You might recall that at my last post we were celebrating Mia sleeping through the night 5 times in a row. Yes, well. So much for that! What we didn’t know was that under her tiny pink gums were two sharp little white teeth that were about to make night time a whole lot more entertaining! March was a big month for Miss Mia ~ not only did her two first bottom teeth pop through, but she also finally mastered coordination of her hands, legs and torso enough to start crawling FORWARD. FAST.

The last few weeks have focused on the long-dreaded baby-proofing. No more procrastinating.  We finally realized that creating a safe zone for a mobile baby is actually easier than following her around all day redirecting her from all the safety hazards. And now I get it. For some unknown reason babies DO find light sockets, shoes and lamp cords much more exciting than all of those beautiful, colorful, designed-specifically-for-her-age-group toys we put on the floor. She was drawn like a determined moth to a flame to the pet food bowls and made a beeline for Bonnie’s guitars. Any sharp furniture corner was an irresistable invitation to try and pull herself up, and she instinctively knew in which lower drawer she could find our poison stash.

The good news is that this has forced us to re-think our square footage and actually make better use of our home. The carpeted living room is now the pet-free Mia Zone (see photos for the unhappy pet reaction). She has her Jumparoo, toy box, play pen and books all available and seems to appreciate a bit more cushion under her knees for all of the active crawling. And frankly it is a relief not to have everything crammed into the den off the kitchen. We still have some work to do, but baby girl may actually survive at least until the walking stage.

Oh, and speaking of which, she also learned to pull herself up to standing (which required lowering her crib) and now holds her own bottle. You will see from the “Mia meets avacado” video that she wasn’t nearly as excited about eating people food as our pediatrician thought she would be, but she has taken to crackers, small bits of cheese and the ocassional glass of wine. [Just kidding on that last one, Nana.]

A select few new lessons learned from the 7-8.5 month period:

• Wearing hoop earrings is a bad idea. REALLY bad idea.
• Don’t bother getting dressed until after feeding and bath time.
• It is not wise to try giving a taste of a new food after her regular feeding, when her tummy is full. 
• Don’t panic when you look down and notice your entire arm is covered in bruises – it might just be dried prunes.
• Its probably best not to put her up on your shoulders for a ride until after she learns the command “please let go of my hair!”
• Just when you think you have parenthood figured out, everything changes.

Until the next report,
J.