Blog, oh blog. And baby, oh baby.

I'm having a bit of a blog existential crisis. What is ameliorate me? Why do I blog? What is the purpose of my blog's life?

Mostly, I'm having a hard time writing for a living during the day then finding the time to give it up for free on my blog. Yeah, I said it.

Folks, I have somehow become the busiest person I know. Doesn't everyone say that ("I'm soooo busy!") and your first reaction is "WHOA SELFISH. I know a mother of six, (three adopted) who is involved in extensive charity work, sits on the Council of Foreign Relations AND works full-time." Thanks, Angelina Jolie. Making all of us other moms look like crap, one Ethiopian child at a time.

I really never wanted my blog to turn into the brag-about-my-daughter corner. But, despite my compulsiveness to write everything down, I haven't been tracking her milestones. And parenthood makes you second-rate to your offspring anyway - people want to hear about your kid more than you. Sooo monthly update Peanut bloggy things I go. I'll attempt to make them interesting and entertaining rather than the disgusting "She puked - and then ate it" (I'll leave that up to your imagination if it really happened or not) or braggy "She just finished reading 'A Tale of Two Cities,' is up for a Nobel Peace Prize for her volunteer work with the whales and designed her own sustainable clothing line." Gotta still be humble here.

At 11 months (...so during her 10th month of life, she is 11 months today, this is yet another annoying number facet to bearing children), Peanut:



- Crawls like a pirate. One leg crawls normally, the other does this weird, pegged-leg, arched walk thing. Picture any movie with possessed people -- that's what it looks like.
- Can crawl up the stairs. Well at least "one stair," until she gets mad and wants help.
- Seems brave...until she gets scared of the stupidest things like the vacuum (reasonably understandable, it's loud) my exercise ball (an ongoing fear since 7 months of age) and a roll of paper towels (WTF?).
- Finally likes reading. I was pretty nervous about this one, because she usually just attempted to eat the books. Now she reads them. "The Very Hungry Caterpillar" is her favorite. I think a story about another soul constantly being hungry speaks to her.



- Wants everything I use. My camera, laptop, purse, cell phone, planner, books, magazines. She will go to great lengths to get it.



- She's not so much of a toy girl. See above.
- GJ is her favorite. She cries when he leaves the room and lunges for him when I'm holding her. She used to cry when I'd leave the room too, and lunge for me when GJ would hold her. Not anymore. I'm trying to figure out what I did to offend her (this blog?).



- Spends Fridays at her Aunt Megan's. This is GJ's sister who has three little girls and is kind enough to take on a fourth one day a week while I work. Peanut is never sad when I leave her here.
- Is a little beast at church. She pulls the hair of the people in front of us, screams if we've been walking with her and then try to sit, attacks other people's purses, grabs the old people's walkers and attempts to escape on foot (or knees). The only time she's calm is when she's getting attention from the 12- to 18-year-old young women. She refuses to sleep at church and usually returns home to pass out for an undetermined amount of time.



- Understands "No," but still exerts her independence if she doesn't want to listen to you. Also will shake her head "No" at you if she doesn't like what you're doing (wiping her face, trying to feed her vegetables, putting clothes on her).
- Says "mama," (first word -- take that dad), "hi" and "yeah." She put two together for the first time the other morning -- "Hi mama." I melted.
- Claps if you say "clap" or "Yeah Peanut." Will wave (backwards, at her own face) and says "hi" if you say "hi" to her. Sometimes I feel like she's my little puppy that does tricks.
- In that vein, pants like a dog when she gets excited.
- ...and freaks out if you shake a box of cereal.
- ...and will eat out of your hand.
- Finds endless joy in turning around in circles on her butt.
- Holds her breath, shakes her body then screams when she gets excited.



- Addicted to puffs. These are little baby-friendly cereal that dissolve easily. It's her baby crack.



- Animal lover.



- Mimics me. This is hilarious when I am having a particularly impassioned discussion (I'm an animated speaker) and she's all of a sudden babbling loudly, raising her arm in the air like me.
- Now that she's mobile, she follows me from room to room, stopping occasionally to spin on her butt.
- Goes insane if anyone is eating around her and she is not. I never realized just how often people are randomly eating in daily life -- at the park, store, office, church, post office.
- Has become a picky eater. This happened after our San Diego trip (my apologies to moms who used to say "Vacations screw up my kid's schedule" and I'd think "Right..."). She used to eat anything -- now, not so much. Food she doesn't like immediately gets chucked on the floor.
- Is TICKED I put her pacifier on a pacifier clip or chain. Because this is another thing she loves to throw.
- Loves cars. I'm not talking about real cars, although she's excellent on trips. I'm talking about child-sized cars she can pretend to drive.



- LOVES my dad. If she even catches a glimpse of him, she will lunge for him.
- Refuses to watch TV. Not that I've tried. OK, I totally have. "Sesame Street," "Little Einstein," any annoying babyish television show -- she just crawls away.
- Had her first camping trip. I thought this wouldn't be worth it (and I'm a camper), because you have to bring SO MUCH to accommodate a baby, and you basically have to carry a baby the whole time or risk her eating dirt and crawling into the fire pit. But it was fun, she slept great (through a wind and rain storm!) and loves the outdoors.



- Is a total water baby. She immediately flops onto her stomach when in the kid pool or tub. She kicks her legs in a real pool, loves the ocean and likes putting her face under water.





- Gets all confused over the funky circus-esque options on my laptop's Photo Booth.



(RSS folks: Look at me, I'm full feed again! And with a self-made, probably unenforceable copyright!)