New (old) for Laurel

Note: I began this post at the start of last month, and somehow I never got around to finishing it, let alone posting it. But I thought I had better post it quickly, before Laurel turns nine months old!

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What's new for the baby? Did you know she is eight months old?

Laurel has a cold right now, unfortunately. But I don't think she's been sick since she was two months old, way back in February, so it was about time. Isaac got sick too, and it coincided with his return to school, so perhaps he brought the germs home. She has a lingering cough, but the worst was the night that she had a 103-degree fever. She wasn't as upset about it as we were, though!

She is developing physical abilities slowly but steadily. For a while now she has participated in being carried, clutching my upper arm and holding herself close to me. She really, genuinely has an operational neck, instead of having a huge baby head sitting right on top of her shoulders. And she can sit upright with beautiful posture, very secure in her position and seldom falling over.

You may recall that she learned to roll over from back to front in June, when she was five months old, but after doing it for a few days she stopped completely. This has finally changed. A few weeks ago she began rolling onto her side as she slept. This was no problem, but sometimes she continues to roll, accidentally ending up on her stomach. Since she doesn't know how to roll back, she would wake up and cry! For a night or two we had to get up and rescue her every time this happened, but now (thankfully) she returns to sleep on her stomach.

However, when she's awake, she still doesn't like being on her stomach. In fact, she hates it. She shows absolutely no signs of being ready to crawl. She doesn't even like to push up. Today Craig said she pulled up to a standing position while grasping his fingers, but I think he must have helped somehow. By this age, Isaac could pull himself up using the edge of the crib, but Laurel is doing her own thing.

She did, however, develop object permanence right on schedule -- that means she knows that an item still exists even when it has moved out of sight. That means she can play peek-a-boo! It also means she sometimes gets upset when she sees me leave the room. In other developmental news, she doesn't mind meeting new people, but she looks around to be sure I'm safely nearby. She enjoys eating solid foods, especially mashed-up fresh fruit like mango and peach, and she hums and bobs her head while she eats. She babbles a little bit, ma and ba, but she's mostly pretty quiet.

Laurel still qualifies as one of those fabled easy babies. She sleeps well, she entertains herself, she doesn't complain much, and she is readily soothed. Yes, she's a happy baby, but it's not like she is bubbling over with exuberance; most of the time she is quietly and seriously observing the world. When the time is right she likes to laugh and play, but overall I wouldn't describe her style of happiness as joyful -- instead she seems content.

She greatly enjoys listening to books, especially ones with rhymes or photographs of faces. I'd say her current favorites are "Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?" and "Barnyard Banter." She smiles and bounces in excitement when she sees their covers. She pats the pictures, turns the pages, and then she tries to shove them in her mouth. The child is absolutely crazy about shoving things in her mouth. Her hands shoot out like missiles, unerring in their aim, and she brings absolutely everything right into her mouth.

And still she has no teeth!