Friday the 13th

Oh my little sweetle-beetle!  Bellana, I love you so much!  Last night I cuddled you and held you long after you'd fallen asleep nursing.  I could have laid you down right away but I knew it was my last night to hold my infant.

Now you are a toddler!  But you will always be my little baby.  Right now the nicknames we have for you are Sweetle Beetle, Cutey-Patootey, Sweetie Petitey, Turkey Baby, Crazy Baby, The Baby, Little Goomba, Sissy, Buhgwana, and of course, Fatty Baby / Baby Fatty, which is probably the number one most-used.

You think toys are fun but are much more interested in things that are not toys and not supposed to be played with.  When you get ahold of my purse, the first thing you do is pull out my pink wallet, open it, and throw my receipts to the four winds.

You can be very out-going and friendly but also very shy--I never know which it will be.  You have recently gotten a lot happier about playing in nursery while I work out, but you still want to be held for the last 10 minutes or so of the hour.  It's hard being away from Mom!

You have the same amount of hair you did a year ago, I think.  I still can't put it in a pony tail or clip.

Moving, moving, moving!  You are cruising on everything in sight.  You can also stand for several seconds unassisted.  Daddy and I are pretty sure you could walk if you wanted to, but you need a little more confidence first.

You don't stay in one spot for very long.  When we set you down you quickly crawl to whatever looks like fun, especially the toilet!  We used to be able to keep you away from Tavi's water with plastic pokies, but you just crawl over them now like they're not even there.  We have to block the bottom of the stairs because if we don't you crawl to the top in about 15 seconds.  If you knew how to get down we would just let you do it!

You love to have fun with any family members that will play with you, but you require quality entertainment.  If we are not being funny enough you give us a little half-smile, letting us know that whatever we're doing doesn't merit a full laugh.  But when we get you giggling (say, with fake sneezes) you are absolutely adorable!

You especially love Tavi and desperately want to grab handfuls of him.  You pinch really hard!  (I know, I've felt it!)  He is so patient with you, but he looks at me like, "You're going to save me, right?!"  You are pretty good about traveling in the car.  You are soooo wiggly during diaper changes--I never knew a kid could wiggle so much!  I figured that parents who talked about kids that were hard to diaper had only themselves to blame for letting their kids get away with it.  Well, I don't let you do it but you do it anyway!

I think it's fair to say that Annalee is smitten with you.  She can pick you up now and haul you around (like, away from the toilet).  She is really good at making you laugh.  Vander gets a little jealous because he still wants special time on my lap, and if I try to put both of you on there you kick him, you little turkey!  I don't think you're being ornery, you just do it because you can.  When I nurse you, you like to kick my biceps.

 

Happy Birthday, Baby Fatty!
Friday the 13th was very lucky for me this year!