Zippidee-ZOO-da!

We finally made our way to the zoo last week!  I wasn’t sure that Piper would be able to see the animals, or know that they were animals, for that matter, but they had a litter of baby tigers, a couple baby giraffes, a baby orangutan, and several other babies, so we decided to go.

Piper LOVED it.  She watched the lions first- in complete awe.  She really liked watching the tiger cubs bounce around- and she even screamed in laughter at the mama. 

About the best part, though, was the lorikeet house.  You could go in and get little cups of nectar to feed the birds.  Lorikeets are so brightly colored, so they made great things for Piper to watch. 

We found one, and got about a foot away- then it started squawking at her.  She wasn’t too sure what to make of that, so we walked around for a few more minutes. 

In the end, though, she was ready to take one home!

Apparently they were real scared of her- can’t you tell?

It started with one…

…then his friend came over, too--

Pretty soon, she had a whole flock.  She moved really slowly so that she didn’t scare them- kinda funny that reflex seems innate in us…

We walked through the monkey and ape exhibits (and, man oh man, was the baby orangutan cu-u-u-u-ute!), and found this, albeit kinda creepy, ape to sit on. 

And me, being the amazing mother that I am, sat my kid in it for a picture. 

I couldn’t get any cute faces from her, but chalked it up to her getting a little tired.

Until I picked her up.

And discovered that I had sat her in a 3” deep puddle of shaded rain water.  Frigid rain water.

Her pants?  Absolutely soaked.  Her diaper?  Disgusting.  And did I have an extra set of bottoms for her?  I’m an amazing mama, remember, so of course I did not.  Poor kid rode in the stroller for the rest of the zoo with her diaper-clad rear. 

Did she let it get her down?

Absolutely not.

See these? These are tears of disgust.

Remember my disdain for pickles?

My complete and utter disgust?  Hatred?  Abhorrence? 

Too bad it hasn’t done any good.

Also too bad that they serve fresh pickles as an appetizer at Ted’s. 

But the worst part?  It was my idea to go there…  <<insert crying face here…>>

…<<sigh>>….

I’m pretty sure I’ve officially lost this battle.

Dang it…

Growth Spuuurt!

No, not the kid.  She’s gained about 3 or 4 ounces since her last appointment.  Typical…

BUT, her feet are a different story.  Since her birthday, she has had a very significant growth spurt.

Her therapist says that when kids start really spending time on their feet, it tends to spread the bones a little more.  And it makes sense- Piper easily spends half (and probably closer to two-thirds) of her waking hours on her feet nowadays, and it’s been steadily increasing since April or May.

She’s has finally.  Officially. grown out of her size 0 Keds (although her size 0 sandals are still sufficiently large).

I honestly didn’t think this day would come.  Ever.

She’s comfortably in her new size 1 tennies that I bought a few months ago (which I’m now glad I did).

Size ones are still a little hard to come by, but twos, TWOS you can find.  And with  big socks on, she can wear them!!!

Add to that remarkable finding that Nordstrom Rack has TONS (GOBS) of baby shoes on clearance, and great clearance StrideRite’s at Dillard’s this week, the kid’s show wardrobe has had a glorious boost.

Pink and white Nikes.  With ruffle socks, of course.  She has some great heal-to-toe action with these, but because they’re a little long, her step is a little awkward.  But it’s getting better.

Purple (!!!) New Balance.  Who’d have thunk???

And these, I know, are boy shoes.  But how cute would they be under blue jeans this winter?  They’re actually size ones, so they fit a little better.  Of course, I’m leaving out the detail that they only cost $7.50, which makes them exponentially more cute.

Buying baby shoes was one of the things I couldn’t wait to do…  I think it’s been good that I couldn’t just walk into a store to buy them.  Until now…

Poor hubby.

H-2-OH SO MUCH FUN!

Oh, how we’ll miss summer play dates at parks with water features!!!  Next year she’ll walk all over them.  At least I can keep up with her this year!

PS- this has got to be one of the coolest water feature parks in Denver- if you’re in the area and want to know where, let me know.  VERY fun!!!

Closer!!!

Last night, I was sitting on the couch and Piper was crawling around like she usually is.  Her little head pops up over the couch cushion every once in a while, just to check that I’m still here.  She often talks to me, flashes a couple cute smiles, then gets down to go play some more.  These little interludes are definitely one of the highlights of our nights.

Last night, though, she was standing up next to the couch and got distracted by something.  All the sudden, she pushes off the couch with her hands, and is standing there.  Just standing.  No bobble, no wobble.

I, of course, was so excited that my screaming made her sit.  So it didn’t last as long as I think it would have if I would have just kept my mouth shut.  But you know how it is- you just can’t contain your excitement sometimes.

So after that, we worked outside trying to get her to stand some more.  Bubbles being blown in her face work well.

But the bubble blower is significantly more fun that standing is…

And, yes- this is a real bear crawl.  She’s doing this more and more these days- especially when we’re outside.

Stepping Stinker

So after our conversation about walkers, I found this on babysteals.com (have you ever heard?  Kind of like Woot! (also if you haven’t heard), but it’s deal-a-day baby things.  They also have kidsteals and scrapbooksteals…  Love them all!!!) and decided to give it a try. 

I’ve seen some things like this before, but I really like that this one has a butt in it so that you don’t have to worry about slipping out.  The crotch is very malleable, so I don’t feel like it’s keeping her pelvis spread too far.

Our only issue with it is that the armpit area goes up to her chin…  Not so good- especially when she’s deciding to sit…

But that aside, I think she really likes it!

And best of all?  I don’t have to be completely hunched over helping her walk!

She made it down the block to the corner, turned around, and came all the way back tonight.  Woohoo!  I think this’ll really help with the endurance-building bit.  I’m also starting to get her to stand unassisted for bits at a time in it, because she doesn’t realize that she doesn’t have any support (it’s lots easier than having to get my fingers out of her hands and trying to convince her that I still have a hand on her…)  In the first and last pictures, you can see how little slack there is in the straps. 

Who knows if it’ll actually help,  but I figure it can’t hurt, right? 

New Day, New Problems

The newest addition to our line of “make sure that, whenever you do X, you know where the baby is” events is…

Running her bath water.

I like to give her a bath at night after she eats, so I usually get her out of her chair and take off her clothes before I put her on the floor.  Then I can get her bath stuff ready before putting her in the bathroom.  It used to work well, because she’s not the most patient person in the world, and we all know how exciting baths can be.

A couple months ago, she started to crawl through the house, screaming in excitement, once she heard the water running.  But at least we could hear her coming.

Now she’s figured out how to pull up to the tub.  That, in and of itself, isn’t so bad.

It’s the likelihood of her figuring out how to climb into the tub that’s troubling.

See, she’s figured out how to climb on top of things that go up past her waist.  And the water poses the ideal motivational tool.

What can I say?  The kid has a love affair with the water.

And in this case, it’s not such a good thing.