This and That

Leah's growing by leaps and bounds, or so it seems lately. In the course of one week, she's really discovered her voice and has her first tooth peeking through.

The voice. It started with some growling. Sometime last week, she discovered the joys of a deep-throat growl. This discovery kept her entertained throughout the day as she'd growl during every activity-- crawling, playing, getting her diaper changed-- you get the idea. Then, later in the week, she re-discovered her actual voice. She's been babbling since she was a few months old, but recently she's kicked it up a notch. All of a sudden, we'd hear a loud "yow" (or however you'd describe a baby noise that's not the typical ba-ba-ba, ma-ma-ma, or da-da-da). Initially, we both thought that maybe she was upset (unusual, but not impossible), until we looked at her expression. Her toothless grin revealed her great pleasure at simply making loud and long noises. Now that she's expanded her "vocabulary", the two of us have fascinating conversations all day long.

The tooth. Yes, after months of teething, Leah finally has something to show for her efforts and pains. Low and behold this morning I noticed her first tooth (bottom right) just breaking the surface. Yeah! I was so excited, I almost called Scott to tell him, but decided against it. (He'd probably wonder why I called to tell him about a tooth. Of course, I think he was pretty interested in checking it out this afternoon after he got home. By the way, am I the only one who is excited over a first tooth?)

The spit-up. Not the most appealing topic, but this one amuses me to an extent. Like most parents, I'm curious about the person Leah will be become, about the adult she will grow into. Watching her and her spit-up today, I was thinking she might be either a psychiatrist or an artist. Okay, so spit-up probably doesn't make most people think of careers, but then, you haven't seen Leah (though I'm sure most babies do this). Upon spitting up, Leah loves rubbing her hands (and occasionally her face) in it. If I'm not quick enough, she'll swish her hands around, almost as if she's painting a picture. But then, I also thought that perhaps she's trying to determine what pictures she sees in it, similar to a Rorschach. When I pull her away from the puddle, she inevitably looks up at me, wondering why in the world I had to spoil her fun.

Ahhh, the joys keep coming.