Yesterday marked the beginning of Keira's third week back in daycare. Yes, that's right, her crazy switcheroo parents have gone back to MCCDC and retired the nanny.

Actually, it's been a great experience already. Our original concerns were never an issue of not liking daycares...or not liking MCCDC. Keira was just such a sleepy baby! For our snoozy child, the noisy chaos of the infant room simply couldn't compare to the quietude of Keira's room and crib.

Now things are different. Keira walks...points...says, "Uh-oh!"...and is, well, AWAKE. She's ready for the big world. While she's still kind of a loner (Keira tends to putter around the room doing her own thing), we've already seen her becoming more interactive and having more fun since she's returned to daycare.

The best part of the experience is seeing Keira among her peers. There's just something so wonderful about looking in on a room of 1-year olds and watching them grow up together. They're all exploring and understanding themselves and their world, developing personalities and learning about friendship.

Finally, it's the right decision.

Keira threw her first tantrum last night. We'd already seen small glimpses of her temper here and there - a little whining, a little crying, but nothing too serious. Nevertheless, the foreshadowing gave Felix and I the opportunity to discuss our parenting strategy for when the BIG DAY finally arrived. We figured it was just a matter of time...and we were right.

Felix and I were having dinner, and Keira was doing her usual aimless wandering around the house. She just sort of putters around, babbling and exploring. Everything was fine until Keira decided to touch our wine rack. Here's the thing: she's old enough and smart enough now to know that it's an off-limits item. In fact, most times, she'll stand in front of it and just shake her head or mutter "no" to herself. But last night Keira was adventurous, and as we watched her stretch out her chubby little fingers to touch a bottle of wine, Felix told her, "NO."

She ignored him.

Keira grabbed the wine bottle and pushed it backwards, where it tumbled out of the rack and fell to the floor with a clang. Simultaneously, Felix and I both shouted, "NO!" And that's when she went to pieces. With a loud shriek, Keira collapsed to the ground and laid on her back crying and screaming. Tears streamed down her cheeks. Her arms waved in the air.

And Felix and I ignored her.

We had decided that the right approach would be to let her realize that we were not going to respond to her fit of temper, and once she calmed down, we'd come over. So, we sat and ate at the dinner table while our sweetheart freaked out in the corner. I also pulled out our camera and took some pictures, capturing another "first" in Keira's life.

Sure enough, she quieted down after only about a minute, and then I went over to scoop up my grumpy little baby. Looking into her teary-eyed and pouty face, it was hard not to laugh, but I giggled a bit anyway. Such a silly girl!

Finally, after all this time, Felix uploaded and updated Keira's pictures. Now we have her birthday photos loaded up, as well as some fun shots from her 10th and 11th months!

Love her more every day.

Ha-HA!!!

I received notification this weekend from the courts of Santa Clara County, and I was found NOT GUILTY on my speeding ticket! That's right. N-O-T G-U-I-L-T-Y.

Amazing.

I jumped up and down. I cheered and screamed. I ran around the kitchen, waving the letter in the air like a lunatic. There was much rejoicing and victory-dancing in the Kathy-Felix household.

TAKE THAT! I WIN!