She’s One
Posted by Fiona on July 2, 2011 | No Comments
It was Mara’s first birthday back in June! So hard to believe. Some parts of the past year have gone by quickly and others fairly slowly. At the moment, James and I are loving all the new developments of the early toddler stage. (I know I might come to be shocked by that statement, so just thought I would record it now so I remember!)
We postponed celebrating Mara’s birthday until the Canada Day weekend. They say not to invite too many children to a first birthday party, but I think Mara was glad that we had 3 other kids there. And here she is with her first piece of cake:
Mara is mobile
Posted by Fiona on March 8, 2011 | 2 Comments
We can finally say that Mara is crawling!
A few weeks ago she started moving independently, but it was mostly a motion that pushed her backwards along the floor (usually into a corner, making things a little easier on me). I didn’t define this as crawling, but others who saw Mara moving told me I could call it that.
After that, she started getting from one place to the other but in a mysterious sort of way. There wasn’t real crawling action but she would find some way of wriggling from one spot to the other. It was hard for her to cover much ground, but she could make her way around the table (for example). I would be sitting with her and see her move but still be surprised that she could, somewhat slowly, make her way along.
Then this weekend she came up with a sideways motion that lets her move forward in a straight line. She can actually decide where she’s going, and get there! It’s amazing to see how this reduces her frustration level. So it seems she favours the crab-crawl style — two hands in front, one knee on the ground, and the other off to the side a bit. Means that she can easily move to sitting if she wants, which we think she likes. I’ve seen her get into the full crawling position a couple of times as well, but she hasn’t been able to really put that into action yet.
Short video of her crawling to come!
In other news:
- Mara is napping in her crib, for the third day in a row! (Yes, this is actually note-worthy for me. Mara’s usual nap position is in someone’s arms.)
- Mara now says a version of ‘mum’ on a regular basis (and not just when she’s crying).
- Mara also seems to have a version of the word ‘dad’ that she’s working on. Sounds a little more like ‘papa,’ which she came up with on her own (I have been prompting for ‘dad’ or ‘daddy’ but she doesn’t go for D sounds so far…).
Snow Day
Posted by Fiona on February 2, 2011 | 2 Comments
Mara and I were supposed to go to a class this morning, but it got cancelled due to weather. So this is Mara’s first official snow day! The snow has been falling constantly, and she really loves watching it out the window. Mara also spent a bit of time playing on her own, which I appreciate (when it happens!).
To Alberta and back
Posted by Fiona on November 29, 2010 | 2 Comments
Mara was a model baby on the trip to Alberta last week. Travelling with our stroller wouldn’t have been practical, so we were lucky that Mara finally started to enjoy being taken along in the baby carrier.
Here we are in the food court at the West Edmonton Mall:
The temperature was much colder than we’re used to (so far this fall, at least). Minus 38! Mara wasn’t impressed with being bundled up, but she loved visiting with all her cousins, aunts, uncles, and friends of the family we introduced her to in Red Deer and Calgary.
Practising to wave?
Posted by Fiona on November 3, 2010 | 2 Comments
Mara started swinging her arm around in a way I haven’t seen before… is it an attempt at a wave? Or just a new way of asking for a diaper change??
I managed to catch it on video, but once the camera was rolling she got her legs moving as well (without the camera she sometimes just moved her arm).
Download Video: