Today I spent over two hours reorganizing Natasha's closet. It's not that it was disorganized, but it mainly had all her summer outfits out and since it's getting rather chilly, I needed to get all her fall and winter outfits out and handy. Not every day is cold now, but even when it's 18°C outside and windy, Natasha gets too cold in a simple t-shirt and so I needed all her long-sleeve stuff out as well. And let me tell you it took forever... This child has about five times as many clothes as Matthew and I put together! There are items in her closet such as shirts, pants, dresses and other things that she only wore once or twice before she outgrew them - there were simply not enough days to wear every single item she owned! Some of these items were passed down to us from family or friends, and others were new that either I bought for her, or someone else did as a gift. And of course she looks cute in everything, but like I already said, it was almost impossible to wear everything!

Anyway, today I removed all her t-shirts and tank tops from the hangers and folded them into one of the drawers in her dresser. In their place I now have hanging her long-sleeve tops and blouses. I find it much easier and more convenient to grab stuff off the hangers than dig through a drawer for what I might need. Her shorts are also folded in a drawer in case we still get some warm enough days to wear them. I think she's more than ready for the fall to arrive!

On a different but related note, she has about 5-6 huge boxes at the bottom of her closet filled with 18-24 months outfits. This child has enough clothes for at least another year, if not more. She got a lot of 18-24 size outfits for her birthday from Matthew's family, and a few days ago she got about a ton more clothes from my grandparents who live in Israel. And then yesterday, we celebrated her birthday at my parents' place, where needless to say, she got a gazillion more new items to wear. I just wish we had more room to store her future wardrobe, but right now we're doing more-or-less okay with storing everything is cardboard boxes and large gift bags.

I hear from moms of boys that this only happens to moms of girls...But who knows!

Natasha has started spending the majority of her day cruising. And by cruising I mean grabbing unto furniture, pulling herself up to a standing position, and then walking along by holding tight to that particular piece of furniture. She knows better than letting go because, as she learned about two weeks ago, letting go means falling flat on your back into our hard floors and it hurts. My mother-in-law can testify to this, as she was on the phone with Matthew when this incident happened and heard her wails and screams very well! Anyway, babies are not stupid, and Natasha now knows and understands the consequence of letting go. So she taught herself how to sit back down on the floor and how to get up again and it almost looks like she's exercising - up and down, up and down! It's quite funny watching her.

But today I noticed that she crawled next to one of Matthew's house plants which sits in a big white pot on our floor. She knelt next to it, put her litte hand right into the soil and took some of it out! Yuck. And somehow some of that soil managed to get around her mouth. Needless to say, the plant is now at its new temporary, out-of-reach location until we can figure out what to do with it. Anyone got a cage?? I've noticed she also started pulling the lower kitchen cabinets out, and generally getting into things that are within her reach. Pulling curtains is another favourite activity as well as sticking little fingers into our bedroom fan which stands on the floor. Yep, it's definitely house proofing time!

Sorry for not updating in a while; I am back to work on a temporary, part-time basis and my daily routine is a little off right now.

Everything continues to change in Natasha-land. She's growing up and becoming a very determined and demanding little girl. She's now mastered the skill of crawling which leaves me to chase her around the apartment all day long. It can get really tiring. Last night, Matthew and I left her on the living room floor with a bunch of toys while we did some stuff in the kitchen. About a minute later I went to check on her, only she was not there! So off we went to look for her, only to find her in the bathroom, next to the toilet looking all proud of herself! I guess we are in for it now. But at the same time, she's getting tired of crawling everywhere - I think she realizes that no one else crawls but her and she is really determined to make walking her source of transportation. So she would start whining and crawl on top of me into a standing position and would continue whining until I hold her hand and let her walk. And let me tell you, she's pretty fast! She's practically running! But she still cannot balance on her own so she's pretty dependant on someone to hold her hand. My poor baby is trying so hard!

She's also started pointing at everything. It's the cutest thing, and we try to name the item she's pointing at so she starts learning what things are called. I think she learned this from watching BabyTV on Rogers - there is a toddler there that always points at things, and I think that is where she got it from. She's also turning one in exactly 11 days which reminds me to book her one-year doctor's appointment - I am really dreading it as I know she will scream at the sight of her pediatrician, but I know she'll scream even more when she gets her vaccines. Maybe Matthew should take a day off work and take her.........

No more Formula! Yay!

Yesterday Natasha finished her very last can of formula. And I am very happy to say goodbye to it. Today in the morning she ate an entire bowl of cereal mixed with whole (3.25%) cow's milk. We didn't make a cold-turkey switch as she's had cow's milk through other sources before like yogurts, cheese, and cake, so hopefully she won't develop anything as she hadn't had any negative reactions to those other milk products. But I think this will save us a lot of money too. We plan on buying large bags of whole milk from now on instead of cartons and I think she should be okay. I am sure her pediatrician will yell at me at her 1-year appointment for switching before the one-year mark, but I honestly don't see what the big deal is. It's not as if her body magically becomes milk-tolerant when she hits the one-year mark.

I also want to introduce her body to eggs. Same as with milk, she's had eggs through other sources before but in very small quantities. The thing is, ever since she started refusing the bottle at 5-months of age, the only way to get the formula into her was through cereal. And so for the past 6 months or so, cereal is the only thing she's ever ate for breakfast. I tried varying it by giving her many different types of cereal (rice, barley, oatmeal, wheat...I added fruit and cinnamon for flavour varieties) but it was still cereal, and I would like her to start eating more adult-food, like pancakes or omelettes. She absolutely loves to nibble on whatever Matthew and I eat for breakfast or dinner, but she was never able or interested in eating an entire meal of it. We need to work on this transition and slowly start 'weaning' her from baby foods in general.

So since Natasha learned to crawl a few weeks ago, that is all she has been doing. And she's gotten really good at it too, and can now crawl quite fast from one place to another. But the funny part is that she now follows me everywhere! Today, for instance, I was walking around from our bedroom to her nursery, picking up random clothes and things and putting them away. I left Natasha to play on the floor of her room, but instead of sitting and playing like she always used to, she kept crawling from room to room and following me wherever I went. I now have my own personal tail! And since we have hardwood floors without any carpeting, I can also hear her following me because she slaps her hands against the floor really hard when she crawls... She's also been trying to climb up unto things, like our coffee table, the sofa, the laundry basket in the bathroom... she cannot do it by herself quite yet, but she's trying really hard! But I think that overall, her new mobility skills have given her this newfound freedom which is really enjoying!

After two sleepless nights and some unexpected diarrhea, Natasha has finally cut her sixth tooth! Woohoo! It's the second top one, and so she now has two top teeth and four bottom ones. Tuesday and Wednesday nights of the past week were a total nightmare. She woke up every 15 minutes crying in pain, all the way between 1:00 and 7:00am. I was a total zombie in the morning because, believe me, waking up every 15 minutes to tend to your crying baby is not fun! And neither the Tylenol nor the teething gel seemed to help our poor baby (she eats the teething gel so I am not really sure how that's supposed to work, anyway). But when she slept peacefully on Thursday night, waking up only once, I knew the tooth must have come out and when I knocked on her gum with a teaspoon last night it surely made that "clink clink" sound. Yay, finally! And last night she didn't wake up even once. Her mood is a lot better too! And all these teeth are definitely helping her chew better - I can now place large chunks of banana or apple in her mouth and she actually chews them before swallowing.

I am happy to report that Natasha has overcome her stranger anxiety. At least it has gotten a lot better. A few months ago she would burst into tears and hysterics whenever a stranger talked to her or made silly faces at her, but lately all she does is smile back at them. Like today when we made three trips downstairs to do her load of laundry, a bunch of people acknowledged her in both the elevator and laundry room and she just smiled and squeaked at them, which is a good improvement, I think. There are two odd exceptions to this and they are my father and my father-in-law - her two grandfathers. I am not sure why, but whenever she sees either of them and they try to talk to her or pick her up she makes a sour face and starts crying. She quickly calms down, so it's not a huge deal, but I am not sure why it's the two of them that she reacts differently to.

The other typical behaviour she hasn't developed yet is separation anxiety. Natasha has no problem being left alone with my parents, or she has no problem staying with Matthew if I need to go somewhere. Separation anxiety is usually separation from the mother or the primary caregiver, which in our case is me, of course. It usually begins around 10-12 months of age so she can still develop it but I am crossing my fingers she won't. She's always been a more independent, not so clingy baby, so hopefully she'll skip it as I hear it can be very tiring and draining!

I've been a little brain-dead lately and not in a posting mood, but there's been a few things happening to our baby doll I will post about.

First of all, she cut her fifth tooth. She now has four bottom teeth and one top one, although the second top incisor will probably come out any day now. It's poking through the gum to the point where her little top gum is all bloated but hasn't actually cut through. I feel so sorry for her as I am sure it's not a pleasant feeling and it irritates her a lot.

Secondly, she is finally getting the hang of crawling. I was really convinced she would skip the crawling stage and fast-forward to walking instead, but maybe I was wrong. Her crawling is not perfected yet - she's got the hands part down pat, but she sort of drags her legs behind her and it's really funny to watch. But I am happy to report that she's now officially mobile and can travel this way all across the apartment. Time to sweep the floors more often - yay! (*insert sarcasm here*) I will post a video of her crawling below.

Aside from this, and I know it sounds like a cliche, but the year has completely flew by. My little baby girl is turning one next month and as much as I am enjoying her right now, I also miss the little cooing baby who lay in her bassinet and cooed all day long. I miss carrying her little body against my shoulder since right now she's way too heavy to carry for too long and would rather spend time playing with her toys than be carried around. This past Saturday she already had her first birthday party which she shared with her two cousins. She got a lot of new gifts including an activity table, a caterpillar bouncer, a soft Dora chair for her bedroom, and other toys and clothes. And I am sure there would be more gifts to come from my side of the family around her actual birthday. So she has been really busy exploring all these new toys.

Our baby has started cutting out her own naps. Just a month ago she took 3 naps per day, averaging around 40 minutes each. Now, I am lucky if she takes one nap. And the most difficult part is to actually get her to fall asleep. The days when I used to place her in the crib, leave, and have her fall asleep are over. She now takes some good 40 minutes to fall asleep. So I thought maybe I should just let her play those 40 minutes and maybe then she'll be too tired to mess around and fall asleep right off, but that didn't work either. She would start rubbing her eyes, get all cranky and yawny, but the moment I put her down, she pulls herself right up and stands in the crib holding unto the bars. So now I just let her crawl and climb around the crib until she tires herself out, even though it takes her that much longer. She's been taking only one nap lately, about two hours long, but I suppose if she's happy and cheerful, maybe that's all she needs to recharge again.

But due to all these, she always manages to fall asleep in odd positions. When I put her down, I do it properly, tuck her in, and turn on her aquarium. By the time she is actually asleep, she's usually at the opposite end of the crib, with her neck twisted in some odd position, and with her feet resting up against the bars. The blanket is nowhere near her, the aquarium is turned off, and her pacifier is on the floor. Ugh! I've read that you can start placing a pillow under the baby's head when they turn one, but at this rate I really don't see a point. Needless to say, naps are becoming slightly frustrating right now.

A couple days ago Natasha surprised us with one of her infamous diaper explosions. After breakfast, I put her down for her morning nap, before which she normally does a No.2. I would then change her and put her down again, and she would fall sleep. Nothing was different that morning, and when I heard her whine in the nursery, Matthew and I headed there to inspect what was going on. Of course the room had a strong dirty diaper smell, so we were going to change her. But then Matthew quickly noticed that something wasn't right. It wasn't just Natasha's diaper that was dirty, but half her crib sheet, her clothes, the bumper pads, and Natasha's fingers were covered in poo. Ewww!! Natasha's size 3 Pampers totally leaked! The stuff was everywhere... it was horrible!

We quickly started cleaning off Natasha's fingers before she could place them in her mouth. Then, it was a challenge to figure out how to pull off her pajama top without getting the stuff in her hair. Accomplished. We then used numerous wipes to wipe off parts of her elbows and body. Once she was somewhat clean, I put her on the changing table and tried to wipe her off as much as possible. In the meantime, Matthew pulled off her crib sheet and washed it in the bathtub (I have to give him credit for this, he is such a good hubby in situations like this!), and then he did his best to also wipe and wash off the bumper pads. Once I wiped Natasha, I took her to the bathroom sink, and washed her with soap until there were no traces of poo left on her.

After all this, Matthew helped me change the crib sheet to a fresh one. Oh, and Natasha's yellow pajamas went into the trash can. I just didn't see a point in scrubbing poo off of pajamas where she has twenty different ones she can use. Phew. Needless to say, we were pretty exhausted after all this.

And then yesterday Natasha threw us another surprise. In the afternoon we were swimming in our indoor pool downstairs, and when we came home, we decided to give Natasha a bath right off to wash all the chlorine. Anyway, the water in the tub was too hot and Matthew was adjusting it while I brought (naked) Natasha into the bathroom. I put her on the bathroom carpet for a mere second, and of course in that second, she decided to go. Not poo this time. Our clean bathroom carpet had a big yellow stain! Yuck. It needs to be washed too now. Ugh.................................!!!