Wednesday, August 20, 2008

Molly-Bolly

We have another tooth! The second bottom front tooth is through! It came in today! Hopefully little Molly Woggle will be a happier girl now that her little teeth have made it through.

AND...

She can sit unassisted!!! She will occasionally still tumble over if she is reaching too far for something and forgets to catch herself, but otherwise is pretty much independent...literally just as of today!

I can't believe how quickly she is growing up!

Ben has been so adorable with her lately, If she is upset, he will come up to her and say in a really sweet high voice, "What's the matter, little Molly girl? Are you ok? Do you need brother?" It is the sweetest thing in the entire world. In the morning, she usually wakes up after the rest of us, and Ben loves running into the room as soon as he hears her. I put her on my bed, and he loves to crawl up and snuggle her. (It IS the best time of day to snuggle her...she is a fresh, sweet, bright-eyed little cherub whenever she wakes up for the morning or from a nap). And she is really responding to him, too, these days. She lights up when he comes in the room and starts waving her arms and reaching for him.

Sunday, August 17, 2008

"Why, Mama?"...

Ben is in a fascinating "smart" stage right now...let me explain what I mean first, then I will tell you about it. He (and just about all kids) go through various stages/cycles all the time. Sometimes it is a gross motor cycle, when all of the sudden I will realize that he can jump off the couch and land on two feet without help or fear, or a fine motor cycle when it will dawn on me that I am not helping him at all as he uses the toddler scissors to cut paper, and he is flawless at putting together great train tracks, or a "self-help" cycle where suddenly he can put his shoes on himself and can mostly dress and undress himself (mostly;).

But one of my favorite cycles is the "smart kid cycle" that he goes through from time to time. The interesting thing about Ben is that, right before he makes a big jump in cognitive skills, he stutters. It is like clockwork...all of the sudden I will notice that he is stuttering on and off throughout a couple of weeks, and then all of the sudden, the stutter is gone, and he is smarter/more verbally developed then before.

He has just finished a stuttering cycle, and has spent the last week completely inundating me with questions. And, his favorite question these days is "why?" Some examples: "Why is it called a fire truck?" "Why did they name Granny's street 'Briarhurst'?" "Why is Mack and Jelly (Mackind Avenue Deli) closed right now?" "Why did Nana and Papa go home?" "Why do we live on 'Devonshire'?"

And the cute thing is that he is only interested in hearing the "real" answer. He is not ok with me just making some quick response. He really wants to hear all about it, and wants to know what my best guess is, even if I don't actually know the real answer...like why Granny's street is named "briarhurst"!

Also, he is TOTALLY in to hearing "stories" right now. Every day I hear "Tell the story of ..." and he will reference any number of past experiences we have had. This weekend, Aaron's parents were in town, and Ben must have asked Papa to tell one particular story from his childhood about 25 times. Papa was so patient, and pretty much told the story 25 times! Aren't grandparents awesome!!

Sunday, August 10, 2008

She's growing up!!!

Molly has a tooth!!

I can't believe it! Even though Ben got his first tooth at this exact same time (5.5 mos), it seemed so perfect with him, but with Molly, it seems like she shouldn't be getting teeth already! But, today (Aug 10th) the first one appeared! It's the bottom right front tooth (same one for Ben). And the other bottom tooth isn't too far behind!

And, after my last post, when I talked all about how Molly was still so sweet and little, all of the sudden this week she seems like she is growing up so much...
-She is sitting up with just some occasional help with balance.
-She has finally decided that she likes the stander/exercauser, and likes to play in it.
-She takes a bath sitting up in the bath ring now. In fact, she and Ben have shared all of the last several baths together!
-Though she still LOVES me, she finally likes Aaron, too. When he walks in the room, she gets really excited!
-She has started babbling! Lots of "buh, buh, buh's" and raspberries. Still some screeching and yelling, but she is definitely aware of her lips now and likes to use them!

*I think part of the reason that I think of Molly being so little is that her adorable cousin Anna is just 3 mos older than her. But those 3 mos make a huge difference at this age. And every time I see Anna, I marvel at how accomplished she is, and how much she can do, and then I scoop Molly up in my arms and make sure to enjoy her still being little. But really, she is getting to the end of the tiny baby stage, and is really starting to grow on her way toward becoming a toddler! (Thankfully I still have LOTS of time!)

Friday, August 1, 2008

Little Molly Woggle

Here are a few of my thoughts about Molly right now:

*Nicknames: Molly-Lou-Mellon, Molly Robin, Molly Wolly Doodle-all-the-Day, Molly Woggle, Little Miss Moose Mouse, Miss Watermelon, Molly Bolly

*She LOVES me, and I mean like LOVES LOVES me! I have rarely ever seen a baby so attached to her mama, and I have to admit that I love it!! When I come in the room, she just about jumps out of her skin she gets so excited. She will let other people hold her, but if I walk near, she starts bouncing around excitedly and leans towards me, reaching to be picked up. And if she is tired or needing reassurance in any way, she just nuzzles her little, tiny, baby head into my neck and is immediately so contented and calm. If I lay on the bed or floor next to her, she will use all her effort to swing herself around to be touching me or next to me. It is so precious, and one of the most amazing experiences of my life to have this little girl with me!!

*She has really become aware of the world around her lately. She is just 5 mos old, and every day I can see more and more comprehension of the world around her growing in her eyes. She is super aware of Ben now, and loves to watch him. When he starts coming her way, she gets really excited now and tolerates his (occasionally rough) hugs, kisses, and snuggles very well.

*She is rolling over by choice very independently now. It's so cute to see her decide to roll over and just go for it, knowing that she can do it. Watching a baby master a new skill, and then show that new skill off is such a treasure to watch!!

*She is such a calm and happy baby. Other than night-time sleeping (which I don't know if I even have the energy to get into on this blog), she is the least fussy, and easiest baby that I could have imagined. When Ben was this age, I had to spend a lot of time and energy thinking through all of our outings each day so that I could be prepared to meet his needs. With Molly, all I have to do is make sure there is a spare diaper around and a pacifier if she wants to sleep, and she's good. I know part of it is that I am an experienced mother now, but it is still largely just her personality...so sweet, observant, fascinated with the world.

*She has gotten so good with her hands! She can grab just about anything that she wants to. It's getting quite difficult to hold her during a meal these days...she is FASCINATED with food. And it used to be that we could offer her any toy or object to keep her busy during a meal, but now she will just look at whatever we are offering, and if it is not food-related, she will just move her hand away, as if to brush us off! We have started to give her things to "eat" like a whole carrot or piece of celery during meals, and this seems to keep her happy.

*She is still my darling, sweet, wide-eyed, loving little one. She is still such a precious little thing. She is still my "babe-in-arms". She has hardly ever even been in a stroller. Ben and I go on a walk every day, but I always carry her or wear her in a wrap or sling, and it is such a joy! I can't believe that I didn't know to do this with Ben. It's awesome!