Heather: 7 months

Heather has been so busy these last weeks! Our little girl is growing and learning like nobody’s business. Here are some notes:

• She is totally mobile now. It’s not crawling, but I don’t know what to call it, exactly. It’s an inchworm sort of thing. See for yourself:

  She doesn’t normally fuss while she’s doing it, but I’d been trying to get her to scoot for 5 minutes, and she was a li’l bit grumpy. This video (and all the following pictures) was taken 5 days ago, and she’s already much more coordinated at it. When she has a goal (see #9), she can really book it! Along the same lines, she can pivot really easily, and it’s pretty fun to see her turn in your direction and start coming for you.

• Heather’s doing a lot of exploring these days. She spends her time basically figuring out different ways to interact with the world, and it’s way fun to watch. She looks around a lot, and once something’s within reach, she’s turning it and twisting it and eating it and experimenting with it.
  
• Going along with that, her fine motor skills are really developing. She’ll often stop and stare at her hands as she bends and twists her fingers, and she’s getting really good at manipulating smaller things. She can get her binky into her mouth now with no problems, and it’s one of her favorite toys.
• She can sit pretty well now, though I don’t ever leave her when she’s sitting because she’ll reach for something off to the side and topple right over.
  
• Heather loves buttons. On shirts, pants, whatever. She can’t get enough of touching them.
• She laughs. Well, chuckles. She can also click her tongue, which she’s very proud of. It’s pretty funny, but I haven’t caught it on video yet. Sorry.
  
• We had to lower the crib for the first time on Saturday because she was grabbing the top of the side and trying to pull herself up. (She can’t pull to a stand yet, but she’s pulled up onto her knees several times, and it makes her look like such a big girl!)
• I think she’s a bit shy. When other people are around, she’s much more reserved than when it’s just Kyle and me. Not so animated, not so vocal. Who would’ve guessed, right?
  
• She’s developed a fascination with electrical cords and the bookshelf. I’m trying to teach her “no,” but it’s a slow process. 🙂
• Heather can now bang objects together. Well, not really together, I guess. But she loves to stand in her exersaucer and smack everything with her links. Even when I read to her, she’ll sometimes hit the book with her binky, which is apparently hilarious. (Also hilarious: closing books. You can’t usually turn more than a page or two before she’s closing the book again.)
  
• Speaking of the exersaucer, she now understands that when she drops things over the side, they go down to the floor, and she’ll contort herself trying to see them.
• Along with the object permanence she’s developing, though, we’re getting a bit of separation anxiety, I think. Personally, I don’t understand why thinking that I don’t exist when she can’t see me is better than knowing I’m just elsewhere, but I hear that’s how it works. Anyway, I can’t hide on the nursery floor to see if she’s really going to go to sleep anymore because she pulls the bumper down to look for me. And she was completely traumatized when I took a shower this morning. Good times.
• Heather loves Henrietta. Kyle does the pre-bedtime storytime every night, and when I bring her Henrietta, she reaches out for her and snuggles into her. Sometimes she laughs. Cutest thing ever.
  

We sure love our little bug!