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.