Pain in the Neck, Yaya, and Jackets.

I'm supposed to be at work right now. But obviously I'm not at work since I'm typing a post. Okay maybe not obviously because I could be secretly typing on a computer when I shouldn't be. No, I'm at home. I successfully strained (is it still considered successful when one hurts oneself?) my upper back something fierce yesterday morning and am having serious challenges with my upper body mobility. How did I accomplish getting myself into this debilitating condition? That is in excellent question to which I don't have a satisfying answer to. I had just finished getting dressed, I bent over slightly for some reason and in a manner I'll never know and wish I did because perhaps I could have avoided my current predicament, and with that minor movement wham! my upper back seized up and I was wracked with pain. That's it, sorry. No grand heroic story of leaping out in front of raging traffic to save an innocent toddler or animal and rolling on the pavement with the almost victim safe in my arms and I in the throes of agony as a result.
I bent over.
Ping!
Done.
I somehow managed to accomplish grocery shopping that morning then spent the afternoon writhing on the couch in pain and unable to get into any type of comfortable position. I went to my chiropractor at my husbands insistence and it took him a half an hour to realign my upper back. Normally it takes him ten minutes for all of me. Although I noticed an improvement my muscles were still screaming at me and did so all evening and every time I moved during the night. Today the screaming has stopped but there is a lot of whining. I'm hoping by tomorrow there'll just be a small whimper here and there. I'm in a remarkably good mood all things considered.

• On to some tid-bits of Sierra. This is how I often find Sierra in the morning or after her nap (as in the picture). There is a small shelf with her books by her crib and she has learned how to get them and plays by herself for unknown lengths of time.
• She has figured out a reliable method of going down stairs in the last month. Why is down always so much harder than up? Up was a breeze, one day I was preoccupied with something in our basement hovel here and looked over to see my daughter fearlessly 3/4 of the way up the stairs! But talk about down...woowee, no siree! (Sorry, my second cup of coffee is almost gone, hmmm, maybe that's why I'm in such a decent mood) It actually started with my mom showing her how on the stairs of the deck, there are only three and they are quite wide. Slowly she navigated those and then graduated to the house stairs. Sierra sits down on the edge of the stair with her legs dangling over. Then she wiggles her legs which scoots her bum forward until she slides down onto the next step. Most kids go down backwards I hear, Sierra is not most kids. She's better! She's a genius! Doesn't every parent think that? Well, they should if they don't. As long as it doesn't get to the child's head and they get a high and mighty attitude of being better than everyone else. That can just lead to problems, just ask my husband, the teacher. Anyway, now I'm babbling.
• Sierra has also decided that crawling is intriguing. She never crawled; she scooted on her bumb and then walked but crawling would've been too easy! She's been around more little kids of late, many of whom crawl, so now she's decided to try it. She only goes a little ways before standing up and continuing on foot. It's almost as if she's thinking, "Okay, not bad, but crawling is for babies - it takes too long!"
• Sierra actually has a vocabulary and although it's an odd one we're having fun communicating with her. For example: "Yaya" is ice cream, apples, and bananas. I wonder why ice cream is "yaya" since it has no resemblance to the word, apples and bananas I can understand due to the "a" sounds but ice cream? (Carla shakes her head) Maybe my kid is not such a genius afterall. "Baba" is bottle, and grandpa (with a slightly different inflection only understandable to us!) "DUH" is "bang", developed when flies were trying to take over the house and we had wars with a fly swatter which made "bang" sounds. "Payyy" or "papa" is please. I taught her that in attempt to squelch the whiny demanding "uhhh" whenever she wanted something. Somedays I actually wish she had more words because there are many, many instances where Sierra definitely wants something and can't tell me what and gets frustrated when I don't understand. It is truely amazing how much she understands versus what she can say. I tell her to take her soother out of her mouth, and she does. I tell her we're going downstairs and she goes. I tell her to go to her chair at meal times and she goes, grabs her bib, and pushes up her sleeves. Okay, she really is a genius, even if ice cream is "yaya".

One more thing, we recently bought Sierra this little jacket at a second hand store.

It is lined and has a windproof outer part. We have stupid amounts of strong winds around here in winter so the jacket seemed like a good idea. Sierra hates the jacket. She cries and fights every time we put it on her. So my mom bought her this jacket at Old Navy last weekend and now the fight is over. I'll admit, it is wayyy cuter and more stylish. Sierra brought me the new jacket yesterday for her to wear and wore it inside for awhile!

Now this jacket is still out for debate. I bought it last year on clearance for this winter. It is warmer than the above two and is for the really cold temperatures we're sure to get. Sierra's worn it for a couple of walks recently and she complains when I put it on her but nearly like with the first jacket. I think it's because this one is so bulky and she can't move so well in it.

Why all this fussing over freaking jackets??? She is far to little to have such an opinion over clothes - isn't she?

• I could go on about my wonder-child but I know that these intellectual advances are generally only seen as remarkable to the parent of the child so I'll stop now. Thanks for reading my long post, I actually forgot about my upper back/neck pain for awhile!
• (I somehow cannot get my posts to post as I type them! With paragraphs and stuff the only way I can get them is with bullets. Any advice?)