that Elmo himself would make an appearance. And I got too excited. Animalia, I told her, and all she did was look for her Elmo puppet. Me, I started talking about how totally cool that was and I wondered what Animalia would do and it was going to be awesome, etc, etc.

Now I don't doubt that it'll be great but really. Who am I? I also think this when I'm doing storytime at work (so not me) and dancing and jumping and singing with the kids. When I do the Itsy Bitsy Spider with no sarcasm in my voice. When I don't automatically yell at kids for being loud or running around like animals. It's still crazy to me that kids actually like me, they did before I was even interested in the topic of them.

I guess Animalia has given me patience and more ability to be goofy but I still identify with people who don't have kids and don't plan to. The Nina told me, in a completely unrelated conversation, that I wasn't a Smug Parent. I'm glad of that. This new identity is still sometimes a little strange to me.

Tuberculosis

So I get a text from the Nina a day or two ago. She asks how Animalia is and I say sick and she says her niece, the almost 2-year-old Peanut, is sick too. With tuberculosis, according to the Peanut herself. And I start to feel guilty.

What happened was...
On Monday, the Animalia woke up cranky but I completely disregarded the mood. We were going to meet the Nina and her sister and a couple of babies for breakfast. We went to Target first as it was kind of on the way and then proceeded to Cracker Barrel. Animalia fell asleep between Target and Cracker Barrel, and though I thought she'd wake up shortly after smelling food, she slept through most of breakfast. During this time, I held the baby Lito, who is so smoooshy and cuuuute, and we all chatted. The Animalia finally woke up... snnneeeeze! Runny nose. Eating. Saying hi to the other babies. Snnnneeeeze! I'm like, maybe it's allergies, because she didn't wake up that way. Her eyes start running. Someone says that her eyes are running so it's a cold. I'm puzzled as she doesn't usually get sick that quickly, it's more of a gradual thing that warns us in subtle ways, but the only warning I got was the cranky wake up. Sucks.

So the Animalia is sick. A cold. And now, because of us, two other babies are sick. Yes, there has been a text message exchange... "I don't want to be THAT mom." (The mom who takes sick children where there are other babies with complete disregard for what we'll all have to go through that night when the baby can't breathe). The reply was not to worry, I'm really not that mom. But I feel like THAT mom. I just do. Especially because the tiny baby Lito is little and tiny and colds when they're that small are SO MISERABLE. So, in this very public venue, I'm sorry on bringing the plague to your house. You know who you are.

Another word.

Last night the Animalia said "TOES!" She was actually sitting on the floor at her Da's feet and suddenly started saying Da Tooooes. The T in toes was a soft T, almost a D. And the ooooo was almost oooohhhh but not quite. It was, however, clearly toes.

It was, quite honestly, one of the cutest moments yet.

Words lately.

The Animalia is a chatterbox and understands lots of words.



She says: agua (for water to drink AND for a bath), papa, pa (pan), babao (dogs and other mobile creatures), vroom vroom (it's spittier than it sounds), mama, da, nana, tata, hi (both as a greeting and as a name for phones), bye, más (actually she still just signs this), nice (when she's petting someone or something, tato (retrato) and YUM! when she likes her comida. She also roars when she's asked what a lion say and moos when she's asked what a cow says. She says Do! for her Dora doll and Rehmo or something like that for her Elmo doll. She also oooohs appropriately at shiny or amazing things. On occasion she talks gibberish, especially into a phone but sometimes also when she's reading or playing by herself.



She also understands: potty, and she'll take you there herself if she has to. She knows that Cooper is the dogs name and that the leash and collar belong to him. She knows where he sleeps too and unfortunately will throw herself on his bed if we're not watching her closely enough. She knows the names of all her favorite dolls including, but not limited to, Dora, Elmo, Babao, Big Bird, Baby Croki and her various ositos. She'll happily point out pansas, hers and yours, and tell you where your ojos, nariz, and boca are located. She knows NO! and sometimes giggles when you say it and tries to sneakily disobey. She knows toes and knows that they are also dedos en español. She knows luz and knows that the lightswitch turns the luz off and on. She'll also get kind of mad after you only let her turn it off and on five times because she can really do it FOREVER. She knows that Tata spends a lot of time outside and in the kitchen because those are the first places she looks for him when she gets to his house. She knows the movement that accompanies Wheels on the Bus and also can do a little bit of Itsy Bitsy Spider. She also knows what to do in storytime. She knows that música is for bailando and sometimes dances when there's no música because she wants to hear some. She knows abrazos and how to give them. We're working on besitos, those are less consistent, but she'll occasionally give a big mmmmmmmwah open mouth kiss, mostly to her Da. She knows how to greet people, with manitas hi or manitas bye. She also knows to stay close, when strangers talk to her, and she'll point us out, saying Mama or Da as she indicates who we are. Best of all, she knows when something is funny and laughs accordingly. Sometimes it's a fake laugh, kind of like her fake cough, but that's hilarious too.

Thanksgiving.

Thanksgiving was great. The Animalia and her Da visited his family early in the day. Apparently the Animalia cried and wouldn't let her Da put her down at first. She's got that stranger danger thing again lately and she's not that familiar with that side of the family. As soon as her cousins got there though she got over it pretty quickly and apparently was running around and doing her tricks for all the little kids. After a little of that they joined me at Nana and Tata's house.

We changed her into this CUTE blue dress with yellow teddy bears and French onomatopoeia written on it and she wandered around for a bit before the rest of the family showed up. At first we had her in some cute blue mary janes that matched perfectly but they were too big and she was walking like Frankenstein. She loves big girl shoes and she seemed happy enough but I sort of thought that after awhile she'd fall on her face so she was forced into some cute enough black mary janes.

The extended family arrived and we ate. Animalia ate stuffing and mashed potatoes and squash and corn bread (PAN!) and a teeny bit of turkey that was smothered in a teeny bit of cranberry sauce. She liked it but hated the turkey I gave her sans cranberry sauce. She's like that with meats, she'll only eat them when they're covered or hidden, otherwise we get the yucky-please-get-this-off-of-my-tongue look. So I wiped the turkey off her tongue with a napkin. And she was done.

I ended up chasing her a bit, a little nervous because her boy cousins were playing with regular sized (teeny tiny) Legos and she wanted to play with what they were playing with so... Anyhow, she escaped me and got to the Legos and shoved her tiny hands in the big box and... she didn't put them in her mouth! She just wanted to touch them, to clink them together, to throw them out of the box and hear them rattle around. So we avoided the choking baby thing and she was happy.

Once the boys left and had put away the Legos she found other things to distract her: Tías' jewelry, agua, libros, and Tata.

It was a good day, a fairly long day, and we finished it with a movie at home. I was sad when she woke me up EARLY the next morning but was glad she did. We hit a Black Friday sale and got her Da one of his Christmas presents. The Animalia loves shopping.

¿Tata?

So the Animalia's Tata was in Chicago for nearly a week and she missed him terribly. We kept telling her "Tata está en Chicago con el Tío Tío" to which she would reply, palms turned upward, "¿Tata go?" and we would feel sad for her. She spent the week looking for him, pointing outside (and to other places that Tata usually goes) and asking "¿Tata?" La pobresita, la abandonada, she was sad and a little confused. One night she even woke up in the middle of the night crying for him, actual tears rolling down her face, pointing at the window and asking for him. It was terrible.

Her Da tried to tease her. He knocked on a closet door, opened it, peeked inside and said "Bad Tata, go home!" This just resulted in her pointing at that particular door day after day and asking "¿Tata?" Her Nana read her a book where a grandfather makes pizza with his granddaughter and she pointed to the picture of the grandfather and said "¡Tata!"

He got back last night and I couldn't wait to see what she'd say/do when she saw him. She has been known to run to him, arms outstretched, saying "¡Tata! ¡Tata!" whenever he's gone for a couple of hours and she sees him get home. So we got to the house this morning. He came out to greet her. She gave a half smile and then she ignored him. He was talking to her, he clearly missed her, and she wouldn't look him in the eye. She looked away with a funny smile on her face. They went inside and he took her out of the car seat and she started pointing things out to him but still wouldn't look at him. She wouldn't give him abrazos or besitos. It was like she only kinda sorta recognized him after all that time. Or like she was a little confused... she LOVES her Tata but where was he all that time? She didn't pull away from him though, she didn't complain or yell, but she did say "Nana" several times as if asking for reassurance. Her Nana would never abandon her. Never.

¡zapato!

The Animalia said zapato last night and this morning. She said it in her best breathy drag queen voice. "daaahhh. paaahhh. tdoooh." Like that. Like three separate and distinct words. It was hilarious. So that becomes my new favorite word that she says. I also like "pah" which is not papa, but pan. These things make her even more adorable to me who loves zapatos and also pan. And drag queens. I do love drag queens and with the penchant for disco and club music and breathy voices, the Animalia will too.

Busy weekend, not a holiday at all

It was a busy weekend, not like vacation, not like relaxing, but nice nonetheless.

Friday evening dinner at On a Roll, a delicious new sushi place downtown. The Animalia was cute, ate deconstructed vegetarian roll and miso soup and sweet potato fries. She waved to the people and chatted. She even got the hostess to come over and show her the many silver bangles on her wrist. The Animalia marveled at them, very clearly saying "ooooohhhhhh!" Sushi tired her out and she crashed when we got home.

Saturday afternoon we took the Animalia to Canoa Ranch. We saw the buildings that had been restored and those they're still working on. There was food, Animalia ate guacamole and cookies. There was music, Animalia danced and danced and danced, even trying to dance with the young girl mariachi singer as she was singing. We saw Tío Pancho, my Tata's only surviving sibling, and the Animalia showed him her skills, answering the questions ¿Que dice la vaca? and ¿Que dice el leon? and ¿Dientes? appropriately with mmmmm, rowr, and tapping her top and bottom teeth together respectively. She also showed him her pansa. The photographer there to document the event took more pictures of The Animalia Show than anyone or anything else. The Animalia Show was definitely on full force. She was exhausted and fell asleep as soon as she hit her carseat.

Sunday we did nothing until the evening. Actually we ate and watched TV and watched Animalia play with her things. In the evening we went to the All Souls Procession despite the wind, impending rain, and potential cold. The Animalia wore a warm and cozy skeleton outfit, almost like fuzzy pajamas. She seemed to like the procession, clapping at her favorite things, laughing and chatting. She was hungry so I reached up and fed her pieces of banana while she sat on her Daht's shoulders. He was concerned that he'd get banana in his luxurious locks but she was good and I think only wiped her hands on his head a couple of times. Then it got COLD and the wind picked up again and the lightning and thunder started up so we decided to walk home. We stopped to where the Nana and Tata were waiting so they could see the Animalia and a light rain started. We ran to their closer house instead and they drove us home. Animalia was exhausted.

Monday. Baby gym, the last class til the new year. She was wearing the exact same romper as another baby, something that prompted the other mom to compliment me on my taste, and a whole different mom to say "Fashion faux pas." I kept my mouth shut. The Animalia wandered around mostly, we played on a few obstacles but she mostly wanted to wander. Until she saw the parachute. She got so excited she forgot that she doesn't know how to really run quite yet but she ran anyway and fell flat on her face. Thank god for the spongy padded floor. She got up without even whimpering and sat herself down right in the middle, happy as a clam. After we left we headed to the Nana's for a bit. Later we joined siyeh and her mom for lunch. Animalia slept through the first half then ate roasted red bell pepper and cheese through the second half and walked around and waved and did a couple of tricks at the end.

Tuesday was the Animalia's lab work and thrift store wandering with the Nana and Tata. I bought her some bracelets (ooooohhhh) at the thrift store. Cheap ones so she can lose them and no one will even notice. Enjoyable but tiring. Later she obliged us by falling asleep kind of early so we could have wine and cheese for our anniversary.

Wednesday back to Nana's for the Animalia. All day while mama "go working." I was sad to leave her after so many days together. Need to win the lottery. Good news though... the Animalia's slight anemia looks like it was temporary, everything is back to normal and no more iron drops in her juice!

In conclusion, the major theme of the weekend was lots of activity followed by the Animalia falling asleep early.

ELECTION NIGHT

First there were the few days leading up to election night. A few teeny volunteer excursions with the Animalia and the Nina. Then there was election night itself. The Animalia ate, wandered and was carried by various people. She dragged her Tata around, dragged her Nana around and was generally cute. At some point her Tata wandered away and she wandered after him asking people for ¿Tata? with her tiny palms upturned when she asked. This was totally new. She had never asked questions like that before. Then right before Obama won! the Nina and I were outside watching the big screen and one of the analysts was talking about how great for young children if he were to win, with two little girls in the White House and an African American president. These children wouldn't know that it was a HISTORIC WIN, they would just know that it was normal. Then he WON! and we hugged and screamed and were so excited and I thought about the Animalia, that several years down the line she would say matter-of-factly that Barack Obama had been president when she was five and it warmed my heart that it would be matter-of-factly and not like something unusual at all. What an incredible thing.

Baby Croki

Baby Croki is a Leapfrog toy that sings and lights up and says things like "¡Dame un abrazito!" The Animalia LOVED him when she was tinier, I think because of the songs and the lights on his tummy but she didn't exactly know what to do with him except stare and smile. So Baby Croki went away for a bit, into her overflowing toy bin. Now he's back! Back with a vengeance. The Animalia LOVES HER BABY CROKI and now, when a light flashes, she knows that she can press it and he'll reward her with a song. And then she dances. More button pressing, more lights, more "Este es una estrella amarilla" pronounced clearly and properly, more dancing. She can be occupied this way for 20 minutes. It's amazing and quite a nice little break for me.

The dancing is also quickly becoming amazing and hilarious. A couple nights ago she was actually wiggling her hips, a new dance move that came to her while listening to the Dance station on cable. Before the hip wiggling came the waving back and forth move, then the squatting move. This hip wiggle was brand new. And to Dance music. Who is this child? Did I really just birth one for the Nina (who loves Madonna, disco and gay club music)? Do I have to give birth again to get the punk/indie rock kid of my musical dreams?

So. Halloween.

We're tired.

So Halloween, Animalia's 2nd, made us tired. We spent all this time gathering costume parts so that we could all go representing different gangs from The Warriors. This was, however, contingent on iron ons with our logos on them. The computer that the iron ons were on crashed and left us iron on-less. Terrible. Without them, the Animalia's costume would consist of a brown vest. So her Daht and I made the quick executive decision to not dress up and I spent my lunch hour looking for a costume for the baby girl. Target was wiped out. Babies r Us was even worse, less than nothing. An actual costume shop yielded nothing. And then, Walgreens. And I found it. A ladybug. An exceptionally cute ladybug. I was proud. An hour for lunch, four stores and one costume. Major sigh of relief.

Then we went to a party. Yay party! It was in a trick-or-treating neighborhood. The kind of neighborhood where lots of kids and families are wandering around and every other house is fully decorated. The Animalia had some food then her Daht took her trick or treating, just to a couple of houses. She fell in love with her pumpkin and when they got back to the party she sat down and started sorting her candy. It was hilarious.

I loved her in her tiny costume but it was a little warm so we left the party and quickly changed her out of it. Then we went home and the Animalia played with her candy while we watched creepy movies. It was great. And we decided that next year we really are going to be from the Warriors universe. Pictures coming soon.

Awa! Awa! (San Diego)

The Animalia, the travelin' bean that she is, went to San Diego over the weekend. She was surprisingly good on the way there, learning to blow dramatic kisses (MMMMmmmm-muah!) and the answer to the question,"¿Como te llamas?" (ahh-YA!). She got fussy at the end of the drive, much later than we thought she would. She was tired of looking at her Tata and sitting in her chair and the boring toys she'd already seen 50 times. She was asking for her Nana. So we got to the place where we were staying, a beautiful two bedroom condo overlooking the ocean, with sliding glass doors out onto the balconies that had NO SCREENS, and a marble coffee table and a glass topped dining room table. Totally not for babies. The Animalia was thrilled though. The closets had mirrored doors and the beds were fit for rolling around. We changed our travelin' clothes and immediately headed out to eat with the Nana and the Tata and the Mama's Nina. We found a brewery. The food was great and the Animalia ate garlic mashed potatoes and yummed a bunch. We headed back to the place, pushing Animalia on the boardwalk and she was happy. Then the Tío Tío and April showed up and the Animalia was even happier. Not much else happened that first night but it was nice and the ocean was loud. We all slept soundly when we finally went to bed, around 11.

DAY TWO. Wake up early, the whole bunch dresses for breakfast at an incredible place called the Belgian Frie. Animalia has pieces of waffle with sour cream and strawberries. She is thrilled. Head back to the place and get the car and go to Sea World, the Animalia, the Mama, the Daht, Tío Tío and April. The Animalia dozes on the short drive there. She wakes up as soon as the car stops. She looks suspicious. We get into the park and immediately head to the dolphin show. She watches the dolphins with interest but still looks suspicious. We get splashed lightly. Animalia purses her lips. After that we head to the Sesame Street area. We get on this teacup type thing, Animalia's first ride. She hates it at first but cracks a smile at the very end. She's finally really awake. After that, she was happy. She loves the shark exhibit and the small aquarium. She stands at the manatee tank in awe. She waves at Elmo during the 4D Sesame Street movie. She woos appropriately at Shamu. We head home, not having done half of what we wanted to but still happy. Animalia falls asleep as soon as we hit the parking lot.

NIGHT TWO. Animalia. Napping. 2 hours. Wake up, get dressed in the most beautiful little dress, ruffle butt tights, black velvet slippers, cardigan. Animalia is going to be the ring bearer at the Tías Grandes wedding at a fancy restaurant overlooking the ocean. I was worried but it went OK. She was a little upset by the time the wedding started so I fed her cheese. She also got upset when the Tías walked down the tiny aisle without her. I think she thought they were all going for a walk. Then she seemed tired but quickly got a second wind. Photos, then dinner. The waitstaff brought her a miniature bottle of sparkling cider for the toasts. She drank it from a straw and made faces when the bubbles hit her mouth. During dinner she ate gourmet mac and cheese, pieces of fruit. Dessert was from my plate, some kind of berry icy thing that was delicious. After dinner, she kicked off her shoes and wandered around, stopping to grab different people to dance with her. She really made the rounds on the dance floor. Then around 11pm she was DONE. She was EXHAUSTED. She wanted to LEAVE. So we did and she fell asleep pretty quickly. She was great though, the entire night.


DAY THREE. She woke up early and walked down the hallway to bang on the Nana and Tata's bedroom door. She was banging on the door saying "Nana! Tata! Nanatata!" We immediately got ready and went to breakfast at this Irish pub where she ate her first teeny tiny bit of scrambled egg.
After breakfast we headed to the beach. At first, the Animalia stayed close, sitting on my towel and touching the sand cautiously. Hmmm. She was interested. After a few minutes, she realized she loved it and really threw herself into throwing sand into her little pail. One of her shovels looked more like a spoon than a shovel and she kept picking sand up with it and asking,"Papa?" We kept telling her "No es papa. No en la boca." I think she may have eaten a tiny bit anyway. After a bit we decided to take her down to the ocean. She wailed. How could we take her away from her precious sand?! We dragged her closer to the ocean. In a fit of pique she threw herself down on the sand. But this was wet sand. Oh my god. She looked at us with joy in her eyes but I could see there was a question. Why hadn't we done this sooner? Why didn't we let her play in the mud? She squished around a bit but I was determined to have her touch the water. I picked her up. Another wail. How could I show her mud and then take it away?! She was indignant. UNTIL... The water. I stood her up next to me and the water came rolling in. She laughed hysterically when it touched her tiny feet. We took her deeper. The water rolled in and peels of laughed rolled out of her as the coldish water hit her butt high. Then she acted indignant, like we'd been hiding this from her the entire time. Needless to say, the beach, the sand, the water, all hits. We will be taking her to the beach again as soon as possible.

THAT AFTERNOON/EVENING. A serious bath that didn't take all the sand out of her as I saw grains in her tiny ears later. A nap. Later we ate Thai food. The Animalia enjoyed her lovely Thai vegetable soup. We stopped at the Tías Grandes hotel room and she showed off her pink crocs. We went back to the condo, dropped her off with the Nana and the Tata and took off for an hour or so of parent time. The Animalia was ready for bed when we got back and so were we.

We left the next day and the trip back wasn't so bad either, minus the short vomiting by the Animalia. Cleaned her up and got her back in the car. I think she was happy to be home but it took a couple of days to get used to the fact that her Nana and Tata weren't just down the hall. She was asking for them as soon as she woke up in the morning.

Her first sentence!

So the Animalia said her first sentence in lovely San Diego, California. It was "Mama papa yum yum!" And I didn't realize it was her first sentence til her Daht pointed it out to me. It's a complete thought. Isn't that a sentence? And I realized he was right. And I laughed because of course she said papa! in her first sentence.

Getting bigger all the time.

The Animalia at her 12 month checkup (actually at 12 months, 2 1/2 weeks) was 23 1/2 lbs and measured at 31 inches. She was horribly squirmy though so I wouldn't be surprised if the length was off by a bit. She's a big girl!

So cute I'm choking.

These socks from Little Missmatched are freakin' adorable. They were a birthday gift from the Animalia's Nana and I LOVE THEM. They came in a missmatched but still matching set of three. Yes, they're like that on purpose! They're totally for us, the parents who believe that babies can be dressed a little bit crazy as long as they're still dressed like babies. I look at her tiny feet in these socks and I want to squish them with love.

¡Pansa!

So the Animalia, she can identify body parts, sort of. Her knowledge of pansa came first I think, from all the time we spent blowing on hers and also identifying ours when she would lift up our shirts and play drums on us. Now, she can consistently tell you where her pansa is, she lifts her shirt up when you ask her to locate it and she pats it. (In fact, she was using this as a greeting at an Obama rally the other day, prompting a few well pansa'd gentlemen to ask if she was making fun of them.) She knows nose, nariz, and will point it out using her Dora or on your own face if you ask nice enough. She knows eyes, ojos, and boca, mouth. She knows orejas, ears. Sometimes when you ask her to point one out she kind of searches her face or just points at some random place on her face. Other times she points them out quickly and accurately.

I was thinking, during the times she pointed to the wrong thing that either she thought all those words were generic for anything on the face, or that she actually didn't really know one from the other. Now I'm thinking I was wrong and she's got a silly sense of humor because last night, when I was asking her things, like "Enseñame ojos, eyes" she got a goofy, grinny, silly look on her face when she pointed to her mouth. When I asked her to show me her nose, she straight up laughed when she pointed to her left ear. So I tickled her, resisting my initial urge to squeeze her really hard in a loving way.

Mama! Papa!

The scene: Yesterday, early evening. Mama working til 7pm. Daht picks the Animalia up from Nana and Tata's house.

Daht: Hi baby girl! Are you ready to go home and see Cooper?
Animalia: Mama! Papa!
Daht: Let's go home and sit in your little house and read your books!
Animalia: Nana Nana Nana! Tata Tata Tata!

He told me later that he knew he'd have to play with her a whole lot as soon as she got home to distract her. So they played, laying around on the living room floor, probably looking for her pansa or his pansa or the dog's pansa. Reading books. Combing her Dora doll. And she really wasn't that fussy later when I got home and neglected her in favor of packing.

She's been a bit of a daddy's girl lately. During the worst of her cold, she'd walk to him and lay her tiny head down on his lap or climb on top of him and lay her head on his shoulder. Very endearing for all of us. The Animalia, of course she's endearing, but it also gave me warm fuzzy feelings about her Daht, just watching him be a good dad and watching her love him. These feelings, I like to stuff them deep down inside because I'm like that, but it's nice. Sigh.

Oh the cold! And the busted lip.

Oh the cold. The Animalia isn't as yucky sick as she was a few days ago, neither am I but those boogers, they just hang on, don't they? She is still a little congested but she absolutely rages when I try to suction her. Or when I try to wipe her nose. Or when I put vaseline on her raw-ish nose region. Still gross.

In other news, the Animalia got her very first major injury. A couple of nights ago she was playing with something on the coffee table, seemed kind of tired and wobbly, turned around and took a step and planted her face on the living room floor. Tooth hit inside top lip. Blood. Screaming. Blood. Screaming. It was really very frightening but she was ok after a bit. It swelled up pretty badly that night, though I did give her a bit of Tylenol and iced it. The next day, not as swollen, but ugly for sure. Last night she opened it up a little, or it opened up, not quite sure what happened but maybe because her lips are chapped? Anyhow, it seems to be much better now, thank goodness. I was a little afraid that people were going to think we beat her but the reaction was "Now that she's walking, she'll be hurting herself more." Yay.

Heading to San Diego in a couple of days. Very excited to take the girl to the beach!

The first cold of the season has hit and we're dying of cold-ness.

The poor baby Animalia has a cold as does her poor mama. It started a little bit gross night before last, just trouble getting her to bed, her having trouble breathing. She woke up several times in the night and I had a sore throat so I knew, just knew. By the time we both woke up the next morning it was obvious. We have a cold.

The Animalia is experiencing runny nose and tiredness and crankiness and not breathing very easily-ness. The nose flows constantly, just flows like the River Ganges. Just flows and flows. And she cries when I wipe her nose because despite the many Vaseline barriers she's been smeared with her little nose is getting raw. Suctioning only helps briefly and then the nose starts flowing again.

Putting her to bed last night was awful. She sounded like she was drowning and I said so to her Daht. Swallow, swallow, swallow, deep breath, swallow, swallow, sniff, deep breath. Babies with colds are so helpless. And yucky.

No really, she walks.

Three nights ago, despite the official first steps coming more than a week before, the Animalia realized she could walk on her own. It's like a little switch went off in her head. I don't need to hold hands! I don't need to touch furniture! I can walk! All by myself!

And walk she did. From one end of our oddly shaped living room to the other. From the couch out to the middle of the room, where she crouched to pick something up, stood up without stumbling and brought it (ok, it was an empty water bottle, she loves to play with those) to me. Back and forth and forth and back til 9:30 pm. Nevermind bedtime, the girl can walk people! Are you hearing this!? She can walk by herself like a big girl. All the while patting herself as a reward, telling herself that she's a good girl.

I thought I was injured.

I wasn't wearing my glasses, I don't know why, and I noticed something on my shoulder. A scab. A long, puckered, crusty scab, right across the top of my shoulder. It was huge. So huge I immediately think about calling the doctor. An unnoticed cut of this enormous proportion must be reported immediately. I touch it gently. It feels disgusting but immediately flakes off. What the?! I rub more off. I smell the flakes. Yes, I smell the flakes. I know, right?! I smell the flakes. It's frijoles from feeding Animalia earlier. I am now officially the kind of mom who has Cheerios stuck to her ass all day and no one says anything. But in private.

BA-BAO!

So we go to the zoo and everything is a ba-bao. Remember, guaguao is Spanish baby talk for dog and the Animalia's version is ba-bao. The pigeons are ba-baos, as are the peacocks. The polar bear is a BA-BAO! The giraffes are BA-BAOs! and she was a little concerned at first when her and her Daht fed them but ended up wanting to pet them. The elephant inspires awed silence. Some animals inspire barking, I think the Animalia thought that they were going to bark back at her. A pato duck inspires a "quack," something that the Animalia hasn't done before or since. She touched a hedgehog, curled up in a volunteer's hand, and jumped when it jumped. She wanted to pet the snake, slithering along another volunteer's hand, but I stopped her. She liked it too much and I thought she would squish it. She was carried by her Daht, he showed her zebras. Her tata let her walk in a grassy area when she wanted to walk around in her big girl high top Chuck Taylors. It was a nice morning. She saw ba-baos. She was tired. We went home.

No to the weaning.

The Animalia, she says no to weaning. In fact, I was trying to take away her lunchtime feeding and her tata told her that "big girls don't eat mama papa." That's what we call it, mama papa, not mama's food, food from mama. So anyway, her tata told her that. And she gave him a dirty look. Then she pushed him.

This is going to be a piece of cake, don't you think?

Awww...

We were reminiscing about the Animalia's birthday when I remembered one hilarious little detail. After the Birthday Song, the Animalia, with a little encouragement, grabbed at the cake. With a little more encouragement, she tried the frosting and immediately realized it was delicious. She licked her hand and said Yum! Licked her hand again and said Yum! She licked and yummed and licked and yummed til the frosting was all over her face and in her hair. It was awesome.

ONE! ONE! ONE!

The Animalia turned one with great fanfare, family and friends on Sunday, October 5, 2008. It was a luncheon affair, with carne asada, rice, beans, macaroni salad, salsa, and tortillas. Also served was a delicious cake from Le Caves, white cake with strawberry filling, whipped cream frosting and a lovely Elmo theme illustrated in red frosting. Elmo was a real presence at the festivities, appearing also in the form of a giant, difficult piñata wearing a zapeta with a chupón in his mouth. The guest list consisted of many family members and some friends, approximately 50 people in all. The gifts were overflowing: clothes, toys, gift cards, etc, plus approximately 300 diapers that will be donated to the Diaper Bank of Southern Arizona. The Nina gave her gift early: a shiny silver metal roadster that will last the Animalia forever. No games were played at the party, though a small play house and parachute were set up for the little children to play with and in. In addition to this, for entertainment purposes, the Animalia's Nino appeared wearing a giant Clifford the Big Red Dog costume and everyone laughed, including the Animalia. The last guests left at 6pm even though the invitation said noon til 2pm. We were exhausted.

It was lovely.

Walking!

The Animalia, she's a big girl now, she takes steps!

After storytime, on September 27, 2008, the Animalia took her first real steps. She tried to take steps before, putting one tiny foot in front of her and tumbling, but not this time. This time she took FOUR STEPS before her tiny bottom hit the ground. I type this as if I was there, but no, the honest truth is that I was not there as I am a working mother. "Who was there?" you ask, shaking your head. Well, the Daht was there, also the Nina, Socorro, and the Animalia's friends Adelina and Anissa. They all clapped and were happy and immediately brought the Animalia to me, her mama who works, to show me some STEPS. And she did. She showed me her second four steps and I was glad. I laughed and almost cried. And clapped. And was awed.

The terrible ones.

The Animalia is stubborn and occasionally attidude-y. She gets angry when something is taken away from her and when told no she sometimes does whatever she was doing again. Sometimes, when I tell her "No en la boca" she'll purposely, slowly, deliberately put whatever she shouldn't have in her mouth back in her mouth. When told "No en la boca" again, she'll pull her hand back like she wasn't doing it at all.

A few days ago she stuck her tongue out at her nana right after being told no. When she was told no again, she stuck her tongue out again. I guess her Daht taught her to stick her tongue out, but in a cute caritas kind of way, not a defiant way.

She's definitely growing a personality. I'm scared.

She's a GIRL.

The Animalia, despite our best efforts at gender neutral parenting, is a GIRL. I'm not saying that we were hoping she'd not be a girl, or even that she'd be a boy, but I guess we just figured that she was just a baby and she could play with dolls or trucks, wear overalls or dresses, that none of that stuff mattered yet. It's not that I'm that anti-pink, though I was at first. It's just that she's a baby and babies aren't programmed yet. Or are they?

The Animalia loves her dolls. She drives her car too, and makes driving noises, but she LOVES her dolls. She loves to rock them and pat their backs. She loves her clothes and will tip over a pile of laundry just to gather them all around her and touch them. She tries to dress herself and put her shoes on. She loves sparkly things. She loves purses and will put one on her wrist and parade around with it, showing it off with her arm raised up high. She likes jewelry and will create her own necklace with the strap of her diaper bag or whatever other looped thing she can find. Bracelets are objects of total fascination, she loves to twirl her wrist around whenever she's borrowed one. AND she flirts. Yes, much to my complete dismay, flirts. She makes ojitos at men, waving and getting giggly. She plays with boys at baby gym or sometimes not, sometimes she just takes their toys away.

Yes, my daughter is a girly girl. Damn.

She's a travelin' bean.

There was this song that we made up awhile ago, not sure when, but definitely around the Chicago trip. It's sort of a folkish, country kind of tune that goes "She's a travelin' bean (travelin' bean, travelin' bean)" and it's true. In her tiny life, the Animalia has been to Chicago, Washington, DC, and most recently, El Paso, TX. She'll go to San Diego in a few weeks and she may well end up on a beach in Mexico by the end of the year.

The Animalia, she likes traveling, she likes wandering around, she likes being outside and people watching. She likes to eat new things and play in suitcases. She loves her stroller and is happy in the side carry in any kind of sling. She loves to explore and she's a good traveler. Adaptable, not too picky, happy, though she does become a little clingy when she's unsure of her surroundings. She still sleeps, though not as well as she does at home, and she doesn't take too long to get back into her normal routine once she gets home. Traveling with the Animalia is highly recommended.

The hunger.

Sigh. I have been lax in my blogging.

The Animalia, she likes food. She likes her own food, she likes the food of others. She likes nursing, she likes water, she likes prune juice. She eats avocados with abandon, beans, rice, miso soup, pan. She eats her own food then will stand under me with her mouth open as she begs, like a puppy, for my food. She should be in her high chair while I'm eating, but she tucks her legs under and propels herself out of it, crawling onto the tray and trying to flip herself out. Scary. So she wanders while I eat, but not far, just to where the food is.

Yesterday, she went to two different restaurants. Sushi for lunch, sushi for dinner (various plans with various people that weren't well thought out). She ate sushi rice, avocado, edamame, miso soup, the internal organs of an eggroll and more. And she didn't even throw very much on the floor either. I was proud.

Over the weekend she ate lots of beans, mashed potatos, grits, and green beans, in addition to baby food and puffs, teething biscuits and crackers. Pretty soon she won't eat baby food at all, I'm sure, because she seems to be so much more interested in feeding herself, in eating big people food, than the flavorless mush that comes in those jars. She says papa when she sees them though, smacks her lips, and occasionally insists on a taste. She knows where her jars are kept and will get one for herself if she's really hungry.

She loves her agua, drinks from sippys successfully, and recently figured out drinking from a regular grown up straw. I have to regulate it though, because she loves water so much that her giant sips leave her with water spilling out of her mouth. Cold water makes her do excited, exagerrated shivers and she makes happy sounds in the back of her throat.

The consequences her hunger has had on me? Well, I only get to eat when she's not eating or asleep, otherwise I'm spending all my time tearing her food into tiny pieces about as fast as she can chew and swallow them. Me and her Daht should probably be doing this while preparing dinner for ourselves, but well, hindsight is 20/20.

Judge me.

I'm leaving the Animalia overnight. I'm heading to a conference.

Initially I thought that I could take her, that other people would be going, that my mom would go, or that Jimmy could take time off of work. None of those things happened. Then I thought that I would have to leave her here for 3 nights (major panic) but we worked it out so that the Da would take the Animalia and meet me there for the second and third nights. So the overnight isn't really that bad, but it feels bad. She's not even a year old, not weaned yet, and I put her to bed every night of her tiny life, so I think she'll be upset and probably a little confused when I don't pick her up after work tomorrow. Or maybe it's just me giving myself an anxiety attack and she'll be fine and only miss me fleetingly.

So now, actually, I've changed my mind. Don't judge me. I'm already judging myself a-plenty.

She says...

I was chatting with a coworker about the Animalia's words the other day and it made me realize how much she actually says.

She says Mom (though it sounds like Mahm) and Dad (though that sounds like Daht). She says Tata and says Nana when she's upset at me. Almost like she's going to tell on me or something. She says bao bao bao for dogs unless she's making a barking sound. She growls when we say the word lion. She signs más when she wants more of anything, not just food. She'll sign for more if we're doing something fun and she wants to keep doing it. I think signs count as words. She says agua (a-WA) on her way into the bath. She says papa (food). Sometimes she says mapa (mama papa, means she wants to be breastfed). She pats herself when she's done something good, is happy, wants recognition for something cute. She chats incoherently with her dolls and stuffed animals when she's playing alone. She says Hi! most of the time in her very best drag queen voice, to people and on the phone which is sometimes held upside down and backward. She says Bye! but not to us, never to us. Funny isn't it?

Mmmmmm. Papas!

The Animalia loves her comida. Baby food, big people food, all of it, although soon she may be even more on big people food because she seems to like that the best. I made chicken noodle soup a few nights ago... she loved it. Last night we had dinner at a restaurant and I ordered flat enchiladas, rice, and beans... she loved that too... all of it. When we eat dinner, her Da and I, she pulls herself up in front of us and opens her mouth, like a puppy. One of her most frequently used words is papa. She tells us when she wants it, will go to the cabinet to pull it out, will make faces indicating her desire for it, and will sign when she wants more. She's become more efficient at feeding herself and, although the messy stuff is still messy, she gets most of it in her mouth. When she tries a new thing she sometimes makes a puzzled face at first but will usually end up wanting more. She just loves food. She's obviously our daughter.

Snake Eyes!

So her Da decided that the Animalia needed a more interesting nickname. He decided on "Snake Eyes." He was calling her that for about a week. Last night, changing her diaper, I called her "Snake Eyes." I usually don't. I call her Monkey, Muchachita, Animalis. But not Snake Eyes. So I finally got with the program, right? Well, apparently I was behind the curve. Now he's calling her "Cheeseburger."

Another disgusting poop story.

So the Animalia isn't having much trouble pooping anymore. I think I've said that before. But really, this is a relief because it was so scary to watch her be so uncomfortable and sometimes in pain.

A couple of days ago, she pooped this giant turd. I was changing her diaper and she kind of flipped off the dirty diaper and threw it. Hard to explain but trust me, this was entirely unpreventable. The turd rolled out and onto the ground. Oh my god. We were so panicked. I was trying to put another diaper on her while screaming "Get it! Get it!" and her Da was freaking out too, exclaiming "How am I supposed to pick that up?!" "Grab it with the diaper!" So it was hilarious and horrifying at the same time.

Later that same evening, the poop came again. Only it was softer and mushier and MORE. Shudder. I was changing that diaper too and it was all over the place, up her front, up her back, everywhere. And she decided to reach down and feel it. The horror, the horror!

It's like we have to both parents there for diaper changes anymore. To pin her down.

I am so lazy OR Sometimes I'm busy.

I haven't updated in more than a week. I feel like I'm slacking only I've felt really busy lately so maybe I was just prioritizing.

The Animalia has just been freakin' adorable lately. She cruises around, making faces at her Da, only she's not calling him Da anymore, she's started calling him something that sounds like Daht. It's pretty cute.

So she's 11 months old now. The invitations to her big ONE have been sent out, her outfit has been chosen, the menu has been planned. I can't believe we're here already. The time goes by so quickly. Sometimes when I look at her she's a tiny baby and other times, when she's being silly, making faces and randomly giggling, I see the toddler that she nearly is. It's happy and sad, watching her grow, get bigger, faster and smarter. The happy is obvious. She's so amazing to me. The sad is maybe less obvious. Pretty soon she won't be a baby. She already pushes us away when we try to kiss her or cuddle her when she's busy. And she's busy most of the time, with her dolls and her books and her random plastic containers.

A couple of days ago, she figured out how to propel herself foward in her car. She had previously mastered driving backward and seems to think this new "driving forward" thing is too hilarious. At the same time, she started to make driving sounds while on her car. She learned that from her Da. She enjoys driving herself up to the kitchen cabinets, opening them and pulling things out, leaving a path of destruction in her wake. She also likes standing on top of the seat of her car. This gives us anxiety and we run to take her down before she cracks her tiny little head on our hard tile floor.

Tiny little head. Her tiny little head isn't so tiny anymore. We had to give up her fitted, infant sized Cubs cap for an adjustable toddler size. My baby, she's growing up, the mama sobbed.

They call her General Sherman.

Nana left her with Ata for a little while a few mornings ago and she came back to find the house sacked, toys and papers strewn everywhere, and her Ata calling her General Sherman.


In other news, the Animalia has started to sign más (more). OK, actually I think she may have been signing it for awhile but I just realized that's what she was doing. Sad, isn't it? Here the Animalia was being brilliant and I didn't even notice.

Abrazos!

Dale abrazitos a Elmo. She goes and finds Elmo, she gives him a hug and pats his back.

Dale abrazitos al Baby Croki. She finds Baby Croki, gives him a hug and pats his back.

Mama. Mama, she repeats.

Da. DAH DAH DAH, she repeats.

Cooper? She looks at him and raspberries.

Injury inspired laughter.

So the Animalia, she likes to climb into this tiny box. Last night, she pushed down on it and it kind of flipped, hitting her on the forehead. She was startled, not terribly injured but started to cry. The whole thing was too funny, though I know it doesn't sound that hilarious now, but it just was. I laughed, her Da laughed. She screamed. Everytime she saw her Da laughing at her she screamed louder. I was trying to soothe her by picking her up and saying shhhh shhhh shhhhh but her Da was right there laughing. She was too angry to stop crying and us laughing was just making her more upset. Screeching followed, and pretend crying. I had to hold her and hug her and hide my face so she wouldn't see me laughing.

¡Baila, Baila!

The Animalia knows how to dance all of a sudden. She seems to have picked up this skill at her grandparents house, where they play music all day long. On request, she raises her little hands and swivels her waist and she does it back and forth a few times. Today, while I was visiting for lunch, she actually did it when the music stopped, almost like she was telling us to put on a new CD.

She looks just like her Ata when she dances. Poor baby.

All she wanted was an abrazo.

All she wanted was a little abrazo from one of her most favorite children ever. So she used this petite little girl to pull herself up to standing and the little girl was knocked over. While this girl, who is almost a year older but only a tiny bit heavier and a couple of inches taller, was laying on the ground, she climbed her in a second attempt at an abrazo. The poor girl tried to get up. She tried and tried and just kept being defeated in her attempts by the giant Animalia. Tense moments passed and the girl was finally able to get up. The girl ran. The Animalia chased, crawling quickly. The girl said urgently, "Ay viene, ay viene!" and looked for help from her Yaya. The Yaya was no help though, finding it all hilarious enough to attempt taking a picture instead of assisting the girl. Animalia's mother was no help either, she couldn't stop laughing and trying to take pictures. The Yaya encouraged the girl to give the Animalia abrazitos. But no, it was not to be. The girl was determined to get away from this giant baby who wanted to touch her.

All the Animalia wanted was a little abrazo. Oh yeah, and also to play with a tiny bow on the top of the little girl's brightly colored dress. Poor Animalia. The girl wouldn't have it.

He missed her.

The Animalia's Da, he missed her when she was on vacation. He thinks she came back doing more things and doing some things better than when she left.

1. She's rocking her dolls. It just breaks my heart in the most tender way when she does this.
2. The good girl thing. She pats herself when you ask her who's a good girl? Yes, I reinforce this skill every single day.
3. Standing. She stood without holding onto things sometimes before but now she just stands there. Like a big girl.
4. Walking. Before, when we held her up to walk around, she'd do so on tiptoes. Now she does it with her feet flat on the ground.
5. Climbing. She's climbing everything all of a sudden. EVERYTHING. She tried before, to climb, but now, I don't know, it's just more.

She's almost ready to strike out on her own in this big wide world.

The poop thing.

The poop thing, the constipation, appears to have resolved itself. Actually, I don't think it resolved itself I think it was resolved by adding additional iron supplements to her diet. So now she just poops almost every single day. I hate to say that I might just miss the good ol' constipated days where we had no idea what other parents were going through during diaper changes. OK, so maybe I don't miss them really, since she was so sad then, but still. I might miss them.

Yesterday she was getting a bath at Nana and Tata's house. She stood up in the bath (holding on to the edge of the tub, what do you think we are, savages?) and she dropped three perfectly formed turds into the water. Go baby!

We're back!

The Animalia and I are back from our whirlwind trip to Washington, DC to visit her Nina.



It was fantastic and all the anxiety that I had about flying back and forth with her was relatively unfounded. She slept and played on the flights and did adorable things that made people say she was adorable. She was actually fairly excellent on the trip overall. She had her teary moments but really, what teething baby who's been uprooted from their normal routine hasn't had teary moments?

The flight there was decent. We were sitting alone, just the two of us, in a solo seat to Houston. We laughed, we cried, we napped. The 5am flight was by design as I figured waking her at that early hour could only result in naptime on the plane. From Houston to Baltimore we lucked out too, although in a different way. We were seated directly behind first class so more leg room. Plus, the couple sharing our row loved the Animalia, wanted to play with her, chat with her and were very helpful and friendly and nice. They live in Albuquerque, though originally from India and they showed Animalia pictures of Hindu gods. She napped on that flight too, she made new friends, she ate. It was so much more pleasant than I had expected.

We got to Baltimore late Thursday afternoon and after a relatively short car ride and a quick stop for fast food, we reached our final destination. The nina's apartment, which is very nice. She made lots of space for us, giving us her bedroom for the duration of the visit. Animalia got to explore, we took a stroll to the Yes! Organic Market for Animalia groceries (organic baby food, organic peach, organic yam, organic avocado). We unpacked our many food gifts (chorizo, tortillas, carne seca). We relaxed. Animalia explored a little. Later Thursday night we, the Nina, Animalia, and myself, took a longish walk to the Washington Monument. Animalia got to touch it and we gazed down at the WWII monument and Lincoln lit up in the distance.

Metro back to the apartment.

Sleep, sleep.

The next morning (really early afternoon) the Animalia and I went exploring. We took the metro to a farmer's market where we bought bacon for Sunday breakfast, a watermelon italian ice, and a delicious sandwich made with incredible bread and filled with feta and spinach AND topped with cheddar cheese. The Animalia and I wandered over to a bench on the National Mall and shared the picnic while people watching. Animalia's first sip of the italian ice was confused. It was sweeter and colder than almost anything she's ever had and she let it melt and dribble out of her mouth, leaving a bright red stain on her white cotton tshirt. She was ready after that though, eating small scoops of italian ice like a pro. She loved the sandwich too, but she likes food, so I wasn't too shocked. We finished our meal and headed back to the metro, taking it downtown to H&M for tiny clothes. I bought Animalia a Hello Kitty dress and matching sweater and a couple of other clearance items.

Metro, metro. Back the way we came to meet Nina and Celia for lunch at Good Stuff Eatery (also known as Spike's restaurant, of Top Chef fame). It was really incredible. I ate a burger topped with a fried egg, some pretty damn good greasy fries and a delicious toasted marshmallow milk shake. I was full. We walked back to the apartment for resting and waiting for the Nina to get off of work.

The Nina arrived and we headed out to a Nationals game. This made a grand total of two Major League ballparks for the Animalia in her first year of life. She was happy, we were happy, she clapped, we clapped, she stuck her hand in my chili dog. She squirmed at other kids. It rained for awhile but we were under an overhang and didn't get wet. We left in the 8th inning. We were all tired. Animalia was done. It was ok though, it was the Nats v Rockies with pitchers who had over 4 ERAs so, well, it wasn't the best game ever.

Waiting for the incredibly packed train on the way home was a bit sweaty and claustrophobic. A drunk sissy became fascinated with Animalia and chatted with her drunkenly. We managed to avoid standing next to him once we got on the train. Animalia tried to pinch the woman next to us. That was one of her major things on the trip, pinching. She'd done it to Annabelle before but she hadn't been really pinching me or anyone else. No more. She wanted to pinch everyone.

Back to the apartment. Sleeping, sleeping.

The next morning we headed to Georgetown with the Nina and Celia to get our eyebrows threaded. Not Animalia, her brows, as the Nina said, are perfect. On the bus ride there the Animalia was chewing on a cold pack to relieve the teething pain. She broke through the plastic and we experience momentary panic when she looked up and her little mouth was blue. I am a terrible mother. Thank god it's non toxic. Cleaned her mouth out, got to the threading place, Animalia ate food while we got threaded. After that we got breakfast and the Animalia ate some papas and pan.

After breakfast, we got some fantastic gelato. The Animalia slept while I ate basil and lime cilantro gelato. It was truly incredible. Then we shopped, first at Piccolo Piggies, a very fancy shop where I scored some great sale items for Animalia. If they hadn't been on such a good sale I wouldn't have been able to afford them. Seriously. Then to Sephora and another H&M where I bought clothes for myself. Jeans that fit! Oh my goodness!

Back to the apartment. Napping, napping.

We took a cab to dinner at Sticky Rice, a sushi place that serves PBR sake bombers and tater tots. The cabbie gave Animalia a tiny teddy bear and chatted with us about his family. At the restaurant, they were very good to Animalia, offering to turn down the music and one server even creatively made her a cup to drink from, using a plastic container and cutting a hole in it for the straw. The food was great, I ate some sushi, the Animalia ate some tater tots and some teriyaki tofu bites. Oh, and then she pooped. At a restaurant with no changing tables in the bathroom. Gross. And then she pooped on the cab ride home. "Amalia, you've been rockin' that diaper for awhile," said Celia. She got a bath too, because it was disgusting.

Back to the apartment. Sleeping, sleeping.

Sunday morning, the Animalia slept in, rolling around in her Nina's bed while we got ready for brunch guests. She did wake up eventually, guests arrived, she played and wandered. We talked about how she's an attractive baby and maybe she needs something to protect her from the mal de ojo, you know, just in case. Celia watched her while I played Bananas, the best word game ever, next to Scrabble. After breakfast, we went with the Nina and the Animalia's new friend Gloria to the Jim Henson's Fantastic World exhibit. She liked the Muppets in their cases. It wasn't all Muppets though, it was a small retrospective type exhibition, dealing with the range of his work, lots of illustrations and stuff relating to unrealized projects. Nice. Animalia got an Elmo puppet that she loves. Gloria went home and the Animalia, the Nina, and I took the metro, went to the International Spy Museum gift shop for gifts for Da, and hit a lovely tea house. There, the Animalia ate, nursed and took a nap while the Nina and I had cocktails and snacks.

When the Animalia woke up, we hit the International Museum of Crime and Punishment. The Animalia was happy there with all the ominous music and references to death and murder. It was good times.

Back to the apartment. Animalia slept while we stayed up late watching DVRd things. The Nina made me a sandwich.

Sleeping, sleeping.

The next day the Animalia woke up cranky. She was clingy. She didn't want anyone else to touch her. I had to finish packing. So I did. She cried and complained. I finished up, we took a walk around the neighborhood. We took her to the fancy dog store where she made raspberries at the dog statue. We munched on things, went back to the apartment, packed up the car and headed to Baltimore. Animalia took a nap on the car ride and I was afraid, both because of the nap and her previous mood, that she'd be difficult on the flight home. She wasn't. Between Baltimore and Houston she was great, though her little foot did touch this woman's newspaper. The woman flinched. The flight from Houston home was great though, with us sitting in an entire row of older women who love babies. One woman actually spent a good bit of the flight gazing at Animalia. When the Animalia pointed at her, not sure at what, a bracelet, earrings, the woman actually asked what she wanted and said that she'd give her whatever it was. The Animalia also took to saying Hi to people in her breathy, Kathleen Turner or tiny drag queen way that she does. It was cute. She slept a bit on both legs of that trip too. Good girl.

The Hi thing... she'd said Hi before but not regularly. Now she's saying it all the time. Also, her Nina taught her to pat herself whenever someone asks "Who's a good girl?" It's freakin' adorable.

When we arrived in Tucson, it took 45 minutes to locate her checked carseat and that was a drag and I was mean to the customer service lady but she wasn't very helpful. I'll elaborate at a later date. We were happy to see Da though, driving up. He jumped out of the car and Animalia smiled. He lifted her out of her stroller and she laughed and gripped him for dear life. He put her in her carseat and she wailed sadly. I think she was wondering where he was the whole time.

Home.

DC tomorrow, next week the world!

Wish us luck. Tomorrow at 5am our journey begins to visit the Nina in Washington, DC. We're ready. Animalia's clothes are packed, the diaper bag is packed, the stroller is ready to go. I've checked us in for our flight and chosen seats. The Nina has secured use of a Pack and Play. Tonight, showers and baths, bottle prep and the last few odds and ends. Tomorrow morning, 3am wakeup and Da will drive us to the airport and lovingly say goodbye to us until Monday night. We'll check our suitcase and the carseat and board the plane and it'll be fun and games until Houston where we'll stretch our legs and board another plane and more fun and games and then we're there.

It'll be fine.

Melting!

How CUTE is this?! This chair is miniature, just like Animalia. It was a gift from her Tías Grandes, bought for her at some point on their Guadalajara trip. My heart... melted. Just melted.

Clapping and singing.

Me (talking to Animalia's Nana): I think she may be a fag hag.
Nana: A what?
Me: A fag hag.
Nana: A fat cat?
Me: A hag. Nevermind.
Nana: Ohhhhh. Why?
Me: Because when she hears Chaka Khan and Diana Ross she starts clapping and singing. On the way here today "I'm coming out" was on the radio and she started singing and I could hear her clapping her hands.

So this is my current theory about my daughter. Either that or she's a disco fan, plain and simple. But I prefer the previous explanation better. Also, there have been a couple of gay men that she's met in her short life that she's taken a shine to. With smiling and ojitos and such.

Andando, andando.

Corriendo, corriendo, corriendo!

We used to move Animalia's tiny little legs slowly, slowly, then really fast and say, "Andando, andando, andando.... ¡Corriendo, corriendo, corriendo!" She would just laugh and laugh. This, of course, is what we USED to do. Before she became a crawler and a cruiser.

Nowadays, she can get herself around quickly and efficiently. She cruises the couches, getting from one to the other in these insane leaps of faith that make me hold my breath. She's been practicing walking, with our help, and sometimes, when she's standing, she thinks she can walk on her own. She pulls herself up, turns around, sees something she wants and takes giant steps toward it. Her steps are so giant that she couldn't possibly balance on her own. At the last minute she seems to realize that and falls, catching herself somehow and crawling toward the thing that she wanted in the first place.

She's so focused sometimes. She can't be distracted when she's into something, her tiny face scrunching, deep in thought and consideration. Interrupt her those times and she might throw a mini-fit, arching her back and screaming at you or swatting your hand away. She's busy you know.

Countdown.

In less than two weeks, the Animalia and I, we're going on a short vacation to Washington, DC to visit her Nina Boymagnet. This is very exciting for all of us but I am a little concerned about traveling with an infant all by myself. People do it all the time, I know, but it's a long flight for someone who wants to be crawling and cruising all the time. We'll be fine.

The minute I bought the tickets, the Animalia started packing her tiny suitcase. She packed a bib, a piece of paper, one of those doughnut shaped things that goes on her stacker toy, and one diaper. I asked her if she was packing wipes and food for the trip. She said no, that she'd be fine. And then she crawled out to the curb, using one hand and two feet as her second hand was dragging the suitcase, and has been waiting there, sitting on the suitcase, ever since. I told her to come inside, what would the neighbors think, and she just shrugged her shoulders.

Enough to make me quit.

Yesterday, the Animalia was up early. She was playing in her crib quietly while I took a shower and gathered everything for the day. After a bit, she pulled herself up, and I guess I had passed her by one too many times because she started saying Mama! in her very best complaining voice. I had to go through her bedroom one more time. As I passed her yet again she looked at me and said,"Mama. Maaaamaaaaa. Buh bye?"

Seriously. I wanted to call work and say I was never going back. The guilt.

Ta-DAH!

This is my 90th post. Who knew I had so much writing in me? Who knew babies were so interesting?

This weekend was filled with hilarities.

Animalia acts like a puppy sometimes. The other night she was having her favorite: calabacitas and beans. She'd had some baby food earlier and I was just giving her a snack while we ate dinner. I gave her a few grains of rice. She couldn't pick them up like she picks up the beans. She'd pinch at them but wouldn't be able to grab them. I could tell she was getting frustrated. I was about to pick them up and feed them to her. She gave up. She put her mouth down on the tray of her high chair and started licking them up.

Last night, she insisted on going napless til after dinner. She was tired and hungry. I stuck her in her high chair and started feeding her. Instead of refusing the food when she was done, she put her little head down in her high chair. She was tired.

Pobresito Da

The Animalia plays this game with her nana where her nana says "íAy te coje la nana!" and chases Animalia until she catches her and tickles her. Animalia loves it and starts crawling away faster when she hears that phrase and then laughs when she's caught. So I started doing that, replacing nana with mama. Anyhow, her Da tried to play the chasing game with her and, while the Animalia was crawling away, started saying "I'm gonna get you!" Animalia's reaction was lukewarm. She looked at him and kept crawling at her normal speed. He caught her and she got a little irritated at being picked up. He looked at me and said,"It's not fair, we don't even speak the same language."

I felt bad.

Injuries and other fun stuff.

Animalia is so mobile now it's ridiculous. She is not only climbing stairs but learning how to successfully go down them, feet first instead of head first. She pulls herself up ALL THE TIME, using whatever she can to get to standing. Occasionally these things aren't the most stable things, like her drum, turned over on its side, or boxes made of these soft foam squares that we made to occasionally contain her mess of clothes. Once up, she'll stand on her tiptoes to reach whatever she sees and wants. The tiptoes cause a little bit of panic inside me but I resist the urge to grab her every single time.

She's thumped her head a couple of times, mostly startled herself and cried but nothing major. Until a couple of days ago. She was at her Nana's house and had pulled herself up on the wood coffee table. She was doing the tiptoe thing and one of her little feet slipped and she hit her mouth, her two new top front teeth, on the table on her way down. There were tears. There was a tiny bit of blood. There was a hidden panic in my chest. She got an ice cube to suck on and she was fine.

The rest of the day I was privately concerned. What if the Animalia lost a tooth and had to endure childhood as the toothless, dirty faced girl? Should I take her to the dentist? Doctor? Of course, I'm a reasonable person and did none of these things. No major swelling, no fussing, and she's fine now. I didn't have to be crazy.

Wow. Just wow.

As the Animalia gets older and bigger and stronger she is able to do more things at an astounding rate. At least it's astounding to me, her mother, who is endlessly fascinated by her.

Yesterday, during my lunch hour, I was watching her play with a diaper. No worries, it was clean. Anyhow, she pulled herself up to the coffee table and was standing there and "banging" the diaper against the coffee table. I turned around briefly, to pick up another toy for her, and when I looked back at her, she wasn't holding on. She wasn't leaning. She was just standing there, feet firmly planted, waving the diaper around. She looked at me and smiled and sat down WITHOUT HOLDING ONTO ANYTHING! WOW!

Animalia fans, we need you!

Please vote for Animalia on a Jones Soda bottle. This doesn't mean she'll be picked but lots of votes apparently get noticed at Jones.

Not only is she adorable but this picture rocks

http://www.jonessoda.com/gallery/view.php?ID=0000975653

Tell all your friends!

Papas y aguas

A couple of days ago, the Animalia looked at her nana and made the papa sound, which is a whole lot like her besitos. She was hungry. Nana went to the kitchen to get her food and Animalia crawled herself into the dining room where she eats. She was too excited.

Yesterday, her Ata was watering some plants and Animalia, seeing the water, said "mmmmmm A-wa."

The clever girl, she has her priorities.

Happy Birthday to YOU!

Happy birthday to YOU! You know who you are but I'll mention you by name anyway, migfig. The Animalia is very proud of you for reaching this day relatively healthy, happy, and unscathed. Remember this day because one day, the Animalia will use it against you. You'll say, "I remember back in 2008..." and she'll say "2008? I wasn't even one year old." She's a little bit like that.

Also reserved for this day, a new story about the most miracle onesie of all time (that still fits, by the way):

A few days ago, the Animalia decided that she should poop all over the place, including outside of her diaper, on her onesie. It was huge. I thought it was finished for sure. It went to the laundry. Miraculously, despite much concern, it came out perfect, completely unscathed. It truly is a gift from God. Oh, and it STILL FITS!

Overstimulation.

Rough night, last night. For me more than anyone else.

The day was long: baby gym where Animalia kept following another baby around, obsessed with her dress (I think), Target (bought Animalia a toy that she likes very very much), the Nana's house (nap for Animalia, lunch for both of us), the Tucson Children's Museum (her cousins were visiting for the day and we had to entertain them). She really really liked the museum and the cousins. No surprise, she likes museums, but this one actually had things for her to touch. And she likes kids and pulling kids hair so the cousins were a source of much glee as they have lots of hair a la Jonas Brothers. Bonus. So we went back to Nana's after and waited for her Da's cellphone to show up via UPS. Waited, waited, Animalia had dinner, waited. Then we went home where she was very tired and cranky.

I finally put her to sleep around 7:30 but everytime I'd put her down in her crib or bassinet, she'd start screaming. Boo. I was tired too so this was very frustrating. And her Da tried to help but every time he'd try to touch her she'd start screaming. Smiling from a distance was fine, it was the touching that was irritating to her. I think he may have actually tried to play with her just to be annoying. In the end, she slept with me. Because I was tired and defeated. Then she started talking in her sleep. And laughing. Which also woke me up. I'd look at her after one of these giggles or "bababababa" and she'd be fast asleep. She also clapped a few times. In her sleep.

I've known her to practice her crawling skills in her sleep but not clap yet or chat very much. She's also starting to grind her teeth on occasion since the top two really started peeking out. This whole talking and clapping thing was definitely new. I blame the museum.

This morning the Animalia struggled awake, not like her at all, and made some little cries before opening her eyes. We're tired.

Mama anxiety

The separation anxiety seems to be back but only slightly. She suffered it pretty badly around 5 months, seemed to have gotten over it but lately she's started crying when I leave her again. She doesn't go on and on. Typically she'll stop crying when I'm out of sight although on occasion she's launched herself into a minor tantrum with the mama tears setting her off.

Yesterday, I was dropping her off with her Nana before work. She's usually thrilled to be there, thrilled to see Nana and jump into her arms. Yesterday, she wasn't. Her Nana reached out to her and she actually swatted her hand away and turned back into my arms. I couldn't help but raise my eyebrows.

This morning, to prevent a major fit, her Da distracted her from seeing me on my way out. He even blocked her view of me so that I could get my shoes.

The things we do.

Tickle.

Me (hand up in the air, scrunching fingers at Animalia): Ay viene la luna...
Animalia smiles.
Me (hand creeping closer): ...comiendo las tunas...
Animalia scrunches her face and smiles wider.
Me (hand still creeping closer): ...hechando las cascaras...
Animalia starts to giggle.
Me (tickling her): EN LA LAGUNA!

Animalia just laughs and laughs. Then when we start all over again she starts laughing before I even touch her. She knows this one since we've been doing it since she was tiny. She also knows "Los pollitos" and an Animalia-ized version of "Las Mañanitas" and some of our favorite songs that we made up especially for her. We still sing to her all the time. The songs are still occasionally insane, most recently starring the giant stuffed Banana in Pajamas that's going to eat her. She thinks it's hilarious.

Bumps and bruises

Animalia. Lately she thinks she can stand up all by herself. And no, I don't mean let go of the couch after pulling herself up, which she does often. What she does is push herself up like a little crab and then, when she feels stable on her feet, she pushes off the floor with her hands. I'm not quite sure how she expects herself to stand up like that but I can tell that she's shocked when she hits the floor again, a few times with her face. And then there's the crying. The shocked shrieks. So far these tears go away once she's soothed. I fear the real tears, coming soon, since she's the baby with no fear. Like her Tío Tío was, a baby who would try anything and paid the price with scars and bumps and bruises. The Animalia just goes, goes, goes and explores everything. She has to SEE and TOUCH everything.

The other day after her dinner she was still in her high chair and I was sitting in front of her. I gave her a book. She dropped it. Then she managed to tuck her feet under herself and push herself up and over the tray, looking to see where the book had gone. If I hadn't been there she would have flipped herself completely over.

She's also liking to push things. Thing is, she's not at the point to where she can stand up and walk behind something that she's pushing. She pulls herself up on a large object, like her high chair, and starts to push it. Only she's using it for support so if we're not very vigilant she'll fall along with the movement of the thing.

She's also liking to climb. I mentioned the stairs before, now it's monkey stuff. Like reaching up to grab her her high chair, dangling from it and trying to climb up the legs with her tiny feet curled around them. Like trying to climb a rope. Like a monkey.