September 2011

Autumn spent the better part of her day last weekend looking like this....

Today I got to spend the whole day with her because Mrs. Rachel can't work on Rosh Hashanah. Such a bummer for me. Anyway, we went to the mall to play in the new Looney Toons kids area. What a cluster that place is...and on a Friday? Autumn didn't mind a bit, that stuff is right up her alley. Anyway, I was looking through the pics I snapped on my phone when I came across this:

This was taken right after she unsuccessfully attempted to swan dive off of a tot-sized bridge. Apparently she doesn't mind crash landings either. But again, check out that mop on her head! Strangers and friends alike have been commenting on how much hair she has fairly often these days. I'm not really sure where she gets it -- I was bald until I was like five, and I'm pretty sure that five is about the same age Brian started to go bald (sorry Bri, but it's almost true). Even now, a pony tail of my hair is about the width of my pinky finger -- and that's now that it's started to regrow after losing so much of it postpartum!

And for a parting shot -- Aunt Sara snapped this pic on her phone on the way to watch the Broncos lose (again) last weekend.

Go Broncos?

What the hell!? Who stole our baby and tried to fake us out with this wild-haired, toothy, walking (almost running) and almost-talking little person? Ok, so I know that I claim every month that time has flown, Autumn has changed so much, is becoming so amazing and will soon be driving and going to college, but seriously...this month it feels like she has completely metamorphosed into a true kid. Even though she was a fast crawler, and into everything, just a short month or two ago, it somehow feels so much different having a smurf-sized walker in the house. Crawling is now only reserved for those desperate times when the grass is too long for walking, and for those super desperate times when we make her wear skinny jeans that sag to her mid-thighs and restrict her range of motion. I'd say that she's been a full time walker for at least the past two weeks, but I guess it's been almost two months since she took her first steps. She's playing around with the idea of running too, but thankfully can only take a few successful running strides for now.

Wouldn't you think that all of this new mobility would cause our "big" eater to double her daily intake? We would have thought that. On the contrary, however, Autumn seems much too busy for food these days. She's actually become a little picky, and even when she really likes something, she tends to find it much more worth her time to throw the food on the ground for Wally to eat. It's really annoying. She tends to like most veggies, hates quinoa, loves bananas, loves eggs, really loves string cheese and mac n' cheese, hates cottage cheese, suddenly hates mango -- you get the idea. There doesn't seem to be much consistency, or predictability, in this area. She's even refusing bottles before bedtime on occasion. Thankfully, she's kept all of her thigh rolls and muffin top. These both need to stay at least until Halloween. She's going to be Bamm Bamm Rubble.

Speaking of Bamm Bamm; Autumn still really enjoys picking up, pushing and/or carrying heavy objects around and slamming them on the floor. At Dax's first birthday party last weekend she took a liking to his baby walker. When she got bored of walking around and using it for it's intended purpose, she optimally positioned her hands on either side of it, made a huge grunting/straining noise, and lifted the damn thing off the ground. This was right after I had just told Dax's dad Duane that we often think she's kind of weird.

As of today, Autumn has two words that she uses in context -- "uh oh!" and "hi". Is "uh oh" even a word? She started saying that about three weeks ago. It was "uh oh" for everything. "Uh oh", I just dropped my last bite of food off my tray and Wally's eating it. "Uh oh", I just walked into the office and totally F'd up the printer. "Uh oh", there's that same tree in the front yard that has been there all my life. So, if "uh oh" is a word, does it count if it's used for everything a baby needs to make a comment about? If not, then we'll count that she started saying "hi" today. I'm not totally convinced that she would do it without prompting though, and that's fine. I feel like the longer she goes without really talking, the longer we can hold onto that little part of her that's still a baby. Unless something totally explodes in her little brain this month, I have a feeling she'll be heading into her second year with a very little vocabulary.
Oh, but she does appear to be soaking in the receptive language. She started pointing a few weeks ago too (see? A lot really did happen last month). She loves pointing at the ugly pine tree in front of our house. Every single time we go by it. If we say, "where's the tree?" she'll point to the closest one. She'll also point to her dad and Wally. I'm starting to see where her priorities lie, as she will not point to mom. Mrs. Rachel says that Autumn can point to her eyes and nose, and put her arms up and down on command...but we'll believe that when we see it. When we tried to get her to do that this evening she blew some raspberries and ran for Wally's bed. As you'll see below, that is her absolute favorite hangout these days. Sick. When she's not covered in her own drool and messy-eatingness, she's completely drowning in dog fur. I guess we'll keep her anyways.