Routine

Monday is our errand day. After lunch, we all got into the car, being prepared of course for the screeching tantrum El would grace us with, and all was quiet. Without jinxing anything, I might even say that our little angel is beginning to enjoy riding in the car. On the way home, she fell asleep (of course, that made nap time a 20 minute screech before she passed out, but that is another story.)

She still does not enjoy getting into the car seat and will struggle, arching her back so you can not get the straps over her arms, but we have devised a solution for that... I put her pacifier into my mouth and she thinks it is the funniest thing. While she is distracted with trying to get the pacifier out of my mouth, I strap her in! I know, it is evil trickery, but it works. Besides, she really doesn't use a pacifier. She sees it as another toy; chew on it, hold it and wave it around.

El has also started the neat trick of feeding us, her parents. During mealtimes, if you open your mouth, she might just pop a cheerio in there!

As a note before I close, we are using El as a pseudo name, our little one still goes by her full name.

Books & Babies

Two Thursdays ago, El and I went to Books and Babies at the library. We sat on the rug next to an 8 month old girl. (El was 7 1/2 months) During the short 15 minute program, Ms. Diane gave all the children bells (leather circles with three bells strung on and then stapled down to create a handle.) El held her bells the correct way, by the handle, and was happily shaking them. Then, she looks over at the 8 month old, who was holding the bells by the bell side and waving it around. El watches the girl for a moment, then looks back at her own hand, turns her bells around and shakes them! After a little bit, she turned it around again and held the toy by the handle, but it was fascinating to see her imitating what she saw.

On another note, for the last 5 days, El greets everyone by sticking her tongue out. It is a friendly tongue gesture, as opposed to the nanny-nanny-billy-goat, mean gesture. Jeff and I could not figure out what she was doing or where she learned it from... this afternoon, we were all (dogs included) in bed, napping and watching hulu.com, I follow El's attention to Katy and immediately discovered the connection. El has been playing with the dogs a whole lot lately. She sits in the living room with her toys on the ground and the dogs have been staying close. Alex even brought El a ball to play with. El is imitating the dogs who really have the most pleasant smile on their face as they pant, lick their chops and relax with tongue hanging out. As I watched, Katy licked her lips, El did the exact same thing! So now, we have dogs that think they are humans and part of our human family and apparently a kid that thinks she is a dog and part of the canine family. We are accepting donations at this time for the therapy El will be needing...

Attached is a video of El crawling. (started Jan 7th, quite an expert now, although she likes to straighten her legs) Top picture is El on her 8 month birthday.