That would pretty well cover life with bug in the last few days: chompy. And by 'chompy' we mean lots of eating, lots of movement - yet STILL no appearance - of her teeth, and lots of sore nipples. Ok, well just two of those, but you get the idea. Plus, she's been doing this really cute little chomping thing with her jaw, as though she's flexing her sore gums. All day long...chomp, chomp, chomp. Very cute.
Exhibit A: Meal time
Exhibit B: Toys
Exhibit C: She even chomps on balls!
Exhibit D: No, not even socks are exempt
Enough with the exhibits, mom - I'm hungry!
And back to those, er, nipples. It seems that Zoe's been eavesdropping on my inner monologue about how I'll be starting to wean her soon now that she's almost a year old. So, she's decided to help make the transition a little less hard and emotional. She's turned mean again! No, not really mean... but she's been working her burgeoning teeth out on me while she nurses with gusto. Add to that one biting and pulling incident and OUCH, this mom is getting ready to call it quits! I haven't stopped all together though, but rather have chosen to lighten up (way up) on the pumping I was doing to keep up my abundant supply and to up the sippy cup offering. That combination appears to be working - I'm still able to nurse her at least three times a day, offer her plenty of sippy cup milk (breast combined with a bit of cow's) and HEAL. As committed as I am and continue to be to making it to the one year mark, I'm really getting to be OK with this new phase out approach. I figure at this rate, with the frozen supply I've got stockpiled, that she'll still get breastmilk even after she turns the big 0-1.
I will miss the closeness, though, and her little face when she feeds, and holding her head in my hand, and her fingers. She's growing so fast and it's so exciting to all her new skills and bits of personality shining through, but there's this huge part of me that aches for the tiny baby she used to be. Fortunately, though, I've begun to be able to see glimpses of that tiny baby in her face and some of her current noises and expressions - which I'm so thankful for because for a long time there, I'd lost that ability. But perhaps it's not so much my seeing glimpses of the infant than it is my ability to see glimpses of Zoe and who she'll always be.
Zoe's been blossoming in new ways lately, with lots of chatter (she's got mom's gift for gab - watch out, dad!) and lots of mimicking. SO FUN! Her voice is maturing a bit, so the gab and mimicking have lots to do with expressing her new sounds. She's been talking a lot with her hands lately, too. She's learned a few new signs associated with eating - of course, my girl! 'Water' & 'yogurt' & 'banana' along with her good old 'more' and 'milk' are regular fare come meal time. She's also been waving hello and goodbye pretty much on cue and does a darling lip-smack wave (think 'The Dating Game') - even with a 'MMMmmmmoi' now and again. And, she's great at recognizing pix of herself and others on video and will fill your ear with her latest stories. All in all, with her health returned (at least for now since daycare's been closed for the past two weeks), she's a complete and utter joy to be around. She's busy and it's easy to tire keeping up with her, but it's all fun. Her huge spirit can't help but peak through and pull you in.
I'll close with some other recent cuteness:
Swinging in the new year with daddy, at the park
Cute from behind :)
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