walking

When I ask her to go get her shoes, she does! Practicing eating with a spoon...after I've fed her all of the yogurt, of course.
Love the snack trap! We've got crazy drool again...but still only 2 teeth! More snack, please!
This is a glimpse of her 'dancing'. She likes to move her head from side to side & bounce!

Walking is now Luci's preferred mode of transportation...so I think it is official...she's walking. I've lost count of how many steps in a row, and although at times it looks like she's trying to catch her balance on a surfboard, I think I'll give in to what Clay has been claiming for weeks...she really is walking. It is kind of funny...he is always super ready to put a check in box for each milestone...and I somehow like to live in denial and say that she isn't quite there yet...that she is working on it, but just isn't quite there. We are also having this debate on her first word. He claims it was Dada...because one of the first consonant/vowel combos she started babbling was dadadaddada. I say that it isn't a word until she is using it discriminately in context. He says that because she knows he is Dada, that it was her first word. She does know he is Dada, and I am Mama, but she just doesn't fully connect that with what she is saying. She doesn't look at me & say Mama. But if you ask her where Mama is, she'll raise her hand & wave at me. So I don't know.

Regardless, I must concede a check in the walking box. She's done about 20 laps around the kitchen island, into the living room, around the sofa, and back into the kitchen. She's also discovered that cabinets open, so I've got another nap time project (child-proofing them).

Speaking of nap time, we might be checking the 1 nap per day box off soon. The last week or so she's taken 1 good nap, and 1 nap that entails hanging out in her crib for 1-2 hours, and sleeping about 45 minutes of that time. The last two days we've had activities in the morning, and each morning she's fallen asleep in the car for about 10 minutes, and that is the only AM nap she'll take. When we get home & into her crib she's wide awake & ready to go...so after 20 minutes or so I just let her get up. Yesterday she took a 2 hour nap in the afternoon, but was kind of a fussy mess all day...so I'm not convinced she's ready to let go completely. Today we ate an early lunch & she went down for her nap around 12:15p (although I just heard her up & talking at 12:55p), so we'll see how the rest of the day goes. She seems young to be down to 1 nap already, but she's always been on the lighter end of the sleep needs spectrum. Truth be told, I'm hoping it is just a phase related to her new found skill of walking. I'm not ready for 1 nap yet.

This morning we went to a fun park to feed the ducks with her friends Clara, Rachel & Olivia. She was hot & sandy, but fell asleep about 2 minutes after getting in the car seat...yet she was up & at 'em before we even got into the house...waving to our cats. Yesterday we tried out Kindermusik in the morning. I think she's a bit too focused on her gross motor development right now for Kindermusik...we'll try again in 6 - 8 months. For now I think we are going to try Gymboree. It is SO hot here that we really can't spend more than 20-30 minutes outside before she is a red flushed face sweaty mess. And I'm a sweaty mess in about 10 minutes. Ick. So we are looking for some fun, physical things to do indoors...and we are hoping that Gymboree is the ticket. Although I think we'll try our free class at MyGym before making a decision. Luci's friend Margeaux is in both the Kindermusik & Gymboree classes we tried, and her friend Rachel is signing up as well! What a lucky little girl to have such good friends already!