My 12 month old daughter seems to have been born with l33t haxor skills, no joke. Every now and then, we’ll let her play with some gadget (a telephone, a computer, a cell phone), and she inevitably gets it to work. It is simply amazing. You might be asking, why wouldn’t she get it to work. Well, not only will she be able to place a call or type something into an application, she’ll manage to do it in a way that is completely foreign to myself or my wife. She’s not just using the tool, she’s hacking it!
For example, I was letting her type into my gmail account intending to put some text in about how she’d typed the garble, but before I knew it, she managed not only to type, but to send a message using nothing but keys. To this day, I can’t replicate the feat. As far as I know, she used some tiny person tech-fu magic to get it done. Similarly, she seems to be able to call up phone numbers on our phones that don’t appear to reside in any simple menu option. Just the other day, she was playing with the phone and I heard a voice come from it (at that point she was sitting on it!). Apparently she’d found my cousin’s number and dialed it while sitting on it. She also manages to turn on advanced, un-used features on our home cordless phones. She’ll be cutely pressing buttons, eating the antenna, and next thing I know, the thing is telling her the date and time and that there are no messages. The answering machine function isn’t even on!
These are just some examples, but look for more amazing feats in the future as she expands her capabilities and stretches her apparently in-born technical prowess. Also, if you someday get a call from me and all you hear is muffled talking or what sounds like a little butt sitting on a phone, just start saying hello to M, cause it is her.
So I’m working in the kitchen whilst the carpet cleaners do their thing (carpet wasn’t dry for M’s party this past weekend, so they had to do it again) and my wife calls for my attention. I look over, and it appears that M has thrown up on herself. As some of you may know, M has switched some of her diet over recently, and a couple of times, she’s vomited while crying. Since K was supposed to be watching her, I was somewhat confused as to the source of the up-chuck.
Turns out that it wasn’t up-chuck at all. M had found a bag of Peanut M&Ms that her mom had been munching on. While K was on the phone with a relative, M was happily chewing and eating, spitting, and smearing M&Ms on the carpet. Out came the bissel spot cleaner deal. If you have never tried one of these, they’re fantastic (oh look, a chicken!).
Anyway, M’s outfit ended up in the sink, the carpet is wet and apparently clean, and all was forgiven (hey, at least she wasn’t chewing on her other favorites, toliet paper and power cords). I should note, that I will not be around for the next couple diaper changes which I predict will be very interesting!
Well, it happened, M turned one! We had a successful little party at Chuck E Cheese’s house with some of M’s friends and family. She got a present or 3 and everyone had a good time. There is also an upcoming larger celebration of the occasion, but the thing is, I think that K and I deserve some sort of recognition. I mean, sure, she turned one, and she should be commended for being the cutest baby ever, but K and I did all the real work here!
If you think about it, there’s quite a bit to learn with a new baby and the world is a dangerous place, particularly with sleep-deprived parents. That we managed to steer M clear of all the fatal pitfalls shouldn’t go un-noticed. Even after M went mobile on us and started, seemingly, intentionally putting herself in great peril, we managed to prevent her from any critical damage. No stair fallings, no poisonings (my guitar teacher had this happen to him accidentally), no stabbings, and no maulings. There was some damage (emotional and/or physical) though…
Here’s the short list:
- Minor hull breach due to falling on table (this was a big one, involving possibly permanent scarring)
- Dehydration and hospitalization due to disease (I mean, not really our fault, right?)
- Allowing uncle to carelessly place unstable baby in standing position and watch her fall (no injuries!)
- Letting M crawl off couch (she looked like she could handle it!)
- Banging head at Dr.’s office (Come on, they ought to baby-proof that place better)
- M was locked in the car once (she was never upset though, and the police came quickly enough)
- Hella diaper-rash that took a special three ingredient cocktail to cure (equal parts desitin, lamisil, and maalox) that only happened once
- Emergency room trips for collic-related bloat and screaming (we eventually found the milk sensitivity and got her on prilosec)
There have been other various whackings and tumbles, not to mention eating of things that should not be eaten, but by and large, for our first year, I’m calling it a success. Here’s to many more years of continued improvement and an increasingly fault-tolerant baby! (knocking on wood)
So the ’sunroom’ has now been officially converted to a baby room for M and her new friend A. A’s mom will be joining Aunt L as one of M’s nannies during the week. In order to accomodate another infant safely, we put down a rug with some padding, some multi-colored linking foam tiles for extra padding, and I even mopped the floor.
Also added are about 33% of M’s toys and a some outlet covers. So now the recently repainted sunroom is actually a livable space that easily converts into a baby-safe room. Of course we still have a space heater, an ungated stairway with nice pointy corners, and plants in heavy pots on the table, but you have to have some hazards, otherwise these kids will never learn to be careful!
So K came home from work yesterday and I hear M’s aunt L telling K that M has been pushing herself up on her hands an knees. Good thing someone told me!
It was true though, I saw it with my own eyes. M can get up on all fours now and sits there looking chock-full of potential energy. She has yet to convert it into any sort of forward or backward movement, but progress is progress!