My Little Weirdo Part 2, The Video Log

Me?  A Weirdo?
Notice Pig?

As I previously discussed back in the first My Little Weirdo post, like most children, Piper has some quirks that leave me scratching my head in wonder whilst rolling on the floor with laughter.  I've been keeping track of a lot of these quirks via video, yay for the age of technology!  While a picture may say a thousand words, a video encompasses an entire volume of encyclopedias.

I've decided that for this entry, I will go ahead and post all the videos, with a brief explanation of what you're about to see in each, rather than try and describe each quirk with lots of my usual ramblings.  I know some of you will be reading from your iPhones and don't have Flash capabilities, I myself run into that problem ALL the time.  So as I have done in past posts, I will include a link below each video that takes you directly to Youtube.  This is my little work-around, and it does eliminate the problem of not being able to view the awesomeness to which you are about to come privy.  I've tested it on my iPhone, so I know it works, so now you have no excuse not to follow along...and I won't have to feel disheartened that some of you would not be able to share in the hilarity that is about to ensue.  So, without further adieu...

To start, I'm going to go back in time to a video clip you may have already seen in a past post, depending on how long you've been with us.  Piper used to do a little crinkle-thing with her nose when she got excited. This sadly, eventually ended, but no worries since she has upped her game to growling and other such fun things. Yeah, have a video of that to post, too, so you've got that to look forward to!  But to start, here is Piper's weird little crinkle-nose thingy she used to do back in the day, lol.

The Crinkle-nose crawl!

(Youtube link HERE)

I know that this little crinkle thing isn't the weirdest thing you've ever seen, but she was just a little babe, and things have continued to get quirkier and quirkier...but in a delightful way.

I've mentioned several times before the Piper has a hard time winding down at night, or for naps, just in general.  She comes by the Hyper Piper moniker honestly, as it fits her personality perfectly.  This next video is a bit of a log clip, somewhere just over 5 minutes.  I know, in our modern day go-go-go world, five minutes is an eternity.  I guarantee you that this will not be five minutes that you will want back.  This short film is doe in the Blair Witch style and has a way better ending than that piece of crap movie.  Anyways, this is a short film I made one night when Piper was having an especially hard time settling down.  I finally gave up and decided to join in her fun rather than fight it.

This is what winding down looks like in our house! 

(Youtube link HERE)

Now don't get me wrong, Piper doesn't always have to wind down by spazzing completely out.  Sometimes she's so spastic all day that it catches up to her at the most inopportune moments, such as the dinner table. This next clip showcases her sometimes inability to hold her eyes open for even one more second.  And when she zonks, she zonks!  Don't fret, she was not injured during this filming, it sounds worse than it looks.

This is what totally passed out looks like!

(Youtube link HERE)

After Piper finally goes to bed at night, she usually sleeps extremely well and then proceeds to wake up with enough energy to power a small country.  Every morning is interesting with her around.  She always wakes up smiling, giggling, talking up a storm, and usually bouncing of the bed rails...literally!  Here's a clip of one morning recently where she just couldn't sit still, not even for a second!

This is actually one of her calmer mornings :)

(Youtube link HERE)

Once awake, Piper continues her rowdy mood most of the day.  She does usually settle down for a nap now mid-afternoon, but besides that short amount of down time, she is always on the go.  There are two things in life she loves more than boobies, and those are her toys and dancing.  Her favorite toy, of course, is her lovey Pig.  She goes nowhere without him.  I mean NOWHERE!  If you've followed the blog regularly and/or our Facebook page, you have probably noticed that Pig is in most of her pictures and a pile of her videos, too.  However, she does love her other toys and gets much joy from spending time manipulating them with much gusto.  And that is what leads us to this next clip.

In this particular video she is playing with her favorite green ball.  It is an old exercise ball of mine that is slightly deflated so she can grip it a bit better.  She has adored this ball, for some odd reason, since the moment it rolled into her life.  She went through a spell, much like the crinkle-nose thing, where she growled a bunch.  Not in a scary way, mind you, but in an excited, overzealous, joyful way.  Whenever she would get really wound up, the growl would surface.  She still growls once in awhile now, but not anywhere to the extent that she used to.  Anyways, this clip shows her taking total ownership of her green ball.  There is no doubt left who it belongs to....and who is the boss of it!

Making the ball her bitch!

(Youtube link HERE)

And finally we come to the dancing portion of her favorite activities.  I like to think her love of music and dance comes directly from me, since I was once a professional principal ballet dancer.  Yes, I hope she too one day wants to be a ballerina.  I won't ever push it on her, but I will enroll her in classes when she turns four and see how it goes.  It's too hard on the body to be a dancer unless you love it with a passion that is so great you will cut a cast off your broken wrist with a hacksaw so that you can go onstage and perform...yes, I did that once!  But once again, I digress.  Back to Piper's innate musical abilities!

A couple of nights ago we were watching the Olympic ice dancers, and one pair skated a piece of their routine to Thrill by Michael Jackson.  I couldn't believe how much this piece of music wormed it's way into Piper's little booty, took hold, and made her smooth rock it out!  I had to rewind the sequence five times to let her keep getting her groove on!  This next clip is the one I shot on the fourth rewind.  I wish I had gotten all of them, but I was having way too much fun watching her get jiggy with it!  

This girl's got some serious moves like Jagger!

(Youtube link HERE)

Now we are coming to the sad portion of this post...I am out of videos!  Well, in all honesty I have a ridiculous number of videos on my phone (128 just since Nov 1st) and on my Youtube channel, but just no more for this post.  These that I've posted her do by no means cover all of Piper's quirks.  She's got a bag a tricks a mile deep, but these are some of my favorite.  There is one quirk, however, that I have yet to catch on tape that I so wish I could show the world.

Piper has a game she recently started playing during her dinner times.  Not during breastfeeding, but her regular meals.  We like to call it "Piper Says."  The rules are very simple.  Piper does an action, and whoever is around must do the same.  It's just like a game of Simon Says, but way more hysterical.  I'm not sure when exactly or why she started this game, but it wasn't something I taught her.  It was quite spontaneous.  One day she simply started clapping in her high chair, and then we all clapped with her.  Then she put her hands on her head, and she waited until we did the same.  Then she went back to clapping, once again waiting for us to clap with her.  We discovered it was a mimicking game when her Papa did the wrong move and received a very stern look and an accentuated repeat by Piper of the move he was supposed to be doing. 

Since she started the Piper Says game, she has become more and more creative.  Now she will bang her hands on the table, raise her arms in the air one at a time, slap the back of her wrist much like a holding call in football, she'll lay her head on her hands mimicking sleeping, say oh and ah or yay or other such words that have to be repeated, and a myriad of other tricks.  She likes to mix it up quite a bit, change up her speed and tempo of the actions, and really expects everyone to a) follow along; b) not get it wrong; and c) not pre-guess her actions...that gets a very stern look, as if you're being very, very naughty.  Once when I was holding her in my lap after her meal she began to play with a whole new set of actions which included grabbing her toes, swinging her legs, patting her knees, and other such lower body involved motions.  I so keep meaning to set up the tripod and try capturing this all on film, but I get so sidetracked and if she is even slightly suspicious she's being filmed, well then she just sits there like a bump on a log.  Yep, that's my girl!

This one is just an extra to show Piper's Olympic spirit!

Once again, I think it's time to wrap this one up and be on my merry way to getting other things accomplished.  I'm still several posts behind, but I swear I'm doing my best to try and catch up.  I had a bit of a stomach bug last weekend, so that didn't help at all!  

I would like to go ahead and give a heads-up about a very soon-to-be-published product review and giveaway I'm working on.  I was recently contacted by a lovely company that makes the oh-so-softest baby blankets in the world called GooseWaddle.  They sent me a small package of goodies that I am currently letting Piper use so that I can write a proper review both from my perspective and hers, as she is the true critic of all things baby related.  I will say now that I am thoroughly pleased with their blankets and their little goose mascot, now dubbed Waddles in our home, has become one of Piper's daily companions.  As soon as she saw the goose she grabbed him and gave him lots of kisses, there is not better stamp of approval than Piper kisses!  That's the equivalent of knighting a lovey.  Anyways, once I write the product review, I will be setting up a giveaway of the same products I received to one lucky winner.  There will be multiple ways to enter, and believe me, you want to be the winner!  But for now I just wanted everyone to be aware this was an upcoming event to keep an eye out for.  I will, of course, go into all the details when the time comes, but for now go check out their webpage.  Here is a pic to get you enthused!

Blankets come in blue, pink, and white.
Don't you just love that goose?

I will leave you all now with anticipation and excitement as to what lives ahead.  And a request to click on the links below ;)

  

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My Little Weirdo Part 1, The Breastfeeding Diaries

This is what a satisfied customer looks like!

I know just about every parent on the planet probably thinks their kid is a total weirdo, after all just being miniature people makes them weird enough already, but sometimes I imagine all of us parents have wondered if our little weirdo was more weird than the other little weirdos running a muck out in the world.  I am no different than other parents in this regard.  As Piper gets older and learns new skills, or starts behaving in new ways which are totally novel to me and I'm left scratching my head trying to figure out where she picked up such behaviors, she becomes more and more bizarre, yet in a fantastic way.

Piper just turned 9-months back on the 10th of this month, and while she is super-duper smart and pretty much ahead of the curve on all her milestones, the fact that she's intelligent and capable does nothing to diminish her unabashedly goobery side.  She is definitely a unique little creature, and one of my favorite things about her is her uniqueness, but oftentimes I find myself staring at her and questioning if all those shots of tequila I did in my 20s completely effed up my eggs, hahahaha!  Of course I'm mostly kidding, she is probably no more abnormal than all other 9-month old babies, but geez does she have a personality on her! I wouldn't trade one spec of her personality quirks for anything in the universe, I adore every inch of her, and she keeps us all in stitches with her antics on a daily basis.  Since she is a source of constantly changing entertainment for all those around her, I thought it's probably high time I share her more "interesting" qualities with all my readers.  If you are by chance one of my loyal Facebook followers, some of these antics may be familiar to you as I tend to share them as they occur.  For those of you who are strictly blog browsers or may be completely new here, get ready for some fun!

Let's start with Piper's most long-held weird behavior that she has perfected over time...

Her breastfeeding style!

Don't worry, I have no pics or videos to post regarding this topic, although I wish I did, as she has become, over time, the most "athletic" breastfeeder with skills of a Cirque du Soleil contortionist.  When she was just a wee one, she was pretty typical.  I'd hold her, she would latch and eat.  As time has passed and she has become more in control of her body, she has begun to eat in all manners of positions, depending on her mood, the locale, and I think also sometimes the weather...I'm making that last one up, but who knows why she chooses to eat like she does?  I'll try and be as descriptive as possible here, since I don't have the pics or vids to back all these up, and give each position a title, that should liven things up...here goes...

I seriously recommend this image as a reference to look
back on during the following descriptions!

The Swaying Camel 
(I'm now thinking that giving these descriptive names may begin to sound like sex positions, but oh well, I'm going to run with it!)

This particular position is one of my favs.  It usually occurs during our in-bed sessions late at night, and I must admit that it is quite the interesting of positions.  In this one, she gets up into a camel stance, that is her butt up in the air while standing on her legs and on her head.  When I say head here, I do mean her head. She sometimes sort of uses her arms for balance, but mainly she uses her head, which is odd since she is also using her mouth to eat.  While in this position, she rocks from side to side, or sometimes back and forth, whilst continuing to get her fill.  Sometimes, just for fun, she flops over to her side, taking my nip with her, looks up at me, and giggles with delight cause it's obviously a funny game.  Oftentimes she also gets milk up her nose, as she is standing on her head, and that cracks me up to no end!

I do believe this particular technique is brought on by need for sleep, considering it usually occurs when she is particularly tired, but like I said before, who knows.  It seems the repetitive swaying may help her wind down after a long day, but then again the flopping and giggling seems a ploy to keep herself awake and engage in more playtime.  She's a kook, that is for certain!

The Sideways Tap-Dancing Fish

This technique, as you probably figured out by the name, is not as...what's the word I'm looking for here...showy as the Swaying Camel.  Although it's less flashy, it's still pretty funny and has it's place in her breastfeeding repertoire.  This maneuver is actually a pretty lazy way to grab a snack.  All it requires is me lying down on my back and Piper lying across my stomach.  This position usually follows the Swaying Camel, once her relaxation mode kicks in, although she sometimes still uses this one as a form of play, too. Anyways, with this one she simply must have the opposing nip, the one farthest from her body and the one I'm not trying to offer.  The Swaying Camel begins with me laying on my side and with her snacking on the nip closest to the bed.  From there she likes to push me onto my back, sit straight up, open her mouth wide like a giant bass fish, and lunge at the further nip until she latches.  Then once again, she oftentimes looks up at me with those giant eyes and giggles.  Then she sits up, opens wide, and lunges again.  Once she is done with the silliness of it all, she will then just lay across my chest sideways and get her fill.  This whole time she will be constantly tapping her toes on the covers as she is splayed with her legs towards the opposite side of my body.  She never really sits all that still during any nursing session until she passes out, she must have the rhythm to ultimately relax, so the toe-tapping just comes naturally to her.

The Pick and Pluck

This little number is probably my least favorite breastfeeding maneuver of them all!  Why?  Because it involves Piper trying to pick my nose or jabbing her hand in  my mouth and yanking on my teeth and/or tongue.  I think that I shall not say much else on the matter, as I do have a pic for this one!  Yes, I am actually adding this segment in after the original publication of this post, hahahaha!

Yeah, not a fan of this one!

The Barking Seal

This particular nursing style is not so much a maneuver as a technique she uses to get what she wants at 3am up until the time I get up for work.  In other words, she uses this method all night long when she is restless, which right now is often since she is teething big time.  With this one, she simply remains lying in whatever sleep position she has adopted for the evening.  From there, she squirms and wriggles herself while making this seal-like barking/begging noise until I give her want she wants.  She will not take a pacifier when using this technique, but she will beg and bark until she has me so far on the edge of the mattress my big ole booty is practically falling off the side.  She has no knowledge yet of personal space and "sharing" of space.  She owns all the space, and she knows it!  She also knows I cannot resist her flailing, barking, begging self, so this technique is used often and works 100% of the time.

The Sit-Up and Say Hello

I'll admit this move hasn't yet reached it's full potential, mainly because I have control in this one, but it's still been used a few times nonetheless.  With this one, she simply sits upright in my lap facing me, opens my shirt and literally says "hi" to the boobs, and then latches to whichever one is made available to her.  I say I'm in control of this one because I use it for my own amusement.  I find it hysterical that she will actually try to eat regardless of position, so yeah, I have fun with exploring different methods just for the heck of it.

The Smile and Dribble

No, this one has nothing to do with basketball, hahahaha, but this little maneuver has everything to do with overflowing happiness...pun intended.  When Piper gets what I like to call "milk drunk" she oftentimes expresses this slanty-eyed joy by pulling away from the boob, looking me all goofy-like, and giving me an half-drunken smile while milk dribbles down her chin.  I maybe shouldn't list this as a technique as much as an aftereffect, but it's something she does on a regular basis nonetheless.  She really, really, REALLY enjoys her nursing sessions, so this is a way to show me her utmost appreciation for all things mom-milky.  It does make me feels special that she appreciates me so much, and damn it this move may keep her in the breastfeeding game for longer than I originally intended to play.

The Kickstand

While simplistic in nature, as this move requires her to lay in my arms like a normal feeding session, it updates the typical nursing position by requiring one leg to be kicked up and pressing against the opposing shoulder. I'm not sure what she gains from this position, but to me it seems she uses the counter-pressure as a means to inhale more sustenance from the boob she is working on.  She sometimes mixes it up a bit and changes the exact locale of the pressing foot, but it's generally always up as high as she can get it as compared to the angle at which she is laying.  It's all based on physics, geometry, and a little bit of engineering I'm sure, but I've never been too good with those subjects so I'll leave the exact science to the experts.

The Hippie Drum Circle

This is another of the more simplistic maneuvers, but it has a rhythmical style that is sometimes soothing to us both.  With this technique, Piper gently keeps a beat with one hand on the area just above the opposite boob of which she is eating.  Sometimes it's a slow beat, sometimes she like it a bit faster, but it is always perfectly rhythmical in an coma-inducing way.  It's almost like listening to a faucet drip, but without the annoying drive-you-crazy kind of splatter sound at the end.  It is, like the title suggests, much like a drumbeat.  I wonder sometimes if it effects the flow of the milk or if Piper just finds it simplistically soothing.  Once again, I'll leave the technical questions to the hard-core scientists to figure out.

The Tune-In Tokyo

This little move is probably my favorite and least favorite all rolled up into one...non pun intended!  With this one, Piper like to snack on one nip and yum on the other.  What's yum mean?  This is a term we've used in my family for generations that refers to the rhythmically rubbing of an object in order to help induce sleep. I'm sure a lot of you have heard of it before, but I figured a definition was necessary just in case.  Anyways, this method is a little on the uncomfortable side for me, but it's also one of the most unique techniques I've ever encountered/heard of.  Piper may be the only baby in the world who actually uses it, as I have never met a mother who's mentioned it before.  Basically what it means is that Piper takes the nip she's not nursing on and twists it over and over and over and over.  Sometimes she just lightly plays with it, gently flicking it with her fingers or petting it, but mostly she pinches and twists.  It can hurt like hell at time, but she typically knows my pain threshold based on my winces and whimpers, and tends to back off before I have to physically remove her.  I'm not exactly sure when she picked up this technique, but it works like a charm to get her lulled into sleep, so it's totally allowed regardless of the oddness and comfort quotient.

Obviously from this chart, Piper and I have some skill sets to work on!
Btw, why is that woman holding a spear?

Now on to the rest of this post....

When I first began writing this post is was going to be all about Piper's weird little behaviors.  The original title was My Little Weirdo, with no various parts.  However, after getting into the breastfeeding techniques, I soon realized I should just go ahead and turn all of these nursing styles into their own special entry, and divide the weirdo post into segments, of which I know there will be at least two.  I know I usually include a ton of pics and/or videos with my posts, but unfortunately with this one there just weren't any that would suffice as I do not have the ability to capture all of these techniques on film, at least not in a manner that would be allowable on a blog without me having to put an adult content warning label on it.  You know how some people just can't handle a bare breast without thinking it's porn!  To avoid such a potential fiasco and uproar, I have left this post sans-picture except for the first one and the couple of funny cartoons I found whilst scouring the Internet for breastfeeding examples that might possibly represent my descriptions of styles in some way, shape, or form.  Hopefully my descriptions will be enough to get you all through till my next post, which will include some very hysterical videos of Piper being her uniquely individualistic self.

I'll wrap this segment up with my usual spiel, but just in picture form...you know what to do by now!




  

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Nursing Vampires and Chasing Cats

I recently posted about posting from my phone with short little excerpts regarding immediate life.  Well, this is one of those.

I'm laying here in bed with Piper, who just crashed out for the time being. Let's hope she does not do what she did last night and wake up every hour beginning at 3:30am to nurse her sore face back into sleep. Yes, she's STILL teething, ugh.  I retrained her recently to once again start taking her hoppie (pacifier), but last night I couldn't find it in the bed, as she had chunked it onto the floor at some point, and so therefore I once again played the role of human pacifier.  She seemed to have an easier go at teething today, so I'm hoping it extends through the night. 

Speaking of teething, anyone out there know what it's like to nurse a vampire?  I do now!  It's not as easy as it sounds, that's for sure.  Teeth are no fun in the nursing game...no fun at all!!!  It's a long time till she's done teething, and it's going to take some patience and positive thinking to muster through the pain, but I got this, I hope. 

Anyways, I just thought I'd take a brief moment to capture my thoughts at the moment. I'm working on a more detailed analysis of nursing in my forthcoming post, but that is still a day or two out. It focuses on other things, too, but just a heads up for the avid readers.

On another totally off topic note...

You might have noticed the new ads on the sidebar. I known I said I would never pimp out my blog for advertising, but I thought what the hey!  I'm sticking with pertinent baby/children stuff and giving it a whirl. I'm a social experimenter of sorts at times, it goes with the degree in anthropology I suspect, so there you go. I'm still learning the ropes of the blogosphere and trying new things to build my readership.  Would it really hurt anyone if I try and build the bank account, too?

And a last little bit before I try and sneak out of bed for a snack...

Piper awoke at 11:30 last night to try and wrastle the cat. I snapped some quick action shots.  I so wish I could capture all her enthusiasm on film, but the still shots will have to do for now. She tried to wrangle the same cat this evening by chasing her around the kitchen island, damn that would have made for some good TV!  But alas, she didn't perform for the camera when I finally got to it, so last night's memories will have to suffice for now. 

Good thing Loki is still quicker than Piper, but she better watch her tail cause this girl is fast!!! 

And with that I will leave you all for the night. This new phone posting feels incomplete, but I'll make it work for the in-between times. I'm still learning about what all I can do from this angle, so bear with me as I conduct yet another trial run of my lazy-in-bed typing skills, hahahahaha! 

Take care and goodnight!  

  

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