Yesterday my parents, J, Nora and I piled into the car and made our way to the Baltimore Aquarium, which was one of my favorite places when I was little. We walked through the freezing cold along the harbor, bought our tickets and spent a couple hours among the various species of fish and plant and the crowds of other children and parents and grandparents who’d had the same idea.

There was something incredibly heartwarming about watching my daughter make her way through the same paths past huge shark-filled tanks I’d once walked, and pointing excitedly at bright, darting, exotic fish.

But perhaps even better was the hilarity of driving there and back, packed tightly in the front and back seats, yelling at my father for pumping the gas pedal in a motion sickness-inducing manner and checking his Blackberry when we were sitting at a red light (”I was stopped it’s ok to do it when you’re STOPPED!”). Funny, busy, insane, hot. But the mundane details of getting there just as good as the actual destination.

Untitled from Cara McDonough on Vimeo.

1. “Timer”
2. “The Hangover,” but only the photo roll during the credits. The rest, honestly? It wasn’t the funniest movie I’ve ever seen. But any movie J and I saw in the theater this year gets major points because being in a movie theater was such a big deal that I remember each and every movie theater experience since Nora was born extremely fondly.
3. “Kicking and Screaming,” for the millionth time, which wasn’t made in 2009 and which never, ever loses its magic.

Um, holy shit. I can’t remember any other movies I saw this year. I saw “Funny People,” which I thought was, like, four or five hours too long, and last night J and I went to see “Avatar,” which I’m pretty sure deserves a post of its own.

Top five songs I heard:

1. “Daylight” by Matt & Kim - sometimes I daydream that I go out dancing somewhere and I ask them to play this song and they DO
2. “River” by Akron/Family
3. “Lights Out” by Santogold - number one song for turning up loud when I’m alone in the car
4. “Empire State of Mind” by Jay-Z - the presence of this song on the list indicates my desperate need to get back into music
5. “Skinny Love” by Bon Iver - although, apparently, this song was released in 2008

Readers, your turn. Comments, bring it.

The annoying age, as I like to call it - the age where Nora became less of a happy-go-lucky infant and more of a demanding little Napoleon-type figure - is over, or, at least, has morphed into something entirely manageable and often funny. Approaching 15-months-old, Nora does something new, it seems, every minute of every day. I know every parent says the same of their child, but I believe it now, as I see it.

She remains eagerly inquisitive, asking us what everything is, however mundane, like the bushes we pass on our walk down to the water, or the characters in whatever book we’re reading before bedtime, so that I’ll sometimes hear J’s voice from the guest room (where we relax with Nora before she goes to sleep) saying something like, “That’s a teddy bear, that’s a teddy bear, that’s a teddy bear, that’s a ball, that’s a teddy bear, the ball again, that’s a mouse.”

Now, more than before, she’ll try and repeat what we say every once in while, adding new words to her catalog.

But no word, it seems, approaches the exquisiteness of “num num,” which applies to any and all food and drink that Nora loves so dearly. The intonation varies - the sight of a banana always results in a “num num” followed by a high pitch squeal, a sippy cup of milk yields a quiet, loving “num num,” and when we passed the cupcake display at the coffee shop the other day, Nora screamed “NUM NUM NUM NUM NUM NUM,” gesticulating wildly at the baked goods as though we starve her at home. As though those cupcakes would save the world from climate change and poverty and sickness if she could only eat them, please GOD CUPCAKES.

She loves food, and while she recently has begun rejecting things without reason, as I’ve heard toddlers often do (why garbanzo beans but not corn? why an English Muffin but not pasta?) her passion is real and the worst - and I’m talking the worst - thing a person can do to her at this stage is give her food and then take it away. Which…I sometimes have to do because, despite the fact that she’s learning, she still, at times, stuffs her mouth so completely that I worry she’s going to choke. Like, she’ll be taking nice bites of her waffle and then I’ll look away for a second only to look back and see that she’s put an entire half of a waffle in her mouth. Could she handle it? Probably, but since her not handling it means a call to emergency services, i don’t chance it. So at that point I have to take the waffle, or whatever, away, and then the world ends. I mean, this is her most sincere crying. Not when she falls. Not when she doesn’t know where one of her parents are. Not when I wake her up from a nap, because I really think we need to get out of the house and have a latte. But when I take her food away.

It’s worse when she’s tired, as everything is with children. Just this morning, I was on the phone with our pediatrician’s office trying to schedule Nora’s booster H1N1 shot, when I felt a little tug on my pants leg and looked down to find Nora muttering “num num” and looking up at me like she was about to, possibly, lose it. So I went into the kitchen and poured her a little bowl of Kashi Heart to Heart Warm Cinnamon Oat Cereal. It’s so good, you guys, this Kashi cereal. It’s, just like the label says, warm and cinnamony and just a little sweet and perfect for the harsh New Haven winter.

So anyway, I get back to my call and when I check in on Nora, who is eating her snack over by the ottoman, I realize she’s put like 20 pieces of Kashi Heart to Heart Warm Cinnamon Oat Cereal in her mouth, and while she can usually chow down on any kind of cereal like a champ, this raises my danger instincts. Especially because even though she seems like she’s got enough to handle, she’s putting more in there, one after the other, no stopping for air. So I reach down and I take away the bowl and tell her to “eat what you have,” a phrase she either doesn’t understand or sees no need to understand, and the minute I do this, she begins crying - a desperate wail, and tears spring to her eyes and roll down her cheeks and - this part kills me - she begins frantically doing the sign for “more,” which I’d taught her when she was a tiny little thing and never realized she’d caught on until recently.

This might sound weird, and maybe it’s simply the fact that I’m a more experienced mother than I used to be, but when she gets like this, all tired and dramatic and wanting nothing more than a simple snack, I find her really endearing. I mean, I find her adorable all the time, and I never want her to cry, of course, but as she grows more and more independent, these ridiculous tantrums, somehow, pull at my heartstrings in a good way. My sweet little girl wants that Kashi cereal so, so bad.

Perhaps these moments are better than they used to be because I now know exactly what to do. Because I don’t panic. Because it’s been months since I’ve felt the urge to call J at work and tell him I was having a hard day.

In this case, I hung up the phone, poured Nora a cup of milk, sat her in my lap while she drank it and took her upstairs for a nap. She looked at me as though to say, “finally.” I think she fell asleep before her head hit the mattress.

“So now you’ve taught me the difference between a column and a blog.”

“Yup.”

“A column is in a newspaper, and a blog is in the atmosphere.”

“On the Internet.”

“Whatever.”

As I mentioned, I came down with something after Thanksgiving - a short-lived but intense cold. I got over the fatigue and aches and other pains quickly but, since then, have gotten a real bitch of a little sinus headache every day, about midday. A total pressure buildup right in the middle of my face that is only alleviated by pressing my fingers down hard in the space between my eyes, which, by the way, isn’t practical.

I took an Allegra a few days ago and it totally did the trick but also kept me up all night as I have grown really sensitive to medication, like, it does what it’s supposed to do and then some (I miss you, Excedrin). So I’m thinking about alternatives and, wouldn’t you know, someone in this household has a gross little habit that he likes to call “using the neti.”

I’m not as opposed to using a neti pot as I used to be. I mean, while I’m all in favor of modern medicine, I think preventing various conditions is a nice alternative, especially when it’s done naturally.

Still, regularly sticking a teapot up my nostril seems extreme. And…I’m afraid. I’m afraid of what’s going to come out, a feeling complicated by the fact that I can’t run and hide in the bed under the comforter after whatever happens happens, because Nora, she needs constant looking after, it turns out.

So I’m taking slow steps towards engaging in this sick act and have a feeling that the headaches will eventually wear me down to the point where I’m willing to do just about anything to get rid of them, even if I have to make myself a cocktail first and do some meditation breathing.

Yesterday I decided to check out the New Year’s Resolutions I posted on January 1st last year. I got ready to be disappointed in myself because, let’s face it, resolutions often equal failure. Plus, when I think of the past 14 months of my life I feel like I’ve spent a lot of it getting used to being a mom and I’m pretty sure that didn’t allow much time for anything else.

But, surprise! And a good surprise at that. I’m not doing so bad. Only one resolution has been a total failure. Here’s the rundown:

1. Get in shape. GET. IN. SHAPE.

Ok. I have to admit, being pregnant and having a baby threw me big time regarding this one. Way more than I would have thought. It’s not that pregnancy changed my body so much - although my stomach has never needed this much work - or that I “can’t lose the weight.” It’s that I value my down time so much more than in the past. So, so much more. I find myself still in my pajamas, unshowered, late in the morning, much more often than I want to admit. It’s not because I have no reason to get dressed or anything depressing like that, it’s because when Nora’s napping I want to do tons of other things before I get to that shower, like check my email or write on my blog or start online shopping for Christmas! What does this have to do with getting in shape? Well…working out means cutting into that downtime, and while I, undoubtedly, would feel so much better about myself and everything else in the world if I got up and went for that run, it’s harder than before.

But it’s not all bad news. I’ve been attending a “Mommy Bootcamp” class once a week. My friend Christa is the trainer and is amazing and inspiring and, yeah, sometimes she makes us stay in the plank position for like three million hours and it hurts a ton but it’s totally worth it. Christa also sends us extremely helpful emails with recipes and words of encouragement so, even though I can only go to one class a week, I’m always getting new exercise and nutrition pointers. New Haven area people, if you want a good class, sign up for one of hers. You won’t regret it.

Of course, I have to do more than this and it’s been rough, but I’d say in the past couple months I’ve picked up the pace. More running, more working out at home. Less eating cookies. I have to remind myself that I used to know how to do this, to get and stay in shape, and having a baby means more planning, but results certainly aren’t impossible.

2. Learn to speak Italian.

J and I have been attending weekly beginner Italian classes at local restaurant, Skappo since September and plan to continue through the winter and spring. Noi siamo awesome! Well, gettting there.

3. Wear comfortable shoes most of the time. Because some of my uncomfortable shoes are really cute.

No problem here. So much of a non-problem that I think a 2010 resolution might be to wear cuter shoes, at least every once in a while.

4. Finish “The Omnivore’s Dilemna.” I mean, it’s been months.

I would label this one a disaster except that I’ve got a little less than a month and I love nothing more than a challenge. A reading challenge. Call me a nerd, I don’t care. Hoping our new addiction to “The Wire” won’t get in the way…

5. Go to yoga regularly (for reals, Eileen).

This is the one that turned out a total failure. Again, it’s the time issue. Like, that I can’t get in shape and learn Italian and take care of Nora and go to yoga and play with my dogs and watch “The Hills” and “The City” on demand regularly because I keep falling asleep while it’s on. I can’t do it all, all the time. But I’d like to do the yoga thing at least more regularly than not at all. Eileen, let’s plan.

6. Eat local food more often when possible.

We’ve done a good job of this, attending the farmers market many Saturday mornings and buying local food at certain grocery stores when we can - even driving farther to get to some of those stores, and it always makes me feel better. Hoping to improve even more this coming year.

7. Plant a vegetable garden.

We did this and I have to give J all the credit. Tomatoes, lettuce, peppers and a couple cucumbers. This year we’re gonna go crazy, plant as much as possible, right J? Because “we” kind of might mean you.

Everyone who commented last year, take a look. How’d you do?

I caught some kind of little bug over the Thanksgiving break and have decided that instead of whining about how it’s impossible to take care of a child when you feel sick and how the fact that my wonderful parents-in-law live nearby is the BEST THING EVER (!!!), I would post a picture and then get back to resting up and obsessing over the Tiger Woods story so I can be in good form for all the Christmas decorating I plan on doing tonight. If Nora thought pumpkins were exciting, I mean, she has no idea what’s in store.

Thanks to Cate for capturing this cute moment at the dog bowl.