Piglet in a Snowsuit

I bundled Ella into her Piglet snowsuit yesterday so that we could have a walk in the very cold wind. I bought it on clearance last spring, before I knew I would give birth to a tiny, human heater. Considering the child almost refuses to wear socks and spends the majority of her days pantless because she’s so hot-natured, I decided that a brisk afternoon walk would be the perfect opportunity for her to get at least one wear out of it. I was surprised to see that it fit her perfectly. It must have been just cold enough, too, because she didn’t complain about it at all.

I’m thankful for the cold this past week because it gave her an opportunity to wear all the thick cotton and fleece outfits that everyone has bought her – all with the obligatory short-sleeved onesie underneath so that she can be stripped down to a comfortable layer while in the house. Everyone thinks a baby needs to be bundled and blanketed and kept in a stiflingly hot house during winter. This is probably the case for most babies, but nothing makes her crankier than being hot and overdressed. For this reason, I’m that negligent mom you see out with her barefoot, jacketless baby when the temperature soars into the sixties. They (the infamous They) say you are supposed to dress the baby in one more layer than you are wearing. Not so with Miss Ella Grace; I am usually dressed in one more layer than she is wearing. I constantly get (in that lovely, passive-aggressive, let me berate the mom by addressing the baby way): “Where are your shoes?!” and “Your little legs are going to get cold!” and “Why aren’t you wearing a hat?!” etc. I dare them to dress my child the way they think she should be dressed and sit in the too hot house with her for any length of time. She’ll be stripped to her diaper and sitting on the front porch with steam rising off of her sweaty little body in no time. I know; I’ve been there and done that.

All that said, I’m sitting here trying not to feel guilty because I didn’t realize the high today is only 37 degrees and she’s wearing short sleeves (but she is wearing pants and socks). She’ll be fine in the house, but I would have at least put a long-sleeved t-shirt on her if I’d realized it would be that cold today. Oh well.

She’s so close to crawling that I just know it’s going to happen this week while I’m at work. We practiced over the weekend and she is now getting onto her knees from her tummy, and she’ll rock and move one knee forward then stop and collapse again. We installed the baby gate at the top of the stairs yesterday and I put the little plastic thingies in all the electrical outlets, so we are ready to go. I feel certain that when this finally happens, there will be no containing her. As busy as she is while sitting in one place, I’ll be constantly running after her. It will be like having a puppy again – even the part about trying to eat everything, especially paper products.

Sometime over the past week without my realizing it, she started using her pincer grasp (that’s the ability to pick up small things with her thumb and index finger). I saw this for the first time Sunday night when she took a cherry puff from my fingers using only her thumb and index finger rather than the full fist like she normally does. I was shocked and excited for her.

After her bath last night, she insisted on playing the keyboard with Daddy. I got some good video footage of her banging away on the keys and looking very proud of herself. I’m really hoping we have a budding musician so we can steer away from the cheerleader path in the future (the future that seems so far away but will really be tomorrow at the rate she’s growing up).