She is crawling now. She started just a couple weeks before her birthday. She's already working on pulling up, but her little legs need more strength. Still, the elation on her face when she gets help standing is just priceless. It won't be long.
She eats EVERYTHING. I know there are one or two things she hasn't been crazy about, but I can't for the life of me think of one right now. Oh yeah, cow milk. Not a fan. Favorites include cold water, frozen peas, congealed oatmeal (better finger food), scrambled eggs, sautéed spinach, blackberries, beans, cheese, cheerios, fruit of any kind, tomatoes, avocado, you get the point.
She has a great laugh. Her sister is the funniest person on the planet. She likes to be upside down (although not in utero :p). The most common comments she gets are, "Wow! Look at all those teeth!" and "What pretty eyes she has." I think her eyelashes make her look more feminine. She doesn't get mistaken for a boy nearly as much as other babies I could name (but won't because this is about Cali).
She is not anemic and is about in the 30th percentile (WHO chart), except her head, which is in the 50th. She is wearing a mix of 12- and 18-month clothes because her legs are long and the 18-month pants are the only ones that don't seem to hike up to her knees. Of course, they swim around her tiny waist.
** Warning, this paragraph is about poo. Skip ahead if you aren't interested. ** She is a wiggler. And a prolific pooper. She must have some powerful intestinal muscles because at least 2-3 times a week, she squeezes poo out the side of her diaper. Luckily, it's winter and she's wearing pants. I will move her up to size 4 diapers just as soon as I work through the 200 or so size 3's I've stockpiled *face palm*. When that warm weather hits, we'll be implementing stage 2 of potty training (i.e. running around without pants so we can whip that diaper off and sit her on the potty to catch her obvious poops). I have a feeling she'll be able to outwrestle me before too long, so the sooner she's pooping in the potty, the better.
She has begun weaning. She's down to 2-3 nursing sessions a day. My goal is to have her weaned by early May since I'm going out of town for a few days. She's still waking in the middle of the night though, so I'm a little worried. Especially since I read that night nursing offers more and fattier milk. I think we'll try to cut that one out next because Dad will not wake up if she cries at night. The teeth that I mentioned earlier have succeeded in puncturing me in a rather tender place and I'm not sure how I'll heal since she puts her teeth in the wound every time she nurses and applies a significant amount of pressure when suckling. It is like 2-4 minutes of excruciating pain each time. I've taken to breathing heavily (like lamaze breathing) just to get through it.
Cali LOVES water. She is a splashy little fish in the tub. We'll be doing swimming lessons during the next session if we can get signed up. And, we are all looking forward to summer. She'll be crawling all over eating sand and picking up dog poo in no time. Maybe I can get her to walk by May too :/
Cali's mom is fail-sauce on the photography. These are all the photos (of her) I have taken since the last post. And, 90% of her photos are in her high chair. Like I said, she likes to eat. I will endeavor to have photos and possibly crawling video next time.
