Mommy Milestones

Yesterday's post was all about the milestones Vivienne us passing as she heads into this 10th month of her life.  Today I passed a few milestones of my own in my current life-stage as "mother of toddler."  First, I finally went shopping in a real, big store with my kids, thanks to my friend Katie and her van.  We've taken them to small stores before and department stores and even the one and only mall in Kaoshiung, but today, Katie, Jonathan, Vivienne, Stephen and I made a Costco run.  This is the first time I have actually been able to put my child in one of those little kid seats in the front of a shopping cart that I remember so well from my own childhood.  (Sorry.  No pictures.  Not only does Costco have  a big "No Photos" pictograph out in front, but I also decided toting a camera along would be a little much.  Oh, sometimes I really do wish I had an iPhone instead of an iPad -- but not usually.)  

Vivienne stuck to the stroller, but Jonathan did quite well in the cart.  The only thing he wasn't too sure about was the ramp-style escalator to get from the basement to the first floor.  He kept pointing to the floor, looking at us nervously, and whimpering.  While there, we picked up a large jar of animal crackers, something I have been meaning to do for a while ever since seeing them at church.  When Jonathan saw them it led to my first time opening a box of cookies and giving some to my kids before paying for them, for me, a strong mark of being a mother to a small child.  I still remember where the small boxes of animal crackers were in ShopRite in Edison circa 1985 -- last isle, opposite the refrigerated shelves where the yogurts were.  You know, those little red boxes with a string attached for carrying them that had pictures of animals in cages on a circus train.  I remember my mother would often let my brother and I pop one of those boxes open (or a box of chocolate wafers of similar dimensions) and let us eat them, later paying for the empty box.  It was such a lovely mixed feeling of the forbidden and the allowed.  The coolies weren't technically ours yet, but mommy said it was OK so it must be.

Later on in the evening I took Jonathan and Vivienne out in the double stroller and went into the nearby department store to change his nappy and look at a few things.  There I got to do other classic mommy things like watch my son throw a fit when I stopped letting him play in the sink (it was a pretty awesome Jonathan-sized sink, I must admit) and bribe him with candy (but they're vitamin C gumdrops made with real juice, so it's not quite candy, right?) and wrestle him into the 5-point harness (he was in no condition to be allowed the freedom of no shoulder straps) -- and then watch the moody little thing happily coo and giggle the whole way home.  Daddy came to meet us and we went to a late-night noodle and dumpling shop for some fried rice where I had my toddler drop half a cup of juice on my foot/sandal for the first time while out.  What a squishy walk home that was. 

But that was nothing compared to the sensation from the last milestone of the evening -- being absolutely covered in vomit when I picked him up while he was crying a little after bedtime.  (No, he was not sick -- just a bad combination of eating a fair amount today, a night-time bottle, a burp that went wild, and sobbing to get out of bed in the middle of the night.)  I've had him vomit on himself and bed before and had to clean it up, but that was nothing compared to this head to toe baptism.  (Oh, when counting my blessings I definitely include the fact that neither of my children have been particularly inclined to throwing/spitting up so far.)  Actually, we sort of lucked out.  Recently, Jonathan has taken to stripping his sheets and the waterproof cover off his mattress in particularly strong bursts of exuberance, and one such burst had hit him while getting settled down for the night this evening.  I had already redressed the bed once today so told Stephen it was his turn.  He skipped the waterproof cover, saying, "He's not going to throw up or pee on his sheets tonight.  He almost never does."  So it's just as well he waited until mommy picked him up to let it all fly.

Mommy, Jonathan, and Baby Giraffe all went straight into the shower, clothes and all (for those of us who wear clothes.)  I am afraid of the precedent set tonight of bathing/wringing out and drying baby giraffe.  He's already getting rather fragile and he has a lot of years where he's needed for comfort before he can retire, but that was one doudou in need of a bath.  However, it was all worth it when I left him for (the second time of) the night, calmed down, cleaned up, and happily hugging his rather soggy best friend.  I love being a mother of a toddler.

Jonathan's best friend helping him calm down from the trauma
of having to be put to bed the other night.  Both were a bit more
damp the last I saw of them tonight but just as sweet.

Snapshot of a ten month old ...

Jonathan has had a few posts of his own, but so far, Vivienne has only appeared in ensemble pieces.  However, since Vivienne Irene is ten months old today, so I thought it was time she got one of her own.

I have no idea how she stacks up against other babies her age, in part because there aren't any other ones around, in part because we are all for letting babies develop at their own pace -- and in part because I have no time for the internet/reading so can't check it out.  Still, we find her to be rather precocious -- the measure being what we can remember of her brother at any given age (but that's not too reliable since I'm pretty bad at remember what he did when).

While Jonathan was incredible advanced with all things mechanical, Vivienne has picked up hand gestures and other forms of non-verbal communication more quickly.  This last month has been made up of a lot of clapping ...

... pointing ...

Hey, you.  That's right.  I'm talkin' to YOU!

... "Superbaby-ing" ...

"Superbaby" Vivienne style, though
sometimes she does it one-handed
since she often is holding on with
the other hand.

and other things, such as waving and blowing "kiss-byes".

Is this a miss for a kiss goodbye or a one-eyed attempt at peek-a-boo?

She likes giving things to you, but if they're really good, she wants to have her cake and eat it too so she doesn't let go.

She's not too sure if she's ready to relinquish the ball or not.

She has also discovered clicking her tongue and smacking her lips, something Jonathan never got into.  She is also working on the mechanics of things.  Her particular favorite is putting cups in and out of each other.

In ...

... and out.

Finally, she is cutting her first tooth.  So far, so good.  It doesn't seem to be bothering her so much.

If you look real close, you can see a tooth coming in.

Sorry, Little Miss.
That tooth isn't enough for pomelos or pizza yet.

And she got her first straw cup of her own.  My babies seem to do the straw thing much better than the sippy cup thing.  I caught her using Jonathan's a few times and thought it was time she had one of her own.  No need to steal her brother's now, though he's liable to steal hers with those cool handles.

She's still rather behind in the hair department, though there's a bit more on top than there used to be.  She has gotten too curious to keep her hair bows on most of the time, though occasionally I can distract her for long enough for some pictures, so she usually sports the "bald is beautiful" look, which makes her grandmother happy at least.  My mother never was a baby headband fan, though, as you can tell, I am.

What a great mommy I have.  She's always thinking of me.
She puts toys on my head in case I can't find enough to play with.

I'm not too good at putting them back on yet, though.

She and her brother like each other more and more -- except when taking each other's things and when he hits her over the head or tries to ride her like a pony or pushes her out of the way.  Oh, the trials of being a a younger sibling.  Still, there's no one who plays peek-a-boo better than her older brother, and he takes care of her the best he can.

Where'd he go?

Peek-a-boo!

Here, Vivienne.  Have a cookie.

According to the pediatrician, she's right on track for height, but 2 kg underweight.  The internet reassures me that breast-fed babies are often "long and lean," so I am hoping this is OK.  I'm also told active babies are smaller since they burn more calories, and she is nothing if not active.  However, I am not sure there is too much I can do about it anyway.  After getting this report, I tried to give her a bottle with formula and cereal last weekend like the nanny does during the week and she was having none of it, knowing that mommy had "the good stuff" available.  Stephen had no luck with the bottle either when she knew I was at home.  Besides, it may be genetics.  Though she has an uncle on one side who is 6'4", she has a grandmother on the other side who is 5" tall  Who knows how her genetics will play out.  Still, her demure stature has its uses.  She hasn't grown out of most of my favorite clothes yet, and being small for your age makes you look smarter than you really are.  Also, it meant that the gift "Uncle" Andrew brought back from the US for her could get at least some use, despite being for a 0-3 month old.  (As an aside, I have always found it strange that Tommy Hilfiger designs such sweet little girl clothes since I mostly remember it as a rather hip menswear brand, but I guess I'm just behind the times.)

So pretty in pink.  At least it won't fit long enough to get too
messed up, I hope, and will look great on any potential younger sisters.

Jonathan had better watch out, however.  Though she's a bit underweight and skinny, she's scrappy.  She's been able to stand up for quite a while now, and can "cruise" (walking around while holding on to things) with the best of them.  She is never happier than when up on something, making her parents rather nervous at times.  She doesn't particularly enjoy the fall either since mommy and daddy aren't always fast enough, but that doesn't seem to stop her.  In fact, she inspired a living room makeover to keep her from getting up on the bar in the middle of the room so she's at least safe from that.  As a bonus, our living room is now cleaner than it's been since she was born and we found all sorts of missing toys and things.

My little monkeys climbing all over the place and giving
out heart attacks left and right.

Real walking can't been too far off.  In fact, Vivienne celebrated her 10-month birthday today by taking an actual step.  Her nanny and I were sitting on the couch trying to get her to walk to us while she just stood there chewing on a half-inflated little ball.  The nanny took the ball away from her to help her focus on us, so she just dropped to the ground to find it.  Then I had the bright idea of holding the ball up in front of her while she was standing, and there it was.  That first step.  Not to us, but to that little deflated ball Jonathan had reclaimed from the rubbish bin.

Here's an SAT question for you: "IPad is to Jonathan as ____ is to Vivienne."  The answer is "cell/mobile phone"She loves phones.  The one "toy" she'll cry about if you take it away is my cell phone, and the sight of it will excite her as almost nothing else will (unless she's really, really hungry.)

Mmmm...  Cell phone.

She has also figured out what to do with a phone and loves to hold her toy phone up to her ear making a cute little "Eh?"

This baby phone speaks Japanese.  Fortunately,
Vivienne's "Eh?" works in any language.

Vivienne is getting along better with her father, though they still have a ways to go to reach a relationship like her daddy and brother have.  Still, they are beginning to appreciate each other.

Daddy is learning her tickle spots.

She absolutely loves her nanny, though, who met us outside for a late-afternoon picnic at the Cultural Center the other day before I went to work.

Still, mommy is her one true love.  I basically never get her sad, because although she can scream and cry with the best of them, mommy and/or nursing is her panacea.  She' still sleeps with me at night.  My little free spirit has never done well with bars on the bed.  The only time we ever got her to sleep on her own was when she was small enough to snuggle into the carrier, and even the nanny gets her to nap on the sofa.  We have given up long ago getting her to sleep on her own, so she and I camp out on a tatami mat on the living room floor.  This was totally not my plan before she was born, but you do what works.  The up side is I think I get more sleep than most mothers do, albeit at our own strange hours.  It will be nice when she is weaned and sleeps on her own, but I'll miss my little Cuddle Bug.

OK, so this is a few months old, but I love this shot.
Besides, I don't have all that many pictures with me in them.

Vivienne Irene is living up to her name which means Life and Peace.  She is a bright, lively little one who brings joy to all who know her.  And she's fairly peaceful for a baby -- as long as she has mommy and we don't try to put her in a crib, that is.  And since she has mommy wrapped around her pretty little finger and we've given up and filled her crib with mommy's knitting projects and other things to keep out of babies' reach so there's little chance of her getting put in it, life is all good for 10-month-old Miss Vivienne Irene and those of us blessed to have her in our lives.

The "money shot" from our impromptu 10-month photo shoot.
Even daddy wants to get this one framed.