To and fro

Meg is well on her way to mobility. She doesn't lift her lower half off the floor when she moves and she doesn't move forward per se - at least not far. She is totally capable of turning herself to face whatever direction she finds comfort whether she's on her belly or back. And, well, she sort of inch-worm crawls herself backwards. Yes. She's doing a dead-leg crawl in reverse. Its amusing to us to watch and utterly frustrating for her.

Progress on that crawling thing. . .

No, she's not all out crawling yet, but she is inching closer. . .quite literally. Tonight during our typical bedtime routine I decided to give tummy time another go. Megan arched her back and lifted herself fairly high, spotted the dog, reached and then cried. Tasha was, luckily for Tasha, out of Megan's reach.

But hey, the dog is good motivation to move, right? So Megan stretched again. No such luck. She buried her face in the carpet and yelled. And so I tutored. I tapped her right foot moving it a bit so that her knee hugged her side. Then I tapped her left foot.

And then Megan did it.

She moved one hand and then the other to pull herself forward and straightened her legs as she did so.

We did this a few times - just enough to get Meg close enough to brush her fat baby fingers to Tasha's reluctant paw. The dog then ran, but Megan had something bigger figured out.

Logan came down the hall moments later, fresh off his bath and looking for the night's storyteller (aka me). I urged him to sit a short distance from his sister - just out reach. We called Daddy to watch. And Meg did it again. This time she did most of the work herself and she kept her head up fairly high. She'd get a foot on my palm and push off hard as she reached in front of her with a hand. Then the next foot and reaching with the other hand. She's not up on her knees as she does it. She drags her legs along the ground in a weird sort of half crawl. She keeps her eyes locked on her target and she laughs with pride as she goes along her quest.

Logan clapped for her. He cheered. He crawled around her showing her what to do again and then he hugged her. And Megan laughed. Then she flipped herself on to her back and clapped proudly with her feet in imitation of the three of us. We clapped for her and cheered and she, being her typical self, basked in the glow.

Knees!

Megan doesn't spend a lot of time on her belly. She HATES belly time. She hates it so much that she'd rather just yell and scream then flip herself off her stomach. Lately though she's come to appreciate at least one new trick belly time provides her - getting up on her knees. It started yesterday and it started as she was complaining about belly time. Megan put her hands down firmly on the floor, placed her forehead just ahead of them and then rocked back onto her knees elevating her middle off the rug. She's yet to do get her head far off the ground - leaving her in a weird sort of tripod stance. She doesn't move when she's like this, but it may be coming.

Megan loves to "walk". In fact if you sit her on your lap or near enough to your lap, she'll lean back and lock her legs until she very literally stands herself up balancing herself against you. She eagerly grasp your hands if you let her so she can go for a walk - marching and prancing around as she giggles. And lately, given the chance, she'll stand all on her own holding onto the door or a table. We've been wondering she too would skip crawling altogether, but perhaps not. Perhaps as soon as she figures out that crawling would allow her to wreak mobile havoc on her own, she'll be off and going. Stay tuned for updates!

words and sounds

So Megan has been doing the whole "Mmmmah!" thing when she's mad or upset and wants me to pick her up. Today, for the first time she saw me coming toward her, held out her arms and yelled happily "MAMA!" then laughed.

She's also playing a load of games lately. IF you sing patty cake she'll clap her feet together in time to the song - not her hands. No. The child uses her feet to clap along.

If you ask her how big she is, Megan will put her arms as high above her round head as she can and laugh as she makes the sound "AhhhhH!" She holds them up there until I say "Sooooooo big!"

In the mornings when I retrieve her from her crib I often say "Peek-a-boo!" as I lean over the side to see her. This morning as I leaned over to get her she yelled out "Booowah!!" I thought it might be a fluke, so later in the morning I covered her eyes with my hands. When I moved them away she yelled out "Booowah!" In fact, as I type, she sits on my lap, body facing the screen, head tipped back all the way to my chest, looking up at me and saying "Boooowah!" until I look at her. And then she says it - "Ahh, Mama."

Hugs!

She's been doing it for a while, but I just don't get to typing it up when I'm thinking of it. Megan is a big time baby hugger. Megan will hug and 'kiss' but, but she's more apt to just hug you. When I get her in the morning or if I take her from someone after having been away from her a bit, Megan will throw her arms around my shoulders, laugh and then throw her head deep into my neck as she squeezes with everything she's got. I don't think I've ever had such an amazing bear hug before - at least not from someone so tiny - and yes, she does squeeze TIGHT!

Miss Meg's first Spring day

Mmmmmmmmmmaw!

Megan has a new sound. Still a leery to call it a word, per se, but it might be. She says "Ma" or more accurately she says "Mmmmmmmmmmmmah!" Its not something she utters often. It tends to come out when she's sitting or laying on her own and she wants Mommy to come pick her up - thus the potential word. She'll see Mom and she'll start to kick her feet as she yells her M sound louder and louder. "Mmmmah! Mmmmaa!" Once she's picked up she buries her head down into Mommy's neck and throws her arms around Mom's shoulders. Yup, Meg is also a big time hugger. And a kisser. But mostly a hugger.

Like a good Jersery Girl

We had a rather busy day today - some kite flying at the park, a little swinging, lunch out in an old converted train car, and then some walking around the Barneget Lighthouse. While Dad and Logan a walk along the path atop one of the retention walls, Megan and Mom stayed on the sandy beach area to keep Miss Meg out of the strongest of the sea breezes (more like strong winds!) Miss Meg was placed down on the beach and the first thing she did was plunge her pudgey baby hand into the sand. She giggled and then did it again. And then she started to dig. She dug herself a small little trench, unearthed some sea shells and contemplated eating one before Mom rescued it from her grasp. Megan Rose loved the beach. She loved walking through the coast-line trees and bushes. She loved playing on the sand. Just like a good Jersey coast girl should.

Improvise

Megan has this teether that she's in love with. She got it sometime in January and quickly figured out how to make it work -- chomp down hard enough on the yellow "beehive" and it'll vibrate. The moment she sees it she lunges for it, grasps the two green side handles, angles it to her mouth and chomps down hard. And then it buzzes. Yes, the thing makes this deep, loud, buzz as it vibrates. Almost a soothing hum to go with the sensation that must help her sore gums.

Today we noticed a new twist to this game. Megan was chewing away at the handle of the teether - a part that won't vibrate no matter how hard she works at it. No soothing vibration. No sound. At least none from the teether. Megan began to emit this deep, loud, buzz-like humming sound. At first we thought it was maybe just a coincidence of timing. Nope. She did it again several times through the day. If she gets working on that teether but doesn't bite into it in the right spot or hard enough in the right spot, she'll make the noise herself.

Not bad for 6.5 months old.

Photo taken January 2005