Cute Enough

Marin has been communicating more the last couple of months, as baby’s are prone to do. She will point to things that she wants. She will walk up to me and say “up”. She now does that to both of her sisters and demands that they carry her around the house. She also says "up" when what she really wants is down. It's kind of like 'aloha".

She says “ummm” very enthusiastically and points when she sees food that she wants. When I ask her if she wants to take a nap, she walks to the gate by the stairs and waits for me. If she’s asked if she wants to go bye-bye, she’ll wave and walk to the door. She will frequently clap her hands, smile and say “Yay” when I finally figure out what she wants. She knows I need the positive reinforcement.

I was talking to my ex-husband (EH), telling him about how smart Marin is.

Me- “She’s actually putting words together now. She’s just 13 months and if you ask her a question she says “I don’t know”. Isn’t that amazing?”

EH- “I don’t think it’s that impressive. After all, at 13 months, there’s probably a whole lot she doesn’t know.”

Marin has been missing her sisters since they are now in school all day. She fills her days with useful activities such as unloading all the food stored in the lazy susan. As she deliberately throws packages of food, she will occasionally say “uh-oh”. She doesn’t limit herself to just the destruction of the kitchen, of course. She has other areas that demand her attention. She is currently obsessed with getting to all the cords by my desk. I have the playpen right in front of that area but she just shoves it out of her way in her quest to chew on electrical cords.

Another favorite past time is furniture climbing. She is absolutely relentless. I started putting her in a pair of jeans that restrict her movements in an attempt to prevent a head injury. She gets angry because she knows that she can’t climb in jeans. I call the jeans the “baby straightjacket”, which Katie thinks is odd, because clearly it’s not a jacket at all. It may sound mean, but it’s either that or a helmet.

Now that the girls are in school, I have had to adjust to not having anyone else to entertain the baby while I do stuff around the house. Normally, the girls will entertain the baby while I bathe, etc. I usually like to do that fairly early, so it’s before Marin’s naptime. Yesterday I decided that I could just take her into the bathroom with me. She immediately gathered everything within reach and threw it on the floor. Then she noticed that I was naked. She stared for a second, then smiled and said “Ummm. Ummm.”

That is the result of breastfeeding for the full first year. I still can’t believe that I was leered at by a baby. I guess it could have been worse. I could have been heckled.

Clearly, Marin’s personality is developing. She dances and tries to sing. She gives hugs and sweet, wet baby kisses. Her sisters have so much fun playing with her, despite the fact that Marin now messes with their stuff. It’s fairly common to hear Katie yelling- “Hey! Marin’s getting into our Barbies!”
But they still adore her.

Yesterday, Claire was admiring the baby- “This baby is so cute. I love her so much.”

That was nice but then she kept talking –“Before she came out I thought she would be cuter. But I guess she’s cute enough.”