The Tide is Turning

For the last 3-4 months I have been reporting that Fiona is happy with her mobility and un-interested in walking. But all that has changed, seemingly overnight. Monday, November 13th, Fiona took her first solo step. She had started standing independently more and more. Then that night, she was standing there and took a distinct step forward, before lowering herself to the floor and crawling to me. Gae and I were pretty floored. Since then, it's like she's a different girl.

It used to be that you could hold her hands and she would just sit down, no interest in trying to walk. Now, you can hold her hands and she'll do laps around the kitchen, go up and down the hall - she just wants to go, go, go. She has started spending more time standing on her own and squatting down, then recovering to a stand (just like our pediatrician told us she would). Once in a while, she attempts to step on her own. I'm thinking that it won't be long before she's up and walking on her own. It's very exciting.

Also, Fiona has never been very interested in stuffed animals or dolls. In October, when Grandma Linda was visiting, Fiona got an 18" stuffed bear (which considering that Fiona is about 26 or 27" means that the bear is almost as big as she is). She hasn't been too interested in it until recently. Sunday night, November 19th, I picked up her bear while playing with her and she reached for it and gave it a hug. I used it as a distraction while pottying her and damned if that girl didn't kiss that bear twice while she was on the potty. I'm going to have to get rid of that bear now. I mean, I'm her mother and I've only gotten two kisses in nearly a year and now that bear has caught up to me in one potty session...curses.

Fiona loves jewelry. Whenever I wear a necklace and/or earrings, she always wants to pull on them, play with them, put them in her mouth. Gae has purchased several necklaces for Fiona at the dollar store. Fiona loves to carry them around and chew on them. It's so cute, she loves to wear them on her arm. She's not interested in having them around her neck (which is good cuz that would be a choking hazard), but if you hold it up for her, she will hold her arm up, with her fist clenched (she's not reaching for the necklace), she actually wants you to put the necklace over her arm, so she can wear it.

While we continue to have good success with pottying Fiona, we have had no luck with signing. I don't think we are consistent enough. But Fiona is a GREAT communicator anyway. She's very social and given the opportunity will say "Hi" to anyone. She does seem to recognize the sign for milk, which is almost heartening. I just hope that she will start signing soon. I want to be able to communicate with her more.

Fiona is pretty generous. This morning, when I was getting ready to leave for work, she was sitting in the bathroom, systematically picking up all her bath toys and offering/handing them to me one by one. She gets especially excited if you hand her something back.

She has become an expert at prying the CD out of my boombox. The other night, though, I had been cleaning and listening to the CD, so when she went to pry it out, she turned it on instead. The look on her face was priceless. She's played there so many times before and no sound has ever come out of it. She immediately scooted away from the thing and held her hands up for me to come pick her up. I just clapped and made a happy face to let her know it was okay. She sat uncertain for a few moments, but then, ever the brave trooper, she ventured over to try to figure out how the heck she had made the sounds come out.

She's become a better eater, but she will not touch anything that is green. We started her eating Cheerios last week and she loves those. She hasn't grown any more teeth since the last ones popped through in September, so she has the 6 and she does as much damage with those as possible. We are looking forward to letting her try all the pieces of a traditional thanksgiving feast this year - we'll let you know how it goes.

Then Saturday is her first birthday. Crazy. We are having a small gathering at our house from 1 - 3 pm - pizza and cake for the adults. So if you check out this blog and you haven't received an invitation, but you'd like to come to the party, just let us know - we'd be happy to have you - no gifts required. If you can't come to the party, post your birthday wishes as comments on this blog, so that when she's older she can see all the folks who loved her when she was small.

I will try to be prepared to post pictures and a Thanksgiving update on Friday...the birthday post may be a while in coming just because my job is so ridiculously busy, but I'll try. Love to you all.