Development

Last night, Juliet and I were hanging out on the couch after her bath.  She was laughing and being her usual post-bath self.  I remembered something my Granny Squeaky used to do with me, and I decided to try it with Juliet.  It's fairly difficult to explain (instead of showing), but I'll do my best.  You take your index finger and move it around like you're following a bee's flight path.  And while you're doing that, you say, "There was an old bee... And he flew and he flew... And he landed on YOU!"  And right when you say, "landed on you," you tickle the other person with that bee index finger.  So when I did this to Juliet, she burst out laughing.  It was so awesome to see her really respond with a laugh to being tickled.  So I did it again.  Like 12 more times.  It got to the point that I could tell she knew what was about to happen next and would squinch herself up in preparation for the tickle.  So, so cool.

Tonight, we were having our post-bath play time, and Juliet was making hilarious noises.  I don't even know how to describe them.  I decided I'd try to video her, and she actually cooperated.  I couldn't use the light on the camera, so the video is pretty dim.  But you can see her, and you can definitely hear her.  After I got the video, she continued to make her crazy noises.  I decided to see what she'd do if she saw herself.  I turned my phone so that she could see the screen, and I played the video I'd just taken of her.  Watching her face was fascinating.  She saw herself on the phone and smiled.  And then she began trying to talk to herself.  She waited until there was a pause in the video's talking and then she would talk.  When the video Juliet made a high-pitched noise, Juliet grinned. 

This is such a small thing in the grand scheme of her development, but it's a major change from where she was last week.  She's never really been this engaged with stimuli before, so it's so great to see and understand her brain development.  She has been responsive to things, of course, but this is a definite shift.  There is a sense of her understanding things she didn't understand before. 

As another example of her understanding cause and effect, she demanded that Ray pay attention to her this evening.  When I got home from work, Juliet and I were sitting on the couch, and Ray was at the dining room table working on his computer.  Juliet was standing up in my lap, and she looked over and saw Ray.  She began to essentially yell (but a happy yell) while continuing to look at him.  When he turned to see what she was doing, she grinned this huge grin.  He grinned back at her, told her she was funny, and went back to work.  As soon as he looked away from her, she started "yelling" at him again.  And when he looked up at her, she stopped yelling and started smiling. 

She's been here with us for more than four months now, but I am constantly struck by just how miraculous babies are.  It feels like every day, she's reminding me what a precious gift she is and how phenomenal the human brain is.  Each day, I think to myself it's not possible to love her any more than I do right then.  And then the next day arrives, and I realize I love her even more.  I love that as I'm watching her learn about the world around her, I'm learning from her about a parent's capacity to love. 

For your entertainment... Juliet's crazy noises.

Four Months

Today, Juliet is four months old.  Highlights from this month include:

• Gaining lots of good weight - she now weighs 14 pounds 
• Growing an inch - she's now 25 inches long
• Becoming a power-eater - she went from barely eating 3.5 ounces to draining 5-6 ounces with no problem in one week
• Working on her leg strength - she loves to stand with a little assistance
• Drooling, drooling, drooling, and more drooling
• Outgrowing personal fussy time (much to Mama and Dad's pleasure!)
• Ignoring nap time completely or sleeping for only 45 minutes
• Starting and ending daycare on the same day
• Being the best thing in the world for Mama and Dad to come home to after work
• Growing lots of hair!

Juliet had about a week and a half ago that bumped up her food intake significantly.  It is crazy to watch her power through 5 ounces and then act like maybe she might want some more.  Three weeks ago, if she took 3.5 ounces, we were thrilled.  And her new eating habits have had a major impact on her size.  She's outgrown bibs, pajamas, pants, and onesies over the last two weeks.  Her bin of outgrown clothes is almost full.  It's so crazy to look at all the little things she used to fit in.

For about the past month, Juliet's been mostly happy in the evenings.  I cannot tell you how great that is.  It's nice to not have to deal with her witching hour, but it's especially nice to come home to a very happy baby.  She really does just make me (and Ray) so happy.  She's funny and silly and just totally wonderful.

Yesterday, I posted about daycare, and today was her first day.  The workers were wonderful to her (I went to visit her at lunch, and her Uncle David sent me pictures of her that he took while dropping off our niece Holland, and she was always happy).  But at about 2:00 this afternoon, Annie sent me a text message.  Long story short, she and Pop have decided they want to keep Juliet until May.  So today was Juliet's first and last day at daycare.  Ray and I are so very grateful to Annie and Pop, and we are also grateful to the daycare we'd chosen.  They couldn't have been any better to Juliet today and on all of our visits, and they couldn't have been more understanding when we told them our circumstances had changed.  We've decided to send them a thank you note and a donation.  They really were awesome.

I know I've posted about Juliet talking a lot, and tonight, I finally managed to get video of it.  Okay, it's not really video because you can't see anything.  I've realized she's camera shy and stops talking when the camera comes out.  (Or maybe she's just fascinated by the camera?)  So tonight, I just kept the phone on the couch and pressed record so I could get the audio.  Over the past month, she's figured out how to chirp and squeal, and she frequently sounds like a bird.  It makes us laugh every time.

Finally, the picture at the top does NOT do justice to all the hair she's been growing.  So I snapped this quick picture as she naps next to me while I'm writing:

There's even more than shows up here because of the flash - I promise she's not bald on the sides of her head! :)