"I do what I want"

Imagine if you will: it is a Tuesday evening in the Walker house. Daddy Walker is out of town, leaving Mommy and Baby J to "bond." Baby J is in a particularly good mood this evening and has been playing quite nicely since arriving home from day care. They venture into Baby J's room to change a diaper. Baby J is so good that Mommy can put her down to play with the collection of books on the floor while Mommy hangs up some clothes. It is quite a nice set up.

Some how Baby J manages to wedge herself under the glider in while playing with her plastic star-ring. Hunched over at the time, she is unaware of the situation. Until she tries to sit up. She hits the glider and gives it a dirty look. She hits the glider with the star; nothing. At this point Mommy notices what's going on and sits down urging baby to crawl forward to get out of the way, baby does not move. Mommy urges more, baby hits the glider more, now with her brow furrowed. Grunt. Hit. Grunt. Hit..... GAAAAA! Baby finally moves.

She moved when she wanted to.

Whatever you do, don't smell the food.

My baby really is quite an amazing person. I know, most parents think the same thing about their own kids, and nothing she does is really any great accomplishment that other babies can't do, but every day she amazes me.

As of October 21, 2009 Baby J is mobile. She crawled her first 6 feet solo. It was straight to me, no toys and sadly no Daddy could tempt her, but Mommy on the other side of the room was just the right amount of motivation. She put out a cautious hand, then a knee, hand, knee... flop... repeat. It reminded me somewhat of the end of Grease when John and Olivia are dancing on fun house platform: up and down, up and down. But she made it and was utterly proud of herself! Flash forward 2 weeks and she's all over the place: except the kitchen. Its the oddest thing, but she gets to the line where the carpet ends and the tile begins, puts both hands on the tile and is frozen. For a while I was planning on helping her overcome this phobia, but then I realize keeping her out of the kitchen is a good thing!

Another major milestone of our lives is finger food! Baby J is now a master of finger food... if you count half of the food going in mouth and half in lap a master. She can pickup a puff and on occasion shove it in her little mouth. Half the time is' already dissolved and is stuck on her hand, but no worries. She's also taken to small carrots, peas, cooked apples, etc. It our little ritual: Mommy cleans the kitchen as she gradually gives Baby J things to munch for dinner. Gets us over the bored/tired/cranky evening times. :-)

So tonight Daddy is working the poles for elections which means Mommy and Baby J are home alone. We were doing our usual nighttime feeding ritual and I decided to turn on some music (they say it makes her smarter, we'll see).

Picture this if you will: baby in highchair in kitchen. In view: baby toy area of living room including baby rock-star mirror that plays music. Not in view: tv. The music I turned on was from the classical station on the TV. Baby is eating, having a good time trying to introduce carrot to mouth... and then the music comes on. She stops, looks at the rock-star mirror... it's not on... what?... why isn't it on?... she looks some more.... it's still not on.... Eventually I had to take her out of her chair and show her the TV just to get her to resume eating. I personally found it hilarious.

Thats what I'm talking abou though. She's so smart to know that music comes from the mirror; enough to be confused when the lights weren't on with it. And I know it's common place for you and me but for her, she's made that connection for the first time, and it's amazing to watch.

So, I will enjoy every new moment my daughter experiences and smile every time I see her little teeth show though. I just won't smell the baby food.