Yep. I bought Crocs. Now, I typically don’t like shoes that are Big and will make my feet look BIGGER (I’m a 9.5) and regular crocs have been totally unappealing to me, because they could be used in the event of a water landing, they look that huge. (And, I’m a Dansko fan, so that’s saying something.) But my 10 dollar flips from last summer are starting to stiiiiink, so I’ve been in the market for just some sort of shoe, and there I was, at Dick’s, and the crocs called to me… I didn’t get the regular ones, but instead a pair of black maryjanes, which are actually kind of… cute. I saved the receipt, of course, figuring Dave would be able to help me decide if they were passable or if I was just high, and he thought they were cute, too. (Even cuter were the orange kids’ crocs, but uh, they were huuuuge on Ingrid, who is mostly barefoot these days, but still not even fitting into 6-12 month Robeez/Fauxbeez. And she was known in the hospital as "the one with the [big] feet!")
I also made my first-ever "Oh, I’ll get these on sale in a bigger size for next summer" purchases, 2 sleepers from the children’s place (only place I could find cotton, zippered, footed sleepers in bigger sizes this year) for $4 a piece, and a carter’s sunsuit in turquoise, lime, and brown for 5 bucks at Sears. Ingrid did well in her stroller, only the second or third time she’s gone shopping with me like that. Mostly because I never go to the mall, and Target has carts (or I wrap her…) either way, she did great, got pretty tired at the end, and was head-lollingly asleep in the car before we even got to Stillwater.
But, that nap apparently was when she dreamed of what it’s like to STAND ALONE, since she started doing that when she woke up! Whoa. At first, it was "I’ll crawl over to mama and pull up and let go with this hand…. and…. this….. hand… holyfuckI’mstandingupholyshit!" For like, 10 seconds. Then it stretched to more like 30 seconds. And today, I was able to just sort of set her down on her feet, and she stood in place — the last stretch was more like a minute, and she was turning to look at me, and then turning back to wave at herself in the mirror, so. that seems like a rapidly advancing sense of balance, to me. SO CRAZY. She also had an explosion of communication, suddenly totally GETTING the "more" sign, and saying "Muh?" while signing, as well as "all done" (but no words) which is pretty impressive, since the baby sign has been a home thing, and not a daycare one (though, we’re apparently going to get a parent survey thing, and that will be on the TOP of my wishlist. Sort of late for Ing, but I’ve worked in a childcare that did baby sign, and it was AWESOME to watch…) She’s done the "nurse" sign (milk) for a while, but that sometimes morphs into a hi/bye sign, and sometimes I wonder if she sees it as "hi/bye MOM" or "hi/bye, I’m going with my MOM now" because of the context. But she also mimics, and both Dave and I swear we heard her say "more blueberry" ("Muh buhbuhee" and gesturing wildly at the fridge where the blueberries live…) but we couldn’t get her to repeat it. She has Mama and Dada/Daddy down pretty well, already.
Anyway, weird, having this little creature standing in the middle of a room, and telling me when she’s hungry in a way other than "she’s cranky, oh, hey! look at the time…"
We have our vacation week next week, and we have no plans, so we’re making them. One thing we’ve come up with is to take Ingrid to daycare for the day, and have a grownup day — go to the movies, out to lunch, spend some time at home (*cough*) — just take advantage of NOT having to pay for a sitter. Depending on the movies showing that week, we might even do it TWICE. We also plan to take Ingrid to the city pool (which is freakin’ fabulous) and to the coast, and maybe do some house project (though, sadly, at this stage that would be like "unearth dining room table and consider eating at it.")
Work tomorrow. Woot! Wish I could wear my new shoes….
