9 months: Life's a Party

I met a mom the other day with her 6 week old daughter. I could not believe how tiny this baby was, nor that Edie was ever, ever anything like that. Those early days - when your circadian rhythm is robbed from you by a baby who knows not day or night, your baby doubles in size over the first 16 weeks, and a "clean" outfit for yourself becomes one that doesn't have a lot of urine or spit up on it - go by in a flash. They are miraculous and life-changing. But they are not, I must admit, all that fun. They are the dues a mom pays, with no thank yous and precious few moments of reprieve. And we gladly, exhaustedly, blindly pay them.

Now that E is 9 months old, the fun has truly begun. She's got party tricks, including fake coughing on command, like a tiny drama student trying out as Orphan #3 in Oliver Twist. She's begun to communicate, learning her first baby sign for "milk", saying "mama" (when she's sad & tired) and "nanana" for banana (when she thinks you ought to hurry it up with that banana). Edie sings loudly in every hallway and tunnel, eyes darting around as she enjoys her own echo. She laughs hysterically at Billy sniffing her face, at books with funny rhymes, and each time she manages to bite my nose before I can prevent this particular brand of carnage. Very good times. And with crawling around the corner, there's no turning back now.

[#1 - E and her pacifier. She never really took to them, but we found a couple last week, and she think they are very fun to tempt the dogs with. #2 - E and the 30 second headband. # 3 - Cowgirl baby enjoying the very short Munich Indian Summer.]