the tiny details

Some other things this mama doesn't want to forget...

-The child has sticky fingers. When crawling from point A to point B, if there be a book or an empty baby oil bottle (her favorite toy. I really don't know) in her path, it will be joining the parade. It makes me laugh every time because she almost always arrives a few pounds heavier and without having so much as paused. Not even so much as a glance at whatever is now in her hand.

-The tongue. My God, the tongue. Auntie Julia suggested maybe it's just too long for her mouth and she doesn't have anywhere else to put the remaining 3 feet that hang continuously out of her mouth.

-She got her third tooth on the top on Wednesday (I think).

-Her hair only grows on the top of her head.

-Every night when I'm putting her to bed I have to control wild fits of giggles because she's so damn amusing. She'll be dead asleep and then suddenly remember that she needs to sit bolt upright or stand up along the wall or crawl a couple laps around our bed. Before falling momentarily asleep with her head between her legs. I end up pinning her body down with my leg before she falls asleep. For good I mean.

-SAMAYA TOOK AT LEAST 6 STEPS YESTERDAY. Also, someone should probably tell her that walking comes before running. She was standing holding onto Grandma's hands when Daddy came home and she just let go and ran toward him. We all sort of gasped and that's when she stopped dead in her tracks, realized that no one was holding holding her anymore, and sat down. I was on the couch with a case of mastitis, but I nearly jumped out of my skin when she did this. I firmly believed that the first time she did this was an accident, but I guess we just have a total freak baby on our hands. Fine with me.





(sporting her new hat made by Auntie Claire!)

Happy Love Day

I'm shy...


want a kiss?


on second thought...

updates for posterity's sake

Because I have yet to update the baby book since week 1, I'm hoping I can call upon the blog for a little assistance when I finally get around to it. That is if I remember to update THAT:

Let's talk mobility: she is. Once she started crawling, it didn't take her more than a couple days to master the nuances of her new locomotive- adjusting speed, ability to maneuver into tight spaces, ease of transitioning from carpet to tile. This last one was particularly cute. She would spend a significant amount of time trying to figure out how to cross into the kitchen not because it proved tricky to cross a thin metal strip level with the carpet but simply because the thin metal strip EXISTED.

It wasn't even a couple days later before she started pulling herself up onto the furniture and now moving along it. I'm not sure if it's because she started the cruising phase a bit early (she'll be 8 months in 4 days) and has yet to develop a concept of the damage that can be done to oneself as a result of gravity, but recently she's become downright bold. She'll stand up on the nearest couch, bed, chair and then dare herself to let go for longer amounts of time. And a number of times she's just taken off. Sisay says she took four steps when I was out of the room before landing on her hands and knees. And not because she really could. Because she thought she could. But still, we're impressed. When you hold her hands, she literally flings her body forward in a full out run. And if you grab her by the back of her shirt, she weaves and staggers in what we refer to as her drunken sailor routine. on speed.

And, oh the dancing. It has reached new heights of hip-swiveling, knee bouncing, hand twirling delight. The best way to describe it is a combination of belly dancing, hip hop, and Persian dancing.

She also started full on babbling, something she hadn't really displayed until recently. So far she says dadadada, bababababa, lalala, yayayaya, rararara and some other sounds that cannot be recorded by the English language. Sisay is convinced that the 'lalalalala' is 'Laurel' and is getting a good laugh out of it. I am less than impressed.

She still pants like a dog when she's exciting and sniffs rapidly in and out when she's annoyed (people have asked me if she has a breathing problem). Her personality is just exploding now and we are having so much fun (mostly). There is a lot of screaming and carrying on every time her diaper is changed or she isn't picked up in time or she is picked up before she snacks on the computer wires or her face is wiped. But we can PLAY now! I can chase her around the house. I can hide and she will come find me. I can surprise her around corners and hear her squeal in delight.

I think she's definitely a keeper.

Some recent walks in our neighborhood

oh Maine. how I love thee.

my current life

I am so sick and tired of being sick and tired. You know? One cold after another and now a wicked sore throat. I'm hopped up on three aisles of the health food store and it's making me feel a bit light-headed.
Luckily, there is a tiny person trying to pull herself up on my body, banging a block on my back with definite rhythm. Oh, now she's eating wires. Make that paper. Make that the string on my hoodie. While eating the change from my wallet.

Seven Months Already

It's really amazing how much our little one has grown seemingly overnight. Since she's mastered crawling, her mood has also dramatically improved. The massive growth spurts-both mind and body-that dominated month 6, on top of teeth that seem to periodically try and fail to break through, on top of her first sickness...were trying for all involved. But now. How quickly we forget. Just last week I was complaining about what a fussy high maintenance child we had (no offense, Samaya) and today I am marveling at the joyful ball of energy I am privileged to spend my days with. (Of course, I loved her last week just as much- I'm just grateful she isn't always that intense.)

I don't know if I could really put words to it, but just the act of crawling seems to have changed so much about Samaya. Suddenly she is in charge of her own world and I can sit back in awe as she wields her power. Yesterday began the day Daddy has been dreaming of since before she was born- he came in the door from work and Samaya nearly sprinted into his arms. To see her be able to translate her desires into action is remarkable. She is her OWN person. Sisay and I periodically look at each other and say this when we're struck by the fact that we live with another human being-that we created.

But now it's really coming into fruition. If I'm in the kitchen and she wants me, she comes to me (albeit crying the whole way because she hasn't fully realized what she is capable of. and it's habit.) If she wants to explore the heating vent on the floor over there, or eat that piece of paper before I can stop her, or get away as fast as she can from the stuffed kitten that she is suddenly afraid of, then she can.

Probably those of you who don't have children or can't remember that long ago don't really understand just how amazing the begininning of this process is, but I'm willing to bet there are plenty of parents who know exactly what I'm trying and failing to say. It's like...her free will is manifesting itself. And suddenly I'm imagining all the decisions she'll ever make in her life...how she'll handle being left out or bullied by another child, whether she'll be a dancer or a writer, whether she'll become a doctor like her daddy says she will. From the moment of conception, all parents marvel at the miracle of a unique and completely new life that has just entered the scene, but then it's months before we see that life, and even then it is a slow but beautiful unfolding of just exactly who this person is.
And in the end, will we ever really know? THAT, I think, is the very best part. I get to spend my days with a tiny and perfect mystery who just might, if I'm lucky, peel off one more layer of her endlessly layered self. It is always exciting.

In the meantime, I enjoy making wild hypotheses about her personality. For one, she is most definitely going to be a writer. The reason she crawled for the first time? To get that pencil I left on the floor. And paper. The girl loves paper. Grandfathers have had to inform me in grocery store check-out lanes that my daughter had nearly finished the grocery list. And we all know Samaya is as extroverted as one can be. At least two people a day (if I manage to leave the house) tell me she has made their day because of the huge grin she flashes and the attempt she makes to lunge into their arms. Also, she's a musician. Have you seen her play Grandma's piano or dance to, um, anything? especially t.v. commercials?

Tough Times

Sorry for the hiatus. It's been a little rough going at our house. Samaya got quite sick for a while there, which meant even less sleep than usual, and then I got sick...I think the seven months of exhaustion along with being under the weather pushed over into the intolerable there for a bit and I just wasn't willing to leave the house let alone update the blog. But things are looking up.

I once again revisited the Great Sleep Crisis to see what I hadn't tried yet and ended up putting her down to sleep in a portable crib. Well it seems to be working- I think she needed her own space. She has slept about 3 1/2 - 4 hour stretches the last three days and I'll take that over pretty much anything you could dream of offering me right now. Last night Sisay had baby-duty and for the first time I slept in a separate room all by myself. That's right folks. All by myself. I slept four sweet hours, nursed the baby, and then...couldn't sleep for the rest of the night. I think I was trying too hard. I knew it was my only chance for probably another seven months and sleep never comes under pressure. But still, THANK YOU dear husband.

Also, in VERY BIG NEWS, Samaya has officially started CRAWLING!!!! I know, I should be frightened but I'm actually quite excited that she has that much more control over her world now. It's exciting when they start exercising their independence and interacting with the world on a whole new level-gives you a little more insight into their unfolding personalities. Now for the baby-proofing. Currently she is pulling herself up to standing on my back (I'm sitting on the floor). Such audacity, this one has.


Taken a mere half hour ago: