Miscellaneous

Peach'll hit her 9 month mark on March 4.  Crazy how fast it's going! I held a three-week preemie (6 pounds) last weekend and could not stop marveling at how teeny he was.  To think 9 months ago Peach was 4 pounds, 12 oz just kept tripping me out.  And my aching shoulder particularly misses those days.  I could heft a 6 pound baby all day, but Peach's 20?  Oy.  I wish I'd done more working out before I delivered her. 

She's still a sweet and easy baby.  Mostly.  But her willfulness is already starting to show, especially when she's sick.  She wants to feed herself most of the time and will get annoyed if we make the mistake of feeding her when she'd rather do it herself.  She wants to crawl -- gets up on her hands and knees and rocks like mad -- but isn't quite there yet, and it drives her crazy.  Oh, the screams, shrieks, and squeals of frustration!  She loves to be pulled to a standing position and is getting stronger and stronger.  She hasn't figured out how to take steps, but she knows she likes being upright.  When we put her down to change her or put her to sleep, she will kick her feet and arch her back and generally express her displeasure.  Fortunately, she's been pretty good about going to bed before 8 at night, and usually sleeps to around 6 am. 

I know, we have it easy there.  But I turn 35 in a couple of weeks, and in May, Matthew will turn 46. At our advanced ages, we need the sleep pretty badly. 

Probably the best thing is the growing level of communication.  First we started with "Hi-Fives" and then pat-a-cake (she would grab my hands).  We taught her to wave, and we were seriously thrilled when a daily report from daycare came back that when one of the dads came in to play with his son, she waved at him.  And in all of the babbling we're starting to get discernable words!  Only two that I recognize so far, and while they're no means consistent, they've happened often enough that I'm pretty confident I know what they mean.  "Ha!" means "Hi!" and she will say it when one of us comes into the room or comes home after an absence.  We'd joked that it would be her first word, because every time we see her, we greet her with "Hi" and the nickname du jour.  Her other word is "Gi," short for "Doggie."

Yes, she LOVES the Malinois.  When she sees him, she lights up and lunges for him.  She pulls fistfuls of his fur and buries her head in his coat.  And Norris, the child-disliking dog that he is?  He takes it.  He licks her head.  And when he's had enough, he leaves. 

The most recent trick is "bounce."  As soon as we had the jumperoo -- before her feet hit the ground -- I would bounce her and repeat the word.  Somewhere along the line, she learned what it meant, and now if I'm holding her in a standing position and say, "bounce," she'll bob up and down.