Reaching

Lately Penny has been reaching for things she wants to touch. She doesn't point with her finger but will put out her whole hand/arm in the general direction of whatever it is. It's subtle, and there is no real urgency behind it, but you can tell what she's trying to do. The sweetest thing is she does this to the dogs and the cats. I can usually get Catfish to oblige and come over and let her pet him. The only problem is she grabs great big tufts of fur and pulls. He always jumps, but never lashes back at her. I tell her no and try to show her how to pet gently, but it's hard since she's so young and really doesn't have that level of fine motor skills yet. We're lucky he's such a patient kitty. Beyond the pets though she's been wanting to touch everything I touch. If I happen to be holding her when I go to turn the baby monitor off for example she wants to touch it. Or, she wants to touch the door to the dresser where we keep her clothes, or the door to the dog kennel, or the tv remote or our cell phones - pretty much anything we touch, she wants to touch. And put in her mouth. If I'm folding laundry and put anything down with her arms reach, it very quickly gets unfolded and put in her mouth to be chewed on. I put some saline drops in her nose this morning and she had to explore the bottle from top to bottom. It's just so neat to see because I remember when all she could do was just sort of lay there and look at stuff. And then she could bat at things, but not grab them. And then she could grab things, but not with much intention. Now she can grab things and play with them in both hands and actually purposefully put things in her mouth - not haphazardly, but purposefully. I know it probably doesn't sound like much, but it really is cool. I love watching her grow and change.