...would you ever guess, looking at this cherubic face, that I am the Destroyer of Worlds? At least, that's what Daddy and Mommy call me sometimes. Not sure why, although I suppose SOME people might think that beelining for anything that's in any sort of order (like the stacking rings, or the tower of boxes toy) and knocking it over is sort of destructive.
An example of me NOT being destructive, but rather, creative ("dancing" is creative, right?):
Just some pictures of the birthday girl with various presents...from top left: lolling about with Tama the Tortoise combo stuffed toy/pillow/blanket; playing in the personalized toybox also from Grandma C and Akong; inspecting one of the cool boxes in the box-in a box- in a box toy from great-aunt Xiaogu; standing up and showing off the 1st birthday princess crown, again; not quite sure what to do with the pink popper toy from Susan (nanny); and, caught standing next to the fun Leapfrog activity table from Uncle Joe, Aunt Kim, and cousin Alex. Yay!
Also, below: pictures of the Chinese New Year/Valentine's/birthday weekend (it was a full weekend!) with Akong and Grandma C...
Yeah, it is really hard to believe! The little bundle of joy we first saw 1 year ago is now a sturdy, happy, almost-toddler! As you can see in the above video, she enjoyed her birthday quite a bit.
Although it is a little sad not to have this little single armful of baby any more, she is so much more fun now than a newborn, I have to say. Smiling and giggling (funny mouth noises are great fun right now!), motoring around, paying a bit more attention to certain toys... I'm sure I have many more deep thoughts I could share here about my feelings on this whole issue, but to be honest, it's all I can do to even put posts on her blog at all...don't have it in me right now to go digging deeper.
Lyra says: Thanks to all the friends and relatives for the birthday presents...I really did not have enough toys before this (Mommy says, that's not true!). Thank you Grandma and Akong for cleaning me up after the smash cake!
Skillz and other things:
Motor: Still crawling all over the place and cruising where there are handholds. Also standing unsupported more often and for longer periods of time. Not quite able to walk yet, though she can walk if you stand next to her and hold her hand. Daddy claims she took a couple steps towards him, and today while standing drinking her milk (i.e., distracted), she definitely took ONE step. It is definitely harder to hang out with her as she must be pretty much constantly watched. Everything must be picked up, examined, tasted and/or bitten. Sometimes the bitten includes Mommy or Daddy's leg.
Language: Doesn't seem to (consistently) have actual words yet, or maybe we just don't recognize the Lyra dialect of English. Sometimes she seems to say "da"! when she sees Daddy. Also, I think sometimes "mamamama" during meals is "more." Today at dinner, I swear, I thought I heard her say "more." Sadly, she does hear that word more frequently than "Mama", I think.
Foods: Still loving her ability to eat dairy, has liked sharp cheddar, Monterey Jack, and swiss cheeses. Today for dinner had tofu with sweet potato. Tried quinoa and mushrooms for the first time (along with peas, not new) yesterday and today, wouldn't really eat it until other flavoring was added. Also today had her first peanut butter (on toast)!!
Sleep: Still sleeping the sleep of the righteous (or something) from about 6:30ish to 6:30ish. Man, are we lucky! Still taking 2 naps a day (today's experiment to let her go longer before she napped - in an attempt to move her to one longer nap - failed utterly).
Stats: 24 lbs. 13 oz, 32.25 inches (average height of a 20-month old!)
This is Lyra at the Weathervane restaurant near our house, for her (early) birthday celebration dinner with my parents. Here she is showing off the skill she developed fully in the past few days (or else she developed the desire to actually use it!) once Grandma used some hard love and just put the sippy cup on the tray in front of her and didn't hold it up for her to suck. I don't know why this particular thing she is doing makes me so happy. Literally, every time yesterday and today she picked up her cup yet again and not only put it to her mouth (which she did very occasionally before), but properly tipped it back enough that the milk actually went into her mouth (which she didn't seem to get before), I felt so, so happy and proud. She even completely emptied 4 oz of milk tonight! Maybe it especially thrills me because it is so obviously purposeful, unlike her standing unassisted for several seconds, which just seems accidental.
Now that Lyra is mobile, crawling (very fast sometimes!) and cruising, we have stay much sharper than before...otherwise things happen....like coffee mugs getting knocked over, slippers and shoes getting mouthed. She is starting to stand sometimes for a few seconds at a time. Walking independently can't be far behind...then we will really be in trouble!
Very Cute Things She Started Doing Lately: She is babbling even more than before, but some of the noises are completely new, little "uh" and "oh" and "wo" and "oooh" sounds when she is pulling herself up, crawling, etc. It's very, very cute as she sounds like she's making tremendous efforts to do these things. Not sure, but I think sometimes (especially when eating) the "mamama" sounds may mean "more." Flailing her hands toward the bottle or bowl also means "more." Flapping, slapping, and pushing at incoming bottles or spoons, very clearly means "no more!!" These actions also lead to lots of various food products on the floor, Lyra's hands, the highchair, and mommy. Recently she started frequently doing this kicking motion back and forth with her legs straight - while lying flat on the changing table, or being held up in the air...it's very cute, and I think when I start saying "kicky-kicky-kicky" it makes her do it again.
Unfortunate New Things: She used to love "brushing" her teeth. Now, she very firmly closes her mouth, shakes her head, and even sticks out her tongue in her efforts to avoid the dreaded toothbrush.
Exciting New Things: Lyra can now deal with dairy!! No more "milk protein intolerance." She loves cheese (sharp cheddar cubes - yummy snack), whole milk (completely off her pricey formula - though we were getting it free through health insurance anyway), yogurt. Thank goodness...it seriously expands the range of "real" food we can feed her. Also, she has been off the Dr. Brown bottles for the last month or so. SO happy about that...those bottle parts were such a pain to wash.
Newest Foods Tried: Besides dairy products, curried fish, Indian food (Tandoori chicken, chapati bread, aloo gobi - too spicy!, saag paneer), pasta, whole peas, corn (of course, the kernels came out whole in ...her you-know-what).
In less than a week she turns 1 year old. It is almost unbelievable to me that an entire year has passed...so much has happened and we have so loved watching her change and grow...
Finally getting around to putting up some pictures of Lyra's first Christmas! This week was spent in Florida, half on the east coast (West Palm Beach, at the Chuang condo family compound) and half on the west coast (Sarasota at Grandma and Grandpa Plerhoples's home). The best part was having everyone from both sides of the family together, even if briefly. It was so great to have all 6 kids there with the 3 grandchildren. Alex (Joe and Kim's son) got to meet Cora (Tim and Alicia's daughter) and Lyra for the first time, and Lyra got to see cousin Cora for the second time. They are all basically the same age - or at least we will think of them that way eventually, since 1-2 months, which has seemed like this gigantic difference for the past year, will mean nothing later on. So here it is: Lyra was born February 15, Alex March 27, and Cora April 2...bam bam bam!
Lyra also got to meet certain Plerhoples family members for the first time - Great-Aunt Stella and Great-Aunt Jim. She also of course had fun and flirted with various other new friends. This was also the first time Lyra ever flew on an airplane, and she did great! Well, on the way back up she was a bit whiny but when you've missed your morning nap...you're going to be cranky! And how could I forget...first time in a pool. Loved it, of course...
She did not really get the concept of opening gifts and so they were all opened for her. She got lots of cool presents and currently most of them are strewn around our family room floor, or tucked away in her little Radio Flyer wagon. Can't wait until next Christmas, when she will actually be cognizant of what is going on, and very excited!
Well, it's been a really busy couple months for our family....Xmas week with family, the St. Lucia vacation...busy parents working...I will post a more detailed post later regarding the recent vacations, but for now, before I forget, I just wanted to mention a couple of really endearing things Lyra has been doing: turning the book pages at bedtime (as long as you let the flap loose only when you're done reading the page, you don't have premature page-turning), and swaying in time to various "musical pieces", including off-key singing, drumming on the table, etc. She is really enjoying the music in the morning and at bedtime from Scout, her green stuffed dog who says things like "Hi Lyra!" and sings a Lyra song that spells out her name (nifty Xmas present from Grandma and Grandpa P!).
