I realized again today how far we've come since K was a baby. Scott and I used to liken her to a stick when she was mad. We coined that nickname after one of the very first times we had her in the swaddle and she she just threw her head back and straightened her body as stiff and straight as possible. When in the swaddle, her arms would be of no use and she really did resemble a perfectly straight, screaming, red-faced stick. She was pretty hard to hold onto when she did this, so it was an effective tool in her arsenal. I couldn't find a picture of this, but imagine the below wrapped up in a swaddle and that's pretty much it.
After she got better use of her limbs, she perfected the stiff arm/leg when confronted with an unpleasant situation. Trying to give too many kisses? Try it with a fist in your throat. Want a hug as you cuddle on the bed? Good luck getting past those thunder thighs with knees in a locked position. This wasn't necessarily when she was upset, nor was it done with any intention to hurt, it was more when you were trying to get in her business and she had other things to do. She let you know in no uncertain terms that she runs the show around here and she'll get to you on her own time.
A few months ago we started in with the tantrums. Now these aren't full blown tantrums by any means, I'm not going to kid myself into believing that these are full throttle. This is basically if you ask her to do something and she doesn't want to do it, she usually just stands there and looks at you and starts crying. There isn't any throwing of herself on the floor (yet) or even stomping her foot or anything like that. She did however, start hitting in combination with these, if you tried to pick her up. We've been working on that and have made some progress, although she'll still land a slap if she's particularly angry.
Just recently she has unleashed a new trick - the wet noodle. This is particularly effective if she does not want to be forcibly removed from a situation. Normally, when you go to pick her up she'll lift up her arms but sort of lock her shoulder blades so you have somewhat of a "handle" to use when hoisting her 27lb body up to your hip. But when employing the wet noodle technique, she lifts her arms and does NOT lock the shoulder blade, so your hands go flying up her arms and she slips right out of your hands (much like a wet noodle - we're creative around here with these names). This usually ends with her pinned against my body in some weird contusion so I don't drop her. I just think it's funny to look back at all the things she's learned in 14 short months. I can't help but wonder with some trepidation and some excitement, what's next?
And these have absolutely nothing to do with this post, but they're some cute pictures from Britt, KC and Ben coming over to watch the game on Saturday.
After they left, she tried to tuck Bud in for a nap:
"Come on, what is going on? Do I really have to wear this ridiculous outfit?"
There are 2 dogs, a moose and a bear in this pic. 10 points if you can find them all.
What she spent about the first 10 min trying to do - remove her costume. We just had to keep it moving and she was fine.
Alright, I think I have enough candy, let's go to bed!
She thought this guy was really funny. She would pet him and then laugh and back up like he was going to lick her face. She must be gun-shy due to one brown fellow who shall remain nameless...
Playing peekaboo with mom. This is obviously a favorite since we seem to have a picture of it everytime we download them.
Smelling the pretty flowers
Another favorite - "poo" according to Kaitlin, the "l" doesn't seem to come out yet. She wanted to crawl in, and accosted several young ones here who came to take a look. She charged a kiss to get near the water.
It's a bear in case you couldn't tell, and it's kind of fitting since we call her "smidge bear" sometimes. She seems to really like it -- every time we take it out, she carries around the body portion and says "soooft". We didn't want a repeat of last year, so proper ventilation was a key component of our decision process. For those who do not recall, here is how putting on her costume went last year (worst decision ever).
Now all that's left is to carve the pumpkins this week! We will post pics of that when it's done.
.JPG)
