Challenges

It seems we have entered a new phase with Kelly these days; a phase I will affectionately call, "Challenges."

It's actually been going on for several weeks, but it's taken me a while to realize I'm in it.

Let's see- my realization started one morning when Kelly managed to get up on her tippy-toes and pull an eighteen pack of raw eggs off the kitchen counter down all over herself and the floor! Of course, Caleb thought it was hilarious and said we should take a picture of the mess before I cleaned it up. I was not as amused, but I still would have taken the picture and inserted it here had I taken it; however, my camera battery happened to be dead at the time, so, sorry, no picture...

Should we reenact the crime just for the picture? Hmmm... I'm going to say "Nah..."

Since then, Kelly has continued to morph from a cautious, timid, baby girl to somewhat of a Taz! She runs all the time- everywhere she goes. She falls at least a dozen times a day, never to be phased by the fall... she just gets right back up and runs again...

She tears through everything she can... she leaves a trail similar to, but not quite as devastating as what hurricanes and tornadoes leave behind. I can't tell you how many toilet paper rolls have been unraveled all over the bathroom floor, sometimes right into the toilet...

I have a couple of kitchen cabinets that don't have locks on them just so Kelly can play in them, and every day, at least twice a day, she takes every piece of Tupperware, every baby bottle, and every water bottle out and spreads them all over the kitchen floor.

Then Wednesday was a doosy! I was sitting on the floor with her while she was playing, and I was on the phone with a friend. As Kelly often does in a room full of toys surrounding her, she was playing with a CD case. She was about a foot from me when out of the blue, with all her might, she threw that CD case right at my face.

Here I am, right in the middle of a conversation with my friend, and all of the sudden I'm screaming out in pain and shock right in my girlfriend's ear! I instantly began to cry because the CD case hit the bridge of my nose so hard, right below my eyes, and whoowee, it hurt! I couldn't believe Kelly had done that, and I scolded her as I was crying, hoping she'd realize the 'cause and effect' of her choice to chuck the CD case at me. Then I picked her up and put her in her crib for a little "time out." As I was putting her in her crib, I began to notice something bright red on my nose. Yes, I was bleeding...

Kelly managed to give me a nice little gash on my nose! At first, it swelled, so it was kind of gaping and I wondered what kind of scar it was going to leave. I held a wet paper towel on it with direct pressure to stop the bleeding, and after about ten minutes, it was closed and looked much better. It's still sore- it feels a bit bruised, but it's healing well and doesn't look too bad at all... consequently, I'm not getting nearly the sympathy I deserve. =(

Other challenges we're facing with Kelly... well, she's exploring her ability to grab toys from other children, and hit or push them if they don't willingly surrender their goods. The hitting is something we've been challenged with for a while, but at first, I think it was almost inadvertent, like she just didn't know how to express interest in things, animals, or people, without reaching out and hitting them... but now it's obviously a willful expression of displeasure with the person or thing.

She's also throwing fits pretty regularly. When she doesn't get her way or when something frustrates her- she falls on the floor, screams and cries, and kicks her feet. She tried falling onto her back at first, but she kept hitting her head on the tile (I believe in "natural consequences";) so now she falls to a "sit" when she throws a fit. It's pretty funny... (okay, not always, but in hindsight I can't help but giggle...)

She also whines a lot these days. If she wants to be picked up, if she wants something she can't reach, if she's bored, wants attention, doesn't like what's on TV... okay, so there's really no reason... she just likes to whine. I think I'm going to start offering her some cheese with her whine.
So, now do you understand why I say we're facing some challenges these days?

I have days where I feel like all I do is scold her... tell her, "No!", "STOP.", "That's not nice.", "We don't do that.", "That's not okay.", and my personal favorite, "KELLY ELISE!" (That's what middle names are for, right? So moms can emphasize our displeasure with our children ;)

But despite it all, she is still our precious baby girl, and I wouldn't trade a minute of it for the world.

Some of the more positive things about Kelly are:

She is so spunky and fun. She loves to dance- give that girl a beat and she'll break it down! She actually has some great moves... I need to video her so you can see for yourself.

She also loves classical music. I'm noticing that if I play it regularly during the day, it actually seems to help when she's having a hard day. She seems happier and more pleasant. Guess there really is something to that Baby Einstein stuff, huh?

She has some of the cutest expressions- she makes us laugh all the time with her animated facial expressions. (It's always by surprise, so it's very hard to catch on camera!)

She loves her bath too. She absolutely loves to splash- she thinks that's hilarious!

She sleeps great! She may not nap very well during the day, but she generally goes down at 8pm and wakes up around 7am, so she lets her mommy and daddy get a good night's sleep. That is one thing that's at the top of my "Count Your Blessings" list, if you know what I mean!

She's becoming more and more affectionate. She will spontaniously reach over and grab my face and plant a kiss right on my lips several times a day. Or she'll lean over and grab me and give me a big hug with lots of back pats. It's soo sweet- melts me every time.