Gummy Grins

The days of Alex's gummy grins are numbered!  Why?  BECAUSE he is now getting his first tooth on the bottom middle!  Although I can't tell quite which side it is yet, but in a few more days we'll be seeing it really well!

 Here is Alexander with his cousin Nolan, my sister Holly's little boy. 

Aren't they cute in their little matching diaper covers?!?

 Look at those cute baby tootsies!  And notice, Nolan is a big-footed boy!

 Alexander has also discovered his feet and likes to put them in his mouth!

Feeling Risky!

So I refuse to blog in-depth about potty-training or related issues generally because, um, nobody really wants to read that...but I don't want to say things are going great for fear of jinxing myself or whatever. Let's just say that this is day 2 of somebody napping with big girl panties on. Why does that feel risky? LOL! And I am like totally ready for a giant set-back in a few weeks with new baby-related regression...but here's to hoping!

Oh, and I thought we were done with naps for awhile, and maybe we were. Maybe she is having a growth spurt? I measured her. She is 42 inches. Good lord! She is so tall! I know she is also cutting all 4 of her 2 year old molars. She is the slowest teether ever. Does teething make them more tired or is that my imagination? She has been taking great long naps and still sleeping solidly at night. This is not bragging. This is just stating the facts because I am confused. Who knows. Nobody will ever figure out this sleep thing.

Other new Developments

Claire is getting her other top incisor. She loves Popsicles. They are cold and yummy!

She has also been gnawing on her hands a lot again, like when she was younger. Totally the teeth!

She has been able to shut doors if she was in the room since about 8 months...just rolled over and pushed them...but now she can pull the door shut from the room she's in. This is both good and bad. It means she's one step closer to being able to open doors, which is also good and bad. Luckily, our door knobs are pretty high so she can barely reach them.

She's also started to pout if we tell her no or tell her to say sorry about something.

And she's also starting to say words I didn't know she knew how to say. So I'm wondering if she learned them from books or if they were just in her vocab of words she knew, but now has realized how to produce them. Some include "woot, table, monkey, donkey, bush, brush, sky, airp(l)ane, Ernie, Abby, Cookie Elmo (for cookie monster), hug, what, hurt, and jabbies for jammies."

Walking Upright on our busy day!

Today, Claire and I were heading upstairs for the evening. I opened the babygate, and she stepped onto the bottom step upright, and then continued up 3 more steps upright while only hanging onto the wall, not me! I was very impressed! I think she started learning this while at my parents house as the bottom 1/4 of their stairs has a banister that she could use to walk up their steps upright at the last visit. It majorly freaked me out though, as she can fit her head between the rungs still. And if her head fits, that means that her whole body fits. I tried it. I passed her whole body through. She still fits...eep.

This morning we went to a local LLL toddler group, which was as always informative and fun. Claire gets to socialize with other kiddos, and I get to converse with other mommies. The topic was "Weaning" for the monthly series meeting, which is always interesting. Some of the things discussed were criticism for nursing a toddler and how to handle that, as well as why society pressures breastfeeding moms to wean at a year. Of course, the advantages of breastfeeding a toddler were also discussed. All of those things that are so awesome and beneficial to a baby, continue into toddlerhood if the nursing continues like fewer illnesses which are less serious like diarrhea, ear infections, allergies, asthma, respiratory infections, even future chances of diabetes and cancers, etc. Plus, they help mom out too, by decreasing her chances of getting edometrial, breast, ovarian cancers.

I wonder if any research has been done on cancers nowadays since the big formula push of the 1950s to see if there is a formula risk factor involved. Or maybe if it's not the formula itself that has caused cancers that are appearing, but BPA in the bottle plastics or other impurities in the water or something. There was also some talk about how the World Health Organization (WHO) recommends breastfeeding until age 2 or as long as mutually desired (no cow milk needed if this is the case), but the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) only says until age 1 or as long as mutually desired. There was some mention of the AAP needing to change their age from 1 to 2. I don't know if that would really change anybody's opinions or choices.

But I do know that I'm glad on days when Claire is being picky and will eat only fruit or a "Cherrio-only" day that she still gets balanced nutrition from my milk. I weighed her yesterday. Our scale said 29 lbs. WOW. That can't be right. I know she's had a big growth spurt and is pushing the length limit on her 24 month jammies...but wow! We have a weight check next week. I'm going to be pretty smug when I tell Dr. W. that I did not put her on cow's milk or pediasure. I just let her body follow it's natural pattern.

I was also thinking of how glad I am that she still nurses in the event of a serious illness...god forbid...but how would they hook up an IV to a toddler without her ripping it out! I know even if she was not able to hold down any food, she could hold down my milk.

Another toddler advantage...sippy boobs...in the event of a forgotten or lost sippy cup...there would be no need for a tantrum while trying to find a drinking fountain or a place to buy something to drink. Enough about nursing...

Well Claire popped another tooth last night! Yay! It is tooth 13! Unlucky number but that explains why she woke up 37,000 times last night. What is worse...when your child wakes up for a long block of time and won't go back to sleep or wakes up several times, but will go back to sleep reasonably quickly? And how many teeth should she have at almost 21 months? I must do some online searching if you don't leave me a good detailed comment!

Claire and I enjoyed a nice long walk after her nap this afternoon. She walked about half of the big loop! Then we played bubbles. Holly gave me the bubble machine she used at her wedding. SCORE! The 3 neighbor girls enjoyed it too! :) Claire still insisted for me to "Mommy, Blow more bubble!" even though the machine was cranking them out...sigh. Tomorrow I will leave the bottle of bubble inside and just let the machine do all the work! Claire also had fun riding on Amelia's little tricycle and was able to push herself forward and backwards with her feet. I need to convert her little green walker into a car again for her to try outside!

Claire also had her first ride on a Power Wheels with Olivia. She loved it! Oh...and I hit up 3 garage sales on my way home from the LLL meeting. I added 6 books to my must read shelf for only $1.50. What a deal! Claire had fun carrying around my wallet at the garage sales while shouting, "My WALL-et" which was quite funny because she puts a huge emphasis on the "Wall" part of the word. I'm hoping to snag some great riding toys like a trike or wagon sometime soon!

Overall, it was a good day. It was made even better by reading about these funny bacon products. Here, have a laugh: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/scienceandtechnology/science/sciencenews/5118283/Bacon-sandwich-really-does-cure-a-hangover.html AND http://www.vosgeschocolate.com/product/bacon_exotic_candy_bar/exotic_candy_bars Seriously...what is the deal with bacon!

Tooth 11

Claire has cut her bottom lower eye tooth! This will be her 11th tooth! I discovered it while, of course, brushing her teeth tonight!