Whew! Nina is keeping us busy. When not asleep, she is moving moving moving. She’s always been this way – never been a child that likes to sit and snuggle into someone’s lap – but these days, she seems ever more active than ever. She’s walking, and has taken at least 20 steps at once (her record walk was this weekend at Grandma’s, where there is a lot more open space for toddling about and doggie Suzy Q to terrorize). But now walking isn’t enough for her and she’s started trying to RUN. She’ll start toddling around and then see something exciting up ahead (Grandma’s little white dog, for instance), and then the panting starts and the little legs try to move  a little bit faster…and boom! She’s on the ground. Usually it’s butt-first — safe enough — but with the running sometimes she tumbles forward, which gives me a real fright. I try to watch her as closely as I can, but Nina’s “noggin’ knocks” are becoming a regular part of life, and she’s typically got one or two small bruises on her forehead at any time and the occasional cheek-scrape. None of this seems to bother her too much. She’ll cry a bit after a spill but then pretty quickly get over it. I’m amazed, as the kind of falls she takes would leave me sore for a week. We’re trying to baby-proof — we put foam around the fireplace hearth today — but there’s only so much we can do in a small apartment like ours.

In other Nina news, she’s sleeping straight through the night, every night. She goes to be at 7:30 and wakes up at 6. It’s amazing to get a full night’s sleep again! My next goal is to get her to sleep in a bit on the weekends.

And Nina’s favorite toy is the Streetwise Manhattan laminated map. These things are great for babies! It will keep her occupied for 20 minutes or so. Seriously!

Nina took her first steps this weekend. She was holding onto the refrigerator, playing with her magnetic letters, when she suddenly started taking steps away from it. They were teeny, tiny steps. She took about four and then fell on her bottom. She did this several more times that day. Today she seemed a little less inclined to walk without support, but was doing lots of cruising between the coffee table, the chair and the sofa. Dad and Grandma have both seen her walking, so I’m not the only witness.

I don’t have it documented on video, since we’d left our recorder at a friend’s house and just got it back this afternoon. I tried to get her to take some steps for the camera, but she was more interested in trying to open the kitchen cabinets. Nina has also learned how to open drawers, if they’re low enough for her. We MUST babyproof. Although we keep a very close eye on her, so I don’t think she’ll get into anything. We’ve been putting it off, thinking that we will move soon. Although that looks like it may still be a few months away.

I’ll try to capture video of Nina walking soon!