We finally got a baby gate and installed it yesterday. We went with a black gate instead of a white one because we felt it would blend in a little better with our decor. It does. It blends in so well that when the lights are off in the dining room and kitchen, you can't even see it. Of course I forgot it was there and, on my way from the bedroom back to the den, I walked right into the gate at full speed. I wonder how many times that's going to happen.
This month was an exciting time for our family and for Mungee, as she received her Hebrew name. This is something that is typically done within the first month or so of a Jewish baby girl's birth, but we had a long drawn-out because I am indecisive slight delay. Mungee's Hebrew name is Haviva Lior. Haviva means "Beloved" and Lior means "My light".
Mungee can now definitely be called a toddler. She wants to walk wherever we are. If we're at a restaurant and she's in her booster seat, as soon as she finishes eating, she says "All done, down, walk". If you pick her up while she's walking around, she gets mad and does some sort of double shoulder dislocation maneuver to try and slide out of your arms. She's also started kicking her legs, which I believe are the makings of a temper tantrum. It's hard not to laugh when she does it.
Taking monthiversary pictures is nearly impossible at this point. I ask Mungee to sit in her chair for her pictures and she does, but as soon as she sits down, she's up again, ready to explore. I even gave her a camera to take a picture of me while I took her photo and this is what I got:
I was lucky to get a better picture later in the day.
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| The flier she's holding says "The wrong people are cleaning your house!" I couldn't agree more. |
Mungee took her first semi-independent walk outside our house the other day. Our street isn't very busy, however, we don't have sidewalks and I didn't want her to suddenly figure out how to run and take off, plus I am trying to "train" her for going to the mall and not running off ... the point of that rambling is that I outfitted her with a leash monkey-backpack-with-a-tail-that-I-can-hold.
My Grammy (Mungee's Gigi) regularly gets a manicure at the same nail salon. Today we had lunch at the cafe next door and then went to say bye to Gigi. I can't believe that so much time has gone by since the first time I nursed Mungee in public in this salon - the very same one that Mungee walked into today on her own two little feet. *Sniff, sniff*
It's nearly impossible to keep up with Mungee's language explosion. She's always asking "Butah?" (what's that?) and then repeats what we tell her. We have to be very cautious of what we say around her since she's like a little parrot. She loves for us to sing to her and requests several songs by name: ABCs, Twankle or Uppa (Twinkle twinkle), Pake (Patty Cake) and Baby (Rock-a-bye). She tries to keep up with the hand motions of the Itsy Bitsy Spider and Patty Cake. Another thing that we find simply amazing is that she can find specific books that we ask her to get off her bookshelf and knows the next word or few words in certain books after we finish reading a particular page. Is that normal for a 17 month old, or is she just brilliant?
She's obsessed with doorbells. As soon as you greet her in the morning she says "Mik, peas, doorbell!" At night, as she's about to go to bed, "Seep, night night, cib (crib), DOORBELL!" So we say "Okay, do you want to ring the doorbell?" and she hesitates and says "Scared! Lap." Though she really isn't scared, so I'm not sure where she learned that.
Speaking of obsessions, she really likes the steamed, frothed soymilk we put on our cappuccinos. She calls it "some" (foam), which is the same thing she calls phones. Still haven't been able to get her to say those two words correctly, but she'll get there.
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| Get in mah belleh! |
Mungee is such a funny baby toddler. She knows when she makes us laugh and likes to put on a show. She's so friendly and has a great personality. She really fills our hearts with pride and love.
I'm looking forward to adding a little sister sibling to our family at some point soon. No, I'm not pregnant, that's just the remnants of too many cookies around my waist right now. Oh, no pictures of that to show, darn!
