What A Daredevil!

MiniM.E. is learning so much so fast.  Like how to use a slide.  Which is super cute.  We bought her a little slide for the yard and after just a few days, she figured out how to climb up and slide down all by herself!

So of course, using baby logic, it would probably make sense that if you could climb one slide and slide down, you could probably climb any slide and slide down, right?

MiniM.E. the Daredevil totally climbed this

NOT the red web thing, the stairs under the blue umbrella

all by herself and was ready to slide down without help.

Don't worry, I want her to be independent, but not that independent.  I was right behind her the whole time and we slid down together.

I guess this means no more unsupervised playground time.  (just kidding, I know you have to watch your child on a playground...)

I Don't Want to Brag, But...

My kid is pretty darn smart.  For a one-year-old.  At least, I think she's pretty darn smart.  Not that I know many one-year-olds.

She knows the name of pretty much anything we've talked about at least a few times and can point to items, find them where they should be located, and bring them on command.  Which is super cute.  And could be pretty helpful.  Soon.  Like once she actually just brings one washcloth for dinner without dumping the rest of them on the floor.

She knows some sign language, which is definitely a mixed blessing.  It's really nice to know she's fussy because she's hungry, but when I've read Push and Pop Jungle 80 times and I don't want to read it again, it's really hard to say no when she signs "please."

AND, she's a huge animal noise fan.  Or maybe we just think it's cute to hear her make them, so we've turned her into an animal noise fan.

Anyhow, here's a video... too cute.

So Busy!

I feel like the start of the holiday season for me is now MiniM.E. (and Bob's) birthday(s).  Which is awesome.  I LOVE the holidays.  BUT, I have to say, it's certainly a busy time of the year.

Which brings me to the topic of this post.  I think having a baby makes being busy even busier.  Because instead of having a giant list of things to do and having all day to do it, I have a giant list of things to do with only nap time to get everything done.  And with nap times having diminished to one nap of maybe an hour, that's not a whole lot of time.  I try to get things done in the evening too, but usually by the time MiniM.E. is asleep, I want to be sleeping...

So right now, MiniM.E. is napping, and instead of getting things done, I'm procrastinating by writing a blog post.  But I'll try to only procrastinate a little.  I'll just put lots of pictures and only a teeny bit of text...

Lately, its been cold in the mornings, which is usually the time we play outside so we've had to find other things to do.

watching the washing machine

taking long baths

playing inside

Fortunately, it isn't winter yet, and we can still play outside most days.

We also had a busy weekend.  We went to Poughkeepsie to visit our friends who just moved back from Germany.  We had a great time.  MiniM.E. seemed to enjoy herself too!

And yesterday, we took advantage of the nice weather and went to Sunnyside Gardens.

Someone's awake... until next time...

Happy First Birthday MiniM.E.!

Sunday we had a party for MiniM.E.  

This is why I haven't written a blog post in forever.

the cake

MiniM.E. got to open a few presents early... 

the bow was the best part

 MiniM.E. seemed to have a good time, though she really didn't have a clue what was going on.  The whole cake thing?  She didn't have a clue.

"seriously? what is going on?"

"you really wanted me to wear this?"

"am I done?"

blowing out the candle

 I was hoping for a baby smashing her face into a cake.  Instead I got this:

daintily "smashing" the cake

feeding Mommy

feeding Daddy

 Typical MiniM.E.  She didn't even TASTE the cake.

at least WE liked opening presents

"that's right I'm one.  and don't you forget it!"

MiniM.E.'s favorite part of the party was the balloons.  A huge thank you to my parents, who, despite the helium shortage and the extreme difficulty of finding a place to buy helium without remortgaging their house, managed to find us enough helium to inflate more balloons than any one-year-old needs at a party (I needed them though-all of them).  THANK YOU!!

 

...Okay, it might have been a tie between helium balloons and Daddy juggling

Oh, did I forget to mention it was also Bob's birthday?  Lucky him: from now on his birthday is all about MiniM.E.  But  birthdays aren't important when you're old anyway, right?  Still, he got a present. No, not MiniM.E., though she does look cute in a bow... A wheelbarrow.  Which, actually... is more of a present for MiniM.E. since it's purpose is obviously giving her rides...

Monday was actually MiniM.E.'s birthday and my mom and I took her to...

BOWMAN ORCHARDS!  Again!  Because she really loves it.  She rocked the teeter totter.

and the tractor

and the slides

Until it started raining and we had to move our mini-party to the Tiny Tots Tea Room... which, if you live near Clifton Park and have a child under the age of 6 is a fantastic place to go.

I was a little worried about MiniM.E. turning one.  I've only been dreading it for months.  BUT... as it turns out, she's even awesomer today than she was yesterday.  And today she was one.  All day.  So... I guess it will be alright.  I just have to get used to the fact that she's not a baby anymore.  Officially.  She'll always be my baby...