Watching Her Learn

She can't quite crawl, yet. But if I put her on the floor, she doesn't stay in one place anymore. She can roll, pivot, and slither backwards, and she is starting to figure out how to put those things together to progress slowly, awkwardly towards her goal. Today it was a plastic bag with a paper envelope in it. It started out three feet away from her, at 180 degrees from the direction she was facing. She squirmed, twisted, and wiggled her way over to it, and five minutes later, I heard the telltale crinkle of plastic in her mouth. I resisted the urge to take it away from her right away. She was so triumphant. It was her prize, and she had crossed mountains to acquire it. She took the envelope out of the bag, and squirmed her way back to the spot where I had put her down. Eventually, she bit off a chunk of the envelope, and I had to take it away from her, but for a few fleeting moments, I was able to sit back and revel in her joy. To see the world from her perspective, full of interesting textures and things that make cool, crinkly sounds. The sheer joy of discovery, as those things suddenly become attainable, albeit through herculean effort.

I guess I should start baby-proofing the house.

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Guessing Game

Can you guess what will happen when you decide you're too lazy to go all the way into the other room to change the baby's diaper, so you just go ahead and change her on the bed, just this once?

I'll give you a hint: It involves everybody squeezing onto one side of the bed for the rest of the night in order to avoid a rather substantial wet spot.

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Eight Months Old!

Dear Valerie,

You are eight months old, now!

This month was pretty lousy. You were sick, I was sick, your dad was sick. You had your first course of antibiotics, and your poor little gastrointestinal system is still reeling from that. You've also been super-clingy, due in part to the sickness, and due in part to me being at work more than usual. For a baby, especially one who doesn't take naps on any kind of schedule, I must say that you have an uncanny sense of time. If I work one hour later than usual, you get antsy and fussy, and cling desperately to me as soon as I get home. It breaks a poor mama's heart, and I'm only working part-time! I honestly don't know how other moms work full-time.



One exciting thing that happened this month was that you learned how to roll over. You rolled over from your back to your front for the first "for-sure" time on March 8, and it quickly became one of your favorite pastimes. You haven't rolled over from your front to your back, yet, which I guess has to do with the fact that you have no real interest in being on your back. It's easier to play with your toys while you're on your front. It's funny, though, because I remember when you were really little and you didn't like tummy time at all, and I felt like I was doing something wrong. I guess you got the hang of it eventually.



You have recently expanded your vocabulary to include the letter "d", which means that you say "dada" fairly often in the course of your babbling. I don't know if you know what you're saying, but I love hearing your voice, and I love that it sounds like you're actually talking. I don't even mind too much that you stumbled on the letter "d" before the letter "m", although I probably would be more quick to call it real words if you were saying "mama". You definitely love how responsive we are to your "talking", however. You might not quite know what it means, but you know you're doing something that gets you lots of attention, and you love that, so you keep on making the "dada" noises.



All in all, though, I've got to admit that I'm happy that this month is over. It broke my heart to see you sick, and it was made even harder by the fact that I was too sick to really take care of you as well as I would have liked. To your credit, though, you were such a trooper through the whole thing. Even at your sickest point, you were still a laughing, friendly, beautiful baby. Your parents could learn a thing or two from you about joy. Thank you for being such a joy, Valerie.

Love,
Mama.

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