Monday Night Gerunds

Stealing an idea from MC at Running*Cooking*Writing, here's an attempt to catch up on what's been going on with Celeste ...

Sleeping ... I didn't say anything earlier because I dinna want to jinx things, but since it's only happened once now, I guess it doesn't hurt to say that Celeste slept through the night last week. One night, Thursday, actually. She was knackered after being up late the night before, and Evelin called me that morning around 10:30 to say that Celeste was asleep. She just couldn't take it any more and had to have a nap — she didn't even mind that her blankie was in the wash, she just wanted to sleep. And she did for about two-and-a-half hours. Later in the afternoon, she and I had about 15 minutes of quiet time (she spied her blankie on the coach where it was laying with other laundry in various stages of folding, cruised over, grabbed it, and snugged down into it, so I though she might want a nap, turned out she didn't, but she humored me for a little while), and she was in bed by 6:15 p.m.

She woke about 8:00 p.m. — I think because she was too hot in her footie pyjamas (her room was warmer than usual because we'd turned off the AC to take advantage of the couple of nice days we were having, but her windows were closed because of street/neighbor noise) — but then slept straight through to 6:00 a.m. the next day. Evelin and I were up a dozen times to check to make sure she was okay, and I ended up going downstairs to do some work around 4:00 a.m., but we were so psyched that she made it through the night. Since then, she's continued to wake up at least once a night and last night, she was bad enough to end up coming to our bed around 1:30 a.m.

My addled brain's logic was that she'd had a rough night the night before, which was similar to what had happened our second-to-last night in Montana; at the hotel, the bringing-her-to-our-bed trick worked, and I thought maybe that eighth tooth was coming in so the close proximity would help. It didn't make much difference. She did eventually go to sleep, but was up by 5:30 a.m. I tried explaining to her, in German, that she needed to sleep for one more hour. (I thought if I said it in German, no matter how ungrammatical I might be, she might stay quiet for a while trying to figure out what I'd said/meant.) It didn't work.

Talking ... She is getting more verbal bits out, working on m and n phonemes to go with her d, b, and g sounds. She also seems to have a specific "word" for book, similar to her Dɑɑ for "dog."

Signing ... Celeste definitely gets a lot of what we say and at least a few of the signs, although the only one we can say she consistently makes is MILK (and usually that is only when she first wakes up or after her bath). Still, she had done MORE a few times, and she recognizes WATER (I'll make the sign and/or say the word and she turns to look for her cup), EAT, and, I think, BATH. We're also using words for various foods — CHEESE, APPLE, SWEET POTATO, CEREAL — and are trying to introduce CHANGE and DIAPER. I thought I caught her signing CHEESE last week (and she was very happy to get a piece of cheese), but it could have been a coincidence.

Sipping ... She's graduated from a sippy cup to a cup with a straw, and she's getting better and better about controlling how much she sucks up. Evelin figured out Celeste was ready for a straw when she was letting her play with a sports bottle and noticed that she wasn't just gnawing on the straw, Celeste was sucking up water and spitting all over herself and the bed.

Walking ... Celeste is getting better with her balance and confidence, although she really doesn't like to let go of my/Evelin's fingers. We've been doing some practice where Evelin and I sit with our feet touching and try to convince Celeste to walk from one of us to the other. Sometimes she does it willingly; other times she will get to the no man's land between us and start to fall backwards. Still, her favorite is to hold on to some fingers and to lead us around the house. And if she's hungry, she'll lead us straight to her highchair, let go, and start banging on the foot rest on the chair.

Cruising ... While her walking is still mostly assisted, Celeste is doing a lot of cruising, taking herself up and down the couch, along her crib bars, and other various grabby places in the house. She's starting to mix in a few new tricks, too. Last night, I put her down with her back to the couch to try to encourage her to walk toward me, but she turned herself around to cruise along the couch instead.

Falling ... Of course, with the walking comes a bit of falling, including a nasty head vs. armoire moment last week that, I think, traumatized me more than her. For the most part, she recovers pretty well from the occasional fall, but they do, understandably, make her a bit more clingy and unwilling to try to walk by herself for the next few hours.

Eating ... And then there are things that probably best expressed with a picture. Blueberries — even frozen ones straight from the freezer to the mouth — are very, very good.

Beyond blueberries, Celeste continues to be adventuresome with her eating. While in Montana, she tried black olives for the first time, and I promised her good Καλαμάτας olives when we got back to D.C. The texture is a little hard for her to deal with, but she's snarfed them up each time I've offered them to her; sometimes they just get chewed for a while and then spat out, but she still is quick to pick up an olive slice from among a bunch of peas.