Walking!

Cali is getting better at walking every day. When she first started, she would only take 1 or 2 steps and that was with encouragement from mom or dad. Then it was walking a few steps from furniture piece to the next - always needing to hold on. Now she will walk all the way across 1 room and sometimes 2 before she falls over! She is also learning how to fall without hurting herself....most of the time. She will either sit down on her bottom (diapers are a good cushion) or she will fall forward and catch herself with her hands. Sometimes she can even stand back up from there! She is so funny how she keeps her arms out for balance when she toddles around - dad calls her our little Frankenstein.

Her first big injury happened this week. Dad had already left for work and mom was finishing getting ready...Cali was exploring mom and dad's bathroom like she loves to do and she misjudged how many steps it was to the tub. She fell and bumped her head a little and then started crying really hard. I thought she had bumped her head so I picked her up to check it out and then her mouth started filling up with blood! I tried not to panic but I wasn't sure what to do - I finally thought to use a cold damp washcloth and that seemed to sop up the blood pretty well. It was several minutes of crying and bleeding before I could see what happened. Cali had split her top lip open pretty bad and it was swelling up! But we got the bleeding to slow down and Cali calmed down after several minutes. I even got her to laugh, but it was an awkward laugh now with the fat lip! This escapade caused a snowball effect of being late enough to miss breakfast at daycare, so we had breakfast at home and then mom was pretty late to work, but it was ok. Oh, we also had to both change our clothes because we had blood all over us. It was a challenging morning, but at least we have the first injury behind us!

Cali's likes: reading books, dancing to music or daddy playing drums, getting the mail, exploring the house, opening cabinets, eating big people food, eating whatever she finds on the floor (including bugs), peek a boo (she does it with her blankey in bed and with curtains), tickling mommy's feet, playing with daddy's computer, talking to Grandma Julie over video phone, clapping, getting thrown in the air by daddy, rolling on mommy's legs, giving kisses, playing in the bath, playing with other kids, being social with everyone she meets.

Cali's dislikes: getting tired and clumsy, aching gums from new teeth (she is working on #9 and #10), being told no, being told no again with a consequence, nose wiping, nightmares, cabinet locks, mommy leaving her at daycare (sometimes), shoes and socks (they don't stay on long).

Cali with be 1 year old in a couple weeks! We are planning her birthday party and it will be fun to have John's parents in town for our "stay-cation" at home! Cali is so much fun and I am enjoying each stage of her life.