Dress-Up Party

Yesterday, Caterpillar Girl attended her first dress-up party. Is there anything cuter than babies in Halloween costumes? I knitted her kitty hat, and I bought a black onesie, stitched a white belly to it, and added a tail complete with pompom. Ahma found kitty cat socks to perfect her look. We have more opportunities for fun Halloween pictures coming up, and the weather is finally cool. Hurray for fun in the Fall.

Pumpkins and More Pumpkins

The pumpkin fest that we attended the first weekend in October featured hundreds of jack o'lanterns. Too bad it was almost 90 degrees out--not really Fall weather.

Another Goal Accomplished

I have said it before, and I will say it again: Having a mobile baby changes everything. This week naps have gone from two a day that lasted 45 minutes to sometimes 2 hours to one a day that lasts 20-30 minutes. The rest of the time Caterpillar Girl is moving, moving, moving. Therefore, blog updates are admittedly late in coming.

A few months back, when Caterpillar Girl first began to scoot, she fell out of the bed during nap time. Beyond surprise, she wasn't hurt because our bed is on the floor and the drop is about 13 inches. I wondered when children learned not to fall out of bed. She fell 2 more times, and then she figured out what the edges of the bed meant. She has spent the last few weeks circumnavigating the bed, looking over the edges with a determined look. She especially liked to crawl to the chest at the foot of the bed to look over the edges on that surface. Often I placed her on the bed while dressing in the morning--an easy way to keep her contained. Well, this morning, she did it. She finally turned backward, half slipped, half reached with one foot, bump onto the butt, and she was off the bed and on the floor. A small "hmmph" and then she was off crawling towards the door and out of the bedroom.

Because I haven't been able to post as often, I have a few more actions to remember that don't really lend themselves to pictures. Hopefully, I can type this up before she destroys every book on the shelf by my feet.

• Steve Wonder shake: She has a new movement where she shakes her head back and forth like Stevie Wonder. I might have been worried that she had poor vision if it weren't for the teeny tiny bits of whatever she constantly finds on the carpet, no matter how much I vacuum.
• Hi: Daddy has been teaching her to wave and she finally has the hang of it. She vocalizes something that sounds like "Hi" and stretches her arm straight out and moves in around in a circle or up and down. She does it to her daddy the most (so much so that we think she might think his name is HI), but she also does it to herself in the mirror and other random times of the day.
• Where is it?: About two weeks ago, she found something under a cloth. I have been putting a toy under a cloth in front of her and asking "Where is it?" For a few weeks, she just reached for another toy she could see nearby, but now she will lift the cloth to get to the toy under it.
• Table trot: Caterpillar Girl has been pulling herself up on pretty much anything she can reach: couch, coffee table, bed, the wall, shelves in the library. The past day or two though, she has been really stepping it up. She spent much of yesterday afternoon pulling up on the coffee table and then holding on to walk around it.
• The fling: I think she is getting ready to take that ultimate first step. For now though, she flings herself forward. Caterpillar Girl pulls herself up on something and sees you a foot away, holds out her arms, and dives toward you. Another version is crouching with knees bent and hands on the floor in front of her, and then catapaulting onto you.

A Few of Her Favorite Things

This tunnel from Ikea is so much fun to crawl through!

Daddy gives the best "elephant" rides. Nothing makes Caterpillar Girl laugh more than tromping around on daddy's shoulders.

Orson is a sweet and patient cat that she loves to grab and tug. We are practicing nice petting.

Baby Steps

People say, "My baby started walking at 11 months,"...or 14 months or 9 months, or whenever. It sounds almost as if the child just stood up and started walking one day. Of course, that is not what happens. It's a series of small accomplishments that happen day by day. It's nearly impossible to tell when the process starts. About a week and a half ago, we marked what we like to call Caterpillar Girl's first step.


She likes to pull herself into a standing position using my legs as support, as seen above. This particular day, she saw Daddy standing nearby and decided to make her way to him. She let go and took a step towards him. We're not sure if that foot even hit the ground before she toppled over, but it definitely marks her first attempt to propel forward on just her feet. Every day now she tries new positions and new acrobatics. She likes using her gym as a walker, like a little old lady.

She is particularly obsessed with trying to stand up from the middle now. She jackknifes her butt up, with hands and feet on the ground, a little like a downward dog for the yogis reading this. Then she tries to lift her entire torso into a standing position, usually unsuccessfully, but then she tries and tries again. Babies have different personalities, and I remember one mother remarking fondly of the time when her baby could sit up and would peacefully play with nearby toys while the mom worked around the house. I kept waiting for that day. However, Caterpillar Girl never stays in one stage for that long. She constantly strives toward next stage. So when did she start to walk? The actual first hands-free steps are still months away I think, but she's already taking the baby steps to reach that point.

Seven-Month Stats

Weight: 17 lbs 11 oz
Height: Still 27 inches. Whew! A little more time before we have to get a bigger car seat.

Timeout on Tasting

We're taking a timeout on the solid foods. She just doesn't really like it. In this case, a picture is worth a thousand words.