Miss personality

Miss Z is coming out of her shell. She got pretty quiet when we came home, and just sat back and watched a lot. From her point of view, there was probably just too much new stuff to see, hear, taste and do for a baby to process. She had to soak it in for awhile before she could respond. Well, she's back! Her bright, giggly personality is showing again.

Right this minute, she's sitting next to me in her high chair, eating her body weight in breakfast. First she had her morning bottle on the way to drop B off at preschool. When we got home, she snacked on Cheerios while I made her a scrambled egg, then I gave her half my bagel. Now she's back to dry cereal, this time B's Clifford Crunch. She's kicking her feet and jabbering while she eats. Any time her tray is empty, she yells at me for more. I ask her if she wants more, and she signs "more." Smart little girl.

Speaking of smart, she has added another word to her vocabulary: up.

She blew a five-night streak of stellar sleeping skills the night before last. She was up from 1:30 - 2:30am, first fussing, then just talking and playing with her feet. She woke up at about 4am today too, but just talked and laughed for about ten minutes, then went back to sleep. This morning's wake-up didn't require any parental involvement at all.

My biggest problem right now is the way she likes to fling herself backward. She does this when she's mad, but also at totally unpredictable times. She'll be sitting on a marble floor, and for no reason at all, just flings herself backward, crashing her head into that floor. Or into the corner of a table, or whatever happens to be there. It rarely seems to hurt her, but it scares the bejesus out of me. It's one of the few things that I use the word "NO!" for these days. I think that before she came to us, she spent most of her time in a crib or a walker. There was no disincentive for her to fling herself backward like that -- if she was in a crib, she either hit the mattress or didn't have far to go before she hit the sides. In a walker, her head didn't hit anything at all. Maybe it was even a fun game in the walker. It sure is scary now though. If anyone has an idea for getting her to stop, bring it on!