Abbiegirl update

My baby is (almost) nine ten months old!

[caption id="attachment_2136" align="aligncenter" width="225"] Can I eat the sticker now, please?[/caption]

 

[caption id="attachment_2129" align="aligncenter" width="300"] We were traveling over the nine month mark, and this was all I could get![/caption]

She is completely and utterly delightful. I sit with her while she is belly laughing with glee, and I can feel all the difficult parts of this first year disappearing. During the rough days, it was hard for me to hear parents talk about their easy babies, the ones that slept through the night early on or never cried or were always happy. And yet, I can see myself reminiscing about Abbie in the upcoming years, and I know all I will talk about is what a happy and easy and delightful baby she was. I guess that's all part of the design of babies, and the reason why people have multiple children!

Since my last update, she has started crawling! She is moving everywhere. I was so nervous about this, with the working from home and all, but it has been such a great development for her. She loves moving around, and sleep is so much better now that she can really wear herself out! My office is one part office and nine parts playroom, and she is pretty content to roam free in there with her toys.

[caption id="attachment_2137" align="aligncenter" width="225"] I've got places to go, toys to see.[/caption]

I'm finally realizing why baby led weaning is awesome. She is locked in one place for thirty minutes, and she loves every minute of it. More foods are actually getting eaten, and we have worked out a system with the mess.

[caption id="attachment_2138" align="aligncenter" width="300"] This is delicious![/caption]

 

[caption id="attachment_2127" align="aligncenter" width="300"] They miss nothing.[/caption]

She sleeps through the night 50% of the time. I'm actually surprised by this, because we were down to one night feed and I have done nothing to eliminate that. But one night she slept straight through, and then she did it again. And then I stopped being able to count on one hand how many times she had done it. Sometimes she needs her early morning feed, sometimes she doesn't. And I'm ok with either one, because how many more nights will I have to hold and nurse my sweet sleepy girl? I will take every single one I get.

While sleep has been a struggle from day one, there is one strange area she has excelled at. I'm a little embarrassed to tell people about it, because I really didn't intend for this to be her claim to fame. But here you go:

[caption id="attachment_2131" align="aligncenter" width="225"] See where I am?[/caption]

*warning: poop talk below*

Abbiegirl poops in the potty. Only in the potty. I haven't changed a poopy diaper in two months! Every day, I put her on her potty seat and she grins and giggle and kicks her legs and grabs at the toilet paper, then she gets serious and does her poopy time. I can't even with this one. Some of you may be wondering HOW and WHY and ARE YOU CRAZY and here's all I've got:

1. I have had dogs as children for 10 years. They are similar in emotional intelligence to Abbie right now. And every day I let them out and they do their business. It's just the way it goes.


2. I had dear friends who tried infant potty training with their first child. And it worked ok, but they eventually gave up on it because babies pee a lot. And while I knew I would never do this, I always thought that it might be reasonable to learn the poop cues when the baby gets more regular and put them on the potty then.


3. Sleep has been a big deal for us. A BIG DEAL. So when I heard my friends complain about potty training, I couldn't bear the thought of doing something this hard again. So I figured we should start now.


4. Abbie went from three blowouts a day to pooping once a week. And I became obsessed with her poop cues. So one day when I knew it was time, I put her on the potty and she went. And I just kept doing that. And as she ate more solids, I put her on every day, and she started going every day. And that's how we started pooping on the potty like a big girl.

I have no idea if I will do this with another child if we have one, but it has worked for her. And man, does it make diapers easy!

Her other specialty is traveling! We took a roadtrip to Texas with her AND the dogs, and it was a little crazy, but she was a PRO. I was so proud of my sweet girl! And it made me realize that all the work we did on sleeping paid off, whether or not she sleeps through the night. No matter where we were, she happily went down for naps and nightime. She even slept well in the car, which I was most nervous about.

We really lucked out with the timing of the trip, since she is in such a happy phase of life and has not been teething in what seems like ages. (I'd be totally fine if she just kept these two bottom teeth and never cut any others... life without teething is grand!)


  
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I could write about her forever, but that's the reason I don't actually publish these things and just keep working on them whenever I get a spare moment which is RARE, so I will stop here. But she is wonderful. Absolutely wonderful.



Remember those days when I was aching all the time? When the nursery was empty and taunted me every time I walked by it? When I was stabbing my belly with shots and staring at negative pregnancy tests and wondering if we would ever get to this place, this place of our dreams? I remember them so well. But now I am here, with a daughter more perfect than my wildest dreams. And oh, how happy we are!