Who ME?

Yesterday, Greta looked right at me and said, "Mama."

Okay, so maybe she's not really calling me that, but when she says it, it sounds JUST like she's referring to me.

I always thought that babies who said, "Mama" while babbling were doing it more repeatedly. It's always described as "Oh, they were just babbling -- you know . . . Ma-Ma-Ma-Ma-Ma . . ."

But this feels different than what they describe. I know that it's still just babbling but it really sounds like she's saying Mama. Yes, it's repeated, but it's like this, "Ma-Ma . . . Ma-Ma . . ." And she does the slightly-longer-first-syllable-slightly-shorter-second-syllable thing too. (Not sure if I can explain that properly, but if you imagine someone flatly saying the syllable "Ma" twice in a row, it sounds different than when someone actually says "Mama," right?)

AAAHHH! So insanely cute!

The best part is when she looks right at me while she does it. Yesterday she was playing on her belly and then she'd push up on her arms really tall and look right at me and say "Ma-Ma . . . Ma-Ma . . ." and smile.

Today she would pull off from nursing and I'd sit her upright and, again, she'd look straight at me and say, "Ma-Ma . . . Ma-Ma" and grin all slyly.

But I shouldn't get my hopes up that she attaches any meaning whatsoever. Because in all likelihood, as cute as this is, it isn't even going to last much longer. It's just going to be like the "Hi" thing from when she was around 3.5 months. She did it constantly for like a week or two and it sounded like the PERFECT little sweet "Hi!" and it made me insanely happy. And then she just sort of stopped. I was kind of sad when my baby just suddenly stopped greeting me.  And then the peek-a-boo thing. She did it incessantly for a little while, and then just kind of stopped taking an interest. And then now there's this "Mama" thing. Which she'll probably carry on for a week or so and I will become so attached to the idea of my baby calling my name. And then she'll stop and I'll think she doesn't love me anymore.

So yeah. Trying to walk the line between taking joy in this sweet new thing of hers and trying not to take it personally.

7 Months!

Time is flying by. Greta is already 1 week past her 7 month birthday.

The major updates are that she is a baby on the move. Case in point: I plunked her down on a soft blanket to have her usual floor time maybe 5 minutes ago and she's already scooting around on the hard floor a few feet from where she was placed.

You may remember that on her 6 month birthday, she rolled over from back to front twice in one day.  It was new and different. Now, if I put her down on the floor, I can pretty much be guaranteed that she will have rolled over at least 5 or 6 times within 10 minutes or so. And when she's not rolling, she's reaching and scooting and pivoting and occasionally even doing tiny push-ups onto her toes and arms. No official crawling yet, but she's working on trying to get up on her hands and knees.

She's a persistent baby. If a toy rolls away from her, she works hard to get herself over to it. She grunts and sighs and reaches and tries to use other objects that are within her reach to "lasso" the desired object into her reach. I get tired just watching her.

And watch her we must. Yesterday I laid out a blanket and set her down on it to chill with some toys while I went into the kitchen to start some food for lunch. She still moves fairly slowly and so it has generally worked to leave the room for a minute or two and then come back and check on her. Well, when I came back into the room to check on her, she looked like this:

 

Yes, that's my baby, tangled up in the blanket that I'd carefully laid out and set her upon, playing with a plastic bag. Not my proudest "responsible parenting" moment.

I think because she isn't fast, it's easy to assume that she won't get into stuff. But she's a stealthy baby. She will very quietly get herself into trouble.

At the end of this month, Greta also took her first airplane ride.

Greta on the plane. 

We went to Chicago to visit family and family friends. Greta met her cousin Cora for the first time.

Cora with Michelle -- 7 weeks of adorable.

She also wore matching aunt/niece outfits (sometimes inadvertently) on several occasions.

The trip was a success. We visited with several family friends. We road-tripped to Peoria to see my grandfather and uncle. We visited another uncle, aunt and cousin. It was very busy, I was completely drained without my partner in parenting, and Greta got way off her sleep schedule. But it was incredibly rewarding to see her meeting so many wonderful family and near-family members. 

Although flying with an infant was easier than I'd expected, being out of town and off-schedule with an infant was much harder than I'd expected. I am happy that we won't be doing it again for awhile, as much as I want to see all these wonderful people again soon. 

Other than the mobility, Greta hasn't changed all that much from last month. I think she's focusing all her growing energy into her new activity level. She isn't really any more vocal than she was before, and she's maintained the same levels of focus -- it's just that now she's focusing not on just touching things, but actively reaching them, grabbing them, using them to hit other objects, etc. She continues to be very social and with her stronger core, she will more actively lean towards people in order to listen in on their conversations, smile or laugh. She's become squirmier -- something that I noticed in particular when comparing her to her newborn cousin. Suddenly my baby was the maniac in the room!

She's working on sitting up. If placed in the corner of a couch or armchair, she will put her hands on the arm and back of the seat and sit upright. If she is supported by Ben's legs on her sides, she can sit up on her own fairly well. It's usually falling to the side -- rather than back or forward -- that prevents her from being able to sit completely unsupported. 

Physically, she feels much more robust. This was a change that I noticed shortly after we started solids with her and has continued since then.  All month long, I've been feeling like my baby has suddenly gotten huge. I was surprised when I took her for a weight check and she'd gained less than a pound since last month (although the previous months he'd only gained 3 ounces, so I guess I shouldn't be too dismayed). I feel like it's all muscle, though! Strong, active baby!