If You Stand for Something, You'll Fall For Anything

Well, Brigid has decided she's not content to be merely an early crawler or sitter. She has begun attempts at pulling herself to her feet. And with assistance, she's actually accomplished it for a few seconds at a time. The assistance comes in all forms: An arm, a leg or hip of some willing lackey who is sitting in her proximity, or the side of the crib when she's placed inside. Yesterday she made some serious moves in that direction, reaching for the top rail and pulling herself to her knees. If she gets those chubby little feet underneath her, she'll be up and then we'll be in for it. She won't know how to get down, so gravity will have its way with her. She has also taken to "cribbing," like a horse chewing on its stall walls and inhaling as it does so, Brigid began chewing and sucking on the crib railing. Maybe if we install a water cup and grain bin, we can keep her in there for longer periods of time so that she gets used to the idea and maybe will actually use it for sleep.

Last night she slept pretty well, considering her penchant for avoiding it at all costs. I hope it's because she wore herself out crawling around at Auntie Shell's house when we went for a visit. Margaret, Patricia, Josh and Jacob spashed around in the hot tub (in the mid-50s temperatures) while Brigid, Michelle and I sat on the floor and played. Ever the consummate hostess and business and marketing specialist, Michelle pulled out a baby gym and abacus for Baby B to play with. The gym was somewhat successful, but boy could that baby do her sums. As Chet would say, she figured out her gazuntas. (you know, two gazunta four; four gazunta eight, etc.) By the end of the math lesson, she was hungry and exhausted.

We met Jack for dinner at Mangia's and all was well. Baby B. sat pretty well in her car seat on the table through most of the meal, but when a waitress kept stopping by to chat with her and make her laugh, she pulled her stranger-anxiety face and cried (she scrunches up her nose and eyes and lets out a very distinct cry and looks at or for me as if to say, "Help. Who is this and why is this person interacting with (or holding) me?" I always feel like I have to apologize and say she's tired or hungry when in fact she just has stranger anxiety, something she's come into fairly recently but not altogether unusual for a sixth-month-old. She warms up quickly, but she has definitely moved into a new stage.

We got home and all the Downs girls got their pjs on and climbed onto my bed (Jack had to go back to work) and we talked and laughed about when Margaret and Patricia were babies and all the funny stuff they did. Meanwhile, Brigid tried climbing on all of us, pulling herself up as far as she could before tumbling back down on the bed. It won't be long, and so far it's been much, much too fast.