Little Miss Moose Mouse

I don't know exactly why that is her nickname...but it sure has stuck! It's so cute when Ben says it too. When she wakes up from a nap, she will start talking to herself in the bedroom, and if Ben hears her before me, he will say, "Oh, it sounds like little Miss Moose Mouse is awake!"

Time for a little Molly update:
1. She is CRAWLING!! It only took her 10.5 months to really figure it out, but she has got it now! She isn't super speedy yet (she only started last Tuesday), but she cure can move around when she wants to. It is actually quite a mental adjustment...I knew it would be. Just a week ago I could leave her anywhere and if nothing dangerous was in reach, we were good to go. But now already I have to scan a full 12-foot radius for safety if I want to leave the room. But, honestly, I am glad that she is crawling. She is actually starting to show a lot of readiness signs for walking...pulling up and standing on her own as long as 30 seconds, and even cruising on furniture and take a few independent steps on her own here and there, but I do think that it is better for kids if they crawl for a short while, at least...upper body strength, hand/eye coordination, hand and wrist strength, etc...so it is nice that she has gotten it figured out, even if it only lasts for a short while. Already if I leave her rather close to the couch, she will just crawl right over and pull herself up to standing. I'm very interested to see how long it will take her to walk.

2. She has her first 2 signs! She can sign for "milk" to nurse, and "all done" when she doesn't want what I am trying to feed her! However, the funny thing is that she mostly uses the sign for "milk" when other people are holding her and she wants them to take her to me. When I am holding her, if she wants to eat, she often refuses to sign as if to say, "Come ON mom, you know what I want...why do you try to make me work for it? I never had to work for it before!!"

3. She is just about at her first spoken word, too. She is saying "Dada" all the time. And about 50% of the time it is clearly spoken in reference to Aaron walking in the room or playing with her. Though she sometimes says it for me, too, when I walk in the room, so (being the speech-therapist that I am) I am not quite ready to call it her official first word...but when I look back in a few weeks, I may realize that this really is it. We'll see.

4. Her development is progressing at lightning-speed these days. It seems like every day she gains a new level of awareness in her environment and a new ease at working her way through daily life. We flew to Earling, IA last weekend to visit Aaron's grandmother, and Molly just took the trip in stride. No troubles traveling, sleeping, flying, meeting TONS of new people, etc. Just easy, breezy! It was also easy for Ben. In fact, he LOVED every minute of it...the Metro-Link train ride to the airport, flying, renting a van, seeing a true Iowa farm, playing with toy tractors, meeting distant cousins, hanging out with great grandma...it was all wonderful!

5. Molly's fine motor skills, in particular, are SO developed. Aaron and I have both been noticing for a while now that she can do tons of things in the area of fine motor that seem like they should be way too difficult. She puts pegs on and takes them off a wooden pole, she can put cheerios into a small container, she can drive cars, she can easily do 2-step ball toys, she is a pro at turning pages in a book, etc.

6. She likes baby dolls! It was the cutest thing when I discovered this. I don't really think about giving the kids "girl" vs. "boy" toys, but I will freely admit that this house has a TON of trains, trucks, and cars. Well, one day last week, I dumped out this big container of stuffed animals and dolls that we have but never really play with. The kids and I just sat on the floor in the middle of the toys and had fun playing with them all. Well, most of the toys are stuffed animals, but there was one baby doll in the mix. It was an old doll that we had actually given to Ben when he was little. He never did anything with it other than to throw it around usually (though he did wear it in a tiny Moby wrap once while I was wearing Molly...my little baby-wearing boy!!) But as soon as she noticed it, she lunged for it and grabbed it out of the huge pile. Then for the rest of the playtime, she only wanted to play with the baby. She hasn't been holding it all the time or anything, but if given a choice of stuffed animals with the baby included, she will always choose the baby...gives a little insight into the nature/nurturer discourse!

7. She is a little dare-devil. She LOVES it when we turn her upside-down. She loves to ride in things like carts or strollers or anything that can zoom around. And she (the same baby who used to not EVER leave my arms, even to go to Daddy) LOVES Uncle Russell. Keep in mind that Uncle Russell is a 6 ft. tall ex-military man who has a full beard and is usually terrifying to small children. But Uncle Russell is the one who has all the best "tricks" for flipping and spinning babies, so she now LOVES him! Crazy baby!

8. She still remains the happiest, easiest, most pleasant little child. I LOVE this stage of development. I remember loving it with Ben, but, so far, Molly is even more low key and fun. She is a delight to me!