Sleep Update

Gwen slept through the night last night for the first time since October! She did wake up at about 11pm to nurse (which was reasonable since she didn't nurse before bed since I was at class). Last night we decided we weren't going to use the monitor anymore- that if she needed anything she would let us know (we had been tending to her at the smallest peep, not wanting her to wake up too much, and thus extend the time and efforts to put her back to sleep). I woke up at 4am surprised that I was sleeping without Gwen attached to my boob, and to be honest, almost missing her. At 4:45am I was in and out of sleep and heard her saying "Meh. Meh. Meh." Her word for milk. She wasn't crying or screaming it out, it is the tone she uses to call me when she knows I am in the other room. I did turn the monitor to see if she was whimpering or crying softly...nothing. She said it a few more times, not as enthusiastically, and then she stopped and presumably went back to sleep without a fuss....ALL BY HERSELF! She, and thus everyone, woke up refreshed and rejuvenated at 7:30am. It was awesome! Hopefully this is not a onetime event.

16 months! (almost)

Gwen amazes us everyday. She is so active and purposeful with her play. She is like a little butterfly going from toy to toy, or book to book. Sometimes she seems a little frantic like there isn't enough time to look at everything, and other times she will explore intently for numerous minutes the same toy or book. We have many activities we do outside the house (she is just too exhausting to entertain and is so social, she needs to get out of the house). If we have a free morning or afternoon around the house she will get her shoes and her jacket, go to the front door and wave at me saying "Bye?" We then do a little walk down the street (sometimes in our pajamas) to satisfy her need to be out and about. She is definitely into accessories and over the course of the day we will change her shoes numerous times (lately she has been going back and forth between her pink boots and ladybug rain boots). She has favorite sweaters/jackets. Though she is starting to display a little bit of the "I want to be naked behavior"- which I think is just evidence of her inner turmoil of being a toddler. A few times she has demanded that her clothes be taken off (she tries to do it herself and freaks out if she doesn't get the help she needs). Stripped down to her diaper (or birthday suit if there is a bath in her future) she runs around the house screaming with joy at her bodies freedom. She is just amazing- a real little person with likes and dislikes, and she isn't afraid of anything (except the garbage truck).

Reminscing About Christmas

This was our first Christmas together as a family, and it was lovely. I took great joy in decorating our house and am going to see how long I can get away with keeping the decorations up. Gwen got all kinds of goodies for Christmas and seemed to enjoy the festivities. Some of her favorite gifts: her new silver shoes (pictured), the multicolored knit sweater her Auntie Angelique sent (pictured- seriously as soon as she unwrapped it she started carrying it around the house and trying to put it on), her 'baby' which she is lifting up to show in the picture of her and her Auntie B (the poor doll is moving so fast you can hardly see it!), and of course all the ribbons! I was amazed at Gwen and her new doll which came with a bottle- she actually tries to feed it the bottle and I wasn't expecting to see pretend play so soon. She now knows the sign for baby, orange, please, and hat. She has also been doing a lot of sensory exploration, like shaking her head back and forth, spinning around, putting her ears under the bath water so she can hear underwater, and looking at things upside down and from different angles (like in the picture of her on the stairs). She is just fascinated by everything. I can't wait for next Christmas when she 'gets it' a little bit more.

Gwen's First Year

Untitled from Arin Crumley on Vimeo.