Odessa, 17 months old

17 months old:

I swear that I fall more in love with you every day. The experience of having a child and watching her grow is like no other and one that I am so grateful to be able to have. The love that I have for you is so different from any other love: it is immeasurable.

You are almost 1 1/2 years-old. Today I went through the tub of your teeny, tiny baby clothes making decisions on what to keep and what to give away. I cannot believe that you ever fit into some of those little outfits. I miss your tiny babyhood but love the toddler you so much! I look forward to every day that we have together.

So, I think that being 17 months old is very much about making messes. I try to be patient and let you explore but my "type A" personality tends to get in the way. My rule of thumb is any mess is okay as long as it isn't a food mess. Those are just too hard to clean-up.

Gathering also seems to be big right now. You will spend lots of time gathering items that are similar and putting them into a little pile (paper bits, silverware, soda cans etc). When you realize that I am watching you, you roll your eyes or make a cheesy grin and turn around the other direction. I think the toys that you play with the most are Q-tips, cotton balls, decks of cards, and band aids.

Your ability and interest in entertaining yourself has increased exponentially recently. You will spend twenty minutes or more looking through books, magazines, or a deck of cards. Right now your favorite books are "Grumpy Bird" and the Corduroy lift-a-flap books. We read to you every night but it seems that you prefer to "read" to us. Which is adorable.

Now I am also really noticing how you imitate everything! It is so cute to see how you carry around the cell phone to your ear with a purse on your shoulder or watching you "feed" your stuffed animals. This morning you were pretending to drink out of an empty cup, complete wit the "mmm...augh" sound effects. Other imitations: folding laundry, opening garbage bags, wrapping presents, putting away dishes, making silly faces, eye rolling, nose-blowing... The list could go on and on.

So many words! The latest one is "up". Early this morning we were sleeping in bed and you tugged on my shirt and said "up" because you wanted it out of your way so that you could nurse. You also say "Golla!" a lot and I am really not sure what it means. "Ma golla!" means "nurse me". Another favorite is "hot". You say it all the time. Many times in context and some others not. You will also put two words together which is unusual for your young age. You will also repeat almost any word that we ask you to. I got you to say "I love you" this month but it sounded more like "I la". Good enough for me.

Sleep. What new parent doesn't obsess over it or the lack of it? I did. I read all the books but never followed the advice and then worried that you would never be able to fall asleep on your own, that I was harming you for life. Now, at seventeen months old, many nights go by that you fall asleep on your own and don't wake to nurse until early morning. Wow. I really never thought I would ever see the day when that would happen. This gives me courage to follow my parenting instincts.

I don't know quite how to end this post. I feel that I need to say something profound and yet I don't know what. I guess that a simple "I La" with have to suffice.

Winter Berries

Trippin on cough meds

The cold/flu has invaded the Crutchfield household. Larry had it first and he seems to have recovered at this point. But last weekend I got a sore throat and cough. For the first few days, I felt really good except for a sore throat and laryngitis. Mostly it was problematic at night when the cough would continually wake me and Odessa up. I played musical beds switching between the couch and my bed and back again.

Then I got worse...I don't know what happened. Suddenly I just felt like total crap all the time. Pressure in the head, sore throat, sore chest from coughing, the works. I bought an over the counter cough medicine at Target. Nothing spectacular. I took it that night and it seemed to help a little, maybe.

The end of this boring story is coming up. So today we went out for breakfast (our weekend routine) and back home for a nice, long nap. When I woke, I decided to run some errands with Odessa. So I took some of my over-the-counter cough med having not eaten lunch. I really didn't think anything of it. Then the Alice In Wonderland tripping began... Dizziness, out-of-body sensation, feeling as though I can't process incoming information and as if my mind is three steps behind my body, weird dream-like feeling, unable to see clearly or process what I was seeing. I felt kind of drunk but without being relaxed. Instead I felt panicked and scared and worried that I was lapsing into a psychosis. You read about that. One day a happy person and wife and mom, and then next she is seeing mice running through the walls locked up in a padded room. So feeling as though I may be on the brink of a psychotic break, I am trying to think of what I should tell my husband that I won't be able to tell him later? But my thinking is so cloudy and roller-coaster like that I can't even think of what I should say. Panic.

Awful scary not fun. Phew I think it is almost over. But if not, at least I wrote it down and people may be able to piece together what happened before I totally lost it. That is, if anyone reads this which I know that my family is terrible about doing. When I was a kid, I couldn't get them to read my weekly publication the "Donesley Chronicle" so it really is no surprise.

Bite "O" Apple

Odessa bit into this apple and it is the cutest, tiny apple bite that we have ever seen. Thank goodness I had my camera on me so that I could preserve the memory forever ;)

Yes, we are first-time-crazy-about-our-baby parents. I wonder if that could be an official diagnosis. Should we update the DSM?

Breastfeeding & the Workplace in Oregon

Last week, Oregon's Senate passed HB 2372. The law requires most employers to provide two 30-minute unpaid rest periods for pumping during an 8-hour work day. Employers are also required to provide a private location for the employee to express milk. The law does not cover employers with fewer than 25 employees, and it exempts employers if the requirements pose an “undue hardship” in light of the size, financial resources, nature or structure of the employer’s business. This new law comes with a stiff penalty for violations: the Oregon Commissioner of the Bureau of Labor and Industries may assess a civil penalty of up to $1,000 for willful violations of the law.

(from http://urbanmamas.typepad.com//activistas/breastfeeding/index.html, December 5, 2007)

Christmas Photos

I took Odessa in to JCPenney last month to get some "professional" photos of her taken in her holiday dress (okay one of her many holiday dresses).

Photo shoots were a lot easier back before she could walk! For one, she can now just get up and walk away when she decides that she is disinterested in what the photographer and I are doing. Secondly, all those "tricks" that used to work to make her smile, now have no effect at all. She will just roll her eyes at me.

Hurricane Odessa

Month 16 seems to be all about making "messes". Some days I am more patient with the unending clutter, others not so much.

Rite of Passage: New Seasons Car Cart

Odessa rode in the "car" shopping cart at New Seasons for the 1st time. At first, she looked at me like I was abandoning her under a bridge. But then I showed her how to "beep" the car horn and she was hooked.

Also you can see her very cute scarf in the photo.

Forestry Museum, November 2007

Artichoke

Odessa loves artichokes. Unfortunately it is very time consuming to pick the pieces off that she can eat. She doesn't get the "scrape against your teeth" move quite yet. So there is a lot of whining for more, more!