Except in a really feminine and non-violent way.I should start with saying that I got a glamour photo session for my birthday. That's a true journey of narcissism and vanity - a perfect gift for a me.
I was excited but also scared. Someone will try to make perfect pictures of me. But I'm not perfect. Sure I'm in the best weight I've been in a really long time but I skipped sunbathing last summer so I have the complexion of Snow White. Perhaps it's to my advantage that I stopped dying my hair because I discovered that my real hair color is a nice shade of mocha in the winter. I also wanted everything to be as good as possible so I finally took the time to get a haircut and a facial. When I finally got the nerve to book the photo shoot I started to make effort not to walk into furniture and bruise my legs. A week before the photo shoot I had a silly clumsy second and my arm touched a burning hot over grill, probably leaving a scar for a few months, years or maybe even a lifetime. 
Great timing, right? I kept trying to ask the photographer how long it's going to last, so I can make arrangements for Siiri, but he always managed to either change the topic of simply ignore that I ever asked. On Monday I finally had the photo shoot. I got a make-up done, then an outfit was picked out for me and I stood in front of the camera. Two hours had gone by already. Then photographer adjusted his lights and mirrors, and another hour had gone by. On the fourth hour I called Erkki who was already at home ready to relieve our babysitter. We decided it was too close to Siiri's bedtime to bring her out of home for a good-night breastfeeding because she would be too excited to fall asleep afterwards. Me and the photographer discussed which outfits suit me the best. He was really polite and respectful, always making sure he doesn't walk in on me changing outfits. Some clothes I had brought from home, some others were picked by the stylist. I thought there would be a ton of props in the photo shoot but I was just standing on an empty floor in front of a dark screen wearing pretty clothing, fine make-up and a simple fitting hairdo.
How many positions can you stand in? Think about it for a moment. Would you still have ideas 5 hours from now? ...Because that's how long it lasted. I got home 7 or 8 hours after my photo shoot started. Siiri got a nice late meal and didn't even wake up to greet me.I thought Siiri would be pissed. I thought she would cry and scream during the photo shoot and she would be pinching and biting the next day. No, nothing like that. During the day, it was like Monday had never happened. But at night, she suddenly started to have separation anxiety. She woke up very often and cried loudly. When I got to her she was already shaking and scared.
It's a normal stage of development but Siiri already had that and got over it. Wednesday I left her with my brother in the morning to go to a lecture and in the evening I left her with her grandparents to go to my twice-weekly Bodycombat class. Again, Siiri was happy and active when I was gone but woke up scared at night. Gotta make it up to her somehow.My active week continued with a Friday-morning laboratory seminar. I was supposed to have plans to bake a cake with a friend in the afternoon but she couldn't make it, so in stead I proposed, "hey, let's go clubbing in stead! Tonight!". I already had an agreement with Erkki that I can take the night off if I want to. I had no idea what I was going to wear because I hadn't been to a club in such a long time. I didn't even care what I was going to wear because on Friday, with all my unexpected spontaneity, it really did not matter! I picked an outfit half an hour before I went out and I didn't really bother with my hair. Long and loose is pretty and feminine, what more do I need? Club Atlantis had a 90ies summer hits party.
In some clubs, like that hipi club Illusion, that means that the DJ simply plays a couple of theme songs every now and then. But in Club Atlantis, it was like a trip back in time. They played all the music that was popular when I had dance parties with my friends. I KNEW those songs. I had danced to them so many times I knew some tunes by heart. I was so full of energy. They announced they've brought hair-stylists to give free 90ies style hairdos and I just knew I had to have it! That's totally in the spirit of my narcissistic and vain week. A little time later I was dancing to Macarena with fluffy nineties hair decorated with funky iron waves. I got home three hours before Siiri woke up to start her day.You'd think that's quite enough for one week, but actually the "busy day" was only just beginning. We had two parties planned for one day. In the afternoon we took Siiri to her grandparents home and went to the first party. It was with Erkki's colleagues. We tasted rotten shark meat or Hákarl, a delicacy of Island, which was a memorable experience. (See, I can be diplomatic, if I really try!
) We picked up Siiri from Erkki's parents home and went to a friend's birthday party with almost as many children as there were grown-ups. A completely different party during the same day. Siiri had a hard time falling asleep and then staying asleep so we went home a little earlier than I thought.The week had given me enough chance to feel like a real person that Sunday belonged to Siiri. I spent the morning hugging and crowding her and we went on a wonderful Sunday afternoon walk in the warm March sun. Siiri closed her eyes and enjoyed the warmth of sun on her face.
Adorable. We bought her a new a wooden pull-along cat toy because she was running out of age-appropriate toys and her very own mug with Disney princesses on it. I loved such girly stuff when I was young. Yes, it's partly pink. After a day dedicated to her, Siiri went to sleep with a smile on her face and sleeps as well as before Monday's photo shoot.
Feeding solids changed the most: in stead of passively being fed, Siiri is actively showing what she wants and when. She'll eat for a while and then she'll purse her lips and point toward her glass of water. She drinks a sip or two and then points toward her plate again. 
You'll try to eat it! I know you!". I hold up a tissue and shake my head before I get them all out of her sight. "Well you can't have a paper tissue, but do you want porridge?". She looks at me, sighs and opens her mouth in expectation of the spoon. 
How lazy you are!" and by USA standards, mothers would think, "WHAT?! Children are incapable of controlling their bladders until they're 3 years old! 
You are potty training her way too soon!". This is one of those very varied issues with strong opinions in both extremes. Me and Erkki just thought that we will start when the time is right. Well, the time seemed right so we introduced potty. We take it out about once a day and always offer lots of praise when it is used like intended. It's a method of persistent positive reinforcement and so far it's working perfectly. Kate, from a reality show called "Jon & Kate plus 8" used a similar method but she took it a step further. In stead of simply offering praise, she took photos of her children smiling next to a potty, inside was their very first diaper-free crap. Intention was to show her children that it IS a big deal and they should be very proud of themselves. 
That's the kind of picture the children would never want their future boyfriends to see.
There was half an inch of water on the floor and our backup computer gadgets were in a cardboard box sitting in water. With Siiri on one arm, I resisted the initial urge to rush in and start saving stuff. I kept thinking, "Electrocution! Panic! DANGEROUS!" and I called Erkki for a voice of quick reason what to do. I put Siiri in her crib and ran to turn off electricity. She was so dumbfounded with the sudden rush she didn't even cry. Then I closed off water to the boiler and started to lift things out of the water. Siiri became restless but I couldn't have her crawling around so I rolled her crib out of the room so she'd have a nice view of me mopping the floor with a towel. 
Now they came out with Assassin's Creed 2 and I must say, WOW UBER COOL! It has all the coolness of the first game, and it has a very compelling story. I was so happy with the game that I went and got myself all of the 1000 Achievement Points. I even found every treasure and I did nearly all of the assassination side-quests before I realized I didn't need them for maximum Achievement Point score.
It's not as bad as it sounds. I placed her securely in her feeding chair, fed her anything pureed that I had for her and then placed her finger food in front of her, so she can practice eating without me constantly rushing her on, moving her food around. When I sit beside her I soon find myself micromanaging her meal. I start lifting "favorable" pieces closer to her and "unfavorable" pieces further away. I'm way too fidgety and restless to sit in one place for up to an hour and simply observe without interfering. The solution is to keep an eye on her from a few meters away while climbing up virtual walls and stabbing baddies. Feeding solids just got way more fun.
I've tried apples in several variations and all I get is a cautious tasting and a disappointed look, "it's got apples in it, mommy. Couldn't you have made me anything edible?". Fortunately it's now much easier to make it up to her. I give her some rye bread and a slice of pear and she's happy and fed. Later I top it off with breastmilk and she's happily crawling around again.
However, I still plan to wean at 12 months so I ought to be making some changes already, perhaps start limiting the number of breastfeedings per day or maybe it would be easier to introduce a meal of bottle milk. I've heard goat milk is easily digested by babies so I might investigate if that's a good alternative to formula milk. I know it's not recommended to very young babies because of a high solute load (probably means it's osmotic pressure is too high, essentially meaning it's too salty) which could lead to dehydration if baby doesn't recieve anything else, but my baby is already eating solids and drinking water as necessary, so it should be okay for her. 
I made that large apple cake 2 days ago. I mean, uhm, I managed to NOT bake cinnamon rolls today despite the urge to make them. I was such a good girl, it was an amazingly strong temptation to supress. Honestly though, I think the only reason I managed to NOT make cinnamon rolls was because I was fresh our of cinnamon and I would have had to go to the store to get it.