All about Meme

I know Miriam’s birthday is only a few weeks away but I’m afraid that if I wait any longer I’ll forget all the cute things she does. No, really. My mind is like a sieve.

Tonight at dinner she was so sleepy. She’s been sleepy before, of course, but we’ve only gotten to the point of sucking-thumb-while-resting-head-on-table.

Today she went all the way. Granted, dinner was already technically over and Rachel was playing in the tub while I cleaned up for dinner and Andrew did homework. Miriam was still buckled into her highchair, playing with her cup and babbling to keep me company. One minute she was prattling about something I’ll never fully understand and then all I heard was a soft *knock*knock*knock. I looked up from the dishes and saw Miriam, fast asleep in her chair, knocking her head into the back.

It’s funny she was that tired because she was absolutely hilarious at the start of the meal. She started folding her arms for prayers today—she’s been bowing her head (skewed awkwardly to one side) for a while—so we were having fun  exploiting her new skill. It takes a lot of concentration to fold your arms and bow your head at the same time. When Miriam concentrates she looks like Andrew more than she already does when she isn’t concentrating.

She also knows what to do with her eyes during the prayer, although I can pretty much guarantee that almost never happens.

We all clapped for her and praised her and she liked that a lot. Usually the state of her happiness can be judged by how much of her mouth she uses when she smiles.

After that big smile, though, her thumb went into her mouth…

…And a few minutes after that she was out like a light.

She wore her BYU shirt today (so did Rachel) and it kind of makes her look like a boy. She had feminine pants on, I promise. Once she has hair it won’t be so bad…BYU won their game tonight, though, so I guess having Meme look like a boy was worth it.

She also has a pink BYU shirt that helps her look like a girl. She wore it a while ago and I also took pictures of her at the dinner table. I think she was either clapping or signing “more.”

She now signs “more” without being prompted when she feels she’s being neglected. Usually it is accompanied with a fake cough to get an adult’s attention. Then she’ll sign “more” and point to whatever she wants. Unless she’s feeling impatient and then she’s not above squawking.

She’s got the sweetest face and the sweetest demeanor but she’s been getting into things like it’s nobody’s business. She can open the closet doors and even figured out how to open the gate at the top of the stairs so now we have to make sure we latch it extra tight. She can also open all the drawers and cupboards at her level. She likes to think of them as her personal toy box.

One of her favourite drawers is the lid drawer because it is chockfull of steering wheels. This video doesn’t really do her justice—she had already exhausted her driving time, I think. She’s been driving for a long time, including making zooming sounds, because Rachel likes to play Little Einsteins and makes Miriam be Leo and drive the rocket.

 

Miriam still likes to play with phones. She will talk on the phone for hours minutes at a time, it doesn’t matter if it is real or fake.

And I have a confession…Miriam is a closet reader. That’s only because the girls’ bookshelf is in the closet. Miriam loves to settle down with a good book and flip through the pictures. She loves to pull all the books off the shelf. She loves to be read to. She loves to crawl into the depths of the closet and push the door open and pop out on the other side.

Miriam loves bath time probably just as much as Rachel does. She loves to put her face in the water and blow bubbles. She loves to pull all the shampoo bottles into the tub instead of playing with the toys. She loves to splash and crawl around. She loves to try to drink the water. She just loves bathing.

She loves post-bath snuggles, too, although she has kind of given up her pre-bedtime snuggles which is sad beyond belief. Now she just wants me to put her to bed without rocking her (what?) so that she can goof off with Rachel before falling asleep. Giggles galore can be heard from their room for about fifteen minutes after they’ve been put to bed.

She is such a fun baby! I think I’m still in denial that she’s going to be a year old at the end of the month…

I think part of the reason she’s still so baby-ish is because she isn’t walking yet. She still has no interest in it, though today while she was watching the football game with Rachel and Daddy she stood up from the floor without pulling up on anything.

It will be exciting when she takes her first steps but I’m really not in a hurry for it because then she’ll want to cut out more cuddle time and that will make me sad. Oh, how I love my cuddly girl!