Crossing over from Infant to Toddler

I believe it has finally happened. Allison has crossed that fine line between being an infant to being a full-fledged toddler. What makes me think that we’ve crossed over? Could it be that she is walking now? Or that she is learning how to express herself more? Or that she has preferences for toys and activities? No those are not the definitive factors for me; rather it came to me last night while in the darkness of her room I discovered that she has moved on from the innocuous spitting up that babies do to full-fledged grown-up vomit. Yep, chunks of grilled cheese sandwich mixed with carrots are what finally convinced me that my baby is no longer a baby.

We recently returned from 19 fabulous days in San Diego, so getting Allison back on the correct time zone typically takes a day or two. So last night about 30 minutes after I put her down to bed she started fussing. Jason and I figured she just wasn’t ready to sleep so we let her fuss for about 15 minutes when suddenly the fussing grew more agitated. Thinking she might be a little hungry or thirsty, I made a 4 ounce bottle and headed upstairs.

As soon as I opened her bedroom door I knew something was not right. There was an odd sweet smell filling the room. I couldn’t quite place it. So I innocently reach into the crib in the darkness to pick up Allison and soothe her back to sleep. Unfortunately I missed finding Allison and instead found the aforementioned chunks of her dinner all over the crib.

I called down to Jason that I was going to need some back-up and I reached for the light. My poor little pumpkin must have been laying on her tummy when she urped up her dinner. She had chunks of food all over her face, hair, eye lashes, ears and the two pacifiers that she was desperately clinging to. Not to mention it was all over the front of her jammies, the sheet, blanket and crib railing.

I asked Jason if he wanted to re-bathe Allison or change the sheets. Teetering near the bedroom door he sheepishly replied, “I guess I’ll take her.” I could sense that he might lose his dinner too and knowing how spaghetti sauce satins I told him to go start the bath while I stripped Allison naked and brought her to him.

As I changed the sheets and re-made the bed that’s when it hit me that my little pumpkin was growing up. Who knew that barf could be such a sentimental occurrence?