What's Next?

It's kind of amazing, still with the second child (maybe because we forget these little things), how within a few days or a week, a baby starts doing new things that are clearly a step up in intelligence. These will be old news by the time her 9-month update comes around.

Waving. All at once Aria figured out how to wave to people. She does a variation of Queen Elizabeth's side, cusped-handed wave, backwards hand waving at herself, and the arm wave. She will do it in response to a wave (if she feels like it).

Pointing. Aria was up a littler earlier than I would've liked this past weekend. I tried holding her in my lap on the chair for a little while just to get some more rest in before heading downstairs. She wasn't starving and it was still dark out, and I just wanted to not move. She rested with me, playing with my hair, fidgeting. Then she would sit up, point her arm/hand out toward the door where alittle light was shining in, and bounce in my lap to say "Let's go downstairs." It's funny how they learn to communicate things other than crying. I got a total flashback of Luc figuring out and doing this same exact thing when he woke early and wanted to do downstairs too.

Standing. Aria's a pro at pulling herself up to stand now. She will stand in place for long periods of time before her legs get tired and she plops down. She's also started to try to move from one thing to another or shimmy across the length of the table/bathtub/toy box ottoman. She's also testing the one-handed standing and leaning against the surface to free both of her hands. There have even been a few instances of standing completely unassisted for a second or two.

Hair playing. Aria's new habit, soothing technique. Her hair will substitute sometimes, but mine is her favorite. I'm the only one she's around often enough that has long enough hair to actually grab hold of and play with. And that's all she does when I hold her. It's nice to know I have something so powerful to soothe her.

Smiling. No longer a simple emotion. Aria now uses smiling to answer your questions: "Are you hungry?" Smile! "Do you want some milk?" Smile! "Do you want more?" Smile! I'm starting to use a few sign language words now with her like we did for Luc to make life a little easier down the road.

Separation Anxiety. This hit like a brick wall this week. Aria's always been pretty attached to me at home. Mostly because Daddy goes outside to play with Luc a lot and to keep Luc occupied when I need to attend to Aria. So it's just Aria and I a lot in the house together. Now this anxiety is creeping into the night time sleeping. She will continue to cry if Frederic picks her up. When I take her, she stops. I cannot move out of her site during the day without a wail. And when I pick her up, she holds onto me like she'll never let go (and then starts playing with my hair. See above).

Manipulation. Aria's still a good eater. She will try everything at least once. She will eat almost anything. But if it's something she's not a total fan of, she will tolerate to eat half and then in order to get her to eat the rest you have to play back and forth with a rice cake or puffs or cheese. If you don't play this game, she cries and won't eat anything. She plays a good game.

Outside. When all else fails, go outside. So much like Luc, going outside for a walk in Luc's old tricycle instantly calms her down. She gets so excited to sit there and look around and honk the bike horn.- the absolute one toy I regret buying.