First, we summoned ourselves to the living room and kept Meredith in with us by blocking off both exits with the ottoman and high chair. Pretty creative if you ask me. Next, we watched to see what she would do. Other than the occasional pull at the window blinds or the pounding of the TV screen, she did phenomenally well. What a Big Girl!!! She was able to entertain herself by turning pages in her books, chasing a ball around, and of course, perfecting her walking skills by going in large circles around the room. I probably should let her entertain herself more often like this in the future so that she isn't always dependent upon me for her entertainment, but hopefully I won't be deathly sick like this again. I didn't take any pictures to mark this occasion, because the house was much too messy! Thankfully, Meredith has not yet caught the stomach bug and hopefully never will.
Here are some other things she has begun to do over the past week:
- She is PACI FREE! We've tried "paci bans" in the past, only to end up giving in after a day or so. Well, this time, she has gone one week without a paci. I think she's old enough now to understand how to calm herself down, usually by sucking one of her fingers. We never used a paci a ton with her, but it was a crutch for us (primarily when in public places) and her and I'm hoping this continues.
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| She usually likes to suck on her middle finger or ring finger. |
- She can now drink from a straw! A sippy cup straw that is....
- Yesterday, we noticed that she is indeed learning words from her videos (the only TV we let her watch is her "Your Baby Can Read" videos, twice a day). When you ask her to put her arms up, she will put one or both straight up in the air. It's really funny to watch when she does it while also walking. Also, when one of the girls on the video looks at her hand, Meredith will put her hand in front of her and turn it from side to side.
- She getting another tooth! :) Her second one in the top middle is still coming in and yesterday we noticed that she has a third up top starting to come in. I use to wonder if she would ever get teeth, since her first didn't come until 8 months, and now we're wondering if we should begin a special fund for braces.
- She also now figured how to climb (on objects other than the stairs). I was in denial that this would happen. Not that I wanted Meredith to never be able to climb into a chair or bed, but I'm now picturing accidents around ever turn. Here are her action shots (Note: she was supervised - notice my hand in the pictures? While my first thought was "whoa" she's climbing and going to hurt herself, my close second thought was that I needed to grab the camera!)
