That's a lot of talking...just wish I knew what you were saying

Miss C has an ever expanding vocabulary and her understanding of what I am saying to her is increasing as well. Of course, we think she is the smartest baby ever and enjoy just watching her motor around talking to everything and doing everything.

Tonight I sat on the floor while she walked back and forth between the sofa and the ottoman with her stuff giraffe from her old floor exerciser in hand. She was talking up a storm and having quite a good time. I guess the giraffe understood her because I certainly didn't. Back and forth she walked rattling the giraffe and having the time of her life.

The good news is that she does sign a lot and if I am paying attention and not fully understanding what she is saying I pick up on the signs. The ones she most often uses are more (accompanied by "mo-ah"), eat, all done and has her own sign for when she wants to be picked up. If we don't respond quickly enough to her verbal "mo-ah" she will sign it as well. We are definitely all learning together.

Happy Birthday Daddy

No stopping her now

Last night I was washing dishes and looked up to see Miss C standing in the middle of the family room. Then she just took off walking like she had been doing it forever. And now, she walks. Not just a few steps, but everywhere.

They had been telling me at the day care that she had been trying out her walking skills and that soon she'd be walking. They were right. Today has been filled with her walking drunkenly around the house. A couple of times she smacked her face on the floor which resulted in some tears shed but no blood thankfully.

It is hilarious to see her little butt wiggling and arms flapping as she maneuvers around. She seems so tiny to be walking. Our little girl is growing up.

In other news, Miss C's primary caregiver is no longer her caregiver. I am not fully sure what transpired but I believe my reporting her sleeping on the job set a ball rolling. I've felt pretty conflicted about the whole situation because I honestly would never wish anyone to lose their job, especially in these economic times. BUT...Miss C is my responsiblity and I have to do what is in her best interest. Unfortunately in order to keep her safe I had to address a shitty situation that resulted in a girl losing her job. No matter how guilty I feel about that, I would have NEVER forgiven myself if something had happened to Miss C or any other kid in her room and I had said nothing.

Updates

• We finally graduated to a new car seat for Miss C. I researched and finally opted to get the Britax Marathon.
• She's getting two new bottom molars and loves brushing her teeth with her new toothbrush.
• I've figured out that if we let her have the perception that she is doing it herself than she goes with the flow much better.
• Shocked that I have a severely independent child? Me either. Haha!
• Anyway, when we eat, she gets her own spoon and will feed herself while we feed her. When we brush her teeth she has to do it and then we do it.
• We were making good progress with walking and then Miss C decided she would prefer to crawl. I think she is lacking the confidence for whatever reason...maybe she stumbled a the daycare or something. She can walk and we are working on helping her build that confidence back up.
• The latest thing she does is mimic things we do like put the ribbon in her hair, try to put her socks and shoes on her feet and try to put her bib on. It is hilarious and she is so proud of her efforts.
• Words that she is using: More, MaMa, DaDa, Hi, Bye...sometimes we understand other times we don't.
• She'll shake her head yes and no when asked a question.
• She'll lean into people with her arms out to "hug" and extends her arms to be picked up.
• When we sing Itsy Bitsy Spider she moves her hands in a distinct way that she only does for that song. SP has had to learn the words quickly.
• If we say yeh or clap, she will clap.
• We use the cup throughout the day and only do formula in the AM and PM.
• She eats jar food rarely now and primarly eats what we eat. She actually LOVES to eat what we eat and we encourage that.
• There are so many things that she is doing now it's difficult to capture everything.

Differences

I was reading what Dawn was writing about Mia's transition to her new room at daycare and was thinking about the differences between the two day cares. Dawn has never mentioned anyone SLEEPING at Mia's which is a BIG difference, but there's other differences as well.

Miss C's room is considered an infant room. The age range is 3 months to 2 years. In her room...The Cardinal Room, they sleep in both cribs and on cots depending on their age. Miss C is still in a crib.

Kids sit in high chairs and at a table and while Miss C is a high chair girl the other day she did decide to take a seat at the table to eat breakfast. Miss C eats all the meals they serve there, with only minor exception and is using her cup and working on utensils.

They regularly have center-wide themes as well as individual room themes and activities. She has painted and drawn some beautifully unique pictures for us. We've also participated "color" days where each day they learned about a new color and were asked to wear that color.

The room is set up with activities for the walkers, crawlers, sitters, rollers and bouncy-seaters. Some talk. Some don't. Most cry at some time or another.

I guess these things were just normal to me. I didn't know any different. The change will come for us when she transitions to the toddler room which will come all too soon I fear.

The week of naps

There are all these layers of feelings that go along with being a "working mom". For me, I always thought I would be a stay at home mom so the decision to go back to work was tough for me. Once I got over the feelings of guilt for even thinking I might actually enjoy working and need a career outside of the home, I had to wrestle with the issue of childcare.

That's difficult...giving up control of the primary care of your child to strangers. No one can ever do it as good as you do and there are so many risks associated with group care. At this point in Miss C's life I had started to adjust to her new day care. I was working on accepting all the positive things the day care had to offer while not focusing on my anxiety over her not being cared for a) by me and/or b) in our home.

Overall, I like the activities they support at the day care and all of the things Miss C learns and does while there. She paints and draws, reads and sings, plays A LOT, learns sign language, etc. She also interacts with so many different people from the care givers to the kids in her class and other classes.

Then yesterday, for the second time, I arrived to pick her up and found her primary caregiver asleep. ASLEEP. There stood my baby next to this sleeping person who is supposed to keep her safe and out of harms way. Thankfully, there were two other caregivers in the room so she was not entirely unsupervised. But, the class was full. Every kid was there. And she was ASLEEP.

I have to tell you I am a wreck. I spoke with the facility manager immediately. Then today I was distraught thinking about her being safe...would her caregiver treat her differently when she was reprimanded for sleeping on the job? Would she fall asleep again? Was she ok?

The thing is, I like her caregiver. Miss C likes her. But it is unacceptable to fall asleep when you are caring for a child...for my child. I am trying to trust that this issue will be addressed and will not happen again. I have to tell you though, if it does, either Miss C will be moved to another room or we will be removing her from the facility.