Journal

Week 38

(August 13th, 1999- August 20th, 1999)

Life:

Wow, things have been so busy! It's been so great having the car- I can't even begin to describe how much it's affected my life. Like, now, if I need a pack of diapers, I can just pop in and get one, instead of having to figure out when to go, how to get it home (how to balance it across the top of the stroller!!!), etc etc etc.

Also a big change in our lives is Harmony's newfound mobility! She's kept me on her toes this week, but things are pretty much babyproof around here, so it hasn't been too bad. I've had to do a couple mouth sweeps (she got ahold of this little piece of paper and was eating it!), but so far she hasn't eaten anything she shouldn't have! (to my knowledge anyways!) I remember so many moms always saying "Oh sure, you always say you wish they were crawling and then when they do, you want them to slow down so you're not chasing them everywhere!" but I haven't found that to be the case. So far Harmony's crawling is a great sign of her independance, and I've found it to be better off for the both of us. I have a big toy box turned on it sides, books up on a little shelf where she can reach them, and other larger toys just out where she can get them. When we get home, we just have play time, and it's been so much *more* fun now that she's crawling! She can crawl over to whatever toy strikes her fancy, and often crawls right to the toy box or the book shelf to pull everything out and find what she wants. It's hysterical when she seems to be looking for a specific toy or book- she'll crawl over to the bookshelf, sit up, and pull the first book off. She'll look at it for a second, and chuck it on the floor. Ditto with books two, three, four, etc. She'll stop and put book five in her mouth, and then finally pull book six off and decide she's found the one and she'll sit and "read" for a bit. She needs a bit of help turning the pages, but if you hold a page out a little bit so her fingers can fit underneath, she'll really good at grabbing the underside and just flipping it over. Another game that's been fun is when we crawl around together. She loves to follow Mommy down the hall, and play in the doorway of her room. Once, she was inside her room, and I was out and we were just playing peekaboo. I would crawl around the corner, and wait, and then quickly pop my head back in the doorway and crawl right by her, around her, and out the door! We did this for a bit, and then she crawled over and tried to shut the door !

Apparently Harmony's dad is done ignorning us, and just wants to pick up where he left off. He got back in town on Sunday, and has emailed me, but hasn't called or asked to see Harmony yet. His email was all like, wanting to know what my parenting styles and stuff was, but I told him he was jumping ahead of himself. He wants to know what my plans are for disciplining her when he hasn't even asked to *see* her yet? I don't think so. Hopefully he'll call, but I'm not counting on it or anything.

Harmony's Growth:

Not much new here, I'm hoping to get her weighed next week, just to see where she is, but I think her growth has probably slowed down quite a bit now that she's around 20 pounds.

Harmony is working on a lot of different skills these days. She'll still getting faster and faster at crawling. She can now go from tummy to back, then to sitting up, then forward to crawling, in one fluid motion. She's also working very hard on being able to pull to standing on her own, and still loves to walk with assistance. She's also working on her fine motor skills, and her pincer grasp is excellent. She also enjoys hearing her voice very much, and is now saying long strings of little "words", connecting different ones (for example, "Dadada dididi")

Continue to the next week...