Meg is getting more independent every day. And most days I actually kind of like it. I feel like we’re in kind of a lull as far as heavy-duty parenting goes. Aside from the whining, nothing too hard is going on.
Diapering? We’re pros at that and we’re nowhere near potty training.
Feeding? Whole milk (you can buy it at the STORE and there’s no breastpump needed to feed your child!!), jarred food (she only has 2 teeth, so she just can’t manage yet to get enough calories through table food, or even toddler food), and eating off mama and dada’s plates. She eats (tiny bites of) everything we eat and loves it.
Talking? She says “mama,” “dada,” “kitty,” and “hi.” She doesn’t say “no.” She can’t argue or yell “I hate you!” or be generally snotty.
Walking? She’s a pro and I actually like it better than crawling. She enjoys being down more since she is a big girl who can follow me around.
Playing? She will play by herself while I clean the kitchen, make dinner, or (more likely) sit on the couch and read. I can’t watch TV, because we don’t let her watch TV and I can’t use the computer, because she loves computers and will bug me endlessly trying to reach the keyboard. BUT, I am getting so much reading done, its amazing. I love it. And its better for me than TV or the computer anyway. She only plays by herself for maybe a half an hour at a time, but if we break to read one of her books or just snuggle, after 5 or 10 minutes she wants to go play with her toys again.
Still, right now I’m kind of on the fence as to whether I like this age. Today was one of those fantastic days where I wish I could just quit my job and spend all my time with my cutie-pie. For all of the reasons above. But some days, all day long is one constant whine. On those days, I say I really don’t like one-year-olds (the age, not my daughter or any other child) and can’t wait for her to get older. But I don’t think the whining really gets better. In fact, I’m afraid it gets worse. A scary thought.
It gets both better and worse, i think. AS they learn to communicate more, they understand more, you understand more and it's a little easier to "get" each other, but at the same time, they learn more about manipulation, etc. :)
ReplyDeleteJealous of your reading time. I actually got really depressed in the first 3 months after Fuss was born because I felt like I didn't have time to read an non-baby related books and I THRIVE on books. I still make time to read regularly, but I have lots of times when I'd like to read and I can't (Fuss will pull my book away if she wants my attention or wants me to read to her - which is often.)
Really? I've never gotten as much reading done as I did on maternity leave. I spent 18 hours a day breastfeeding (or at least it felt like 18 hours a day) and I spent about half of it watching TV and half reading. I read about 2 magazines and at least half a book every single day (I had a two year backlog of magazines to catch up on).
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