urbansuburban (a Gillefond adventure): closer to 1 than birth

How did this happen, Mathilda? You are 7 months old today!

You smile all the time; you wave (not always when prompted, but frequently to the daycare front desk lady, Oscar, your parents during dinner); you giggle; you laugh; you have eaten peas, green beans, broccoli, carrots, peaches, mangoes, bananas, apples, pears, squash, zucchini, pumpkin, plums, prunes, rice, oats, barley, pasta, eggplant! You drink water from a sippy cup; you love your rice crackers ("cookies")

you dance (rhythmic swaying, some leg kicking, smiling) when you hear music; you shriek when you see Oscar; you are learning "gentle" when you pet him, but mostly still squeal and grab his fur/ears/tail; you like when we clap for you but don't yet clap yourself; you say dada, mama (just babbling, no meaning yet!) plus /t, g, l, n, y/ and lots of vowels too; you wear 9 month clothes because your legs are so long; you sit up on your own; you shimmy on the floor when on your tummy, but no crawling yet; you have favorite toys and you like when we read and do all the voices; you have 3 teeth and will have a true jack-o-lantern smile in a few weeks I'm sure; you put everything in your mouth; you like to concentrate on our faces, especially when we're talking, and you like to touch our eyes and noses and lips

You like to pull my hair (working on gentle there as well), and lick your Daddy's hair and beard; your hair requires leave-in conditioner in order to comb it and keep it soft; for the most part, you sleep through the night, but when you wake up nothing settles you except a quick nursing and then you're right back to sleep; you've been on the East and West coast and in an airplane twice; you make friends wherever you go because you are so happy- the big eyes and curly hair don't hurt your charm, either! You can get fussy at the end of the day before bed time and sometimes just like to cuddle and be close to us; you turn into a pumpkin if you aren't on your way to bed at 8pm, but sleep until 7am if we don't wake you to go to school; you recognize our voices and turn towards us, even in a busy room with lots of talking; you make every single day wonderful, no matter what else is going on in my life at that moment, when I come to pick you up at school and as soon as you see me you break into a huge smile and squeal; you LOVE being around other kids of any age, they all seem to fascinate you; you still like to nurse but have no problem with a bottle, but first thing in the morning and right before bedtime are our special snuggle times in the big rocking chair in your room when we sing and talk and nurse; it's hard to get you to hold still for a photo....outtakes below.....