Warming up to a new smell

Last week, while my mom was getting me settled in my awesome new car seat, we saw Miss Miho. She came over to our car to say hello and I was so excited that I lost it a little bit. Okay, I lost it a lot. I couldn't control my emotions at all. I tried to hug her but instead I just screamed and sobbed. It was difficult for everyone involved. The scene was pretty embarrassing.

That night, while I was post gaming my day with my dinosaur, Vanessa, I tried to figure out what was really upsetting me. Of course Miss Miho is the coolest, but I think it's so much more than that.

There I was, in my big kid car seat, not an infant carrier, seeing my favorite old infant teacher after a day of watching Conor and Ben walk around without holding anything for support. Annabelle is starting to crawl and wear somewhat stylish clothes (but she still doesn't have hair). I realized that we're all growing up and heading towards the next phase.

The transition to the toddler room happens sometime after a baby turns one. We have to be big enough to walk and attach our own nose plug. Ben is 15 months and transitioning this week. Since he just turned one, Conor will be next. I am 11 months and 5 days. I know I'm on my way.

Toddlers must provide their own blankie, sippy cup and nose plug

I considered faking extended infancy - starting to beg for a pacifier, regressing to only rolling instead of crawling and pulling up, refusing any food that isn't rice cereal - but I realized that, like Miss Miho, we all have to move on at some point. So I took my literal and figurative first steps towards toddlerhood this weekend.

After I saw the reaction I got from my parents (totally wrapped around my little finger) I think I'm going to keep it up. Yes, they'll eventually make me move on to the abhorrent toddler room but if I'm lucky, they might buy me some new walking shoes, too.