Milestones, Smiles tons

Last week things were a tad busy, but I do remember that I was going to write about how she'd made a big change in her awareness of things. One day I came home and she was demanding things: she wannnnts to put that plate in her mouth, she waaants to put that toy in her mouth, she waants that cell phone in her mouth. It's a subtle change, but a big change for new parents: before that she had merely accepted what we gave her and enjoyed it. She often saw things but it didn't seem to phase her that she couldn't hold and chew them. But that day when I came home it was clear that she was seeing things and, goshdurnit, she wanted to chew on that thing!

This week I decided that Molly must have been reading the baby books and seen that she was supposed to learn how to roll over sometime in this last month. On Tuesday evening she did her first back-to-front roll! Without any prompting. And I was fortunate enough to be there for that experience. As usual I was thrilled and she thought it was not big deal. She just wanted the toy. And according to Mr. Mom, she's been rolling all over the place ever since: front-to-back, back-to-front, back-to-front-to-back, etc. And now the fun begins: look away for a second and she's in a different place when you look back.

Even more exciting, though, is what Molly did after she rolled over: she slept for 9 hours! In a row! No, I didn't sleep for 9 hours, but heck, I'm just thrilled that I slept for probably about 6 of those hours. Zach and I woke up around 5am wondering if everything was okay. Of course I had to go and peek. And of course everything was just fine. It's exhausting being a baby. As Zach says: when was the last time you tripled in size?

And triple she (almost) has! It must have been a monster of a growth spurt. Suddenly it all made sense: the huge increase in appetite (we almost ran out of milk! she drank right through our frozen reserves!) the new skills, and then the sleep marathons. Not a bad deal all around. Except we really should put her in the "big girl" car seat now ... her little toesies are almost hanging over the edge of her infant seat!

Oh, and she just giggles and laughs and smiles allll the time now. It's so much fun. Zach and her have really hit a good stride hanging out together.