In the last two days I’ve noticed daffodils blooming everywhere. They might be my favorite flower. I love to see their bright, smiling faces. Their appearance means spring is finally on the way and they add a welcome bit of color to the boring, yuckiness of winter. I’m usually ready for each season as it arrives (such as they are here in the South), but spring is definitely my favorite. The days get longer and warmer, the world bursts into color again, and everything just feels new and ripe with possibility. I like it. It gives me hope.
Enough of my random rambling; the real reason you are reading this blog is to find out what the Tiny Bull Rider is up to this week. I’ve told her that her legs aren’t long enough to wrap around the back of a bull yet, but she insists on practicing anyway. I’m not sure if she’s trying to crawl or sit up when she does this, but she gets on hands and knees, then stretches one leg straight out to the side and puts the corresponding hand in the air while rocking back and forth. She looks just like she’s riding a bull.
The past few days have been a flurry of activity. Since Saturday she has started bull riding, pulling up, crawling backward, feeding herself (for real, not just puffs), sitting up from lying on her stomach, and saying “Dadadadada” constantly. She has tentatively crawled three “steps” forward, but we aren’t ready to say she’s really crawling yet. The backward crawling happens in the middle of the night, but it is actual coordinated crawling – in the wrong direction. She’s really working hard at it, but she just doesn’t feel confident enough to take the plunge yet. Sunday afternoon, I watched her scoot ten feet backward on her belly, all the while yelling because she was moving away from what she was trying to reach. I think the hold up is fear of picking up her hands and losing her balance. Not that I’m complaining because once she’s moving, life as I know it is over.
The first time she tried to pull up (on something other than me), she was in the bathtub without the bath seat, of course. I caught her before she slipped face first into the water, but it was a little shocking to see her just take matters into her own hands to get out of there. Saturday night, she sat in her high chair and ate corned beef and carrots for dinner. I put bites on her tray, and if I tried to put them in her mouth, she took them from me with her tiny pincers and did it herself (Canned carrots rock as a snack food, by the way). Sunday morning, I had to do some work in the fellowship hall during church, so I planted her on a pallet with a hand full of puffs for snack and some toys. She played and played. Then I looked over there to find her sucking on the plastic baggie the puffs had been in. No, I didn’t leave it out for her. She went digging in the diaper bag, found it, and ate the rest of the puffs. Last night she was gearing up for an all-out fit at church because everyone around her had a plate of food, and she didn’t yet. Mac and cheese stopped that one in its tracks. You’d think I was starving the child; she eats like a piggy.
Another major break through of a less exciting kind – Sunday she stayed with Dave for most of the afternoon while I helped with an anniversary party at church. She did great! There was no crying at all, not even when she woke up from her nap. He brought her to the party for a little while then took her home before I was finished. I was so proud of them. When I finally got home, I found them in the kitchen having supper and she didn’t even need to jump into my arms. I’ll admit I didn’t really know what to do with myself.
For Valentine’s Day, she got a new dress from Dave and I, a bouquet of suckers from Grandma and Grandpop, and a flower and stuffed bear from Grandmother and Paw Paw (Is that how you spell it? It looks so wrong it pains me.). She loved the sucker, and had that figured out right away. She picked out her dress herself, and really enjoyed wearing it. You think I’m joking. I am not. When I held it up she was totally excited about it – bouncing and grabbing for it. When she saw it lying on the back of the couch later, she was totally excited all over again. It’s pink with red polka dots and lady bug pockets – who wouldn’t be excited? I did not get the same reaction out of the green dress I held up, so we left it at the store. The bear from Grandmother is okay, but she really liked the ribbon that came on the flower. That will go into our ever-growing collection of ribbons.
Finally, and not kid related, Jewel E. Cat came into the bathroom while I was brushing my teeth last night because she needed a snuggle. I think what she really needed was to show me the half-dollar sized, gaping wound on the side of her back leg. I don’t know how long she’s had the sore, but it looks clean and it isn’t smelly so I’m just keeping an eye on it. I did pour some peroxide on it – which thoroughly ticked her off – but that was mainly to make myself feel better; she seems to be taking good care of it herself. For days my strange intuition has been pricking at me about that cat, and now I know why.
I’m ready for the weekend.
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