48?

Holy cow it's been seven months since we last posted. That's because you, my dear, are all mobile and talking and starting to walk and into everything. You like to crawl over to the kitchen pantry, stand up and walk the door open, then pull everything off all the shelves you can reach. If you're hungry, you may open any box that strikes your fancy and try to snack on its contents. This works well with crackers, but not so well with couscous or nuts.

49. Did I mention the talking? Your vocabulary amazes me, and you go out of your way to learn new words all the time. One of the things we hear most often is, "WHASSAT?!" and yes, you pretty much yell it.

49a. Your first word was Ellie, when you were around seven or eight months old. I forget whether it was more of an "eh" or "wee" sound, but it clearly indicated Ellie. Nowadays you tend to yell "EHWEE!!" You also said "Da-ee" and "dah [pant pant]" pretty early; "Mama" is a recent addition.

49b. I plan to make a list of your current words and post it here by the end of this week. Or, you know, seven months from now.

50. You've been walking for about a week or two now. You transitioned so gradually and so gracefully it really feels like you've always been able to walk a few feet at a time. In fact, I need to post this so I can rescue you from your non-nap and take you to Ikea to get one of those toddler push-wagon thingies.

51. But, did I mention how much you love EHWEE!!? Because you clearly adore her, and she adores you, too. Whenever you get more than one of something, you immediately hand her one. This is especially true of crayons and snacks (which you call "'nack?"). You are a sweet and generous soul and I hope you and EHWEE!! will continue to be wonderful sisters and friends as you grow.

47. Speaking of death by cuteness, you've decided the camera's a pretty cool thing.

39. You've been keeping us busy! You started scooching about on your belly, throwing your arms forward and then bending them to drag your body forward, uh . . . sometime. A while ago. In November, maybe?

40. You didn't take to the solid foods instantly, but one day it suddenly all made sense. You were hungry, we offered you something more interesting than rice cereal, you shoved it in with your hands--no spoons!--and WOW! That was good! Now I have a hard time keeping you from trying to chew and swallow anything in my hands.

41. This morning you scooched yourself over to a laundry basket full of board games, gnawed on the corner of one game for a moment, then tried to pull yourself up to standing.

42. Given your habit of waking in the middle of the night to practice getting to your hands and knees and then launching yourself forward at high speed, I find #41 rather unettling. I hope you understand that you're supposed to crawl on your hands and knees before you start walking.

43. You continue to charm everyone you beam at. And you beam at anything that moves with intent. Dogs, cats, birds, and people, people, people.

44. But I'm still your other half, and lately you want to be in physical contact with me all the time.

45. You still adore Ellie, and beam at her just as readily as you beam at anyone else. If you're asleep when we pick her up, you'll sleep through the door opening and me moving around, but as soon as you hear Ellie's voice you wake up enough to smile at her, even if you then have to cry with exhaustion.

46. Every now and then I glance back and Ellie is holding your hand, and I almost die from the cuteness.

38. First solid food: sugar snap peas, as a teething aid, a few days before you officially turned four months old. You enjoyed them.

37(?) At your 4-month checkup today you weighed 14lbs, 9oz (67th percentile), were 26" long (94th percentile), and your head was 42cm around (75th percentile). It looks like you'll be a tall girl. I do hope you'll wait until your age is in the double digits before you grow taller than I am.

You were so calm as Dr. Lee stuck the otoscope into your ears, and you really only fussed a little when you got your three shots. In between, you smiled at everyone who walked into your field of view. These people see a lot of babies, and several of them commented that you're an unusually happy kid.


Of course, it's hard to get a smiling picture of you because you become concerned as soon as I obscure part of my face with the little silver box, and then perplexed and a bit miffed at the bright light that keeps flashing at you.

36. Your first dinner at Daddy's office happened when you were three months old. You ate in the mothers' room. Daddy and I ate in the cafeteria. Ellie had a juice box, I think.

As long as we're on a roll, here's another picture of you and Daddy hanging out in bed. This time you're both conscious!

34. You really like to be vertical. In fact, you're sleeeping in my lap at this very moment, head on my chest, legs all crunched up agaist your chest, and whimpering any time you happen to shift around enough that you lean a bit off plumb.

34.5 It's hard to type while keepingh a baby vertical. I hope you keep this in mind when you're choosing my nursing home someday.

35. You have a spiral galaxy of a cowlick, and it's very soothing to stroke in the direction of the swirl.




Here's another shot of you sleeping next to Daddy. I know we're not supposed to let you sleep on the pillows, but they make it possible for us to nurse lying down, and then we both fall asleep, and you haven't suffocated yet. So don't, okay? (Also, clearly in this picture I'm awake and supervising your father and the Fluffy Pillow of Doom.)

My, we have been remiss in posting pictures, haven't we?

Here you are at two monthsish, actually sleeping somewhere other than in our arms. We still take a picture almost every time you do this.





And here's a sweet one of you and your father lying quietly in bed together. You're exactly a month old here, and his hand on your belly is helping to calm you.

32 (I think)

You've started reaching for things. It looks like you're controlling your arm with an etch-a-sketch over, up, over, up, no! too far! back down! over again . . . CONTACT!

I was flattered that my face was the first thing you reached for, until I realized that's because we rarely give you toys or put you in the baby gym or anything. I guess you're not an inert newborn anymore.

It's still hard to believe that someday you'll be potty-training yourself and singing entire songs and reading every letter you see out loud.

The sisters bond. These were taken on May 16. Part one:



Part two: