+ Must refrain +
Must . not . allow . myself . to . lose . control .

Damn that stuff is too cute.

Anyway, I guess I owe everyone a current update. The munchkin is growing leaps and bounds. Beauty and grace. Okay, maybe not entirely, but the beauty part's a guarantee.

You're certainly getting more vocal. Still not talking much, but "talking" a LOT. Moreso all the time. You say "that" with much regularity and appropriateness. You also understand more all the time, but that's nothing new.

We're in the midst of remodeling the house, which has really been very challenging. If anyone out there is considering this while raising a toddler, make sure you have the unwavering support of family and friends. This weekend, we're putting wood laminate floorings in all the main rooms of the house. Many summer weekends will still be filled with finishing the bedrooms. But one step at a time. This weekend, you'll be spending a fair bit of time with Grandma Laurie, Auntie Chelsie and probably Uncle Chris. Auntie Chelle got to help last weekend, but she's camping this weekend. Lucky her!

I'm also planning for our trip in June. Ugh. As it gets closer, I get increasingly anxious. I know people travel with toddlers all the time, but I'm just very nervous about it. You really are a good baby/child so I should have faith that we'll make it through. Thankfully on the first flight, even though I don't have a seat just for you, we're traveling with Grandma Laurie so I'll have some help. On the way home, Grandma's not traveling with us, but I do have a seat for you.

I made the Thursday flight to DC the earliest one in the morning. It straddles your morning nap. My plan is to give you a munchie breakfast as we board and take off. Once we're in the air, I'm hoping you'll take your normal morning nap, which is usually pretty early and pretty long. On the way home the following Thursday, I booked the latest flight possible. You'll have your own seat with your own car seat in it. I'll hold you if you want, but will probably slip you just a touch of Benadryl and encourage you to sleep through as much of the flight as possible. Thankfully I took that Friday off. Little do you know you have a noon Dr's appointment with lots of SHOTS planned since you missed your last 2 rounds of shots because you were sick. Poor thing. You'll already be out of sorts from the traveling. I expect that weekend will be a little weird while we all re-adjust to home life.

The trip itself has me anxious too. I'm helping with National History Day which means you will be getting babysat by a recommended babysitter there for some of the time. I don't know her, but we're being referred to her by another mommie affiliated with NHD. I don't even know how much she charges, but I guess we'll find out. The other thing that has me worried is the basic fundamentals of traveling with a toddler. As we all know, toddlers come with lots of... stuff. I'm planning to take as much stuff as critically needed, but as little stuff as possible. Grandma Laurie tried to convince me that we really didn't need your Pack N Play, but I happily won that argument. No way in hell am I going to rely on (a) the hotel's "crib" or (b) a rigged blanket-on-the-floor set up at my elderly Great Aunt Thelma's house in Pennsylvania for the first bit of the trip. Not just no, but hell no. I explained to her that I can pack your belongings and mine in a large suitcase and check that and the P-N-P as my two check-ins. I'll carry on the large diaper bag (with my travel purse and a smaller folded diaper bag for later use in it) and the car seat in its travel bag. I'll either carry on or check your umbrella stroller at the gate, which shouldn't be a problem. That's the plan, anyway. I'm even willing to toss the stroller in lieu of the P-N-P, that's how essential I think it is.

Anyway, lots of stressful things right now. The past week I have not gotten much sleep because of all the things on my mind. That's very unusual for me; I'm a sleep junkie. But hopefully finishing up the floors this weekend will take part of the load off. We'll see!

+ Fun with search engines +
Besides the obvious "Kerry" issues you can imagine I'm having right now, I have a new tracker showing me fun new search terms. Thought I'd share them. Who knew I was so popular with the "baby poop" crowd?

Some nice ones:
green poop pregnancy
green baby poop
free head liners for baby shower (huh?)
heartburn "hands swell"
breasts are still growing (who's complaining?)
watermelon baby poop

+ New pictures +
Okay, new pictures are up in her 12-18 month album. As usual, if you don't already have access or forgot the password, just let me know.

+ Binkies are for babies +
You crack me up more every day, did you know that? This morning when we rode to school, I stuck a binky in your mouth and gave you your elephant to play with. When we got to school, I climbed in to get you out and said to you: "Okay, you've got to leave your binky here. You know you can't have it at school." So what did you do? You spit it out, reached down to grab it and handed it to me. I think my jaw hit the floor. I set it down on the seat and you reached for me to pull you out of the car seat to go inside. Unbelievable. We really are getting to a point where you understand a HUGE percentage of what we say.

Other cute small-human tricks: You understand our morning routine perfectly. When I say, "Princess, do you want a cookie? Go in your box," you know to walk with Princess to her crate. You put your hand out and wait for me to hand you the doggie treat, which you promptly hand to the doggie. We shut the door and you head for the front door as I say, "Okay, let's go to school!" Today, though, Princess threw a little fit and was yelping in her box. You got very upset and a little scared, and ran for me crying. Now I guess is when we really work on explaining things to you. I explained to you that Princess is just sad because she wants us to stay home and play with her instead of going to school.

Dang it, always more to say and no time to write it. I'll try to post more soon.

+ Welcome to the flip side +
Yes, my test is done. Hurrah! I'll post more about that in the main blog, but I'm just glad it's over.

You're doing fabulously, of course. You are an entertaining small child, do you know that? You are really a kid now, and nearly all traces of babyhood are gone. You still wail at me when you're tired or hurt yourself, but I know that will stick around for a while. Nursing? Basically done. I nursed you Tuesday night when you just would not go to sleep, and it didn't even really help much.

Oops, just got busy. More later!

+ Time flies +
It really does, when you're having fun. And I'd say we've been having fun. Lots of busy fun, I suppose. But before things get too outdated, I figured I owe everyone updates.

Under the subtitle of Neat things you can do now, I must highlight the fact that you understand a huge percentage of what's being said around you. You can follow nearly all simple (or not-so-simple) commands. Words like "jammies," "pajamas," "diaper," "change," "shoes," etc. can send you running for your bedroom and pounding on the door. "Water," "fishies," "goldfish," "cheese," "dinner," "milk," "shoes" all have a similar reaction with you running for the item mentioned or for your high chair as needed. It's fascinating. Last night I even tested you a bit. I was hand-feeding you mini-Teddy Grahams (the better to keep my couch somewhat clean). I handed one to you and said, "Ceili, take this to Daddy." And you DID! You understood that you weren't to eat the one I handed you, even though you'd eaten several by that point. I admit, you looked a bit confused, but you did it and you were rewarded with kisses and cheers. It was awesome.

You are more and more of an amazing person every day. You're going through a sleepier-than-normal phase, but you seem completely fine. I'm just blown away by how much you know, how much you understand.

And I think you're weaning. Ever. so. slowly. You only nurse maybe once a day, twice on a rare day. Occasionally none. It still has the ability to calm you in the worst of your sleepiness or toddler crankiness. And I would probably just let us be done, except that I think you will need it when we fly to DC in mid-June. Maybe not. We'll see.

More later...

Oh, and my Aunt left shortly after posting that note below. And came back on Sunday and she's still hanging around right now. Hello? Make up your ever-loving mind!!! I figure she's going to let this one stick, since I have an OB/GYN appointment. Karma.