Baby Person (new photos added)

Libby is such a little baby person!

She has always known her own mind, and she still does.  But now, she has a variety of ways of letting you know what she would like rather than just crying about it the way, you know, babies do.  Because she's not a "baby baby" now, she's a "baby person" - or that's what we call her in our house (thanks, Michael!)  He's always coming up with funny baby and dog stuff.  I hope that she always knows and follows her own mind (and not be easily influenced by say, her peers that I'd prefer she not go along with.)

All ready for church in Mommy's old dress (that was handmade by Marmena!)

Anyway, Libby likes for you to be proud of her, so she proudly holds up various objects for you to see and admire (often by kissing them/her hand) and express your appreciation verbally, too.  She's even fed me a few pieces of her own food.  She also asks questions through various sounds, or tells you to pick her up or help her walk or show her something - or maybe even just explain to her what you're doing (if you're not already doing that.)  She also lets you know if you've forgotten to let her turn off the lights as you exit a room with her or if you forget to stop at one of her favorite places to let her inspect it.

She's also doing the cutest little "snuffy face" - frequently to me, since I do it back and egg her on!  "Snuffy face" is when you pucker up your lips like you're going to give a kiss, but instead move them upwards to under your nose and then breathe in and out quickly through your nose.  She also like to make this noise using the phlegm in the back of her throat.  Life is such fun to figure out!

Occasionally something can catch her off-guard though, and the waterworks come on.  It just about breaks my heart when that happens because it's like it was so shocking to her that it just gradually builds inside of her, then the face gets semi-inquisitive or perhaps she gets "the big eyes," then the sides of her lips start their journey downwards and there's not a darn thing you can do to stop it until she's had her good (often brief) outburst of emotion.

I mentioned in the last blog post that we're doing some new experimenting with food.  She is doing better with an adult spoon-feeding her - as long as she gets to feed herself, too.  In addition to her old stuff, she likes freeze-dried blueberries and mangoes (thanks, Emily!), though she was practically purple after the blueberry eating.  She likes halved raisins and craisins, whole wheat crackers, cheerios, the same crackers with sharp shredded cheddar melted on top.  She's also enjoying pieces of our food (which I make with very little added stuff like salt, butter, etc. when I can - esp. the veggies.)  Last night I made some butternut squash on whole wheat pasta for dinner from a baby cookbook my aunt gave me so she could enjoy it, too.  I don't think Michael was a huge fan, but it was pretty good to me - esp. with the chicken I made to go with it!

She's still not into raw fruit like bananas or tiny pieces of grape, etc. unless it's in yogurt (thank goodness she'll eat from a spoon some again.)  The surprising discovery that I had yesterday was that she LOVED this white bean dip that I make, which is super-healty and includes, white kidney beans, lemon juice, garlic, rosemary, and... red pepper flakes!  I guess it got her attention?!  She ate that on a cracker and even ate the pieces of cooked carrot I had for her to eat with that on it.  Whoo!  I guess we should try some sort of hummus next.  We're still working on the sippy cup.

Cheering for Georgia Tech with Daddy!

"That's a great hat, Daddy!"

On another note, one of my friends who is also a recent mother, asked the other day whether I "felt like a mother."  I really enjoyed the chat that we had about it.  She shared my initial feelings the first times I left the house after having Libby, but without her in tow, that it was (a) wierd to go out without her and (b) a shame that all these people shopping around us had NO CLUE that we just had the best baby on the planet!  We both wanted to somehow announce it to the outside world.  Perhaps on a button like the moms of cheerleaders or football players wear to their games.  You go months and months with it fairly obvious that you are carrying a child and get to answer tons of questions about what's about to happen... but after it happens and your baby isn't with you - no questions.  And HELLO, I do have the BEST BABY, and would be MORE than happy to tell you about it.  I hope all moms feel that way.

Of course, I try not to bore coworkers with too many long stories about her - but sorry friends- you're stuck listening.

Oh- I also took my baby person to a kindermusic class on Thursday that's not too far from our house.  My neighborhood friend who I walk with sometimes mentioned that she'd love to have us come when Libby pushed back her first nap.  Since I switched up my work days this week, it worked out for us to go this time.  Though Libby wasn't the perfect participant in every song and activity, we did have a great time.  And tons of kids were just doing their own things at various points during the class.  It was very laid back, so when Libby spent time climbing on and off the ledge of the gym floor to the regular floor, it was no big deal.  We hope that Ryan can join us sometime, too!  We hope to make it back next week.

And I swear she's grown taller in the last week.  Verified by two grandmothers.