A personality all her own

It finally happened. Our heavy weight infant, who is two weeks away from her first birthday, took a swing at her brother. His offense? He took a toy from her. We've been warning him for months.

"You better be nice to her. she's going to be bigger than you," we'd say to blank stares from Danny. She is only six pounds lighter and a few inches shorter than him. We knew she'd soon wise up and start fighting back. And, frankly, I'm not going to deter her much at first.

That said, she does adore her big brother. Today she stood on the back porch, glancing first out at the big backyard and then back at her brother. She whimpered and then loudly called his name, "Nanny." She wanted him to come with her. (I know, it makes me all teary-eyed, too.)

Fiona is almost one and coming into her own little personality. She plays games with us, my favorite being the after-nap amusement of squatting below the crib rail and then popping back up, laughing all the while. That silly goose honestly thinks I can't see her through the crib rails! We get big, toothy grins, shrieks of delight and very loud howls of discontentment as she tries mightily to make herself heard and understood. Last night, she threw her sippy cup at me and howled because I hid the telephone that she so desperately wanted to get her hands on.

Needless to say, she's got a lot of, um, attitude.

Mealtime has been frustrating for Fiona lately, too. She seemed to be eating less, fussing more and throwing her food onto the floor. She's been pointing at the table while we eat. At first, I assumed she just wanted what was on the table. It turns out that she just wanted to actually sit at the table with us instead of in her high chair pushed away from the table. Once in a while, I go back and read blog posts from when Danny was her age to help jog my memory. (I'm so glad that I write these things down. Lord knows I can't even remember to brush my teeth daily let alone what my son was like two years ago.) Turns out, he was the same way. He wanted to eat at the table with us from a plate, just like us. I've resorted to taping a plastic place mat to the table for her to eat off since she seems intent on dumping anything that's not bolted or taped down. I give it a week before she starts trying to peel the packing tape off the table.