I know everyone has their quirks, but sometimes Marla is downright weird. Her latest fascination is with stuffing odd things in her mouth and letting them hang there while she goes about her business. I'm choosing to think of it as multi-tasking, rather than mimicking the dog.
Maybe this is where they came up with the phrase "put a sock in it"?
Last night she crawled around for about 20 minutes with her toothbrush hanging out of her mouth. "Hey Mom! Don't mind me, I'm just brushing my teeth while I head toward the power strip."
After much manuevering underneath the table, she reached her destination, where I was forced to intervene. She screeched in protest, which I took to mean, "You're no fun and you don't understand me at all!" I can only imagine what we're in store for when she's a teenager.
Marla has always liked books, but lately she just can't get enough of them. In fact, she bypasses all her other toys to get a hold of one. She turns them over in her hands, flips through them, talks to them, bangs them together, and of course chews on them. I think most parents want their kids to like books, but as an English major, it makes me absolutely ecstatic.
The only time she sits still is when we're reading to her, so we do it a lot. She seems to have a few favorite books and definitely a few less-than-favorites. She figured out how to turn the pages on her own, which has made reading with her feel much more interactive. Here we are reading "How Do I Love you?" (We read this book about six times a day. I could recite it in my sleep.)
This morning I caught her "reading" one of her books by herself, turning pages and jabbering at each one. I'm amazed by the way she seems to be absorbing the whole process. She GETS it!
My Grandpa, Joseph James Martodam, passed away two weeks ago. He lived a long, full, healthy life. He was 85 years old. He was tough and proud, but still teared up when he said goodbye to his family before leaving for a winter in Texas. He was stubborn, with a gruff demeanor, but quick to smile and wink mischievously. He was a veteran and an athlete, and the only grandparent brave enough to jump on our trampoline with us when we were younger.
He worked for the DNR for years. He loved working in his yard and his shop. He was a fisherman, hunter, and jack-of-all-trades.
He was a loyal and loving husband, married to my grandma for 64 years. Joe and Marcella's wedding, October, 1947:
At our wedding, June 2006:
He was a father to five, grandfather to ten, and great-grandfather to six:
He was a strong Catholic and a faithful Christian. He was a good person, who loved and was loved by many.
I'll end this post the way Grandpa used to begin every evening meal, with the blessing that will always, always make me think of him:
Bless us, oh Lord,
And these thy gifts which
we are about to receive from thy bounty,
through Christ, our Lord.
Amen.
Rest in peace, Grandpa. We love you, we will miss you, and we will not forget you.
Weight - 17 lbs, 10 oz (27%)
Height - 27.75 in (56%)
Head - 44.5 cm (65%)
Her growth rate has slowed a bit, which the doctor says is normal for breastfed babies. She's surpassed her bunny in size, which makes it easier for her to tackle him.
She's gotten a couple of colds in the past month, probably the result of being in daycare full-time. They've slowed her down, but she's maintained a positive attitude for the most part.
She's still just rockin' the two teeth, but continues to gnaw on just about everything. The rest can't be too far off.
She's gotten really good at feeding herself and her lack of teeth hasn't stopped her from eating all sorts of things. Like spaghetti.
She loves the sippy cup and recently discovered an unusual method of drinking from it. What a monkey.
She can get into a sitting position on her own, which has made life a little more interesting, to say the least. Here's a shot of the video monitor during what was *supposed* to be a nap.
Play time with Dad!
She started crawling last week. Watching her master this skill has been entertaining. This video was taken on her first day of crawling. As you can see, she hadn't quite figured the whole thing out.
Our girl is eight months old already! I've been so amazed at Marla's growth and development lately. She's becoming so aware and responsive. I'll be honest, some of this makes our lives a teensy bit more difficult. For example, she often cries when we leave the room now. She also cries when I put her in her crib, take away a toy, or give her food she doesn't want. She refuses her pacifier most of the time, which has made naps more difficult. She stiffens her legs up to prevent me from setting her down on the ground. She reaches out to grab Betsy's fur. She hates having her diaper changed. She wakes up in the middle of the night. A lot.
And to top it all off, we've been seeing a lot of this face lately:
The noise that usually accompanies this face is a mixture of snorting (like a pig), snuffling (like a rhino), and growling (like a dragon). Adorable, right?
Don't get me wrong, there's a lot of great things going on with Marla, too. See for yourself...
Food has become a lot more fun. She was never a big fan of baby food, so we've moved from purees on to table food. It's awesome to be able to feed her from our plates for the most part. Plus, she's getting better and better at picking up chunks and feeding herself. Cheerios are a favorite.
This weekend, we gave her an apple from Grandma Susie's tree. She didn't make a peep for half an hour while she gnawed away at it!
She gets bored of the jumperoo pretty quickly now, but still LOVES to bounce, bounce, bounce all the time.
She can get onto all fours and rock a little bit, but doesn't crawl yet. She's gotten pretty adept at rolling, squirming, and stretching towards things she wants to get her hands on.
She also does a lot of leaning and lunging from a sitting position. Observe as she attempts to eat my foot. Mmmm.
Check out her pearly whites!
Her favorite word is "da." She says it all day long, in a variety of volumes and intonations, to express a multitude of emotions. Needless to say, all of this "da da da da da" is going to Jeff's head. However, yesterday I caught her saying "ma ma ma," and was further surprised to see she'd learned a new skill. Who would've thought spit bubbles could make me so proud?
So far, eight months has been pretty exciting despite some new challenges. I think we'll keep her after all. :)
