when does a baby become a toddler?

Anastasia has done so many new things in the past few months that it's hard to keep up. She's really turning from a baby into a toddler now, and it seems like every day she does a new trick.

The first big thing was over Christmas, when she started to really eat solid food. Of course we've been giving her food since she was six months old, but she never had much interest in it. She would pick it up, play with it, put it in her mouth, and spit it on the floor. I used to joke that I could tell how much she'd eaten--or hadn't eaten--by looking at the floor.

But on our trip to Virginia for Christmas, we stopped at Panera Bread for lunch, and I was enjoying my chicken noodle soup in a bread bowl so much that I decided to let her try a little of the bread. Up until then I'd been very cautious about what I'd given her--only whole foods with no added salt or sugar, no processed foods, etc.--but I figured she probably wouldn't eat it anyway. So I was completely surprised, and rather nonplussed, when she immediately swallowed the bit of soup-soaked bread I offered her and looked for more. She ended up eating quite a bit of it. Which just goes to show you that if you want to raise a child on healthy food in our society, you can never relax your guard. Not even for a second. The first time you offer them something processed and salty or sugary, it's all over.

Then, of course, while we were in Virginia she discovered Cheerios. My sister-in-law, Heidi, was feeding her daughter Olivia (who's the same age as Anastasia) Cheerios and other Gerber finger foods. Anastasia found some on the floor, and it was all over. Now she's decided that animal cookies will cure pretty much anything, and Cheerios are a blast. Meat, however, is one of her favorite foods. Especially if it's marinated in a nice tasty sauce.

But food isn't the only thing that's changing. She's working hard on walking, which I guess is the official changeover from babyhood to toddlerhood. She started pulling up on the furniture somewhere around ten months, and it seemed like no time at all before she started cruising and moving around while holding onto something. Next her favorite activity became walking while holding on to Mommy's fingers. She insisted on holding a finger in each hand, and then she could walk anywhere with great pride--and even run fast enough to make her breathe hard. Just a few days ago, Daddy convinced her that she could actually walk while holding on to only one hand, and now she's very proud of the trick: she stops to giggle and shriek with pride every few steps.

But the funniest new development, and the one that most makes me see how close toddlerhood really looms, is the attitude change. Anastasia has always been a high-strung baby who wanted exactly what she wanted and wouldn't put up with anything else. But already it seems to have multiplied tenfold. Recently she was having pain from molars coming in, and whenever she didn't get something that she wanted (usually something like crawling outside, which we would prevent by shutting the door), she would stop, put her hand to her jaw with a pathetic look, and scream at the top of her lungs. Her message was clear: "But I NEED that! I NEED it! Because my TEETH hurt!"

And in the past few days, she's started an entirely different type of scream. She used to scream like, well, a baby: it was a wail, a cry, a vocalization with many variations that all were clearly communicative. Now she's discovered a new type of cry: the mad scream. It happens when she doesn't like what's going on, when she doesn't get her way, and it's unmistakable. It's a long, drawn-out, guttural cry, like a cross between a scream and a growl. It says something entirely new, and it says it very clearly: "No! Mine! I want! Now!"

Yes, toddlerhood is definitely coming up far too fast.

a tooth at last!

Yesterday Anastasia turned six months old, and today she cut her first tooth. I can hardly believe she's grown so much already! The tooth is so cute...it's just a little edge peeking out, really, but it's definitely coming in. I'll post a picture when I can get one.

is this teething?

Yesterday and today have not been fun.

It started with something like a cold. Now that Anastasia is almost six months, that didn't worry me at all. Bit of a runny nose, some fussiness--no problem at all. Build her immune system.

Nor did it worry me when she continued to get more and more fussy throughout the day. But by late afternoon she was crying a lot until she finally fell asleep. Well, I thought, maybe tomorrow will be better.

The morning was better. She seemed cheerful and happy. We went to school--I'm teaching a writing workshop at my neighbor's little private school, and Anastasia's coming with me; yesterday was our first day--and she was happy to see the kids and even fell asleep in the sling toward the end of class. She woke up as soon as we got home, so she only napped for about half an hour, but she still seemed reasonably happy.

That was at 9:45 am.

By 1:00 pm, things were falling apart. She hadn't slept that entire time. She'd been crying for about two hours, and she'd pooped in her diaper (a completely unexpected and unusual occurrence these days, especially since I quit eating dairy). Worst of all, she wouldn't nurse. She would eat a little and then pull off and cry. I kept offering, switching sides, trying different positions...but no go. She clearly wanted to sleep, and usually she falls asleep nursing, but something was bothering her, and she sounded like she was in pain.

I've heard that teething can sometimes make it hurt to nurse. Something about the sucking when the gums are sore, maybe.

She finally fell asleep in my arms, cradled on my shoulder as I rocked her in the rocking chair. She tucked her little face into the hollow of my neck and slept at last. Poor little thing. I was so exhausted by then that I put her down and slept with her--and both of us slept for three hours.

Now it's 9:00 pm, and she's just fallen asleep again for the night. The evening was much better than the morning, but there was still a lot of fussiness and crying and refusing to nurse before she finally settled into sleep. Poor baby. I really hope a tooth comes through soon.