Allison has taken the word "busy" to a whole new level this month. She is watching, observing, mimicking, trying, learning and doing something each and every waking moment. Moments of "still" are few and far between. When she is awake, she is doing - mostly with her hands and fingers. Two hands and ten little fingers can cover a lot of ground, let me tell you! When she is asleep, I'm sure she's dreaming of "doing" something, anything.
On the subject of sleep, we're showing some improvement. We concluded
last month with what I hoped was progress, but then we took our
Whistler vacation. Sleep that week was awful. We returned exhausted.
The week at home following the trip was even more brutal. Somehow, someway, we keep on keeping on. I'm not my favorite version of myself these days. I have some pretty good moments. I've also had some all time personal lows. The good news is that I feel like can describe a "normal" night as waking up only 2 times, with at least one stretch of 4-6 consecutive hours of sleep.
Allison's proudest achievements this month are learning to clap and wave. She will even do both of these on command for us (but will not perform for any new comers to the game until she has properly warmed up to them). When we say, "Yay!" or "clap" to the surprise and delight of us all, she will clap. She loves to clap. We love to clap. She loves the response she gets. We love the response we get. Will this game ever get old? Her wave has a bit of uncertainty to it as of yet. Sometimes it's a side to side motion. On other occasions she prefers the forward flap. She has even tried out the duel hand wave for a laugh or two. Her favorite venue for the wave is Peyton's preschool. She'll practice this skill with any and every willing participant and at Peyton's school everyone is willing! That's a lot of practice. Unfortunately for her, preschool is only one day a week.
One of my favorite things that Allison does is her love pat. If I'm holding her in my lap, she may pat my arm or leg. I especially love when I've just picked her up out of her crib and am holding her up right in my arms. Her little arm drapes over my shoulder allowing her little hand access to my shoulder or back. She then very gently will pat me. Maybe it's only a part of her development, but I feel as if she is letting me know, "Everything is all right in my world," or, "I'm so glad you are here, Mommy," My heart just melts every time she does this.
Her finger dexterity is getting stronger and better every day most notably with her pincher skill, which still needs some fine-tuning, but is well on it's way to mastery. For several weeks, I've noticed that she's been trying out her tricks while nursing. Perhaps it's the feeling of safety and comfort (wishful thinking) of being in my arms. More likely, its the proximity of my soft and supple skin to her aforementioned digits. At any rate, she pinches my triceps, neck, chest and, [ahem], well anything she can get between her fingers. She's strong. It's painful. My eyes fill with tears; my heart with pride. I'll be her guinea pig any day! I noticed just yesterday, that she had discovered the tiniest piece of dirt, no doubt, on the carpet in front of her and had focused her attention on this foreign object, determined to pick it up between her thumb and forefinger. Note to self: must find time and energy to start vacuuming regularly again.
While not yet mobile by definition, nothing is out of her reach! Without crawling, or rolling, Allie somehow manages to get a grasp on most things she wants. She's determined and even has demonstrated her creativity by using "tools" to assist her, like holding her giraffe and using it to hook and pull another toy towards her. I found this to be unique and quite ingenious for our little sister. She has also learned to use her brother - if she screams or cries long enough Peyton will come to her rescue with a toy, or just some funny antic that will distract her.
Allison demonstrated that she can pull herself to standing this month (from my lap to the coffee table) when something desirable and enticing (one of Peyton's toys) is perched on top. Once standing, her knees lock and she teeters. She beams with pride.
She seems to enjoy to play with sounds and will frequently scratch at different surfaces with her fingernail, pats textures with her hands, shake or bang one object with another; experimenting with the noises she can make. Vocally she has a wide range of favorites as well, from a low growl to a high pitch screech, that she shares with us regularly. We often have a house filled with joyful music, rhythm and acoustics. Sometimes, according to Peyton, "it's just too loud!" Usually, the sound just makes me want to sing and dance.
Other favorite things: playing with her balls (sized perfectly for her palm), bowls and spoons (instead of eating), anything that makes noise and/or she can grab, books, she loves her bath and to swim, walks outside, jumping, swinging (she enjoyed her first real park swing earlier this month), watching peoples faces, and her independence!
Her tongue is hilarious. This is not a recent discovery, it only recently has captured my interest because there was a period of time this month that I thought I might have to take my adorable daughter, and her tongue, to therapy. Since infancy, she has used her tongue to perform many amazing tricks. Her signature move is to turn it completely over 180 degrees and then chew on it for any great length of time. Initially we were simply amused. Really, really amused. Then, as we introduced food, I just found it to be an annoying habit that I would have to break because the moment we tried to get her to open her mouth and eat, using all kinds of our own exaggerated chewing faces as motivation, she would instantly flip and chew her tongue (or cud as we started to call it). As time went on and she continued this behavior with no end in sight and further frustration by both of us. With many meals ending in 0% consumption and 100% tears, I let my mind entertain a nagging fear that it had been harboring. Could her tongue be anatomically abnormal? Would she ever learn to eat solid foods, let alone speak normally (even though she is making her verbal benchmarks and exhibits no reason for worry on this issue)?
After confessing my sneaking suspicion to Steve, he took pause long enough to make what I assumed was a personal observation that her tongue was fine. I didn't understand the pained look he gave me when I demonstrated my lack of confidence in his personal opinion. Steve mentioned something about having seen a lot more tongues in his line of work, than most pediatricians. Oh, right, and ewww! I'd forgotten his profession for a moment (or several weeks as I plotted the pending visit I was sure I would be having to the doctor's office) and took a mental picture of what I can only imagine he sees everyday. Boy am I thankful he does what he does, and I do what I do! It makes the "dirty" in my job seem sort of glamorous. Thanks, Steve! Have you ever thought about inviting, Mike Rowe from, "Dirty Jobs," to spend a day with you? Alas, I digress... In conclusion, my irrational worries were put to rest. Steve's professional opinion is that Allison's tongue is fine. We will now refer to her strange tongue habits, as unique and pretty astounding tongue tricks.
Happy Happy Birthday! Boy time flies by....
ReplyDeletexoxo