Sure, I take a lot of pictures of our daughter, but who wouldn’t? I mean, the changing expressions alone make me want to snap photos all day long. Add in the costume changes, variety of hats available and the fact that she barely looks like the same child to me from day to day and I’d say I’m pretty much just doing my job!

Unfortunately, I think she’s finally caught on that the camera is actually a barrier between her and mamamamamamama – not a fun peekaboo game to make her giggle. And yes, she does like looking at pictures of herself, so this could continue for  a while – as long as I keep the lens cap out of sight, out of mind.

Speaking of mamamamama, Zoe’s definitely entered a mommy phase. Which, as any mother will admit, can be cute and flattering. Until you realize that you’re really just an addiction she can’t manage and that you, like that electrical socket she REALLY wants to poke a fork in, are just one more object she wants to have immediately, or else. Sure, you definitely get lots of hugs and smiles out of the deal, but you also get stuck picking up and carrying around a 22-pound sack of potatoes, which can slow down everyday activities like, oh, going to the bathroom.

I’m learning the art of distraction – I actually thought I’d be better at it. Most of the time, I’m at least in the “advanced” category but over the past few weeks we’ve got a new challenge: The Tantrum. When it happened the first time, she conked her head on the hardwood floor (she sat herself down and threw her head forward in protest, then sat up with a blue dot on her forehead). I was sure that would deter future tantrums. NOPE. She’s just gotten more careful.

Now she throws her whole body on the ground, head held millimeters away from the floor. No kicking, but definitely screaming. Seriously, she’s not even 15 months old! Even baby center says this starts at 20 months (as early as 18)! I’m all for her being an overachiever, but according to that article, we should hold off on things like “time outs” until 2 or 3 years old… In general, her tantrums are at least VERY brief and easy to redirect. We’ve only had one night where she was truly inconsolable, just before dinner, and I finally, very rationally told her I’d tried my best to help her and she was just going to have to work it out.

At which point she walked over to my seat, stared up at me and cried/sniffled from there. So I asked her if she wanted to calm down and eat dinner – to which she responded with a tiny “Es”. How can you turn that away? So she sat on my lap and ate my food. Clearly, I should post my success to Baby Center – they didn’t even suggest that! ;)

Anyway, 99.2% of the time (yes, I’m tracking), she’s an awesome baby. Guess we’ll just have to adapt – and keep taking pictures so we can remember how cute she is when she’s flailing on the ground in protest.