8.07.2012

busy boo

here's something that is not the least bit controversial and everyone can agree on:

layla is hilarious and amazing.

she is talking up a storm finally, though she's still so addicted to the paci that even when it's out she will sort of hum/talk her words with shut lips. and of course she speaks some dialect outside the understanding of all humans, but she speaks it so fluently and with such confidence and expected understanding from her audience, that i have to figure she knows precisely what she is saying.

if you ask her a yes/no question, you will get a vehement reply back. i have never heard her say yes ("yuh") or no just once. it's always a forceful, "yuh, yuh, yuh," bobbing her head like a chicken, or a bossy little, "no, nooo, no!" sassing her finger out to back it up.

my favorite thing that she says is, "hai muh-mah!" she says this with such delight after any amount of time separated and it's the greatest. when we were at the beach, i could hear her from over 100 yards away, or even if i was inside and she was outside trying to get my attention from the pool with daddy. its amazing and never gets old.

i finally got it on tape (mommy voice of epic proportions. youve been warned).


she is still spelunking in her diaper at the end of naptime and in the mornings. it is horrific to go in there expecting perfect sleep-rumpled, warm, baby sweetness and to instead be greeting with fecal smearing. horrific. this has happened about 7 times in the past month.

we try to always put her in one of the few pairs of zip-up pj's that we own to prevent her access, but sometimes we will convince ourselves she's grown out of this habit and relazx and put her to bed in separates if the zip-ups are dirty.

in the only pair we still had until i hit the thrift store. she's amazing, right?


she almost always makes us pay for this decision.

unexpectedly having to clean poop off of carpet, crib, sheets, blankets, bumpers AND baby is quite an undertaking and a real kick in the nuts. especially if you are parenting solo at that moment.

we took the advice of moms who have dealt with this and: A-let her play with play-doh all day long in case she was craving tactile stimulation. but she just eats the play-doh, which probably makes her poop even more tantalizing. and B-giving her a COLD bath so as to negatively reinforce the behavior with a not so fun consequence. this is like torture to us because she HATES it. my heart rends.

she remains dedicated to chucking her turds across the room despite these strategies.

since it only happens at these certain times, we wonder if it means she just mad at us for leaving her in her crib when she wants out and this is her semi-violent protest. or maybe she annoyed by the presence of poop and wants it out! she has shown nothing but disdain for potty training, so we are at a loss.

girlfriend is back in onesies for all naps. i actually dont hate having miss lady in onesies because its like, "free baby!"

feeling frazzled after a punishment of sub zero decontamination.

on to happier and more fragrant subjects.

i havent wanted to cut her hair at all since i am wanting the front to catch up with the back and de-mullet a tad. but she refused bows and bands and clips and the hair in the eyes constantly was driving me insane:

perfect

so i snipped a total of maybe 4 hairs to flatten out the bangs, and somehow it changed her look completely, and though it solved the hair in face issue, it really reinforced the mullet.

but i kind of love it.

she's a badass. straight up

my aunt jo babysat her some this summer and took her berry picking one day. there was a freelance photographer there who sometimes sells his pics to the main atlanta paper. he gave her his card and asked to take lay's photo but then we totally forgot it had happened.

a few weeks later, a friend texted us to say they had found this:

i assure you she DOES have cobbler on her mind. precious little love chunk!


my mom used to buy laura ashley fabric by the yard and take it to a local seamstress to make custom matching mother/daughter full-length ROMPERS for us (as if laura ashley's store-bought clothes werent hideous enough).

i swore i would never do the matchy thing with/to my daughter, but dang, it really is fun....well, for me. layla seems to feel much like i did, despite the style upgrade:



we had her 18 month well checkup, wherein we found out that she is freakishly strong, super healthy and still holding strong at 97th percentile on height and weight.

also she tried to convince them that she was dehydrated:

during a cozy summer thunderstorm, we had family time in the garage. layla arranged a lovely raindance for us all...while holding the potty seat. naturally.

i love her beyond belief and will do anything in my power to protect my relationship with her. we're headed into a really cool time of growth when she will be ever more communicative and i look forward to having little conversations with her and seeing her become a big toddler lady. but right now i am perfectly happy with a mullety onesie butt babygirl.

this little lady is a sassy spitfire with a tender heart. the thing we hear the most often from those who spend time with her: 1) she is FUNNY! 2) she is STRONG (of will and limb).

we never want to dam the river of her amazing spirit, but just to channel it. sometimes it feels like it's overflowing and drowning the banks (us), but that kind of force can be used to power amazing stuff if we dont choke off the flow.

now if she would just stop pooping in the river and slinging it into the surrounding countryside.

3 comments:

  1. Oh my gosh. I love her. And I want us to be neighbors, so that you can be my BFF, and Piper can be Layla's. This age KILLS me.

    ReplyDelete
  2. She's such a delightful little sprite. I do so love her sweet sweet spirit--can't wait to see her...being gone a week is too long! Be sure to bring the onesies when she comes. I don't need to see it to believe it!

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