Working on a dream

I have been working on an entry since the end of May; It is not yet complete. I hope this gives you some sort of idea as to how Morgan's newfound mobility and sense of adventure has impacted our lives.

I'll start by posting the entry I've had saved in word and updated time and time again, then I'll post new bits:

The month of May has been one of growth and advancement for Morgan. Whether it is adding teeth to her ‘collection’ or exploring new elements of mobility, she is making progress daily. I am amazed at how quickly she is transforming from a helpless baby into an adventurous little person (As I type, she has stood up using my printer stand and is exploring the feel of all the buttons and levers within her reach). Whether mobility or language, she is keeping us in awe, not to mention on our toes.

In April, Morgan began to transition from scooting to crawling. In late April, she began pulling herself to standing with the use of our bodies and things like the couch. As we made our way through May, she steadily became more familiar with this thing we call standing and worked to venture into new experiences. Whether it is crawling into the kitchen and using the refrigerator to pull herself up or trying her hardest to go from a crouched kneel to a stand, it is remarkable to watch. Within the last two weeks she has come to the realization that she can stand by herself (although this lasts usually only 5 or so seconds). The expression on her face as she wobbles is one I want to remember for a long time. We try to encourage her by cheering her when she stands on her own; she will now throw her hands in the air and smile big when she stands up.

((Interruption of writing as Morgan ventured to the living room in pursuit of the cat)) I ventured into the living room close behind, in pursuit of Morgan. When I arrived, I found her in her bathtub (which was sitting in the living room, empty) I laughed so hard it scared her and she started to cry, thinking she was in trouble. These are the shenanigans that make up our days as of late.

If you were to visit the Jenkins household, the most commonly overheard phrases would be:
“Morgan, what is in your mouth?!?”
“Morgan and/or Kibbles… no!”
“What are you doing??”
“Touchdown, Yay!”
“Can you say *insert doggie/kitty/ba-ba/da-da/manyotherwords*?
“Pet kitty soft!”
“Oh, kisses, thank you!”
“Honey? She changed the channel again…”
“Leave kitty alone, she’s going to bite you!”
“Hurry, get the camera!”
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It never ceases to amaze me the difference a day can make in the development of a child. Yesterday Morgan made half-hearted attempts to ‘roll it’ and ‘pat it’ as we worked on patty cake. I picked her up from GG’s this evening (I had a softball game and Tyler was working) and she was… clapping! They had been working on patty cake and ‘toss it in the pan’ and that transitioned her into the clap she has been attempting for a few weeks now.

Honestly, we have nothing to compare her to, but I feel as if we are dealing with a twelve month old, not an eight and a half month old! Morg has been getting a little too big for her britches lately, and her bravery leaves me reeling in anxiety. At this point, she hasn’t made the move to walk, but will stand freely for 10-15 seconds (up from her 5 second stretches a few weeks ago). This occurs EVERYWHERE. I mean, standing with the open fridge door, against my legs, at the TV stand… whew.

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New stuff:

A week ago we celebrated Morgan's NINE MONTH birthday! Fittingly, our little booger has nine teeth, so we treated her with a slice of cheese pizza at the fabulous Pizza Time- she enjoyed it! The last few weeks have been filled with many 'did our child just do that?!?' moments. Honestly, we have no scope of comparison for Morgan, but she seems to be doing things very ahead of 'schedule' if such a schedule exists. Her most recent favorite? She can now climb up onto the futon and she will do so, crawl around on it for a while, and proceed to catch our attention, smile big, and DIVE off onto the pillows below. Really?!? It's not a big fall to the floor, but the first time she did it (an accident, really) scared me to death. I assume she is a thrill seeker, because she climbed back up and before long did it again. All I can help to think of is the Brad Paisley song where he sings "I'll get my payback if [s]he's anything like me." OH.DEAR. Considering the interesting shenanigans the two of us pulled off as children (and, dear god, teenagers *shudders*) we have quite the adventure ahead of us.

Morg wrapped up 'swim lessons' a couple weeks ago. It wasn't as much of lessons as it was familiarizing her with the water. As expected (the child cheers when the faucet comes on), she loved the water. There were a couple of days where she had to end her nap early and was a tad fussy, but for the most part, she loves the water. We worked on floats- tummy and back. She is a fan of tummy floats and likes being able to have her hands free to grab toys and splash. Back floats? Not so much. She tolerates it when I am pulling her backwards across the water by her hands, but gets very fussy when simply leaning or laying back, even against my legs.

We've been spending our free time, too, going on the occasional walk (when it isn't too hot). Morgan has taken a liking to 'awwwgies' (read: doggies) and so we'll go out looking for 'stop to pets' (read: cats!) and dogs to see (from a distance). One of my principals lives down the street and has four or five outdoor cats. We usually head that way first or last because we know they'll come up and be friendly. A few weeks ago we stopped and three cats came running, one even jumped up on the side of the stroller and crawled across her- ha! Morgan was not phased, but interested. We also met some baby dachaunds down the street too! Morgan was interested but a little unsure when they started licking her toes! HA!!! We have also stumbled upon music while out and about. Last week we decided to walk downtown (her eyes light up and she babbles when she sees another walker approaching). We made our way toward city park and discovered it was time for city band! She listened to a couple of songs before needing something more to keep her attention.

We've spent a lot of time at her GG's (my Thompson grandparents), lately. Morgan has started to say 'papa' her name for my (her great) grandpa. Grandma is 'gg'. She loves them both very much and enjoys exploring the farm. Although she is sometimes unsure of grandpa's coon hounds, she loves Peanut (also grandpa's name for her), the kitty, and gets super excited when they visit the chicken (chic-chic) coop. Last week, gg watched Morg while I ventured to Lawrence for a softball game. Morgan had her first 'wagon' experience- she loved it, until gg went into the coop to get the eggs and Morgan couldn't see her anymore. That ended short the 'wagon adventures'. She has, however, mastered the two-stairs that go from the dining room to the family room at GGs' house... she is good with going up, but we still stand with her when going down, as she sometimes decides to simply stand up very close to the edge and totter...

We have started attending a Wednesday playgroup with a couple of kiddos, one a little girl about a month younger than Morgan and the other a little boy who is about twice Morg's age. I'm glad that she is getting some interaction with other kids, it is very interesting to watch them interact. Mostly it is just 'poking' at eachother as we moms caution them to 'be careful', but i is still neat to watch. So far we've had a park date where we made sensory bottles and played on playground equipment and swings and a trip to the Prairie Nature Park in Lawrence, where the McCaw scared the crap out of Morgan with its squeel. Post-squeel, though, the kids played in the toddler room and explored. The girls seemed to love looking out the window at the praire, not to mention banging on the big glass windows. The little boy loved climbing on the 'stage' area and playing with blocks. We ended by making another fun activity- shaving cream bags where the kids could 'squish' and watch the cream absorb food coloring and transform to new colors. I think fun was had for all. It is supposed to be toasty this week and so we'll take it indoors for a trip to the Spencer Museum and some baby painting!

Here are some other things of interest:

New foods:

- Bananas- You love it when we peel a 'naner' and let you take bites. You can eat around 1/4 to 1/2 of a banana in one sitting! We have to watch, though, because you like to take BIG bites...

- Hamburger- Last week you sucked/munched on a BBQ hamburger in your little munchkin mesh feeding thing (what are they called?). You loved slurping up the juices. Last night at GG's, you ate some crumbled hamburger from the taco salad and enjoyed it.

- Kidney Beans- GG experimented with the different taco salad ingredients and found that you really like beans!

- Olives- No, not so much. GG gave you a small piece of a black olive and thought you ate it, she found later that you had spit it out and left it on the floor in the kitchen. LOL.

- Ice Cream/Bomb Pops- OH.MY. You had your first experience with the ice cream man (read: scary, scantily clothed woman with bad teeth) and were in heaven! You shared a bomb pop with mommy and LOVED the red (cherry) section and liked the blue (blue rasberry) part. You also licked on daddy's friend, Tina's, Orange Dreamsicle, and daddy's ice-cream cookie.

New sounds/'words':

-Papa -Ba-ba (Bottle) -Blowing Rasberries -Ball -Bye -Hi

New experiences/favorites:

-Windchimes: You can't get enough! Whether it is on an aisle at Wal-Greens, at GG's or Nana's, you MUST ring every chime within reach. Daddy and I have an inkling that you'll be a percussionist, as much as you like strumming on his guitars and playing with the chimes. You also enjoyed banging on the Piano at Nana's (although it is horribly out of tune).






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