I suppose I’ve come to terms with the fact that my baby is a year old. She’s definitely not slowing down at all, and is more of a toddler than a baby now, anyway. If I was to describe Raelin in one word, it would be MENACE. She is cute and smart and funny and all that fun baby stuff, but the girl is TROUBLE.

If something can be climbed, she will climb it. If it can’t be climbed, she will push something over to it in order to make it climbable. If something fits in her mouth, she will eat it, edible or not. I swear she has a sixth sense about when a door is left open that we usually keep closed, and she’s in there before I even notice she’s gone. I’m constantly chasing her away from the cats’ water dish, and out of the laundry room, out of the fireplace, and out of the garbage can (that she figured out how to open).

We are still nursing. I wasn’t planning on cutting her off any time soon, because we had been down to just nursing at night. But ever since she got a fever and a nasty cold a week ago, she’s been wanting to nurse all the time (usually letting me know by sticking her hand directly down my cleavage or yanking my shirt down in front of strangers). I know it’s good for her to get antibodies and such, so I’m going with it. For now.

She had a great first birthday party with family, and thoroughly enjoyed herself. She got really excited about her presents, which I didn’t expect from a one year old. She also completely devoured her little smash cake in a glorious explosion of crumbs and frosting.

Favorites: pushing a little doll stroller all over the house, looking at the family photos on the wall, carrying bags and purses, climbing on top of tables, opening and closing doors, pretending to talk on phones, her kiddie gym class, baths, snuggling with Daddy, laundry baskets, stealing juice from her sister, and babies. She says hi to practically everybody, so is not particularly put off by strangers. She can also say mama, baba usually means baby, and dada means just about everything else.

The time has gone so fast that I can hardly believe Raelin is already 11 months old. I still consider her my little baby, and she is a month away from turning one! I guess I just have to accept that she’s not slowing down and she’s not my tiny newborn anymore. Wah.

Despite my insistence that she stays small, she has rudely continued to learn new things. She waves and says “Hi” to EVERYONE. She loves almost all people and had no problem going to relatives she’d never met before when we were in Germany. She’s also constantly applauding things. Stuff makes her so happy that she is a flurry of waves and smiles and claps and squeals. However, she is equally dramatic when unhappy, and has been known to throw epic fits when she doesn’t get what she wants. I fully expect her to be a drama queen for life.

Raelin is still all over the place. She has no fear. She climbs up on top of things like it’s nothing, and keeps doing it despite repeatedly falling on her face. She’s taken steps, and yesterday even made it all the way across the living room without falling. In Germany she recruited family she’d never met before to hold her hands so she could walk around. She does not like to be still for long. Or at all.

She also eats everything. Ralf’s parents were amazed and asked if it was normal for a baby to eat SO much, because she will try anything you give her, and if she likes it will eat more than my three year old most of the time. In Germany she was quite partial to Black Forest ham and döner.

Randoms:

• In addition to “hi” she also says “nein,” probably because she hears that more often than not.
• She loves to stick her tongue out all the way, and finds it hilarious.
• She now has four teeth, two on top and two on the bottom.

Raelin is 10 months old and is still on some kind of mission to avoid sitting still at all cost. I have had several people ask me, after looking after her for a few minutes, how I do this every day. How do I keep up with her? My reply is usually something like “Blarglemph!” with a twitchy left eye. Sometimes right eye. I don’t know how I keep up with her every day. I think everyone ending the day still alive is the best I can manage.

She climbed up a stack of suitcases the other day like it was Everest. She has climbed the entire staircase to the second floor. We put a gate there, obviously, but ANY time it is foolishly left open, she is climbing the stairs. She pushes anything that can be pushed and uses it as a walking aid. Her favorites are laundry baskets and dining chairs. Laundry baskets are also good for flinging herself into and out of head first. If I let her, she would chew on dirty shoes all day. Nothing is safe. NOTHING!

She is going through a rather clingy period, and her sleep is quite poor lately. This could be because she has been teething her top front teeth for weeks now. She also had an ear infection. Who knows. All I know is that I have been sleep deprived for months and that doesn’t make dealing with her craziness any easier.

Complaining aside, she is still my baby and I still love her and her squishy little butt. She’s so full of happiness and adorableness, and I’d be pissy too if I was getting four teeth at once. It’s easy to wish away the difficult periods, but I know she’s never going to be this age again, and she’s my last baby so I should savor the moments that she’s small. Oh, I try.

Current likes:
Clapping, especially if someone says “Yay!”
Waving hi and goodbye. I swear she even says “Hi” sometimes
Scaling things
Scrunching up her nose and loudly panting. I don’t know how else to describe this but it’s hilarious.
Food. Any food. Except avocado.
Banging on stuff
Eating unidentified tidbits off the floor

Current dislikes:
Hand/face wiping
Getting dressed
Diaper changes
Nail clipping
Being prevented from scaling things
Mom walking away/leaving the room

Ok, I started this post a week ago (already way late) and too much crap has happened in between including both of my children deciding sleep is for the weak, and ending today with the birth of a wee baby, so I give up. I’m posting what I’ve got!

From the moment she wakes up until the moment she goes to sleep, Raelin just does not stop. I am constantly having to chase her away from the stairs (which she is now able to climb), cat food, dirty shoes, bookshelves, cat litter, various things that can kill her, and the fireplace. She pulls up on things and cruises one-handed, making her way to things in order to destroy and/or eat them. I am exhausted.

Because of her constant movement, my formerly giant baby is now just slightly above average at 19 lbs 10 oz. She is still tall but her chunks have greatly diminished. She still only has the two bottom teeth she got at 7 months old. She loves to eat and will eat just about anything you give her. She has little patience with being spoon fed so I usually only do it if I’m in a hurry. Otherwise she prefers to feed herself.

This entry is late partly because Raelin got some kind of virus right before turning 9 months old, with three days of a high fever and very little sleep, leaving me with barely enough energy to survive let alone form sentences in my brain and write them down. Then she got an ear infection. Rory was never sick until she was 2 years old so I can only guess she is bringing home germs from school and infecting her baby sister. Not cool, germy toddlers. Not cool.