Pictures

The Zoo

Bored

Party

Who is this again?

Visitors

Grandma and Grandpa Erickson visited this weekend and I was shy. I was also very loving on my parents, particularly my Dadda. I would cry a lot when he left the room, especially when I was left alone with Grandpa Steve. I didn't like him much at all. I really like Grandma Marie's jewelry and let her carry me around.

I had a hard time sleeping, my teeth are bothering me and it ruined my sleep and my parents sleep schedule again. I'll get it right someday. My Grandparents seem to have the napping thing down pat, maybe I should study them a bit to see how it is done.

We went to the Farm park this weekend with them. I didn't mind the animals and went down the slide it was fun, but was it hot!

In just a few weeks, I'll be 1 year old. I'll look similar to this:

It'll be a Happy Birthday to me!

Just Mama and Me

Together at the Zoo

Cold Turkey

If Tori could speak, I'd imagine most of the word's coming out of her mouth would be "I'm done with that, give me the next big person thing to do". One day, she's eating baby food, the next nothing but real food. One day she has no teeth protruding, the next day 2 are out with more on their heels. She'll won't sleep through the night, then she does without any changes in her routine. It seems like all of her developments will come abruptly and without any transition. One day she'll be crawling and then she'll realize that crawling is for chumps and start walking. The bottle will be the next item that disappears from her life. Once we switch her to whole milk, she'll probably be done with her bottle all together. After all, why drink from a bottle when you can throw your sippee at your parents to demand a refill.

Wheels and Teeth

Tori has 2 more teeth poking through on the top. It looks like 10 more are on the way. A lot of her top teeth can be seen in her gums, just not poking through yet. These coming through apparently led to her sleeping through the night with 2 decent naps during the day starting this past weekend. She would still fuss a bit, but she would put herself back to sleep. That ended last night because she missed her afternoon nap and went to bed early. Hopefully she gets her nap today and the streak starts again.

For an early birthday present Tori got a set of wheels.



She can almost reach the floor and seems to enjoy riding on it. If only her brother wouldn't steal it every time she wants to use it.

Help

The fever seems to have subsided for the time being. At least this morning it wasn't happening. She only had medicine once during the day yesterday and once before bed at 9 last night. She got up and went back to sleep at 11 pm and woke at 5 something, screaming like a banshee. At least we got to sleep fairly well last night. If only she sleep all night. She seems to be feeling better in general, but she still has a runny nose. Guess what, she hates to have her nose wiped! Just like every other kid. We aren't sure if it is coming from her cold, her teeth or a combination of the two. I just hope she's feeling a little better by the time we go to St. Louis.


Having a Crayon snack!

Sick and Other Stuff

Tori is still sick, but she slept better last night than she had during the weekend. She got changed out of her warm jammies into lighter ones now that the weather has warmed up a bit. She was still groggy when she woke this morning after getting up at 3 am. She was ready to go for the day once she got to the sitters. Hopefully her fever won't come back, but I'm doubting it.

She started walking this week. She took a couple of half-steps this weekend by herself and she took 2 without falling last night. It won't be long and her brother will have to fend her off. Then the fights will really start.

She still loves the tub.

Long Weekend

It was a long weekend for everyone. Ollie's B-day, Annie's graduation, extra people and a cold with a fever to boot!


Tori wasn't too fazed by the extra people in the beginning of the weekend, but it seemed to stress her out a bit as the weekend rolled on. She didn't sleep well the entire weekend and even took a long nap on me on Sunday morning because she wouldn't stay asleep when we put her down. Hopefully being at home today will help set her internal clock straight and make her cold subside.

Mrs. Tyson

A few weeks ago, Tori had a bad fall and ended up looking like she had a tattoo on her face like Mike Tyson does now. She started the tragedy like this:

She reached over the side, toppled over and ended up like this:




About a week later it started to fade. She wasn't bothered much by it other than the initial fall. She continued to have a good time as all resilient babies seem to.



Yes, that is her brother's sit-n-spin that she 'borrowed'. She likes it a lot. She won't go around in a circle completely, but she'll turn side to side by herself. So far no tragedies.

Now we come to the other issue at hand, her sleeping. At 11 months, Tori won't sleep through the night. It's not that she can't, she just doesn't. She is very good at going to sleep without much of a fight when she's tired. She also takes a bottle every night before she goes to bed. She never drinks it all and falls asleep in your arms. It isn't but a couple of hours before she wakes up. Most of the time it requires a bottle and diaper change before she'll go back to sleep. It isn't like she is hungry in the middle of the night. She drinks enough to fall back asleep. The major problem is that she won't sleep the entire night. Even the nights she does (few and far between) she still fusses. She should be sleeping through the night and we are going to have to find a way to help her do that. She's never been a good sleeper and that is a habit we need to break. For her sake and ours.

Spaghetti Monster

Tori had her first real meal of spaghetti last week. She vehemently didn't want it to begin with, but once she got a taste, it was all we could do to keep her away from it. She turned into a spaghetti monster!




Notice the sauce laden arms. The sauce splattered hair and even the noodle in the hair. This spaghetti monster had to look her best.

Little Miss Clapper

This weekend Tori figured out how to clap her hands. Hence, she clapped them the entire weekend. Every time she did something, she'd clap her hands. We'd clap right along with her. She'd clap again and the cycle would continue. Apparently the new trick fun has worn off because she hasn't done it much since she went back to the sitters on Monday. It'll be back, when she determines it is time to clap again.


Little Clapper, Ready For Her Close-Up

Swinger

Like her brother, Tori likes to swing. We went to the park this weekend and Tori got her first ride on the swings.






Then she got to the slide:



Then the curvy slide:




By the time we got to the second set of jungle gym equipment, she was pooped out. She still enjoyed watching all the kids run around.



She had a full day, got 2 naps, plenty of snacks at Subway and enjoyed her first park experience. It definitely made her hungry because she almost ate an entire baby meal when she got up from her second nap. She was still tired that night and was asleep by 7:30. It was a full day for her, but she seemed to have fun. Next weekend will be her first trip to the zoo for her brother's birthday. If she doesn't sleep through it, she'll like it as well.

Danger, Stranger

Tori has become fearful of strangers. We took her into Tresa's work yesterday afternoon. She was handed to one of her Mama's co-workers and she started to cry. She was returned to her Mama promptly. A few attempts later and she let a different co-worker hold her for a little while. She got used to being around them and played among them until it was time to go home. At least we know what to expect when her grandparents come up in a few weeks time.


We are also trying to get her started on her walking. Last night, we placed her in between us about a step apart. She moved her foot, but she mostly enjoyed the free fall until we caught her. With a more practice and interest in it, she'll be running circles around her brother in no time.

Yet Another

Another tooth has poked through, so another sleepless night for her parents. She went to bed around 8:30 was up at 9:30 because she was hot and had to burp. She got up again around 11 something and then again at 1:30. She woke twice more after that, but put herself back to sleep both times. We did witness what she does with her teeth now that she has them and its pretty gruesome!

This is Mr. Bunny


Bite Mr. Bunny


Poor Mr. Bunny


Bunny All Gone

Rain, Rain Go Away

It rained most of the weekend. We weren't able to get outside much and when we did it was to just run errands. Tori was on the screened in porch and got to go on a walk, but not much else. Maybe next weekend, she'll be able to do more outside stuff like this.