Top 5 Reasons Babykins is AWESOME

It seems like every time I turn around these days, Babykins is adding a new skill to her list of incredible talents.  Here, a list of the top 5 accomplishments Babykins has achieved in the last month:

5. Brushing Her Teeth: With her one year birthday looming, Babykins still only has 2 teeth.  The fact that they're both on the bottom makes chewing difficult, but gives her an adorable smile.  To get Babykins off to a good start with dental hygiene, we recently gave Babykins her own toothbrush.  Whenever Hubbykins or I brush our teeth, Babykins follows us into the bathroom, takes her toothbrush, and moves it around her mouth in a super cute imitation of brushing her teeth.  No teeth are actually getting clean, but at least she now thinks using a toothbrush is a good time.

4. Stacking Rings:  Last week, after months of basically ignoring her Ring Stacking set, Babykins sat down, picked up a green plastic ring, and placed it on the stick like she'd been doing it her whole life.  Sometimes I think she just likes to see how easy it is to make me squeal in excitement.

3. Stacking Blocks:  While stacking the rings is impressive, they at least have a stick they go on that keeps them in a pile.  Stacking blocks is a whole different story.  Knocking down block towers that Hubbykins and I build has long been one of Babykins' favorite activities.  In fact, the desire to knock down block towers is actually what first motivated Babykins to crawl.  Last week, though, Babykins turned the corner, for the first time building her own block tower.  It was only two blocks high, but it was still very impressive.  She's up to three blocks, now, and I'm sure it won't be long before our little architect is constructing replicas of the Taj Mahal.

2. Saying "Puppy":  During our trip to Canada, we stayed with friends who have two dogs.  Once Babykins got over her initial fright, she fell in love.  Since then, every time we see a dog, she flaps her arms and squeals until they're out of sight.  Since we can't have a dog, Babykins has a little, brown stuffed puppy.  If you ask her where puppy is, she'll actually look around until she finds him, then make a bee line straight for his fuzzy body and give him a big hug.  Imagine our surprise when we saw puppies on TV this weekend and, after Hubbykins and I both exclaimed, "Babykins, look at the puppies!", Babykins turned to the TV and said, "Pu...pu...pu...puppy."  I actually cried a little at that one.

1. Walking:  I know I've already blogged about Babykins walking, but over the last week she has gone from a few hesitant steps to a professional walker (granted, one that still falls a lot, but she's at the beginning of her professional walking career).  She's even figured out how to stand up without holding on to anything, making it much easier for her to get going again after a fall.  The cutest part, though, is that along with doing the adorable "baby walk" - arms in the air for balance, tottering steps, and tummy sticking out - Babykins tends to twirl her hands while she walks, supposedly to help propel herself forward.

Ah, Babykins, some days (ok, everyday) you amaze me.

Not a Tooth

A week ago, Babykins came down with a runny nose.  This was followed by a cough, an inability to sleep, and severe grumpiness.  These were the same symptoms she had with her last two colds, so we gave her a few doses of Tylenol, a lot of cuddles, and waited it out.

Within a couple days, however, we discovered that this time it was different...Babykins had a tooth!  After falsely announcing Babykins' first tooth twice before, though, I was hesitant to announce this one.  Even after Hubbykins and I could both see and feel the tooth (in case you weren't sure, sticking your finger into the mouth of a baby with a new tooth will promptly result in getting bitten), I still didn't want to say anything.  What if this ended up being a false alarm, too?  What if the tooth somehow went back into her gums?  I could never live down a third tooth fiasco.

And I'm glad I waited, because it turns out Babykins wasn't getting a tooth.  She was getting teeth!  Yesterday, she flashed me a big smile and to my surprise, both of her bottom front teeth were through!  Because I'm sleep deprived, I forgot my own warning and promptly stuck my finger in her mouth...at which point she bit me with TWO teeth!

We've waited months for Babykins to get her first tooth, and Hubbykins and I are very excited.  We're also a bit sad, though.  As much as we enjoy watching Babykins' new found zest for chewing food, we'll miss that sweet, toothless grin.