Not a Newsletter
Button is with the grandparents for the night, which means I have time to…um…fake that I didn’t completely neglect the Month 7 newsletter.
This isn’t really a newsletter. It’s basically a chronical for my own records so I can look back and see when things happen.
She’s SO ABOUT TO CRAWL. In the last week she has learned how to get from a laying to a sitting position, and how to pull herself up into a standing position in her crib without any help.
Which, of course, means that she’s also ready and eager to try all sorts of other things she’s just not ready for yet…like standing up without holding on to anything for support, and launching herself after certain objects - both of which result in the rather unpleasant face plant.
She moves now. I don’t really know how, since she’s not crawling yet. But I can put her down and five minutes later, she’s several feet from where I put her. Her Teleporting skills are making me nervous.
Nap times as we know them are over. She now thinks that cribs and Pack-n-Plays are for standing, not for sleeping in. I have resorted to strapping her into her car seat for naps, as that seems to be the only way to overcome the zealousness of her determination to stand.
She has no interest whatsoever in holding her own bottle. She would much rather let us hold it for her so she can devote her hands to much more important tasks…like playing with her hair. Or mine.
I hear a lot of babies develop a security dependency on certain objects - a blanket, toy or passy for instance. With Button, it’s my hair. Everything is OK, as long as she has a fist-full of hair.
She shows definite responses to our verbal cues - she knows that “good girl” etc. is a positive thing and it makes her so happy to be rewarded that way. Likewise, I’ve started our first training lesson by using “OW” and “NO” when she yanks on my hair. She seems to make the connection (after testing the cause/effect several times…ow) and eventually quits yanking…but it seems we have to re-learn the lesson each day.
She has become quite the chatterbox recently. Bah-Bah-Bob is a frequently heard phrase. We have no idea what it means. She’s especially articulate when she’s standing up or when she’s really annoyed at something (like being forced to take a nap).
She has said Ma-Ma twice…unfortunately, she only says it when she’s really, really pissed. Somehow, I don’t think that’s a good sign.
Despite J’s efforts, there have been no attempts at “Da-Da” yet. She knows the word “Puppy” but hasn’t tried to say it, that we’re aware of. She and Puppy are becoming fast friends and their greatest joys revolve around him “kissing” her face and hands repeatedly.
She didn’t cry this morning when we dropped her off at the church nursery…but when we went to pick her up, we could hear her screaming all the way down the hall. They said she had been happy until that point, so that is an improvement over previous nursery visits.
She’s developed a curious attachment to me that, frankly, baffles me. An example was when we picked her up from the nursery. J was holding her and she screamed all the way down the hall, but the second he handed her over to me, she stopped. When she’s really upset about something, no one else in the world can calm her. But as soon as I pick her up, she’s OK. It’s odd, and I can’t explain it. It’s cute, but at the same time frustrating that she doesn’t respond to J or Grandmommy or anyone else when she’s in that state.
Must be the hair.
Tomorrow she goes swimming for the first time. As excited as she gets about Bath Time, we’re expecting that she’ll have the time of her life.
Unfortunately, it means that I have to get in the water as well, which requires (insert ominous music here) A SWIM SUIT. The only one I have was the one I bought for my honeymoon. Not happening.
Will be making the emergency shopping trip tomorrow morning.
