Doe, a deer

I feel like I'm always playing catch-up! This morning, I've been attempting to update my thesis bibliography while Miss Lily army crawls across the floor (and always toward a slightly unstable table that may find a new home in the garage for a while.) Thankfully, since Glenn was home with us yesterday, I was able to catch up on some housework. So now, it's time to catch you all up on what's going on in Lily's world.

For those who like facts and figures, Lily is now eight months old and clocking in at 19.5(ish) pounds. I'm not certain about her percentiles, but I feel like she's approaching average rather than remaining on the side of the overachievers. On Sunday, she finished a ten-day round of antibiotics for the third appearance of a cold that became an ear infection. Even sick, she's such a cheerful little thing. Aside from the boogersome nose and rattly cough, the only indication that she didn't feel well was her increased desire to be held and cuddled. As soon as the Tylenol would kick in, though, she just wanted to play.

Play time has become more exciting. For a few weeks, Lily has been trying to stand up in her tub. She would plant her chubby little elbows on the side then slowly push through with her heels, ending up in the bear walk position. Of course, I made her sit back down and tried to prevent it in the first place, but you kind of want to see how these things pan out. So, I had the bright idea of bringing her (empty and dry) tub out of the big tub and into the living room to see what she would do. Clearly, the thing gave her confidence.

Placing the tub near the ottoman, I placed some random trinket (maybe the internet card) in her line of sight on top of the ottoman. She looked at me, looked at the ottoman, then, with hardly a hesitation, she leans over onto the side of the tub, gets her little legs underneath her body, grabs the side of the ottoman, digs her little toes into the tub, and pulled up to standing. I was totally shocked, but she looked at me like "this is what I've been trying to show you! I want to stand up in that tub! I can play limbo with that faucet! I will swing from the handle! I am AMAZING."

So, this complicates things a little. I let her do it a few more times until Glenn points out that encouraging her to stand in her tub will show her that it is okay to do and she will be too hard to wrangle while bathing. (True.) We don't do that anymore, but this is okay because she can pull up with the ottoman now with no other prop. I still have to place something up there for motivation, but she does a great job of getting it. (the grainy video is from my cell phone.)

She is also waving by flapping her hand and sometimes opening and closing it, but this only has a 60/40 chance of happening as an actual response. She still babbles, chatters, and laughs constantly. In fact, in the morning, I'm often woken up by her talking ("BABABAA!!!" If you've seen Mars Attacks, you know how it sounds.) instead of crying, which is a nice development. The newest sound to make it into her repertoire is a tongue click, which she does while also sticking her tongue out and smiling, so it's super cute. She is turning book pages much better now; one book has a sound effect on the last page and she will slowly turn it back and forth so she can hear the noise start and stop. Turning lights off and on has become something of a hobby as well.

One of the funniest things she has come up with is what Glenn calls her "10 Point Buck." Just before Christmas, she started doing this funny pose, where she places both hands, palm facing out, on her forehead. She makes this deadly serious face, and it is hilarious. The photo at the top of the post captures this new feat.


As usual, I'm left thinking about how far she has come, and wondering about what will happen between now and the next chance I get to write a new post. I think she will be crawling completely (not doing the GI Jane belly dragging thing that she's doing now) by Valentine's. I'll keep you posted!