u8ashark

Some friends of mine babysat for me on Monday night and this morning I logged onto their website and found the following photo:

This is what happens when ‘babysitting’ and ‘adult dinner party’ collide. I bet they’re waiting for my reaction.

The father of a friend of mine used to rub Crown Royal on his gums when he was teething so considering the activity of the next day babygirl probably really could have used some of that libation.

Something happened today and I tried VERY hard to get a picture. Here is the first one I took:

That looks kinda scary, like she’s still in the womb, and “scary womb baby” is definitely not what I was going for. . . so I took this one:

That’s babygirl’s tiny hand covering the lens. Let’s try again:

She’s covering up what I want you to see so this time I thought I’d help things out a bit:

I held up her upper lip but she snuck her tiny lower lip up there. Let’s try this one again:

Hmmm, overexposed and it looks like I’m traumatizing my infant. She really wasn’t really bothered by it much though, because here is the next photo I took:

Cute, but you still can’t see what I want you to see so I snapped the following two shots . . .

. . . but still no good. I’m going to try helping things out again:

I got her upper AND lower lips apart this time but would you believe she’s still covering it up with her little baby tongue!?! Just so you know she still wasn’t traumatized, here is the next photo:

Let’s try again:

That time you could actually see the shape of her little thumb reaching out. I’ll try one last shot:

Can you tell what it is? Probably not from this picture. You’ve probably already guessed by now but it’s babygirl’s first tooth breaking through. You can see it clearly in person but apparently getting a clear picture is proving as hard as capturing one of Nessie.

Nugget,

You started this month off with a bang. All of a sudden your little world expanded and you reach and grab for everything that comes within easy lunging, flinging distance of your little baby body. Drop your burp cloth. Nooooooo problem. You’ll just hurl yourself forward to get it back. In the beginning you could sit unassisted for a count of “one-three-thousand” but now you rarely fall over anymore. At the beginning of the month momma was worried because you couldn’t push up on your arms and get your chest off the floor. Six months would have been par for this skill but you haven’t been par with anything so far. Just when momma started seeking out professional advise she went in to get you from your crib and there you were pushed all the way up on your hands. Momma wasted all that worry for nothing. Good job, kiddo. I’m so proud of you.

At barely six months old you made a grab for your bottle and held it all by yourself. If momma tried to take it away or even hoist it up so you wouldn’t be dry sucking you’d wine and fight me for it. Now you insist on holding it for every feeding, reach out for it on sight, can put it in your own mouth and take it out for burps and breaks, and can tilt it upwards to suck out the very last drops. Momma is ecstatic about this, not because she was tired of feeding you but because now she has unprecedented access to your tiny baby bits, especially those adorable baby feet (oh, joy!), to rub and hold and stroke with both her hands.

You’re now eating a mixture of rice cereal, bananas, applesauce, and sweet potato which is not difficult to get you to gulp down in large quantities. You like it really thick. Now you make these little solid turds that look like a grownup’s and smell just as bad. Seriously, kiddo, it smells like a grown man took a dump in your diaper. Unlike your soft-serve, we can usually tell when you’re producing one of these said turds. Momma might need to consider feeding you prunes.

Toys other than the piano on your entertainment center now keep you occupied for lengths of time. Especially if they make noise. Especially if they make noise and you can fit them in your mouth. Especially if they make noise and you can fit them into your mouth and can drop them on the floor for momma to pick back up. I’ve started looking for teething toys for you that can be attached with a paci-keeper. You shocked me the other day when you did the following two things:

1. You turned the pages in your entertainment center’s piano ‘book’ so the keys would play the single notes instead of the words or little songs. Just to make sure I wasn’t imagining things (I really thought I’d set the piano to “songs”) I turned the pages back. After hitting just one key you reached up, and with some effort, you turned the pages back RIGHT IN FRONT OF ME. Kiddo, those tabs are on the top for the PARENTS to turn so it was even harder for you to do it yourself.

2. You were in your Aquarium Bouncer set to “baby activated mode” and you started singing a little tune. Then you violently kicked the toys and the bouncer started playing the tune you just sang. Coincidence, I thought. Next you sang a different tune and kicked the toys again. Immediately the bouncer began playing that tune. I still thought it was coincidence until you repeated it two more times! I was just shocked! I’m not thinking you’re some sort of prodigy here; I’m just amazed at how much babies can absorb from their environment with enough repetition. Your first word will probably be f–k.

Momma is completely over strangers telling her “they grow up so fast” and has started replying, “Gee. I hope so.” She’s going to have to get better at tuning out the dumb comments and advice. People momma hasn’t seen in a while always exclaim over you “wow, she’s gotten bigger.” Momma finds “Gee. I hope so” works here as well.

You make a chewing motion with your mouth that looks like you’re chomping on some taffy. Pa taught you the “gagen, gagen, gagen, gagen” song that you love to repeat after him — always four “gagens” the same as him. You’ve also recently started making these new baby noises that are sweet and soft like your original baby coos but have the complexity of your new baby sounds. So fun!

Because I’m afraid you’ll go to preschool counting your numbers “one, two, threeeeeeee . . . four, five . . . .” Momma has started counting down backwards. You get so excited over the new “three, two, one, blastoff!” however you still get really excited when I start with “three” thinking we’re going early this time.

Everywhere we go I get compliments on what a “good baby you are.” Momma already knows that; you’re the ‘Wonder Child.’ This is momma’s favorite month with you so far. Momma KNOWS she said that about last month and the month before that but seriously kiddo, you just keep getting more and more fun to be around. Hearing your infectious laugh is the goal of many and watching your growing interest in the world around you is fun to observe. We’ll have to figure out pretty soon which political party you’d like to be affiliated with so we can get the bumper sticker for your stroller.

Love,
Momma

Someone asked me what I had planned for the 4th and at the time I had no idea. Little did I know I’d spend the day napping, watching LEROY JENKINS videos with my husband on youtube while in my underwear, and musing how Steven Page from BareNaked Ladies sounds exactly like Scooter from the Muppets, all in between applying coats of spackle and paint in our master bathroom. Oh, and caring for the kiddo, but that goes without saying at this point. Who knew six months ago I could even have a lazy day like this again! OK, with all the bathroom work my day wasn’t exactly lazy but I’ll take what I can get at this point in mommyhood.

If any of the above makes absolutely no sense to you, no, I can’t explain.