Splashing

Today in the bath Penny splashed her rubber ducky in the water. I know it might sound odd to record that as a milestone, but up until now she always just sat there and chewed on a toy. It was like bath time was neither her nor there for her. She just sat there and was bathed. :) But today she splashed the rubber ducky all around in front of her, which I thought was pretty cool.

I think she's really going to like the water. When I take a bath with her I'll lay her down on my arms in the water and let her "float" and she always laughs. I can't wait until this summer. I plan to take her to some "mommy/daddy and me" swimming classes at one of the city pools. Plus, I get to buy her some of those cute Bummis swim diapers. Oh, I'm a cloth diaper addict - I admit it. :)

Eight Months Old

Penny turned eight months old on Saturday. In celebration, we decided to let her try some Cheerios at lunch. It took her about 20 minutes to finally manage to get one in her mouth, whereupon she choked on it. So, we plan to try again at 9 months. :) Nonetheless, she did seem to enjoy herself:




Here is a video showing Penny "walking" with the aid of Daddy's hands. She looks like a drunken sailor in this video because she was trying to watch me with the camera at the same time, but she's actually getting pretty good at it when no cameras are around. I don't think she is anywhere near walking on her own, but she has fun "practicing" like this.
Also, her clothes are kind of comically big, but we were trying to get some mileage out of some long sleeved stuff before it got too warm to wear it.



In other development news, the last two weeks or so she's been actually falling asleep in her carseat when we go places (provided it is time for her nap). I am so glad, because it was very difficult to have to rush home from places in order for her to take a nap since she wouldn't sleep in the car - or else we had to stay places longer than we would like in order for her to nap there. Plus, it always made me feel awkward around people because there were instances where I would say we had to leave in order to get her home to take a nap and all the other moms would be like, "Why? - just let her sleep on the way home" and I'd be all, "She won't", but I could tell they never believed me - like I was just making up some excuse to leave early. Or that if I just drove around long enough she'd eventually fall asleep. Nope - she wouldn't. I swear. Been there. Tried that. Many times. She did fall asleep one time on the way to Georgia and slept exactly 26 minutes and then woke up and was awake for the rest of the trip. Oh, and once on the way home from Thanksgiving she did eventually pass out from the sheer exhaustion of screaming her head off for two hours. But, anyway, we've had three trips to run errands now where she fell asleep on the way home. It may seem like a small thing, but it opens up a whole world to me because now I can go places and count on her to sleep in the car. That is just awesome.

Good Day

Penny slept through the night last night! She went down in the crib just before 8 and slept until 645 without a peep. In fact, I had to wake her up this morning in order to feed her so I could go to work. What, you might ask, led to this miraculous event? We swaddled her again. She'd outgrown her swaddleme blanket - or so we thought. Last night we decided to try it again and she slept like a dream. If it ain't broke don't fix it.

Also today, while I was at work, Penny managed to crawl backwards all the way across the living room dragging her hat with her. Tray took a zillion pictures to show me when I got home and in almost all of them she has the same self-satisfied smile on her face - even after she managed to back herself in between the couch and the recliner.





For several days now she's been trying to pull up on things, but there really isn't much in our house for her to pull up on. Today, I sat her in the crib while I was in the bathroom and when I came back, this is what I found (and she grinned from ear to ear as soon as she saw me - she was SO proud of herself):



(And, yes, we will be dropping the mattress level!)

Oh, and last but not least, she ate peaches today at lunch and actually seemed to like them. What a day!!

Rubber Ducky

Monday evening Penny took her first bath in her new (hand-me-down) ducky bathtub! We think she liked it. We, however, have bad backs and knees from trying to bath her in it. Ha! We had to make a change though; She finally outgrew her plastic counter-top tub. Her legs got too long for it, and I didn't really have room to bathe her back. When we were at the doctor's on Friday for her ear check she weighed 15 lbs 4 ounces, so she's outgrowing a lot of things that have 15 lb weight limits (like her pack n' play bassinet attachment *sob*). She's still pretty small for her age, but when I look at her I can't really imagine her being any bigger than she is. She seems just right to me. :)

Anyway, here are some photos of the big event.

This is her and her cloth-diaper bubble butt reaching for the side of the bathtub:



And this is her laughing with her daddy during bathtime:

Sitting Up

Penny sat up by herself today! By which I mean achieved sitting from a lying down position. Very, very cool.

Look Who's "Talking"

In milestone news, Penny started "talking" today! Up until today she hasn't really babbled or anything. She could make vowel sounds, fussing noises, and blow raspberries, but no consonants. Every now and again I'd hear her make a "g" noise, but mostly I think by accident. Well, today she has been saying lots of "g" noises together with her vowels in what is clearly a very purposeful manner. She's had maybe five or six "conversations" with us today - and we definitely heard a couple "d"s in the mix, so maybe "da-da" won't be far off (or perhaps "good dog"?). It is so exciting! And funny - like a switch turned on that wasn't on yesterday.

A-Ok

Well, the doctor's visit proved that everything is fine with Penny's ears. She does not have ear infections any more, and no fluid in her ears either. Unfortunately, there is still the matter of her waking up at night.