go-grow-go, FaeBae, grow!

My baby is quickly approaching toddlerhood... which in many ways feels impossible. To me, it's like we brought her home from the hospital only yesterday. Time has flown by! Sure, some nights were (read: are) excruciatingly long (I know why sleep deprivation is a form of torture), but overall, it's all happened like THAT (snap fingers). 

These last few months have been a total blast. Challenging too – as all parents know too well, raising your first child ain't easy. And hats off to those of you that choose to have more than one. ;-)

Farryn has changed exponentially in the last 3 or so months. It's truly miraculous how quickly they go from mewling, dependent newborns to do-it-all-myself, exploring-independence tots. Only a few short months ago, it was a feat of baby strength for Farryn to pull herself up to standing on her toybox. Now, I am lucky if I can get her to stand in front of her toybox for longer than 0.00005 seconds. This kid is on the MOVE. 

Cruising all along the couch, the coffee table, the entertainment center, the TV, her highchair, all the kitchen chairs, along Mea (poor Mea Doggy), the toilet (now I know what mama's meant when they said they never get to go to the bathroom alone), our bed, her crib... you get the idea. Farryn is go-go-go-go. 

She's no longer interested in her supported walker, and she's starting to lose interest in her push walker too. She wants someone to delicately hold her hand, precisely the way she wants it held and she has no qualms letting you know it's not right, and then she LEADS, and I mean LEADS, to where she wants to go. You can try and distract her away from unsafe objects – like a thorny rosebush, or a messy spiderweb on the hose faucet – but she'll continue to drag you both right back to where she'd like to be. 

Never mind that she doesn't have this walking thing fully down. Even on unsteady feet, she wants to climb up the hill. And then turn around and lunge back down. And back up. And back down. And back up. And back down. I have the benefit of being Mommy and saying no when I feel like it. Poor Grandad. He doesn't have the heart to tell her no. She works him like a racehorse.

She's hyper-curious, which we know she most certainly gets from her daddy, and I love watching her explore the world. She notices everything – the small exposed piece of water pipe in the dirt, the smashed jacaranda flower Mea dragged in on her paws, an old coffee stain on the tile floor – and expects it all with an intense ferocity. Most often, the object of interest goes straight into her mouth. So, lately, I feel like a mouth goalie. She's a quick one and I don't block them all. Meh, most of the time it's harmless and likely good for her immune system.

Her basal state is pure joy. She's always liked to make people around her laugh and lately, she's been able to up the ante with peek-a-boo and chase. It's so damn fun to play with her. I had no idea how much I would truly relish engaging in pretend peek-a-boo with an 11-month-old. But, let me tell you, it's a blast. Perhaps because she's mine...?!?!

I can't believe she'll be a 1-year-old within a few weeks. It's such a significant milestone, and when I dwell on it for too long, I get overly emotional. They say time gets faster and faster as you get older, and most certainly when you have kids. In writing these blogs, and talking to my mom in a journal, I hope to slow things down a bit. Relish in the little moments and not let it all get far behind me too quickly.