I'm not sure when they consider babies to be toddlers, but if walking qualifies you, then it looks like we have a toddler. Eva still isn't walking everywhere, but she is definitely toddling around whenever she has the chance.
As many of you know, I am an avid babywearer. Eva can be seen on the back, front, or hip for around 3 hours a day at least. She is worn at home, at the park, at work, at church, anywhere that I go. We haven't used our stroller in months, but yet she still hold onto it (heaven only knows why?) Unfortunately since she has started walking, she generally is getting way too squirmy to be worn at all. I miss having so many snuggles with her, but hopefully once she gets the hang of it, we will be back into babywearing full time. She really does love it though, if she can just relax. (see pictures) I have many like these ones, but this is our most recent acquisition: a Olives & Applesauce half buckle. This means basically that the waist is a buckle, but the top has ties. :) And no, it doesn't hurt my back. A carrier like a Bjorn, ie a crotch dangler, is dangerous for the baby's back and hips, as much as it is painful for the user. Using an ergonomically correct carrier where the baby's knees are even with their behind insures the maximum amount of comfort for both mommy and baby.
Eva is fitting into 18 or 24 month clothes. At a sick visit that we had on Tuesday, she was over 26 pounds. She wears a size 4 disposable diaper even though we cloth diaper 95% of the time. Our stash of cloth diapers is around 30 right now, actually the smallest it has been since we started cloth diapering. I can tell you this: nobody knows the true addiction that comes from cloth diapering, except those that cloth diaper themselves. Her shirt in these pictures says "Does this diaper make my butt look big?" and she is wearing a Swaddlebee which I really love.
We hear lots of words now. She says hi to me in the morning when I go in to get her (after 12-14 hours of uninterrupted sleep, generally). She says nigh nigh when I put her down to sleep (almost no crying at bedtime). We hear mama A LOT. She knows what her bottle is, so much so that we have to spell it out. :) She loves saying "dog" and can tell you what a dog says with lots of prompting ;)
She is currently fighting a cold in the worst way. Poor baby is so miserable. But the last cold went away THE day that 5 teeth broke through, so I'm really hoping that is what this is. Speaking of teeth, she went from one tooth on her first birthday to 6 in 3 1/2 weeks. She has two top back molars, one front tooth on the right upper, and three bottom teeth on the right. I'm pretty sure we have another front top right tooth that is through, but she won't let me near her mouth right now. :( Poor baby!
We are planning on a trip to California at the end of May. We being my mom, Eva, & I. :) We plan on going to May camp in SoCal (which in of itself should be quite the interesting experience) followed by a trip up to Sac area where we get to see many of our precious friends and family. Eva will, Lord willing, be able to meet two of her great grandpas and one of her great grandmas as well as a great aunt. We are all very excited!
One of the wonderful experiences of being a mom: throw up. I haven't been spit up on for many months now, but we had some great fun where Eva managed to land some right in my mouth! She thought it was absolutely hysterical.
My mom made some spring dresses and clothes for Eva after we went shopping and picked some material out. I really love how they turned out. Here is one:
Our schedule these days look something like this (all things being equal and us not having to work)
8/8:30 wake up, eat, get dressed, tidy up
-typically we eat breakfast near the computer, so that we can sing songs and read books while I check my email
9ish-10:30ish depending on the weather, we either go on a walk or play on the living room floor. Eva loves Elmo and her puppets right now and she is STARTING to get into pretend play so some of her kitchen toys are becoming more fun.
10/10:30 (two hours after she wakes up) she has a bottle and goes back to sleep. This nap generally lasts anywhere from 1-3 hours. Her afternoon nap is largely dependent on how long this nap is. (Today she has slept for 2 hours so far)
11/12/1ish eat lunch, play more, generally try to bundle up and go on a walk no matter what the weather is.
And the rest of the day is a FREE FOR ALL. She may or may not take an afternoon nap now (largely because we are generally working during this time). She eats dinner when we get home and/or when Stephen gets home.
Before bed, we spend about half an hour on our bed, talking about our day, cuddling, spending family time. And then she is in bed between 6:30-8. Again, this depends on whether she had an afternoon nap and if so, how long it was.
And on the subject of meals, we are having lots of trouble getting any food in her. She really isn't interested in her bottle anymore (she will still take one about twice a day with 6-8oz of toddler formula). But she hates juice, won't drink any kind of milk (coconut, soy, rice, raw, whole, 2%, you name it, we've tried it), will only drink minimal amounts of water. She is touch and go with food. She eats a lot of cheese (she loves extra sharp chedder) and loves ANYTHING dipped in BBQ sauce (including her own fingers :D).
One thing that will always cheer THIS grumpy girl up is a good clothes try on. :) She loves to take ALL of her clothes out of the drawers, "trying them on", and them climbing into the drawer.
