Dear baby - fourteen months

Dear baby,

There's always something going on these days, isn't there!

You caught a cold last week after we went to dinner with friends (who had sick babies). You were really unsettled for the first time in many months - poor daddy had to get up six or seven times between midnight and 6am to resettle you, then you were snotty and stuffed up for a few days. I caught it off you on the Tuesday and at the time of writing this (I'm a bit naughty and writing this a few days late) I am still all stuffed up and feeling gross. So thanks for that.

You took your first steps in the last month, and you have taken quite a few more since then. Being cautious, like your mummy, you much prefer to walk without the risk of falling, so you prefer to be holding our hand or pants legs as you toddle along. It's hard to tell if you're walking more or less since that day - you do take little steps between the tv and the couch and the coffee table, but if we let go and ask you to walk you are more likely to drop and crawl. You are getting a lot better with your walker though - just the other day you had it turning in all directions.

One of your favourite things at the moment is to crawl around outside. The weather is warming up and you'll be harness free this summer, so I'm looking forward to getting out and about with you some more. A few weeks ago I took you out the front of the house with me, and you were very unimpressed. You didn't like the feel of the grass on your hands or your feet (and you stepped on a rose thorn), so you would come over to me and sort of stand on my lap to use me as a barrier between yourself and the ground. Since then we've gone out the front and the back a few times more and you're enjoying it much more. You like to powercrawl down the driveway (not such a good idea, what with the road and the hoons that speed up and down it) and you like to crawl up and down the steps at the side of the backyard. You also like to try to climb the big stone steps in the backyard and this freaks me out as they are giant and I know there is going to be a day when you fall down there and I dread to think about it.  Annoyingly, the dogs have also made the back yard a bit dusty (from all their hooning around) and a bit poopy, so we're going to need to keep an eye on that.

You seem to have become a bit more obsessed with your dummy, and we're not sure what this means. It could just be that you are better at communicating and knowing what you want know, and you like it as much as you always have but can tell us now. Either way, I try and distract you and/or hide them, so that you don't use them unless it's time for a nap or a sleep.

You have also become more obsessed with your daddy. Somewhere, you picked up that you should call him 'Dad-deeeeeeeeeeee' with a cheeky smile - of course, this usually gets him to respond 'yes, bub-beeeeeeeeeeee?'. Whenever he is is home you just want to be with him. The other night when I got home from work he was trying to cook you some fish and feed you dinner, but you were just crying in your highchair. I got you out and asked you what you wanted, and you just crawled over to him, crying, and pull on his pant leg. As soon as he picked you up you were as happy as Larry. This always brings me back to the time we were at Nana and Grumpa's house and daddy wasn't able to settle you, but I was. And how upset daddy was that he couldn't help you out. And now, it's the opposite.

Because you're a lot more active, you need more supervision and more interaction. You still love to be pushed on your bike, but you also love getting in to the ensuite and splashing around with the toilet brush. Ew. You're as quick as ever to get in to the laundry and dog food and water, or to be in your room pulling the baby wipes and nappy liners out and all over the floor. You're always on the move and it's a rarity to be able to sit with you still on our laps now - this is going to make it harder when we go out as a family (at the moment we only really go out together to the markets on a Sunday morning, where you can crawl over the place).

Your appetite is still going strong - we've had to modify a  few things, so now you get your own spoon for breakfast, yoghurt and fruit tubs. You like to splash the spoon around in there, and every so often you'll get it to your mouth, sometimes even with food on it. Breakfast takes a bit longer too - you switch between wanting your breakfast, then pushing it away and wanting to stick your spoon in to my cereal. Then it carries on back and forth until I've finished my breakfast and you decide you've had enough.

You picked up a bit of a rash on the back of your neck too - I had just started getting your dinner ready when I noticed you scratching the back of your neck - you'd scratched it all red, and there were little blood spots. This brought on a quick visit to the chemist for some steroids and moisturiser lotion. It seems okay at the moment, and you like have the cream rubbed on your back and neck each night and morning, so I hope it passes quickly.

I finally got some clips to stay in your hair too - little bobby pins I bought for me, but that work just as well on you. And because they're nice and bright they help reinforce to others that even though you have mulletty whispy hair, you're my baby girl. I don't know when we'll take you in for a haircut, or where, or how they'll cut it, but that is still a while away I think.

You're going to be awake soon, so I better go.

Keep well, baby girl!