golden hour

i think the last time i blogged golden's progress was when she was 7 months old. she is thriving and completely into everything but in a very good way. she is an amazing self-entertainer and not prone to whining, which is definitely appreciated. i am gonna do my darndest to help her keep that trend on up through 2 and 3! anyways, she is quite strong and active; thomas calls her "muscle girl." she has the sweetest little toothy smile, her two front teeth are huge with a big gap in the middle, and it is such bliss to hear her totally gleeful chortle when she is hiding behind a curtain or getting her neck tickled.

she developed her pincer grasp around 7, 8 months which was a huge help in feeding times, she is a pro at cheerios and even slippery pieces of fruit. she also loves to eat baby carrots and will consume most forms of vegetable. especially steamed broccoli. she eats tons of that and it is amazing to see her face and surroundings after a good broccoli meal. hurricane!! oh yes, and be careful how close you get to her when you are eating. she has been known to grab and finish off pesto sandwiches.

in early may golden began to attempt saying words (beyond mama, dadda). one day we were studying eric carle pictures of little rubber ducks and she said, "enne!" which as everyone knows is the baby way to say "ente," or duck, in german. (this is super interesting, because "duck" was sparrow's first attempted word as well! in english, of course, though.) she also says "be" (bear) and does the sign for it, and "ba ba" (baby) when looking in the mirror. she does the "mouse" sign too, and loves it, thanks to the maisy mouse lift-the-flap book, which i have been trying to read to her every night. since her middle name is maisie, she HAD to love maisy mouse! one of golden's favorite animal signs is the one for frog, where she sticks out her tongue. she is so eager to show me her frog-sign skills every time she hears a word that sounds remotely like "frosch." oh, and she can sign "hut" (hat)(patting the top of your head) really well now, and hats make her laugh, especially when you put napkins or similar on your head and tell her it's a "hut." (pronounced "hoot.")

nowadays the child is a surprisingly speedy crawler, and is a pro at getting herself down once she has pulled up to a table or other object. she can do these amazing deep squats, actually. it is inspiring to watch. she also, when she really needs me, crawls up and pulls herself up to standing on my pant leg. then i know she is very hungry or very tired.

she is really funny about having her face washed. when i splash water to get food off her mouth after meal time, she sticks out her tongue and tries to drink the water. such a crack-up. she is a super humor-filled bundle all around. she loves being chased and bounced, and she loves hiding games. she tries to crawl away really fast, but then she will splay herself face down flat on a soft blanket or bed and chuckle. when you pick her up all food-covered after a meal and hold her out away from yourself to carry the mess monster to the sink, her legs will jog up and down the whole time.

golden has also learned to give kisses, which is what i have been waiting for her whole life! she is great at that now, and will always make kissy signs at our downstairs neighbor, jan, who is like a grandma to the girls. golden absolutely loves jan. whenever she sees her, she lights up and begins to wave. it is really precious to see.

discovery, discovery! she has been playing with her bumbo seat ALL the time these past few days. she tries to get it out from under the table, where it is usually kept. then, when someone gets it for her, she climbs in and out of it, leans on it, navigates it like a little pro. fun times. the other day golden was also entertaining herself by putting a little floamy-bracelet into a deep jug and then looking into the depths and fishing it out again. love watching the learning happening with such simple things. her favorite place to discover seems to be the bathroom, however. she will book it! for the loo when the door is open, and of course pull herself up on the toilet. we are washing lots of little hands...

babies are a never-ending source of amusement. today (06-06) i was showing golden how to push the button on the baby wipe box so that the lid pops up. she was endlessly fascinated and pushed it over and over while i stood by and cheered! hah. but that is how they learn. love it. i was also showing her the general sign for "animals" (tiere) tonight, which is: rubbing your arm gently. she was getting it, but it was so adorable, cause instead of rubbing her own arm, she would rub mine. she also does this with the sign for "nursing." she pats my chest instead of her own. she can also do an "indian call" by clapping her hand over her mouth repeatedly.

golden has six teeth (two on top and four on bottom). she is about at the same pace with that as sparrow was at her age. she is teething again, though, at least one more top one is coming in right now. it makes her wake up more at night. JUST when you think they are going to start sleeping through all the time, they start teething again.

she also likes to dance and play "instruments." she knows which button on the musical toy makes the melodies, and she will push it and then stand there (holding on to it) and shakey-dance. while we were doing preschool in the spring, she loved shaking a maraka or rattle during kid song time.

i love this girl's zest for life. her default is a smile. i have a lot to learn from her.