Time for an update on the doings of Baby M. As documented over the past couple weeks, she now has two tiny teeth peeking through her lower gums. She likes to scrape them on things. I’m not sure if that’s a good thing or not. Her sleeping patterns have normalized slightly since the teeth popped through, and she’s kicked her nasty Motrin habit. At least until the next teeth start coming in. It’s hard to get a pic of the teeth. Believe me, I’ve tried.

As the picture I’m posting here and the new ones I’ll add to my picture site show, she’s sitting up on her own consistently now. As with rolling over, she just started doing it one day. We had been able to prop her up next to us for a couple months now, but she never seemed interested in doing it on her own. Then, suddenly, one day she stayed up for 15 minute stretches. I’m starting to think she practices these things at night when we aren’t watching, then busts them out after she’s mastered them to see how we react.

I would guess she’s pushing 26 inches and 20 pounds now. Last week, we dropped her crib down a level and took the bassinet tray out of the pack ‘n play. Dropping her bed has been a little problematic. There’s no more room in her crib than there was before, but apparently the added distance between her eyes and the top rail have given her the impression of greater space. Where we could just lay her down and expect her to sleep in one spot all night two weeks ago, now she’s rolling around, spinning her body 90, 180 degrees over the course of the night, often leaving her blanket behind. If she’s not super tired now, when we put her down she’ll play for 10-15 minutes, then start shrieking because she’s got her blanket wrapped around her legs three times and can’t move.

The other big size-related news was the swapping of the car seats this weekend. Gone is the infant seat and in its place are the big seats that will last for the next few years until she’s ready for a booster seat. I enjoyed my last Mr. Mom day with the infant seat on Saturday by taking her to Starbucks. She sat in her seat, flirting with all the other people in line, completely immobile. From now on, though, it’s either carry the baby or make sure we have the stroller with us. They grow up so fast!

Finally, the next big milestone will be crawling. My mother-in-law thinks it will happen this week. I would not be surprised if it is in the next ten days or so. M. likes to pop up on her hands and knees and do the rocking motion kids that are about to take off love so much. I’ve been putting things just out of her reach to try to get her to move. She can lunge a little if things are close. If they’re a little farther away, she’s an expert at rolling 3-4 times until she’s moved her body far enough to grab the doll, book, whatever. Most impressively, when she’s on her blanket, she’s learned how to grip the blanket, pull it towards her, and then get the goodies. Smartest kid on the block, I tell you.

I’m sure there’s more interesting stuff to share, but because I got three hours of sleep last night, I napped from 8:30 until 12:30 today, am drinking beer to try to sleep tonight, and have struggled to keep my train of thought together tonight. If I missed anything, I’ll get you next time around.