Life:
Yikes... I *finally* got my student loan papers, but after going to four different banks to try to get it processed, the one I finally found to give me my loan said it would take another week and a half to actually get the money to my account. So things are really tight now financially, which means extra stress. Plus, midterms start next week, which means I've have to have my nose in a book non-stop, and things aren't going too well with friends. It's just an all around stressful time, and of course that's impacting on my parenting skills. I still try to spend quality time with Harmony, but it's just getting so hard. Usually when we get home, it's like, cook supper, eat supper, a bit of play time together, bath, bottle and bed. Even play time is frustrating- she misses me so she gets really clingy, but she doesn't want to be held because she's independant. So she does this really annoying back and forth thing- she'll crawl over to me and try to climb onto me and she'll be really clingy and whiny, but right after I pick her up, she'll be twisting and turning in my lap to get down again. I've read that this is very normal for babies nearing 12 months, but that doesn't seem to make it less frustrating. Like many of the parenting skills and the information I've picked up (after like, 6 parenting classes!), not a lot of it seems to help. I conciously and logically understand why Harmony does what she does, but it doesn't seem to help with my coping skills. I'm starting a new parenting course "You Make the Difference", so maybe this one will give me some coping skills to actually deal with my frustration instead of just another class about how to act with your kids.
Harmony's Growth:
Harmony is not really picking up any new skills, just mainly working on refining old ones. She is getting better at drinking from a cup, "talking" (mama, dada, baba, "hi"), and increasing mobility! I really think she'll be walking soon!