Friday Nov 2nd, it was like she "found her voice." Like Ariel when the sea shell around Ursula's neck breaks and all of a sudden her voice is back. Something about that day, Juliana started babbling... Constantly =) We hear "ba ba" "ma ma" "blah blah" for the most part. In conjunction with this babbling, she started laughing at herself or to herself, laughing when she sees us, when we make a silly face, when we talk to her, etc. It is so much fun! It was also a little sad because once she found her "voice" it was yet another step in establishing that this is a little independent individual and further away from the little tiny baby she was only a brief 7 months ago! Brian and I have been feeling more nostalgic lately...
That weekend we were in Harrisonburg, and Juliana had an awful time sleeping at night. Brian and I were worn out, and I was despairing (yes, despairing) that she would never sleep well somewhere else, even after we got a mattress pad for the pack 'n' play. Well in the car trip home, she was smiling at me and I saw her second tooth! It was at least 1/4 of the way through the gum! I was relieved for that explanation of her crankiness and poor sleeping behavior! We're pretty sure she's now working on the top teeth. Her drooling is out of control, which exacerbates her reflux, and she has this intense urge to bite and chew on anything and everything. Her favorites are fingers, but with those two teeth on the bottom, and that powerful jaw, we have to quickly substitute a teething toy once we realize what she's doing!
She has gotten much better at crawling, standing, and all transitioning states in between. Last week, she came home from day care two days in a row with a Hugs & Hurts report describing her latest accidents... First, she pulled herself up on the door and fell on the corner which resulted in a cut on the outside of her top gum. The next day, she crawled over to the lady feeding the other babies, pulled herself up on the chair and bumped her head on the seat resulting in an instant bruise. Sunday, she fell on the corner of the wall by the steps and had another instant bruise. At least she cries for about 30 seconds and then is over it... But I do think all these falls and bumps are helping her learn very quickly how to catch her balance.
The other day at day care, I walked in with one of the other mothers of a baby in the infant room. She told me that Juliana was so sweet, and just had all these kind words to say about Juliana. I was at a loss because although I knew her and her baby, I never really interacted with her daughter or with her before. All I could think of was to comment on her baby's outfit and say that she looked "cute." I really did beat myself up over this for the rest of the day. Then I realized, that Juliana is one of the last babies to be picked up in the evenings (she's also one of the last to be dropped off in the morning, so I miss a lot of the parents), so I'm sure the other parents are interacting with her when they pick up their kids. Or, I just really don't know what to say. I don't know what comments to make about how a baby is doing developmentally, because Juliana apparently is not close to being comparable to "normal." Oh well, at least Juliana is sweet with the parents, the other babies, on the other hand... She was on the floor one morning and after I filled out her schedule for the day, I turn around to see her climbing up on one of the other little boys, nearly toppling him over from his seated position!
In case you were wondering, no she is not sleeping through the night. Nor do we feel like she's anywhere close. But we are making it =)
One day on the way to day care, she pulled her fleece blanket up over her face. Someone said she looks like a pink ninja.
Can you see that bruise on her forehead? Clearly hasn't stopped her from being her happy, smiley self!
One extremely cold day last week, she got a chance to wear and model her winter coat.
Here's a 30 second stand by herself! The temptation? Seeing a picture of herself on Brian's phone... If you want to get an instant smile, or shriek, show her a picture or movie of herself, tell her she's beautiful, sweet, precious, pretty, or any other endearment, and let her look at herself (and you) in the mirror. I think she likes these things because they are said genuinely and sweetly to her, not because she's conceited =)
This picture demonstrates why Juliana doesn't watch TV (and why I tease Brian about his watching TV as well)... When Brian watches TV, he gets sucked in and very easily tunes out me or anything else around himself. I often tease him calling the TV the "Soul Sucker" (think the dementors from Harry Potter). So, one weekend after Juliana woke up, Brian brought her downstairs to where he had been watching TV and I had been working on something for school. Juliana NEVER stops moving, but watching the TV, she was like a sack of potatoes. I think her toe twitched, but that was it. Now, I enjoy TV, and watch more than I should, but whenever I keep Juliana, I don't watch TV with her, instead play with her upstairs in her playroom. She won't "learn" from TV until much later, for now it's just extremely stimulating. I really do want to limit the amount of TV she watches as she gets older though. And I think one of the ways I'll be able to do that is because she goes to day care. They don't have TV there, so she will have structured play and activities, whereas if it was just me and her, I think I would view TV as an opportunity to have a few minutes of quiet and alone time for myself. Brian and I are looking forward to watching Disney, Pixar, and other movies with her one day, but I also want to make sure that she knows that when it's time to watch a movie, we are going to sit and watch the movie. When her attention wanes, then we're done watching. I don't agree with TV just being on in the background while she plays. Okay, back to pictures, sorry for the rant on my opinions =)
It was so nice and warm this past weekend that we went for a walk to the local park and let Juliana try out the swing for the first time. She loved it. I think she likes that stomach drop feeling that accompanies the moments of weightlessness when falling. She's still so tiny, that she couldn't sit in the seat very well, so I used Brian's jacket behind her to prop her up, but then by the end she was all in the front and looked like she was hanging in the seat instead of sitting in it!
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