Playing Peek-A-Boo

Yesterday was the best day. It may have been my favorite day with my daughter to date. Sure, there were some not so great moments (her screaming in the car while we waited for a train to move... her covered in spit up and with snot running down her face... trying to finish Christmas shopping with a cranky, non-napping, baby... you get the picture). BUT. Then there was the game of peek-a-boo.

We were in Lowe's, trying to pick out grout for our new fireplace tile (which incidentally did NOT arrive). I noticed Ava had put the blanket over her face. All the way over her face. So I thought about it for a second, decided the blanket probably hampered her breathing and gently pulled it down. She was grinning and laughing. I chuckled and went back to looking at grout. For just a moment. Until I saw Ava put the blanket back over her head and it dawned on me. She was playing with me! Ava has always loved peek-a-boo, but she has never initiated it. So, I smiled and waited... sure enough, she pulled the blanket down and started to laugh. She thought she was so funny! I thought she was wonderful.

And so it went for probably 10 minutes. Ava kept putting the blanket up and pulling it down. I would say "Boo!" when she uncovered her face and she just roared. She laughed so hard - her full belly laugh - that it was contagious. I was laughing, the other people in Lowe's were laughing, and Aaron was laughing when I called him to share the moment. You could tell Ava thought she was a big-timer... and it was the coolest thing to see her thinking about playing a game. It was the greatest day ever.

Oh, and last night - Ava slept all the way through.

Greatest. Day. Ever.

Life with "Busy"

Wow. Everyone tells you that kids grow fast. It seems to be one of those generic statements that new parents are supposed to agree with... you know, the smile and nod. But, it appears to be true.

We should have known that Ava would be busy. She was in a hurry from the womb (4+ weeks early anyone?). The speed at which things have changed around here is still pretty impressive.

A week or so ago, Ava could crawl backwards. It was pretty funny, actually. She didn't want to be going backward... but the more excited she got about moving, the more she pushed herself in the wrong direction. We would laugh and she would get frustrated, move further backward, and cry. All fun. Lately though, the motion has been all forward.

She is into everything! Boxes, cords, toys, phones, you name it. She sees it, lines herself up, and goes for it. She is getting fast! It is unreal. The whole procedure is pretty interesting to watch. She hasn't quite figured out how to angle after things. If she wants to change her orientation, she stops, rotates however many degrees (by pivoting on her impressive belly) and starts again. Too funny.

In all honesty, I don't know how I am going to keep up! I will try to post a video of her moving tomorrow. For now, it is off to bed (hopefully, we will have another good night!)

Progress!!!! PROGRESS!!!

We are making progress! Sleep progress! I want to shout it from the roof, which I might be tempted to do, except for the snow and ice. But still.

P. R. O. G. R. E. S. S.

I know I sound excited. And rested. Because I am. I also know we probably could have been excited and rested before if we had just done what everyone told us to do... and let her cry (with comfort at intervals). But I couldn't do it. I tried. And I couldn't do it. I did, however, start making changes to our routine (mostly at nap time). Those changes helped (thank you Elizabeth Pantley, author of the No-Cry Sleep Solution) but our first sleep plan didn't quite get us over the hump.

Enter tired Aaron. He said we had to do something different. Let her cry if we needed to, but do something different. So we thought about it, argued about it, talked about it, and made another plan (using another suggestion from Ms. Pantley). Since Ava was waking to nurse at night (a lot) we thought we needed to stop that. If I tried to comfort her without nursing, she went ballistic. Soooo... we decided to try Aaron comforting her at night. He would go in and hold her, rock her, do whatever he could to make her sleep and put her down.. just no nursing. Bingo. No nursing, no crying, no waking. The changes we had made at nap time allowed her to fall asleep quickly (without a lot of fussing/crying) and since she couldn't see me, she didn't want to nurse. We haven't had total success yet, but we are definitely seeing progress. After two nights of our new plan, Aaron just has to go in and pat her on the back if she stirs. We are hoping to eliminate that step next. So we are getting there! Which is good. Very, very good.

In non-sleep news, Ava hates Santa. Really. She hates him. We have photographic evidence of her dislike. I figure this will change when she figures out it is his name on her shiny new boxes under the tree. The boxes are way cooler than the contents anyway.

Ava is now crawling (forwards!). The backwards crawling was very frustrating for her, but it was sure easier for us. She can also go from her belly to sitting up. We have to baby-proof the house. Hard to believe 8 months have gone by.

Here are some new photos!