12 Month Regressions ... Or Are They?

So Little L (since she's not really a baby anymore) has returned to some unwelcome behaviours, including:

*biting during nursing
*refusing to sleep
*doing strange acrobatic manoeuvres in her sleep
*not sleeping in her (brand new!) crib
*crying and whining in unfamiliar places or with less-familiar people

Oh- and while in Hawaii, she also went into hysterics (think meltdown but louder) twice at restaurants whenever the server approached. Both were male, deeply tanned, and had strong accents. I think my kid's a racist! :o

Anyway, there's of course a logical explanation for all of these unwanted behaviours (aside from the possibility that Little L just hates me and wants to make my existence a little less awesome). She's growing. Mentally, socially, physically - and these "regressions" are signs of that development. Biting = teeth (molars or canines, can't tell which ones yet), she is increasingly aware of her separateness from me and of her environment and body, she has begun to remember and recognize places and experiences, she is getting physically stronger and bigger and more mobile, she is learning to talk (even babbling in her sleep) and she is now tapping into her God-given wariness of strangers. All good things once they are established, but the process of developing these can be pretty rough on her ... and on me.

Despite the temporary inconvenience of it all, I'm glad she is growing up (though that does make me wistful -that babies don't keep) and healthy on all counts. Even if that means that I have to sleep on an air mattress on the floor to prevent her half-conscious gymnastics from toppling her onto the floor.

(Pics: reading her Bible and asleep on our new air mattress)