Nine months

It may seem hard to believe, but Madeline has been with us for nine months. She was born at 39 weeks and one day, and today marks 39 weeks and one day since her birth. To see how far she's come in that time has been breathtaking. Here's a snapshot of Madeline at nine months:

Sleeping: She's as regular as clockwork these days - up at about 6:45, first nap from around 8:30-9:30, second nap from about noon-2:00, catnap from about 4:00-4:30 and in bed for the night by 7:00.

Eating: She usually enjoys fruit in the morning (especially bananas). For lunch and dinner her favorites are squash, pumpkin, green beans, carrots and sweet potatoes. She also likes corn but needs some coaxing to finish her green peas. Usually she'll have some cereal along with her fruit or vegetable.

Playtime: Generally this consists of putting her down and watching her go. She's like a wind-up toy that speeds off as soon as she hits the ground. When she's not moving around her favorite toys are Curious George and Stanley the, well, we've never been quite sure what kind of animal Stanley is. Madeline also likes the stacking rings and still gets a kick out of her jungle adventure playmat, although now she's standing on the mat rather than laying on it.

Bedtime: The bedtime ritual is firmly in place, and Madeline knows all the steps by heart. 5:30 - dinner. After dinner - bath time (which she loves - she starts laughing and bouncing when the water is turned on to fill her tub). After bath - pj's and books (she knows her books pretty well, too: she helps turn the pages and she can operate the pop-ups in Little Mouse Plays Peek-a-Boo). After books - bottle and then lights out!

The thirty-ninth week

Madeline has been everywhere this week. Ever since she got the hang of pulling up on stuff, she just can't get enough.

Our home's entryway is raised about 8 inches from the level of the living room floor. Madeline loves to crawl to the ledge, put her hands on it and pull up to standing. She also cruises along the length of the ledge, using her hands to steady herself as she practices moving her feet along. Once she reaches the end of the ledge she grabs the next piece of furniture to continue her cruise. The next piece of furniture happens to be her toy box, so the cruise usually ends once she sees the basketfull of enticing gadgets and stuffed animals.

During her cruises Madeline has even made the effort to stand upright without using her hands. I watched as she let go of the ledge and stood by herself, knees wobbling, for about three seconds before calmly putting her hand back down and continuing her cruise along the ledge.

All of this movement is opening up a new chapter of adventure for Madeline. She can hardly bear to sit in someone's lap any more - she just has to get on the floor and get moving. I have to admit that sometimes I miss being able to let her play while sitting nicely in my lap, but it's pretty fun to watch her do so much by herself.

Thankful

It's Thanksgiving - a logical time to take stock of the things I'm thankful for. And, since circumstances will force me to spend the day apart from Lacey and Madeline, this list will give me thoughts to dwell on in their absence. Here, in no particular order, are eight things I'm thankful for today:

1) the radiant smile that greets me when I first see Madeline each day

2) her voice, when she's talking intently to some object and oblivious to the rest of the world

3) that I have an excuse to spend so much time just laying on the floor, "supervising playtime"

4) that we have family on both sides that live near enough to be involved in Madeline's life

5) nap time

6) her laugh, when it wells up and spills uncontrolled from her tiny frame at the least provocation

7) that my daughter is quite possibly the cutest, most perfect baby ever

8) that I have Lacey to share this entire exhilarating experience with

Happy Thanksgiving!

Crawling, again

It was an exciting moment a couple weeks ago when Madeline crawled for the first time. As I expected, she didn't really do it again after that - she often picks up a new skill and then forgets about it for days or even weeks before really getting the hang of it. It was the same with rolling over, for example.

Today Madeline has been crawling* all day. I even got this video of her crossing the room to grab the video camera in my lap. Who knows if she'll crawl again tomorrow, but given the vigor, spirit and frequency of today's crawls, I suspect it will become more common.

*When I say crawling, I'm talking about true hands-and-knees crawling. She's been very effective at getting around using her Army crawl for the past several weeks.

What a mess!

Madeline loves dinner time, when mommy and daddy pilot lots of delicious, pureed food into her mouth. We've been doing it for months, but eventually she's going to have to learn to feed herself.

Tonight we threw caution to the wind, rolled up everyone's sleeves and handed Madeline a spoon and a bowl of cereal. Of course we knew what was going to happen, and because we were prepared it ended up being pretty fun for everyone.

There's a reason bath time comes right after dinner!

The thirty-eighth week

Poor Madeline. This week her top teeth have been pushing their way in, and Madeline has not been taking it well. When her first teeth showed up a couple months ago she handled it like a champ, with hardly any fussing. But this week she's been grumpy with a capital G.

Her foul temper was worse in the early part of the week, but by Thursday she was back to her normal, cheerful self. We can really see that one of her top teeth has broken through, but the other seems like it's still lurking below the surface. Hopefully it won't bring along too much grumpiness when it finally shows up.

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In other big news this week, Madeline sat up by herself for the first time. She's been oh-so-close to sitting up for many weeks now, but hasn't been able to find the right combination of momentum, strength and motivation to get there.

I feel like it's the last major move for her to master before walking. She can roll, crawl, turn and pull up to standing. She can move gracefully from sitting to her hands and knees or to standing. And, as of Thursday (the good-mood day) she can go from her tummy to sitting.

Sadly, neither Lacey nor I were in the room when she sat up. It was early in the morning and I was still in bed. Lacey left the room briefly and when she came back she found Madeline sitting up. Madeline hasn't done it again since then, but at least now we know she's capable.

Uh-oh

For a while now, Madeline has enjoyed dropping things on the floor while she's sitting in her high chair. When she does, we'll say "uh-oh" repeatedly. It's gotten to the point that we can say "uh-oh" and Madeline will start looking around the floor below her, whether or not she's actually dropped something.

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On a couple occasions Madeline has even started making obvious attempts to say "uh-oh" back to us. You can tell she's thinking hard about it and really watching how we say it. Then, slowly, she'll say "ohh" and she looks over the edge and waves her hand in the direction of the dropped object.

How did I get here?

Now that Madeline is crawling, rolling and squirming all over the place, she sometimes finds herself in awkward places - such as under this footstool.

Accessorizing

Madeline loves playing with Mommy's jewelry - earrings and necklaces are her favorites.

The thirty-seventh week

So Madeline's crawling now. While she has performed the textbook hands-and-knees maneuver several times this week, she's actually pretty handy at getting around with her old Army crawl method. When she sees something she really wants, she can switch direction and get there in a hurry.

Along with her crawling, Madeline has started pulling herself up to a standing position. She can do it with ease when she's sitting and something sturdy is within her reach. And she enjoys climbing and crawling all over me or Lacey when we're playing with her on the floor.

The last couple weeks have brought a seismic shift in the way we handle Madeline. She's so much more self-sufficient, but also that much more in need of supervision. Gone are the days when she would sit and play by herself, allowing us to shift our focus elsewhere for a few minutes. Now that she's really moving, pulling up and grabbing things that catch her eye, we have to be extra vigilant about what she's doing, and about the things that are within her reach.

Also, because of her new skill set, we decided it was time to lower her crib mattress to the toddler setting, so she won't be able to tumble over the edge when she's alone.

It's an exciting time for Madeline, and for us as we watch her begin to explore on her own. And it's sometimes funny to see the things that capture her attention, even from a distance - a shoelace, floor molding, an exposed screw that attaches the arm of a chair. It's a big, big world, and it's all new to her.

Talking, and teeth

Most of the time Madeline and I were together today, the main theme of her babbling was "da da da da . . ." I didn't think much of it because it's a sound she commonly makes these days. But I sure noticed when Lacey got home from work this afternoon and Madeline looked at her excitedly and started chanting "ma ma ma ma . . ."

Coincidence? Probably. But she's definitely getting the hang of a far wider variety of sounds, and she's really mixing it up. She doesn't always stick to one sound, but often makes a string of varied noises - something like "ga da bo . . ." - using different vowels and consonants in different combinations, all in the same breath.

And, it does seem that she's associating certain sounds with what they represent. Usually I can say "come see daddy" and she'll excitedly move in my direction and put her arms out toward me. I can also say "where's the kitty?" and (most of the time) she'll look around on the floor to find our cat.

So now we find ourselves repeating key words - mommy, daddy, bottle, the names of foods she's eating - in hopes that it reinforces her learning and gets us closer to her first word (which will be "daddy," of course!).

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It looks like at least one of Madeline's top front teeth is getting ready to make an appearance! Lacey and I spotted it this afternoon during one of Madeline's laughing spells.

She's crawling!

It's been months in the making, but today Madeline officially crawled for the first time. Actually, she did it so well that it makes me wonder if she's been practicing while no one's around.

This morning we were playing in the living room with her new phone. She was sitting on the floor and shifted gracefully into an all-fours position. I moved her toy about four feet away to encourage her to work for it, and instead of using her usual Army crawl, she just started putting hand in front of hand and crawled!

She's done it several more times today, interspersed with the tried-and-true Army crawl. No matter what method she uses, there's no doubt about the fact that she can get around by herself now.

It's for you...

Madeline loves playing with the phone, and at times it can be frustrating for everyone - like when one of us is trying to have a conversation or even check voice mail. So this weekend Grandma Vera presented Madeline with her very own phone.

It makes fun noises with each press of a button, and it's getting plenty of use - we've only had it four days and have already replaced the batteries!

History lesson

Today we took advantage of the beautiful fall weather to visit Hollywood Cemetery - the final resting place of prominent Richmonders and even a few U.S. presidents (including the 5th - James Monroe, whose tomb is pictured here). It's one of those places that everyone who lives in the area should see at some point.

It can be a little overwhelming to think of all the things I've seen in my 31 years - from famous landmarks to museums filled with world-class art to natural wonders - and to realize that Madeline has yet to see any of it. She's starting with a clean slate.

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I don't want her to grow up sheltered - I want her to have experience and familiarity with the larger world. After all, what is the job of a parent if not to give their kid a strong, diverse foundation?

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(See a few more non-Madeline pictures from today here.)

The thirty-sixth week

Madeline's crawling seems to have taken a back seat this week as she gets the hang of standing on her own. However, when she sees something she wants, she's getting faster at using her Army crawl to get there. With so many new skills to master, she doesn't spend lots of time on any one thing, but instead seems to switch between them every few days.

Madeline and I went to the gym a few times this week, and things went well. I never heard any complaints from her, and when I return from my workout she has been happily involved with some toy or another. So far there haven't been any other babies there at the same time as Madeline, but she still getting some time around noisy young people who are much smaller than her parents.

This weekend Madeline and Lacey are at the Oyster Festival, so I have a few hours to myself on Saturday before I go to work. It seems like these occasional hours alone quickly fill up - the time without Madeline quickly fills with all the stuff I can't do when she's here. Between chores at home, errands and (hopefully) getting in a longer-than-usual workout, I never seem to get around to actually relaxing for a few minutes!

Happy as an oyster

Today Lacey was giving a presentation on wetlands to school groups attending the Urbanna Oyster Festival's waterfront education day, and Madeline and I tagged along. Between all the commotion made by the swarms of children in attendance and this plastic spoon, there was plenty to keep Madeline occupied.

Bundle up

As the weather grows chillier, Madeline gets more layers of clothing, including these knit pieces that Lacey wore when she was a baby.

Standing up

Today Madeline stood by herself, holding onto the coffee table, for 7 minutes straight. I didn't have to support her at all - she was just standing there, babbling happily. When she started to lose her balance, she would confidently grab the edge of the table to maintain her posture.

She's been standing like this frequently in the past few weeks, but today I happened to look at the clock while she was standing and was impressed by the length of time that she could stand unaided. I was so confident of her skills that I left her side to go across the room and snap some photos while she was standing there.

Simple pleasures

Forget all those colorful and noisy toys - sometimes the simplest things seems to capture Madeline's attention. The other day I gave her a paper-towel tube and she loved it. An empty 2-liter bottle kept her enthralled for an afternoon. She also is quite content to be placed in front of the full-length mirror in our room.