Flip Stool

This afternoon the flip stool we had ordered as part of Beia's potty training set up arrived. Of course it's a bit early for her to be potty training, but her day care noted that she was expressing interest—so why not be prepared? The sooner we can end with the diapers and the changing table the happier we all will be.

Steve had set up the stool in Beia's bathroom, expecting one of the cats to find it and make it a perch for an afternoon nap. Instead, Beia found it immediately upon returning home from day care. She already likes climbing and sitting on it—though has yet to ask about the potty itself. One step at a time...

My Little Pony

Yesterday when we picked Beia up from daycare her hair was "pulled back" into a little tiny pony tail on top of her head. It wasn't really pulled back as much as it was tied into a teeny fountain. Given that we've been waiting for her hair to grow long enough for her not to look like a boy we were quite excited. Although I think if Beia could have figured out where on her head the pony tail was she would have pulled it out so she could inspect the elastic.

Fall Foliage

Yesterday we rented a car and drove up to Harriman State Park, meeting R and B there (it's about 45 minutes to an hour away). Beia was very good—taking her morning nap in the car on the way out and her afternoon nap in the car on the way back. She was particularly interested in all the leaves...and wanted to eat them all, putting them in her mouth! For lunch though, she didn't get to eat the leaves, much to her dismay. We brought a lunch from home and all five of us picnic-ed at a smaller park near Harriman. Beia did very well—sitting on Steve's lap and eating everything we brought her (steak with roots veggies in a basil pesto). 

During our walk through Harriman, Beia started to get antsy in the stroller so Steve took her out and put her on his shoulders—which she of course loves. Here she found that Rob's ear—so close—was of interest. Although to be honest, the likely target was his sunglasses (she loves glasses). 

Beia is also starting to take a few steps—only three or four at a time before falling back down, but she seems unfazed by the falling (actually, she seems to think it is funny). Hopefully we'll be able to catch that in action before too long. We're pretty sure she'll pick up walking fairly quickly. She's determined and is enjoying being able to move while holding her toys. With crawling, she ends up putting a toy in her mouth before she can move anyway.

PUPPY!!!

When Beia was born we received a lot of gifts from generous friends and family. Among the gifts was a fluffy, round puppy mat. We used the mat for tummy time starting from when Beia was about a month old, up until the time we transitioned to using her play gym a month or two later. From then on we weren't really sure what to do with the puppy mat. It just sort of hung around. So much so that we eventually positioning it under the Jumperoo as a soft spot for Beia to land her feet.

However, our keen-eyed nanny (Cindy) noticed Beia going straight for the puppy mat—despite it being beneath under the Jumperoo. So Cindy moved the puppy mat out into the open, and Beia has had a love affair with the puppy ever since. It's sort of her "home base" that she runs—er, crawls—to and then rolls around and snuggles on. Here we caught her (and her belly) in the act...

An OK Day

Today was an OK day. The weather here was fantastic, but the day mediocre. It started off poorly with a poor night's sleep for Beia—meaning a not so great night's sleep for us. Since she can't talk (beyond her continual babbling), we have no idea what the issue was. All we know is that a lot of crying and sitting up in the crib was involved, and no amount of intervention from us was helping. We even tried Children's Tylenol. She did eventually fall asleep, but it meant that she was still tired when she awoke today. Then this morning Beia fell backwards and hit her head (and bit her lip) while playing at home before daycare. Sigh. Presumably—hopefully—she had a better day at daycare. Now asleep for the night, we're hoping for a solid's night sleep for everyone and a happier day tomorrow. At least today she looked cute in her new "Sneech" sweater.

Ten Months

Friday not only marked our last day with Cindy, but it also marked Beia's ten month birthday. Beia seems to have fully transitioned into daycare—although we all still miss seeing Cindy every day. I know Cindy was hoping to see Beia take her first steps. Beia has been practicing standing and "surfing" the furniture, so those steps seem imminent. One fun thing that is already happening as a result of being in daycare—Beia is eating more and more finger foods, rather than the purees we'd been feeding her. Also, she now on daycare's set nap schedule, which we are trying to uphold even on weekends. This seems to be making her a better sleeper—knock on wood!

First Full Week

Today marks the start of the first full week of daycare for Beia...and the last week we will be with our beloved nanny, Cindy. It's hard to separate out my feelings for Beia moving into daycare from how I feel about parting ways with Cindy. Cindy has been a wonderful addition to our family ever since she started with us back in February, when Beia was only three months old.

I can't believe that we've only known Cindy seven months...and that Beia will be ten months on Friday and is now old enough to be in daycare. This moment in time is bittersweet, but we believe we are making the right decision for Beia—although we will all miss Cindy terribly. From now until Friday we'll be taking daily pictures of them, as we realize now that we don't have any documentation of their time together. This first one is a good one, and we are also starting off the week right with a great day in daycare today.