7 Quick Takes - about Zipporah

As I have not been keeping up on the blogging much lately I decided to just do a quick update on Zipporah as she is the one doing the most changing these days.  No, it is not her birthday or anything, but she is just growing up so much!

1) Zipporah is done nursing (as of about 14-months-old).

This one kinda broke my heart, but she was ready to grow up and move on - she just quit cold-turkey one day and has not looked back.

2) She is ALMOST walking.

She has been cruising on the furniture and standing unassisted for some time now.  She has her balance down, she just needs to give the walking thing a chance.  A few days ago she took two steps and then popped back down to the ground to crawl and she did it again yesterday.  I expect her to be toddling all over soon.

3) Zipporah loves to dance!

We have one of those Leap Frog farm matching toys on our fridge (well, actually we have two of them).  She LOVES to use her long fingers to make Farmer Tad play his banjo.  And as he shares his tune, she wiggles her hips and bends her knees.

4) She often will not let us rock her to sleep anymore.

Once she stopped nursing, Gordie and I both took turns rocking her to sleep.  But now she often is not in a mood for that.  She will not snuggle and be still - she will push up and play with my face.  So she gets put in her crib, but she does not object.  She just calmly lets me tuck her in and watches me leave.  I'm not complaining, just documenting.  She is such a unique child.

5) Speaking of sleep, Zipporah is oddly content in her bed.

Seriously, I usually go get her at about 9am most mornings (other than when we go to 8am Mass, of course) and she really does not complain before that.  If she wakes up, she sits and ponders the meaning of the universe (in silence) or calmly looks over the small bucket of toys I keep near the corner of her bed.  The same goes for her waking up from her naps - often she is awake long before I go in to get her, but even when I have the monitor on, often the only notice she gives to being awake is the slight rustle of her toys.  We definitely won the "baby lottery" with her.

6) She still sucks her thumb some.

Generally she does it to calm down (such as after bonking her head at church) or when she is tired, just before going to sleep.

7) Zipporah has an amazing attention span.

She will sit and play with one toy (or set of toys) for hours at a time, especially if someone is joining her.  Miriam and Zipporah have the most amazing tea parties, and pony parties, and pony tea parties!  She will sit like a little lady and daintily pick up cups or toy food, never tiring of the game.  And if Rebekah wants to play with her, then she is guaranteed to be content for the day.  She really loves her siblings and even from the first day we brought her home as a baby, showed preference to being around them, even in their most boisterous and crazy states!