The Days of Speaking Openly Are Waning

Well, Brigid officially crossed that line: She's had Cheerios. She is still eating rice cereal and we've introduced Gerber first-foods carrots, squash, sweet potatoes, peaches and bananas. She's doing well on them at dinner, which is the only time we're feeding her solids at this point. But the other day, I tossed a few Cheerios on her tray and in her awkward, whole-handed grab managed to get one in her mouth. She gummed it and swallowed it and then went for another. More of them landed on the floor or her lap than in her mouth, but it was an official moment. She's had them since and her "chewing" technique is getting better. What's next? Hamburger? My little girl is getting too big. Her three teeth quickly turned into four as I noticed a second top front tooth erupting on the tail of the first, so she's got two chompers on top and bottom to bite with. And her grin is changing, too, to accommodate the funny-feeling hard things in the front of her mouth.

She is still very congested and it's gooey snotty stuff, too, which makes it hard for her to nurse comfortably. It's waking her up at night, too. She'll fall alseep and be breathing through her mouth, but when she closes her mouth, she wakes herself up and she starts to cry. It think last night was one first I've had very few wakings from her in a long time. We're still gearing up for the day when her crib is moved into the other room and we begin her Ferberization in earnest. I'm not looking forward to that torture.

Her cruising has gotten better and she's enjoying being on her feet more and more. She's also started bouncing on her feet. Last night I was holding her up and her feet were on my lap. She started bouncing and laughing very hard, like she was doing something very clever. Speaking of clever, yesterday I was asking her where her toes were and she raised her foot. I tried it again, to make sure it wasn't just a fluke, like some kind of reflex from her being in a reclining position. But I was talking about her toes again, and again she raised her foot. We played the game a few times, so I'm convinced she can comprehend words. She knows "kitty" and will look for or at one of the cats when you ask her where is the kitty. She knows Daddy, because I'll say, "Where is Daddy?" and she'll look for him to come into the room. She understands more than we think she does, which means watching what we say. It's a wonderful beginning to the world of words, and I look forward to discovering just what she understands at this point.