Word recognition

Today Mira shocked me. I was shocked. Stunned. And also very proud.

I was in the shower this morning, listening to the radio. (Note: radio, so no visual que, all auditory.) Mira was playing with some toys on the floor of the bathroom. A commercial came on the radio and in this commercial a woman was practicing her chicken dance so she said "beaks beaks beaks, wings wings wings, clap clap clap." Immediately Mira dropped her toy and clapped. At first I thought, "WHOA! Did she just do what I think she did?" And then I thought, "It was probably just coincidence." So I shrugged it off and went on my day.

Then in the afternoon, we went to a play date. At the play date the ladies were talking about which words their babies recognize and I said that it was probably just a coincidence, but Mira did this thing this morning, and as I was describing what she did, I got to the part in the commercial where the lady says "clap clap clap" and AS IF ON QUE, Mira sits up and claps. Needless to say, I didn't even have to finish my story for the ladies. They all pointed at her and gasped. It was one of those Mommy moments that you never want to forget.

Random cute videos

We recently got Mira a toy xylophone. This is the first time she ever played with it.

We decided to let Mira try to feed herself some mango with a spoon. What a mess! I had to take the highchair into the backyard to hose down while Brian took Mira up for a bath.

Mira started doing this thing where she looks at you sideways. I think it started as a way to change her visual perspective on things, but now she just does it because she knows we think it's cute.

Mira has just learned to wave. I think she got the idea from one of the girls in her playgroup who was practicing her wave at our last gathering.

Stair Master

This one was taken last week:

Then these two this week:

It reminds me of....

Donkey: You handle the dragon. I'll handle the stairs. I'll find those stairs. I'll whip their butt too. Those stairs won't know which way they're going. Don't mess with me. I'm the stair master. I've mastered the stairs. I wish I had a step right here. I'd step all over it.

Pulling up

We had to get a bumper on the coffee table. Mira is now able to pull herself up to stand without any assistance.

More on Kronk.

So here is the reason that Kronk has been more irritated with Mira lately:

She really gets around fast. So she's interacting with him that much more. I think I've figured out the problem with Kronk, though. Kronk has had knee surgery on both his back legs. As a result he has chronic pain due to arthritis. The two times that Kronk has growled at Mira, it was when he was sleeping and she awakened him by touching him near his back legs. So I think Kronk was protecting his knees. As my mom pointed out, if Mira was a puppy, she would understand Kronk's growl to mean "don't do that" and she would learn to be careful around Kronk's knees. But Mira doesn't understand what his growls mean, so I have to teach her. Anyway, in the few days since his last episode, Mira and I have spent some time every day on the floor next to Kronk, with me petting Kronk and telling him he is a good dog and Mira just hanging out nearby, occasionally petting Kronk too when he will allow it. If he decides he won't tolerate it, he goes away and I tell him he is a good dog for doing that too because I always want him to feel like he can get away and I want to let him know that the right response is to just go away, not to growl. The other thing I've been doing is when Mira is on the floor and Kronk is lying down near by, as soon as I see Mira heading his way, I call out to Kronk and tell him "Look out Kronk, here comes the baby." He will usually then get up and move away from her and I tell him good dog. That way, he is never surprised by her, which I think was part of the problem. Lastly, any time that I want to let Mira play on the floor and I'm not monitoring the situation 100% (like when I step into the bathroom or go over to do the dishes or something) I make Kronk leave the room entirely. That way, Mira's interactions with Kronk are never unsupervised. So anyway, I think the situation is manageable, I'll just have to keep on top of it. Kronk has always been 100% fine with slightly older kids, so I'm holding out hope that he and Mira will eventually learn how to play together.