Our Life: Mind of her own

We had a very long day on Wednesday. In fact, I ended up having to put Keeley in the sling and carry her around on my hip for about an hour in the afternoon. I didn't even know you could wear the sling if you were 8 months pregnant - you can. It was the only way I could get anything done. If I put her down, she looked up at me and cried until I said "use your words" and then she said "up". By 3 o'clock, I no longer wanted to listen to crying nor did I want to have to actually carry her. The sling solved the problem as I vacuumed, cleaned up in the kitchen, and took a short walk with her.

Keeley is pretty strong-willed. Here is a run down of our day.

* She wanted to go out. I was aware of this by the fact that she kept walking to the front and back doors, tried to open them, and kept saying "out". We had to put shoes on as soon as she woke up because she thought that would make her get to go out. If I let the dogs in or out, she would hurry to the door saying "oooo, oooo, oooo" and stomping her little feet in excitement. The excited foot stomping quickly turned to temper tantrum and tears when I closed the door and made her stay inside with me. I finally relented when she walked in her room, found a different pair of shoes, brought them to me, and said "out" as though this new pair of shoes (she was already wearing one pair) would make it okay to go out. It was not, however, enough for me to sit inside with the door open and watch, I had to go outside as well.

* She then remembered that her red car was in what will be Kayden's room and kept standing at the door, stomping her feet, saying "car" while signing more. She was NOT pleased when we did not get the car out.

* She would hand me one of her "busy books" and sign "more" for me to help with the buckle. She would promptly swat my hand away and grab the book back. This was repeated several times.

* Then I had to wear her or listen to the crying. After that no longer worked, she played in her water station making a huge mess while I made dinner - but at least she was happy.

* She insisted on eating her cereal by herself and got it all over. That's okay...totally age appropriate.

After all that, I had to change her clothes because she was soaked from the water station and filthy from the self-feeding of the cereal. I managed to change her diaper, but she refused to let me put more clothes on her. Not a battle worth fighting at 5pm so she remained in her diaper until bedtime.

Here are some pictures from our day.