Another first

Megan took her first ride on a 'real' swing at Cattus Island Park on February 23. Don't let the photo fool you, she spent the majority of her swing time laughing. 

30-seconds at a time

Megan is getting ready to sit on her own - totally unassisted. Last night she sat upright on her own for roughly 30-seconds before leaning forward to tripod with her hands in front of her. She sat that way for a bit longer and then, as she attempted to sit back up straight, she tipped over. She did a command performance this morning.

It won't be long now!

Baby book review

This is Megan's current favorite book. It just arrived in the mail yesterday and she's already run her fingers across the various textures on each page. The battle in our house is over which child of mine gets to touch which tail first. This despite the fact Logan refers to it as a "baby book."  

Here's Megan doing one of the things she likes to do best - stand in her excersaucer chewingon her butterfly rattle.  

Five, Friends and Fiendishly good shopper

Today Megan is five months old. Don't tell her that though because she tries so hard to be much older. ;) Megan's latest pleasure is standing. Yes, standing. Typically she does it holding on to our hands, but she's been known to cling to the edge of a table without as much fingertip supporting her. Yes, there are hands behind her waiting to catch her - but still, she beams with pride as she props herself against the plastic Little Tykes picnic table all on her own. She's also been caught trying to take steps as we hold her hands high above her head. Her little legs set apart wide as she shuffles and she doesn't get more than an inch or two, but try she does. Obviously she's much to young to be pulling up on various objects on her own, but she will do her darndest to pull herself up when you offer her your hands.

Of course, even without her feet, Megan is mobile. No, not crawling yet as that would mean she'd have to remain on her belly without screaming bloody murder for more than a moment or two. Megan is a roller and a wiggler. She can roll both belly to back and back to belly - she just doesn't do it often. Instead she does her favorite thing - rolls onto her side. She loves laying on her side so she can better play with a toy. She'll scrunch herself all up in a little fetal ball and attack whatever toy is nearest her. Sometimes that toy gets away, and when it does Megan will use a series of back to side rocks and lurches to move her baby body to a spot near the offending toy. I've placed her on her activity quilt before dashing off to help big bro with the potty only to come back and find her on the opposite side of her quilt facing a brand new direction - and laughing at me for it.

Megan very clearly has the ability to anticipate recurring events. For example, my little dare devil loves it when we drop quickly to a squat as we hold her and sing Rock-a-Bye-Baby. She giggles her fully body laugh every time we do it, and that laugh starts in early. The moment you cradle her in your arms and sing the first note she starts to smile. 2nd note and she giggles as she stares at you in a way that just says "Yup, I like this song! I know what's coming!"

She also LOVES play Peek-a-boo. She starts to smile and laugh as soon as you begin to pull something over her eyes. We tend to play this game at night after her bath and so her hiding place is behind a towel. If I let go of the towel - letting it drape loosely over her face - she'll pull it off herself and burst into a fit of laughter. And then, if you're not fast enough, she'll pull the towel back up over her head. Granted she isn't very good about getting both eyes covered at once, but cut the kid a break, she is, after all, only five months old.

She's also working on sitting for real. She can't be up on her own for long, but the second counts are indeed getting longer and longer. She is also become fairly competent at the tripod sit (hands in front for support.) She'll hang out like that for a pretty decent amount of time before tipping over to a side.

Megan is a very sociable baby. She loves talking to people. She loves when people talk to her. Yesterday we hosted a Valentine's Party for our playgroup. Megan made friends with a little girl just a few months older than herself. Meg stood in her excersaucer as her friend stood holding on to the outside of the tray. They babbled at each other and exchanged giggly smiles for a fairly decent amount of time. I've no idea what they conversed about but they both seemed to enjoy it.

However, her most favorite baby friend is the one she sees in the mirror. Megan loves to play with the baby in the mirror. She coos at her. She smiles for her, laughs at her and leans in as close as she can get without smacking their foreheads together. She pulls and reaches for the mirror until you position her close enough to touch. She reaches out her not-quite-as-balled-up-all-time-time fists towards the other babies. She opens her hand up wide and attempts to grasp that other kid's fingers. She never seems bothered by the fact that the other baby has weird hands you can't quite hold onto.

That said, we think her favorite toy is her brother. In fact, we're convinced some mangled attempt at his name will be her first word. She worships Logan. When she hears his voice she turns her head in the direction until she locates him. . . then she smiles wide. When she's crying he can often make her stop. Its amazing how fast those tears go off and the giggles come on. When he gets close enough to her she'll throw her arms around his head in a little baby bear hug and plant a big, wet, drooly, open mouth on his head in an attempt to kiss him. She clearly adores him and the feeling is mutual. He's already standing up for her, by the way. At the aforementioned playgroup some little kid started pulling out toys from Megan's basket of goodies. Logan, who was actually happily sharing all his stuff, ran over and attempted to yank the item from the 17 month-old's hand yelling "No! That's my baby sister's toy. You can't have Megan's toys. Give that back."

Lastly, Megan is a great little shopper. I took her with me to Children's Place today. When I plopped a cute little hat on her head, she very literally grabbed my face with both hands and placed a big wet sloppy kiss on my cheek. After her clear approval of the nifty little hat, Megan lurched herself forward and grabbed on to the matching skirt with both hands. I had to pry the thing from her grasp in order to pay for it.

Chatterbox and boxsteps

Megan loves to talk or at least attempt to talk. Its rare that she's awake and not chattering away in that sweet endearing stream of baby sounds. She's discovered volume, so a lot of that babble is loud babble. She blows raspberries. She noisily sucks away at her thumb. She laughs a big deep belly laugh that seems so surprising coming out of such a little body. She experiments with sound. She'll look you in the eye and babble back at you if you talk to her. She loves to be told she's pretty. Telling her so is sure to solicit a full-faced smile and some well placed cooing. She's a confident little lass.

Megan also loves to dance. She likes the ChaCha a lot. She likes to Hokey Pokey. She loves to slow dance to Sam Cooke songs. She likes to hold onto your fingers and stand. She likes to be held as you sway and then to be dipped. She likes if you sing Rock-a-bye baby and then, while still holding her tight, you quickly drop down low creating a "free-fall" sensation for it. This girl is going to be a rollercoaster fan.