It’s 5:55 AM and I awake to the soft squeaks and shuffling sounds made by my daughter as she twists and turns in her bed, also waking. She amazingly anticipates my alarm with Swiss precision nearly everyday now. I greet her with many a “Good morning,” as she pulls herself up so that her eyes and nose are all that is visible above the ridgeline of her bed. Having not quite shaken off the night’s slumber, I scoop her up and take her off to change her diaper, while Ali readies herself for morning’s first feeding. I deposit Hadley in the lap of Ali, whereupon she collapses into Ali’s arms, and I am off to the showers. This now has become routine, but a routine that I have grown to love.
It is amazing how much Hadley is learning of late. It seems like her discovery and awareness has accelerated the last couple of weeks. For one, it is now abundantly clear that Hadley understands a series of hand signals that Ali has been teaching her for the last few months. While she doesn’t know them all, she unquestioningly knows things like “hungry” and “milk,” which elicit the same happy reactions every time. Also on the communication front, she is getting the hang of waving.
Hadley’s agility is growing significantly. She has advanced in her choice method of movement, rolling, with some added speed. What amazes me is how readily she tumbles over all of her toys, strewn across the floor, like an all-terrain vehicle. She has begun to improve her crawl, which is a cross between an army crawl and a fish flop. It is terribly amusing to lure her by stacking her cups in a tower, which she is incapable of leaving standing for longer than it takes her to reach and swipe down. Still, in neither case has she completely elevated her belly from the floor and worked both hands and knees in the traditional crawl. However, she is able to regularly rock on her hands and knees and uses this position to push herself into a sitting position from a lying one, no longer relegated to turtle status. So she is becoming quite agile.
Most impressive is her newfound ability to pull herself up, on virtually anything, to get herself into a kneeling position. Particular favorites are the coffee tale, the fireplace, a box, and any part of your body that is available. All of this is the spur to step up the babyproofing that I have been a bit remiss in completing.
Our little one has also discovered that there are swings that are big enough for her, now that we had to retire her longtime favorite lounger. While we put a lot of oscillations on her baby swing, we had to retire it recently. However, it was just in time for her first venture to a local playground alternative. She doesn’t seem to mind.
Lastly, upon Ali pointing out that Hadley really didn’t have many balls amidst all her toys, I promptly ran out and bought her first soccer ball, as seen below.
