The Latest with Meera

Meera at age 13 months-- The good, the bad, and the ugly.

First, the good:
Um, seriously people-- is it normal for babies to be able to eat with forks at age 13 months? She's been doing this for a couple of weeks now. She eats with a fork. For real. What's up with that? K & O didn't do that 'till they were twice her age. And really, who am I kidding?-- they still often "forget their manners" (they "left them in their pockets" they are fond of saying) and eat with their hands. This girl prefers the fork. ? Do I just have unreasonably low expectations because my only prior experience with mothering is with my two crazy little men? Or is this girl doing something out of the ordinary here? She uses a fork very well and with ease. She seems to actually prefer the fork to eating with her hands. She doesn't mind getting her hands dirty (more on that under, "the ugly"), it is more that she prefers the challenge of the fork. And she's pretty much mastered that challenge at this point. Not sure what to make of it. But it is all good.

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The bad:
At age 13 months we finally had to lower the crib down from the upper deck "newborn infant setting." Yes, folks, she slept in it at the newborn level for the full first 13 months of her life. She just laid there and never even rolled over until she was well into her 11th month. I know, I know, it is bizarre. It wasn't until this week-- yes, this week-- that she showed any signs of desiring to pull up. On Tuesday Margie told me that she thought we should lower the crib because she was going to pull up "any day now." So, on Wednesday Braydon lowered the crib. And today (Thurs), when I went to get her after her afternoon non-nap (nap that she did not take because she was having too much fun in her crib for the first time ever)... this is what I found. Yup, standing there in all her glory. Our previously-perfect-sleeper screaming her head off because she couldn't figure out for the life of her how to get herself back down. And at bedtime tonight she screamed, bloody murder, standing up over and over and over again (after I went in and laid her back down over and over and over again), for a full 1.5 hours before she finally fell asleep. Our good girl's first bad behavior. The tide has turned. Of course, it couldn't have lasted, but still... it is so monumentally sad. Anyway... back to the afternoon nap today... so I found her screaming, standing up in her crib, which is in itself so bad (because she was supposed to be sleeping), but making matters worse was that she had pulled the ponytail/elastic band out of her hair for the first time ever.... and.... the elastic band was nowhere to be found (I searched and searched and searched). Which leaves me to believe (because there is no other explanation) that she ate it. Nice. So, from this bad experience I learned three things: 1) Always take the elastic bands out before putting her down for a nap, and 2) Always listen to Margie [thank God we had], and 3) Meera's got a bad streak after all. It was bound to happen. But still... couldn't we just go on all bliss and innocence forever???

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Lastly, the ugly:
We're convinced she gets this from Owen, but wherever it comes from, it is just plain ugly: her terribly, terribly messy-eating-ways. We did not think that there could possibly be any human being on the planet that was more messy at mealtime than our Owen. But, alas! There is Meera Grace. She rivals Owen in the messy eating department. A simple bagel and cream cheese results in extreme mess. And that, believe me, is just the very very tip of the messy-messy-iceburg. It is not pretty. Not pretty at all.

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So, there you have it: the good, the bad, and the ugly.