August 20th, 2003 - Wednesday

Melting

You know, I started an entry three times this month and just couldn't bring myself to finish it. I don't know why.

However, Hayley turned 11 months old today and so I felt it was a good time to jot down a few things that she's been doing lately. Every day she gets cuter and cuter and does things that make me want to melt into a puddle of goo.

She brushes or combs her hair. She'll sit still for a moment or two to let me attack her hair, but it's definitely easier if I give her one to hold while I do so. Then, when I'm done, she'll lift the brush or comb and run it through her hair a few times. Of course, then she sticks it in her mouth and chew on it. But it's cute to watch her before she does!

She shares her food with me. I don't mean that she allows me to pick up some of what she's eating and pop it into my mouth. I mean that she actually feeds me. I don't know where she learned it since we weren't actively teaching her to share yet, but I assume that it's because we frequently share our own food with her. It's all but impossible to sit down with any sort of food if she's up because she'll crawl over and hoot and holler until she gets to try some. I suppose that she picked up the concept of feeding someone else from that. All I know is that the other day, she was in her high chair and she picked up a Cheerio. She then held it out to me and pushed it into my mouth. Then she did it again and again. Since then she has also fed me some of her grilled cheese sandwich. See?

On a related note, she also shares toys now. She'll be playing with something while I sit nearby. Then out of the blue, she'll hold out her hand until I take the toy. I always accept everything with a joyous "thank you!" and she seems to understand the sentiment behind it. My baby shares. I love it. I'm also enjoying it while I still can because her love of sharing may change when she gets a bit older.

She dances. She dances to everything. She dances to the music that George is working on. She dances to the CDs and MP3s that I play. She dances to her Baby Einstein videos, to the songs on Discovery's "Animal Jam", and to catchy jingles from advertisements. She even dances when I sing to her, especially "The Wheels on the Bus" or "Hayley the Boo" (sung to the tune of "Winnie the Pooh").

She kisses. She'll often give kisses on demand, whether we ask for one or lean in for one. Lately though, she's been giving them because she just really wants to. One of the greatest joys of co-sleeping these days is that most mornings she'll wake me up by sitting up. As soon as my eyes open, she leans over and kisses me good morning. You can't beat that kind of start to the day, believe me.

She plays hide and seek. I'll get her to look at me, I'll wave at her, and then I'll run out of the room giggling. She responds by shrieking and squealing, and crawls just as fast as she can to find me. It's one of her favorite games. Sometimes I'll let her just catch sight of me, and then I'll get right in her face and roar like a monster at her. It cracks her up. Baby laughter is one of the best sounds ever.

She laughs hysterically whenever she figures something out. She has one of those walkers (not the kind a baby sits in, they're banned) that is shaped like a triangle that she pushes in front of her. Often, she'll stand up, push it while walking behind it, and then get stuck when she hits a wall at the opposite end of the room. This generally causes her to grunt and wail until we get up and help her to turn her around while showing her how to do it on her own. Whenever she does manage to do it by herself, she screams and laughs in delight as she toddles across the room again. I've also been teaching her how to get down from the bed by herself - I get her to flip onto her stomach ("On your belly!") and then slide off feet first. She doesn't do it consistently enough to leave her alone on a bed while she's awake, but when she does do it, laughter bounces off the walls. She even did it to get off the couch last night and you could see how pleased she was with herself, as though she was thinking, "Wow, I kick ass!"

She laughs when she figures out how to flip the light switches on and off. Also, she's very fond of the dryer and when I need her to stay in the bathroom while I pee, I usually open the dryer so she can look in it. She figured out how to push the little button that contacts with the door which then turns the light off inside. She'll stand there for an incredible length of time, just clicking that light on and off, laughing at her own smart brain.

She's sneaky. It's not necessarily the best thing in the world, but it's undeniably cute, even when it aggravates me. I'll put her glasses on and she'll try to pull them off. She gets told no. Then she'll sit there quietly but the second I turn away, even just to pick something up, she'll pull them off again and then sit quietly once more to see if I'll notice. She has a cheshire cat grin on the whole time. She does the same when I'm changing her diaper, an act that incorporates acrobatics these days. As soon as I turn away, she flips herself very dramatically and tries to crawl away, wiggling her little naked butt at me as she goes. If I turn away when the diaper's on, she'll immediately undo the velcro strap. She's very crafty.

She plays with a doll now. She likes a few of her stuffed animals but last week I gave her a doll that she had gotten for Christmas. It's a little newborn baby and Hayley is crazy about her. She gives the doll kisses, hugs her, carries her around, tries to feed her Cheerios like she does to me, and today she took her bottle of water and did this:

I guess her doll was thirsty.

She just does so many things now and half the time I wonder where her actions even come from. It's incredible to see that this little baby who was so completely helpless is growing up into a big girl now. She still needs us, obviously, but she's starting to assert so much independence now that it astounds me when I compare it to how clingy she was. Some people told me that I was going to spoil her by holding her all the time and that she'd cling to me for the rest of her life. Now when I try to hold her, nine times out of ten, she starts to wriggle within seconds because she wants to get down and just go, go, go. I guess she's not so spoiled and clingy after all. Looks like I did something right because she's definitely growing up - and growing up well, to boot.

One more month. One more month and she'll be a whole year old. I can't get over it.