2 Mos & 3 weeks update!

Today, I'm taking some time for myself. And that includes blog-update time. =) (Later: shower, manicure and pedicure time! Ugh my nails are horrendous!)

Big Leaps in Recent Weeks
Baby Girl has Really progressed in the last week or two! Not only has she had a big growth spurt, but she's made a huge leap in cognition. Suddenly, she can be presented with a focus and hold it, interact meaningfully, she has likes and dislikes, and she tries desperately to talk to us.

Physically, she's made two big jumps recently. The first is more mundane: Her digestion is much improved, as is her colic. Secondly, her hand-eye coordination is much better! Before, she might be looking at one toy hanging over her head and hitting another (i.e. looking to the left but hitting with the right) without realizing there were two separate toys. Now she is quite aware! To the point where she might get frustrated if she can reach one but not the other.

She's also at the point where she ALWAYS gets frustrated during tummy time. She's either trying to flip, or trying to crawl/scoot. And she always, always ends up in tears. She's so close to being able to flip - in the last 24 hours she's flipped 1/2 way by herself! But it also means that I can hardly get 5 minutes to myself these days before she's upset about something.

Early Verbal Communications
...and boy, does she like to complain. There is no mistaking that this child is related to us! So smart, so perceptive, so "talkative", and knows what she wants. If I put her down for a nap and she doesn't want to sleep, she will complain. You should hear the inflection in her voice. And it's easy to tell when she's frustrated versus in pain, wet or hungry -- the cries are so different!

But most fascinating recently are her obvious attempts to talk. There are two distinct types of attempts.

• When you're looking at her and she's staring at you intently making sounds -- "uuuh, eeer, uhl!" and the look in her eyes is so clear with intent but you have no idea what she's trying to say. You have to either pick her up and talk back or watch her get frustrated and start to complain!
• Moments of distress when she manages to eek out semblances of words.

At first, I thought that second kind was a fluke. But now there are two if not three distinct words she tries to say. Because she only does this while in tears or becoming frantic, I think that perhaps a little rush of adrenaline must be boosting her languge center in the brain such that at these times, she now "speaks" several times a day:

• "Mama!" - when beet red, frantic and in tears, and I'm somewhere in the room. She first did this on the morning on November 5th. She did it again the next day, and has done it several times since - once in the presence of The E.P. and Gigi.
• "Bottle" - which comes out more like "uht-uhl", but which we've distinguished as anytime she's trying to make a two-syllable sound. I've been working to teach her the word "bottle" recently, so I'm pleasantly surprised she's picked it up so quickly. The E.P. now also hears this two-syllable attempt regularly -- it's specific to when she's hungry and needs a bottle. Shocked the heck out of Gigi last night when I pointed it out -- the look on her face when she heard it was priceless!!!
• "Wet" - This one is the latest and a bit iffy. I think she may be trying to tell me she's wet sometimes, saying "eehh!" (the vowel) with intention occasionally when she needs a change. However, it being such a basic sound in our language and dialect, she says "eehh" a lot when just babbling.

It will be a while yet before she gets her consonants in there, but she is making these sounds with such consistency that it's as though she's begun to talk. She is definitely verbally communicating!

To Clarify!:
Most babies start "Making different sounds for different needs" at about 5 months. This is what she is doing. Although, she's not doing it with the frequency of a 5 month old, for sure. She just has a little bit of a head start.

Obsessed with the TV
At this very moment, Baby Girl is complaining because I turned the TV to XM Radio and set her down. No mistake about it! She seriously loves TV. I'll let her watch a few minutes of things like cooking shows, etc. with pleasant people and lots of color, but that's all she gets and as I type this, she's still complaining.

Gigi keeps telling me how she's never seen a baby so young who even noticed the TV, let alone becomes so focused on it and complains so much when she can't have it. I've got to let her cry though - I will not have her dependant on the TV like me! So I have to break myself of it while I'm teaching her about it. It's difficult, as I'm a very social person and I like having the conversation in the background all day.

I better pick her up now -- she's still really mad. Maybe I can distract her and make her forget about the TV lol! =)