Look Ma! No hands!

Well it just seems early to me but maybe I'm off on my milestones and timing, blah, blah, blah. Megan has been a bit more physical than Logan was at her age. . .and he cruised early, then worked up the courage to walk at 10 months. Miss Thing has been pulling herself up and cruising for a bit now. At 5.5 months she started holding our hands and 'running'. At 7.5 months she started literally cruising on her own around furniture. She's been pulling herself up from a seated position to stand for over a week. She'll be 9 months old on June 12th. . .and moments ago she just let go of my hand and her activity table to stand unsupported for nearly a full minute in the center of the room. She swayed a bit and flapped her arms like a baby bird to keep her balance, but holy cow - "Look Ma! No hands!"

The child had contemplated crawling. She does get around when left to her own devices - she crawls backwards, she inch worms, her favorite thing to do is pull/push herself in circles that slowly move her from Point A to Point B regardless of where that is. When she sits she scissor kicks to turn herself in a circle until she finds what she wants. Sometimes she's able to move her legs in and out in such a way that she butt-scoots forward - but the standing is new. She was incredibly proud and finally began to topple when her excitement and pride got the balancing bird flapping arms moving too quickly in celebration. I caught her as she laughed and smiled. Logan clapped for her and she laughed at him yelling her latest form of Brother "Braba!"

UPDATED TO ADD: And just to show off a little, Megan decided to try some more standing on her own. She started to lean a bit too far forward and took two steps instead. She enjoyed those steps so much she keeps trying to do it again. She's not quite got enough balance yet to really stand for long on her own, let alone actually walk, but she's trying. She keeps standing with one hand on the table and then laughs as she moves to walk towards us. She gets nervous and ends up grabbing one hand before she lets go of the table. She's tried walking to Logan but he's not quite big enough to hold her up. She ended up on her butt the one time she actually trusted him enough to let go of the furniture.

Pull-ups

Its official. Megan Rose has figured out how to stand herself up. She's been practicing for weeks now using the adults around her. With no help from us beyond sitting within her reach, she'd grasp hold of us and stand herself upright. She might hold your shirt, your arm, your shoulder, your leg. Didn't matter.

Well now she uses inanimate objects. Today it was the red wagon. She was sitting in it. Logan and I were watering our newly planted veggies. I turned to see her standing hunched over in the wagon because the wagon side wasn't nearly high enough to allow her to stand upright as she held on. She saw me catch her in the act of figuring out her next move, lowered herself to the bottom of the wagon again and laughed. Needless to say she was removed from the wagon promptly.

She's happily cruising around tables and miscellaneous furniture. She holds hands and walks around with glee. She's even been known to attempt to take her own stroller for a walk. Megan is on her way to being a hellion on two feet. Look out!

--
New sounds - Megan recently began toying with the dog's name. When she sees her beloved Tasha come nearby, Meg whispers softly "Ta! Ta!" Stand her at the front door at her grandparents and she joins the chat for the man with the big hugs and grin "Pa! Pa! Pa!" She knows very well who Papa is because she'll look right at him if you ask her where he is. She's also been heard saying his name when he walks into rooms - although she won't play nice enough to say it when he's around to hear it.

She also enjoys her food. As she gums up Cheerios and banana pieces she says LOUDLY "UM! UM! UM!"

Got to love a good bubble bath. . .

mobile

Since she manages to move bits and pieces one way or another let's just say that Megan Rose is mobile - to a degree. No marathons yet. No finding her in the next room after putting her down, but the girl can move when she wants to. I came in here to check in with the office. At her wiggly instance I placed Miss Thing on the floor, a safe distance from the dog's toy basket. Its something Megan is fascinated with because really, who doesn't want to chew on a big rubber, spikey ball.

She busied herself playing with the toys we've left for her in this office/playroom. She grabbed at a few odds and ends that go along with big brother. And then she spied the forbidden loot apparently. My back was to her but her giggling made me turn around. She was scissoring her feet in and out at a rapid pace and wiggling her butt - a combined move that made her turn in a circle and inch forward. She did this until she hit the jackpot. She looked up at me, her little round, deceivingly innocent looking face full of pride, and she nearly dove head first into the dog's toys.

Having been removed from her grasp and safely stowed, Megan has now moved on to bigger and better things. She's now scissor kicking again trying to retrieve Spencer the train - at least when she's not attempting to use Logan's toy pliers. Wait, I take that back. Another new trick. . .she can go from sitting to belly without bonking her head. :)

Sounds and such

It seems that once the developmental ball starts rolling it just keeps on going fast. Megan's utterance of the sound "Dada" is occurring less often haphazardly and more often when she sees Dad. In addition, she's adapted her Boowah sound to something unique that we are now thinking is her way of saying "Brother." She tends to say it only when she wants Logan to look at her. I don't think I realized how often we refer to him as "big brother" but I suppose its often the way she's taken to the name. She also is trying out "Baba" for bye-bye. She works the sound out as she flops her full arm in a wave. The motion comes every time you say "Bye-bye" and wave at her.

She follows direction fairly well. "Megan can you splash?" during a bath will be rewarded with a big slap of roly-poly baby arm into water. And of course a strong set of the giggles. Or better yet, when she's on her feet, arms high above her head, and ready to run, she'll head off wherever you tell her to go. "Meg bath time. Go to the bathroom." She giggles and she goes. She beelines right for the running water every single time. Or tell her to find Daddy in the kitchen and again, right to him.

She loves to cruise around. She loves to stand - she'll hold herself up at the front door or on a table. She'll ages leaning on the LeapFrog activity table she's inherited from "boowah." She hits the various keys and flips the miscellaneous levers on that thing. Luckily Logan has stopped insisting its his.

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

Meggie has toes

Megan Rose not only discovered she had feet recently, she figured out how to get those toes in her mouth.

New Sounds

Megan has added two new sounds to her baby vocabulary:

1. Boowah! - A variation on the briefly used Boobah, Megan has developed a great Al Pacino (in Scent of a Woman) impersonation. We've told Logan that its her way to say "Brother" and so now when she says it and he's paying close enough attention he'll answer her "Yes, Megan. I'm here."

2. Dada - Yes, Megan has added the sound Dada. Not quite yet a word because she says it whenever she feels like it and not just when she's talking to Daddy, but its a start. She typically combines it with something that sounds a lot like Hey or Hi. "Hey dada. Dadadada. Hi dada."

6 Months old

The mid-way point has been pretty important for Megan. By her six-month "birthday", she could:

- sit on her own without tipping - unless she saw something out of reach to lunge for.
- Make a variety of different sounds including "Mmmmmmma!" when she wanted Mommy to pick her up and the most recent "Baaabah!" that she started making today.
- Stick her tongue out as a means of playing with Grandma or anyone else she felt would enjoy some face making.
- Reach out her arms to someone she wanted to pick her up.
- Manipulate a vast majority of her toys the way they were meant to be played with, including her turtle that spins around the little balls and plays music, her crib fish tank, and everything on the excersaucer.
- Take steps, yes I said steps, when someone stands behind her holding her hands so she can balance on her feet. She loves to walk!
- Wiggle and scoot her way around when she's laying on the floor.
- Drink out of a sippy cup. To date she only gets formula or water occasionally in a cup.
- Play a wicked game of peek-a-boo by turning her head away from someone and then quickly twisting her head around so she's looking right at you. Makes her laugh hysterically each time she does it.
- Tackle her big brother.
- Make a 60 pound dog run in fear.

Growing Girl

A few days early for the actual 'birthday', Miss Megan Rose went to visit her doctor for her 6-month well visit. The little lady, while still growing rapidly, is starting to settle back into a more 'average' size for girls her age. The silly nurse thought she could get Meg's weight pre-set on the scale and aimed for the vicinity of 16 pounds. But 16 pounds Megan is not. No, Megan is 17 pounds, 6 ounces. To go with her rollie-polie weight is a solid 25 1/2 inches. She's hitting all her milestones on target and is, to quote the doctor, absolutely perfect. Sure, we knew that!

Little Miss Thing likes to think of herself as being older than she is, meaning she likes to be on her feet trying to walk as you hold her hands above her head. Her brother did this too, although he was several weeks older at the time he started. When the doctor came into the exam room today, Megan was standing tall with her hands above her head so I could hold them, and she was attempting to walk herself across the room. "Show-off!" he said. Then he laughed and commented on nice it was to see her enjoying herself like that.

And then Meg did what Meg does best. She laughed, babbled and grabbed at people's face till her heart was content. Doctor noted all that and said based on those things and his exam she was just as she should be.

A milestone for Megan Rose

At five-and-half-months old, Megan has hit a big milestone. She can sit, sans tripod, unsupported! She can sit upright for several minutes until something out of reach gets her attention - then she lunches and tips herself over. 

Nearing a milestone

Today Megan sat on her own. It lasted maybe two minutes - perhaps a bit more - and then she tipped herself backwards onto her elbows before easing down into the mattress. It long enough for me to grab the camera and take several photographs as proof. She sat without tripoding for a bit and then with just her right hand down at her side for a little extra support. It won't be long now!

She's also thinking about mobility. She is fully capable of migrating around her activity quilt - ending up a totally different direction than where you put her down if you wait long enough. When she's on her belly she "swims" by moving her arms and feet rapidly. Sometimes it even propels her a bit. Lately she's also been pulling up one knee under her stomach as if she's thinking about how to get up on them to crawl.

And when she's not working on sitting or laying down to play, she's having someone or something help her stand. Standing with her hands over her head in your hands, she'll take little shuffle steps laughing all the way. She wants to chase her big brother. She lunges at him as he moves by her as if the simple act of thrusting her body forward will move her to him.

She's also honing her shopping skills. Today, as she sat on my lap while I made resservations for Logan's special birthday trip to see Thomas, Megan snatched my credit card and sat proudly holding it out before her. Later in the day we went to the Mall with Grandma. Gram held two outfits before Megan and said "Ok, which one do you want?" Meg looked from one to the other several times and then reached out for the dress. We held the short set - which was the same material as the dress - closer to her and said "Don't you like this?" She looked it and then turned her head again reaching for the dress. Needless to say, Grandma bought the dress.