Kickin' Back

Our mellow little baby seems to enjoy putting her feet up and relaxing while in her high chair. She gets herself into this position and then slowly sinks down farther and farther until I have to reach in, pull her up, and "reset" her. She is so funny about it. The other day she was in this position and then decided that she wanted to reach for something in front of her. Instead of putting her feet down and sitting up, she decided to just reach between her feet, effectively folding herself in half. Then she sat there wondering why it was so hard to get whatever it was that she was after. Silly girl.

Also, I think that I am slowly starting to hear the beginnings of actual words out of Emily. The other day I knew that she wanted me to lift her up onto the couch and I swear that she said "up". Then, while playing in Abbie's kitchen I heard her say "a boo". When I turned to look at her I saw that she was reaching for a baby bottle that was in the fridge. Coincidence or does "a boo" translate into "a bottle"? Who knows.

Cruising

Emily has been actively cruising around the house lately. She is really good at understanding that she needs to hang onto something in order to move from place to place. She is also getting better at balancing without hanging onto anything. It only lasts for a few seconds at a time, but even a couple weeks ago it would have been unthinkable. One of the best places to put her is in Abbie's play kitchen. There is counter on three sides and Emily is content to "walk" from counter-to-counter and explore as she goes. It just works out really well because there is so much safe, plastic stuff for her to get into and so much counter for her to hang onto.

When there is no furniture to cruise on, Emily has firmly established her signature crawl. She no longer complains about it and has started to pick up speed. It is a distinctive style - two hands, left foot, and right knee. The foot goes forward and then the knee gets dragged along behind it. It is really cute to watch.