Worth repeating

I've said this before, and I find myself saying it again: Audrey is getting so big.

Tonight, when I was combing her hair after her bath, I noticed that her hair has grown past her neck. It's been getting quite long on top, but not so much in length. No longer the case.

Yesterday, she managed to perform the following:

1) Put her first shape through the shape sorter. I showed her 1 time how to do it, and she did it. Of course, she then proceeded to tear off the top of the darn thing, looking at me like, "Duh, it's a lot easier to just put the shapes in without the top even on!" :(

2) She helped to get herself dressed by putting one arm thru, then waiting patiently for me to find the arm of her t-shirt so she could get her other arm through. :(

3) She fed herself her entire lunch. :(

4) She is starting to RUN when using her push toy. :(

I take solace in the following:

1) She is not yet saying parallellogram when completing her shape sorter. (That one is for Uncle Patrick and Uncle Ted)

2) She refuses to cooperate when getting her pants on. (Why bother when they don't stay on?).

3) She still doesn't hold her bottle. And she puts the spoon down and instead dives in to her bowl to feed herself with her hands.

4) She prefers to hold on to me than try to stand on her own.

Now I feel better.

Nine month stats

Audrey had her 9 month dr's appt today. This was unfortunate timing since she is still sick, and she had to get 2 shots. She was not happy. Fortunately, she glared at the meanie nurse who stuck her instead of blaming me. Audrey watched her carefully until she left the room. Of course, Audrey also pursed her lips until she spit at the dr while she was checking inside her mouth (turns out the poor kid also has strep throat again!!). The dr said, "Well, I guess I deserved that."

Audrey actually lost an ounce from when she was at the dr's 1 month ago. I knew she wouldn't have gained as much as expected since she's been sick for a few days, but I thought she would have gained at least some weight. She was 28 inches (75th percentile) and 17lbs, 9oz (25th percentile). When I asked the pediatrician about it, she said she's "likely just settling in to her genetic predisposition".

Bwaaaahhhaaa! Tall and skinny? The pedi has told me this before, and I've laughed each time. A lot. Of course, it would be great for Audrey to be tall and skinny but can we get a little meat around her waist to keep her pants up?

We came home early and she played outside for a while and enjoyed the weather. She then fed Fris a large portion of her dinner. Perhaps this explains the lack of weight gain...

She's back!

Croup. Ugh, I hope we never have to deal with this virus again.

Audrey has sounded like a seal for the past 3-4 days. Very irritable. Lot of crying and (hoarse) screaming. Won't eat. Can't sleep.

All very sad.

But, our Audrey seemed to return this afternoon. She ate some lunch (anything she could get her hands on), had a bath, took a looooonng nap, and awoke much more like herself. Smiling easily. Giggling. Babbling. Chasing Fris. I caught her tossing her diced apples on the floor, offering Fris some dinner, and then offering her more.

So glad she's back.

Nine months-old today!

Audrey enjoyed the weekend with her grandma and grandpa. She turned another month older today. She's working on her second top tooth and is getting quite good at cruising around the furniture. Wonder what the next month will bring!

Two reasons I love having a little girl!

Hat 1!

Hat 2!

We're ready for Fall!

Sharing

Instead of sharing her dinner with Fris this evening, Audrey offered to share with me. I was torn! Here was this gorgeous, red haired, blue eyed, little girl, covered head to toe in her dinner. She was smiley offering me her slimy Ritz cracker covered with a mixture of peas, chicken, and oatmeal. What to do? She popped it right in my mouth and held her breath for my reaction. It was...delicious:). At least that's what I told her.

Fris then licked her clean as we passed her on the way up the stairs, to my version of a bath.

Deal breaker

Audrey still isn't enjoying the taste of beef. I've been trying to hide it with her oatmeal or vegetables, but she still won't eat much, if any. Today, she wasn't opening for any of it, so I decided to slather it on her toast. She loves to feed herself so anything bite size that is on her tray, she usually won't complain too much about. However, she really doesn't like toast either. I swear the following conversation occurred as soon as I put the toast on her tray:

Audrey: "I'll throw you my toast with beef on it if you let me pet you."
Fris: " 'Kay."

Toast launched onto the floor. I hear it hit. Fris dives for it and sprints into the other room. I tried to get it back from her but she looked at me like, 'Don't even try it.' She ate it quickly and then returned to the kitchen for more.

Audrey holds out her hand to Fris, who is just out of reach of her. When she realizes Fris isn't close enough, she starts SCREAMING at her.

Audrey: "The deal was I got to pet you if you got my lunch."
Fris: "No such luck, kid."

They made up later.

Dinnertime!

Audrey has started eating meat much to Fris' delight. Fris no longer clamors for her own dinner. When I feed her, she doesn't even get up to check her bowl. Instead. she stays close by Audrey. Waiting. Waiting. Six o'clock - dinnertime! Pacing. Why aren't you feeding her already? Don't you know it's dinnertime? Audrey has learned how to get Fris on her good side. How to let Fris play with her feet. And her tail. It involves sharing. Most of her dinner. She likes to finger feed Fris some cheese and then will throw her a cracker. Neither of them like toast so she'll throw it for Fris to eat, Fris will investigate, nose it, and then sit back down. Then I have to vacuum. But the meat, oh Fris just can't wait for me to sit down to give Audrey some of that. I swear she's calculating how she can sit in the high chair with Audrey. No doubt Audrey would scoot right over to share her seat. Eric said Audrey gobbled down her first jar of turkey but tonight's session with beef didn't go well. I think I heard a little doggie sigh when she realized Audrey had blew it, responding with a big smile to the sign for 'All done?'.

When did she get so big? - Part II

Audrey has enjoyed beating up her bouncer for a few weeks now. In the good ole days, we would put her in it and let her play quietly for a few minutes. The last time we did this, just a few weeks ago, she was WIDE awake at 3 AM, and I wanted to get some sleep. The sad bouncer was running low on batteries so it's songs were slow and sounded sad. Eric was making fun of her when I put her in and her, ahem, butt was hitting the ground as she weighed too much for it. :( She played for a few minutes but kept looking at me, laying on the couch, frustrated that it just wasn't the same bouncer. She eventually slept on me that night, on the couch, and the next day we went to the dr's to find out she had strep throat.

Anyway, today, she was beating up the bouncer again, and I watched her climb into the darn thing. Backwards. Then she made it bounce by jumping up and down in it. I called Eric over, and he said, sadly, "You're just getting so big." I eventually got her out of it when she just couldn't figure out how to turn herself around.

Thanks, babe, for the reminder to put away another of your toys for which you're too big. :(

When did she get so big?

Here is Audrey on the day she went home from the hospital, at 3 days old, and a picture from today. No, this doesn't make me sad at all. Not at all...

At least she humored me later by losing her Cheerio on her chin. That made me feel better that she's still little, at least in some ways...

Ba bu

Audrey has started calling Fris "ba bu". I noticed yesterday that every time she saw Fris, she'd say, "Ba bu". Of course, Fris could care less, but I was excited! She also teased me by saying "ma" while we were heading out the door in the morning. I encouraged her to say it again, but I got nothing! This morning, when Eric was getting Audrey out of bed, I heard her say "Ba bu". I looked around, and sure enough, Fris had entered her room to say good morning. She then used the /f/ sound while looking at Fris. I tried to remind her of the 8 months of nausea I endured, to guilt her into Fris not being her first word, but we'll see!

Busy body

Audrey's teacher asked me this morning if Audrey has a planner. Um, no. "Well, she seems so busy all the time that she seems to need to block out some downtime!" Apparently, she was under one of the cribs yesterday while crawling around, and tried to take a couple screws out! Eight months old and going to get kicked out of school!