Kids have it made. Examples: today, we took M. to the library and then to a baby clothes store. She got carried around by her parents the entire time. Sales ladies flirted with her. When we got home, she got to sit in her exersaucer, eat, and poop all at the same time. After a new diaper, she sat on my lap in front of the TV for about ten minutes until her eyelids got heavy, her head tipped forward, and she fell asleep. That’s when mom picked her up and took her to her crib for a nap. Not a bad life.
What else is M. doing? She’s crawling more consistently, but still settles for the army crawl way too often. She’ll take three or four crawl “steps”, then get overly excited and drop her backside down and start pulling her body along with her arms. It cracks me up when she gets all worked up but can’t take that first step. Eventually, her body moves forward, but her hands stay planted. She ends up crashing into the floor, face first, like an Imperial AT-AT. Then she laughs.
One night this week I put her in front of a Baby Einstein DVD with a pile of toys so I could make my dinner. I could see her from the kitchen, and would peek in to check on her every few minutes. She loves, like all fearless babies, to end up either next to our armoire/entertainment center, the fireplace hearth, or at the coffee table, all of which have numerous dangerous corners and edges. I checked on her, and she was turned towards the coffee table, but on her belly, so I assumed all was well. Ten seconds later, I hear screaming. I tear into the living room to see her laying under the coffee table, still belly-down, but with her head wedged under the edge. There was more than enough room for her to move, but when she tried to raise her head, she whacked it on the under side, and apparently panicked, causing the screaming. There was no damage and 20 seconds later she was laughing and crawling again. It took considerably longer for my heart rate to return to normal. I quickly blocked the opening under the table with cushions from the couch.
M.’s vocabulary is expanding. She says “MAMAMAMAMAMA” and “BABABABABABA” a lot, although never directed at her mom or her bottle. No “DADADADA” yet, which is sad. She has also developed this particularly awful screech. It’s loud, horrible, and she apparently loves it so she does it over-and-over.
The most impressive development has been in both her size and demeanor. She doesn’t seem like a baby anymore, but rather like a little person. Her personality is more up-front. She’s more independent both in her ability to move around and sit up on her own. She occupies herself for long stretches with toys and books. Although she obviously still needs our help to do the basics of life, she’s rapidly building up a repertoire of things she can do on her own. Sadly, one of those things is sleeping on her own. Don’t get me wrong, it’s great to put her down for naps and to have her sleep through the night most of the time. But she’s taken maybe one nap on me in the last two months. I already miss those moments during her first six months of life when she got weary, laid her head against my chest, and didn’t move for 90 minutes. My little girl is growing up!
Oh yes, one other thing that will amuse our friends. Her hair has suddenly become wildly wavy this week. There was no question it would happen, thanks to both of her parents’ hair. But we secretly hoped she would take more after me, who had thick but straight hair until puberty hit. It doesn’t look like she’s going to be that lucky and will no doubt curse us for giving her our hair genetics at her first opportunity. I’ll try to get some pictures posted of her new do next week.