50 Weeks

Really, she just keeps getting more and more fun. She laughs when we laugh now, and her laugh sounds like “Oh ha ha ha ha ha, guys! I’m right there with you! I totally get the joke and it is SO FUNNY! You guys are hilarious and I’m laughing to let you know that I totally understand what’s going on! Hear that? That is the sound of me definitely knowing why I am laughing, as I can assure you that I am not just copying you, nossiree!” And she’ll look from one of us to the other while doing it, watching us for cues on when to stop.

She also likes to smoosh our faces together to make us kiss. We’ll be standing close to each other and one of us will be holding her and she’ll reach out and push one person’s face into the other so we kiss. We kiss, a big smacker with a “MWAH!” sound, and pull apart to find her grinning. Then she makes us do it again, and again, and again, grinning the whole time.

Now that she is walking, the cats are experiencing a whole new level of terror. She can chase them around – occasionally while holding one of them by the tail – and follow them into places that were formerly baby-resistant. She loves them…a lot. Her favorite sport these days is Chick Wrestling, a hilarious game in which she body-slams our sweet, slow, lazy 17-lb tabby and then rolls back and forth over him while cooing, chattering, and saying “as eee” (“that kitty”) and “ei nee” (“nice kitty”) over and over. Sometimes she holds his face and pokes him in the eyes, asking “Eis? Eis? Si eee eis?” Chick is usually very patient and just whines for rescue until I run up and tell Piper that yes, those are the nice kitty’s eyes, and if you don’t stop poking them he’s going to bite you and it will serve you right because you know better. When he is in a peevish mood, he gives her a few warning meows before he nips or scratches, and since I tell her every time please don’t bother the kitty and, most of the time, drag her off him at least once, I feel it’s only fair to let him defend himself as long as he doesn’t get too rough. One day he bit her hard enough to almost draw blood, and I let him know that that was unacceptable, but most of the time I don’t intervene. Eventually, they’ll figure it out themselves.

I’m sure the grandparents will have fits when they show up to visit and Piper’s arms and legs have scratches all over them, but I am also sure that will be just one item on the list of Ways I Am Failing Their Grandchild. It is a list which will probably also include items like Refusing to Allow Anything With Elmo On It To Enter My House, Begging Them To Stop Buying Her Truckloads of Cheap Plastic Crap, and Lobbying For Them To Buy Quality Wooden Toys and Fancy Cloth Diapers Instead of Seventy-Five More Carter’s Outfits From Kohl’s.

Since we are preparing for the grandparents to swoop down in a few weeks, they are on my mind right now. I’m not sure how it’s going to go, because while Piper was always a pretty active baby, since she’s started walking, that’s pretty much all she does. She just goes from room to room all day (destroying, unfolding, un-stacking, emptying, and unloading things) amusing herself, occasionally stopping by with a book for me to read or taking a break to wrestle one of the cats. I’m certain the grandparents are going to want to hold/hug/cuddle her (particularly Ryan’s mom, who never has been able to understand that Piper doesn’t like that, so stop squeezing her and she’ll stop crying), and that is just not on Piper’s agenda.

Maybe they’ll be content to watch her walk around – it is pretty cute. She does jazz hands when she walks, with her arms bent at the elbows, hands wiggling up near her ears. Most of the time, it’s better than TV to just watch her wander around, doing jazz hands and babbling away.