Her Bite is Worse than Her Bark

Brigid has turned into quite the little biter. She took a chunk out of my shoulder yesterday, and Daddy reported she's been biting on him, Margaret and Patricia today at various times. She's not doing it in aggression or anger; she's just doing it. Before, she was just biting my boob, as many babies do. But now she's almost doing it to brace herself as she climbs up my arm or holds onto my shoulder. We've been pulling her away, saying, "No bites. No bites." She doesn't seem to think it's a terrible thing; she smiles. Even when we say it in a stern voice, she finds it fairly comical. So we'll just have to pull her away before the teeth sink in and hope the stern warning sinks in.

She slept through last night with only a few cries out that quickly dissolved into nothing. I've only had to go in once or twice at night since we began the Ferberization. It's hard not to scoop her up when she's crying, but she'll settle back down and sleep and I think we're all doing better as a result. Again, however, it's totally screwed up her nap situation, and she's become VERY SUSPICIOUS of the crib during the day. If she has any indication that she might be headed for the crib, she raises a fuss. So nap times are still a struggle, but we'll take our little victories at night for now. At least we're getting some sleep.

Brigid's vocalizations are taking on a new tone: She sounds like she's starting to or attempting to say real words. I know she understands things; she knows words and what they represent. She knows her toes, for instance. But some of the babble is starting to take on a more word-like tone. One of these days she's going to come out with something as plain as day and we're going to look at her and say, "Did she just say 'juice?'" or something. I thought she said "Brin" yesterday, and maybe she did. I answered her as though she did, and that's a big part of the learning process, where you respond to her babble as though she's having a regular conversation with you.

She does a really cute thing (in addition to the cute way she waves "hello" and "goodbye" with her queenly wave). When you pick her up or take her from someone, she pats your back with a couple soft pats, as if to say she's glad you're there. It's very cute and quite heartwarming. She has yet to give me kisses, so I'll take the pats for now.

Fr. John was over for dinner last night and she let her Godfather hold her for a while, which was remarkable considering she was overtired and cranky after dinner. All three girls got to visit and enjoyed sharing stories about school and their interests.

Margaret and Patricia went puddle jumping today with Daddy (it was in the 50s!) while Brigid and I went shopping. She did very well even in the incredible wind, which seemed to take her breath away as it hit her in the face. We chatted and laughed through the Bed, Bath and Beyond and Wal-Mart aisles. She's learning early the benefit of bargain shopping.