This Week in Mommyhood

I'm so glad last week is over, but at the same time I can't get over the fact that it is now August and I'm two weeks shy of having an 18-month old! When does the growing stop?? I'm just kidding; I love the growing because each day brings me a new aspect of Cati's personality to appreciate. Despite all that's going on in the world and all the sadness in it, she is my reminder to stay present and to enjoy the moment. For being as small as she is and not understanding the complexities of being a person, she also has the ability to remind me of the bigger picture and that, at the end of the day, I'm ok with failing at everything else in my life as long as I don't fail her as a mother.

Here are the fund developments from this past week:

Animal Lover.  Cati loves animals. She really, truly adores them. She doesn't pay attention to us when we try to teach her new words, but, oh boy, does she pay attention to us when we are introducing her to a new animal and the noise it makes.  Last week she learned what a seal was, what noise it makes, and even how a seal claps its flippers together. She is a walking animal house and I love to test her on them. (I'm so mad at myself for forgetting to ask her about the pig! I love hearing her snort!)

Harmonica Player. Cati's aunt-grandmother (grandfather's sister) gave her a harmonica a few weeks back. Cati didn't really get it until this past week and now instead of handing me the harmonica to make music, she takes it and blows into it until a noise comes out. I wish I could bottle up that face of satisfaction she makes because it warms my heart.

Bathing Baby. In general, Cati is becoming more and more active with the everyday things that are done to her. She helps when I'm dressing her and last week she started helping with bathtime. If you give her a cup she will pour water on herself and, if you ask her, she will even pour water on her head!

Two Words? I think Cati may be starting to put words together. She is a little babbler and says words I understand in the middle of words I don't but when she says words I do understand they sound like an unrelated group of words. Kind of like the day she woke up from her nap and said, "wau wau, dada, ball!" Last week, however, she started saying something that sounded like "mama no" or "mama look" or "mama knee." I don't know what she's saying but she's definitely talking to me about something.

Perla Love. Cati is very obviously obsessed with Perla. God forbid, we are anywhere in the house without Perla because Cati will flip out. She's recently got into trying to pick up Perla. Perla hates it but Cati thinks it's the funnest thing.

Another week is gone and another week to look forward to. Here's hoping for another week of surviving mommyhood while surviving life in general.