First Steps

Magdalena is learning how to walk in fits and starts. She's experimenting with the whole thing I guess.





Her first steps may or may not have happened on Thursday, September 23. She took a couple toward someone while reaching for something. Then they happened again the next night when I was late coming home and she sort of accidentally walked to her dad, crying for me. Then they happened a few times and then she fell on her face.

Update: She refused to walk for about six weeks after that, finally getting her confidence back up about a week after her first birthday. I didn't know babies could learn lessons at that age :)

She climbs now

And now Mads climbs. Up flights of stairs. She's only seven months old.

Her first crawls

On May 21, 2011, we saw her first real crawling "steps." She'd been dragging herself for about a month.

It happened right after storytime at the library. Made me remember that Animalia's first real steps, walking steps, happened at storytime too. Maybe I work too much. Or maybe these girls are just inspired by my amazing storytime skills.

Almost crawling

The almost crawling started, after rolling and dragging herself for a few weeks, a couple of days ago.

Mads pushes herself onto her hands and knees, rocks back and forth to gain momentum, starts moving her legs just right, but still doesn't know what to do with her hands. She falls on her face.

The actual crawling will happen soon. Sooner than we're ready.

Follow the leader

The scene: Nana's backyard. I'm there during lunch time. Nana's there. Tata and Uncle are taking a break from working on a project. Animalia is playing.

She tells us all to be fishes. We be fishes, making a fin with our hands and saying glub, glub, glub.

She tells us all to flap our wings, saying flap, flap, flap.

Now jump, she says. We jump.

Now run, she says. Ready, set, go! We all watch her run a circle around the yard.

Shake your booty, she orders. We all shake.

We're doing some sort of modified toddler aerobics according to the orders of a two-year-old. I wonder what the neighbors think.

Aya Ho-sey!

Animalia likes to crawl around on her hands and knees and pretend she's a horse. She says "Aya ho-sey!" as she crawls around and around and around the kitchen and through the dining room and into the kitchen and crawls around and around and around the living room. She wants her Daht to play with her but he won't when he's wearing shorts because he doesn't like his bare knees to touch the ground or some kind of nonsense like that. She's fine though, playing like this by herself. After playing horsey for awhile she'll get up and find her blocks or a book. She sits in the mini chair in the corner and reads to herself. Or she'll ask for her crayons and sit for awhile, coloring on her paper. She's very busy and independent and will occasionally put on her shoes, toss her backpack on her back, grab my keys and say, "Bye mom. Bye Daht." Then she walks away.

Other babies milestones

Whenever a baby younger than the Animalia reaches a milestone and jubilant parents text, call, email or otherwise communicate it, I can't help but recall the Animalia's milestones. The lovely and squeezable baby Lito prompted this little stroll down memory lane by rolling over last night. He's very excellent this baby Lito and him rolling over made me do a little squeee! in my head.

I'm not sure the actual date when the Animalia first rolled over-- it was pre-mianimalia.blogspot.com, so I'll have to check the nearly blank baby book. I think it's at my mom's.

Anyhow, the first time the Animalia rolled over, she was on the little mat of her play gym at Nana's house. She was smiling at her toys and then she reached over, kind of twisted her legs around each other, and she was over. She was on her tummy. It was effortless, like she'd been doing it the whole time, like it was no big deal. Then she didn't do it again for a few weeks. When she started rolling over again, it was back and forth and forth and back and again, no big deal. The funny thing is that even though I don't remember the date, even though it was more than a year ago, I remember almost every little detail about that time. It was amazing and it all continues to be amazing, watching her learn to crawl, then walk, listening to her chatter turn slowly into words, watching her first smile turn, a little later, into full on laughter. It makes me feel all squishy inside.

These babies, they're amazing.

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?

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!

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.

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.

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.

¡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.

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.

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.

"Come on!"

The Animalia likes to explore, occasionally alone, occasionally in the company of adults. When she's in exploring mode, crawling in the deliberate way that she does, and she wants company, she'll start crawling, pause, sit down halfway and look backward. Then she extends her tiny little arm toward you and then points in the direction that she's going. She'll wait. When you're up and ready to go, she continues on, every so often checking behind her to make sure there's someone there. If you pause too long or get up too slowly, she'll glare.

Yesterday, she did that to her Ata. She started crawling away from him while he was sitting on the couch. He didn't get up. Instead, he waved her back to him the same way she waves people on. She stopped and went back to him instead of going exploring.

Locomotion, part more

The Animalia is an energetic type of baby.

Her latest things:
She pulls herself up ALL THE TIME NOW. She's able to "cruise" the couches in our living room, mostly looking for remote controls to chew on. She's also started to let go of the couches while she's standing for a few seconds at a time. She'll be standing on her own soon I think.

She's a fantastic crawler and loves to be chased.

SHE CLIMBS THE STAIRS. Her Nana and Ata have stairs at their house, crooked, dangerous stairs. She can climb all the way to the top. They make sure she doesn't fall and follow her all the way up but it is a somewhat frightening experience to watch. I get a small bit of anxiety. She's learning how to go down the 3 stairs from our living room to our dining room too. This is also anxiety inspiring, though I think she's finally starting to realize that she can't make it down headfirst. The last few days she's started to experiment with this a little more than before. It's pretty damn hilarious.

She drives. A toy car. She can definitely push herself backward. Forward is more of a mystery but she's starting to get the hang of it. This whole toy car thing is very very cute. I like it.