Some of our across-the-street neighbors just had a baby. I think they're visiting with our next door neighbors right now, and their baby is fussing a bit. I can hear him crying, and it keeps tripping me out - is it Ila waking from her nap?? But...the voice is wrong and...sort of younger somehow. It sends waves of exhaustion and desperation through me - I remember those newborn cries. God, I'm glad Ila isn't quite so new anymore. It's weird how long 4 months with a baby is; how old she seems compared to her earlier self. But, she's so different than she was...and, most importantly, I am not nearly so exhausted.
Speaking of being an amazingly mature, grown-up baby, Ila sort of sat up on her own last night. Well, I set her up and she stayed up. Very exciting. She didn't have her huge cloth diapers on...or any clothes, for that matter. So, I'm thinking this might be a naked only trick for a while. Sounds tawdry, I know...
She really does want to be upright these days, though. She used to be a real lounge-a-piller - always on her back and happy that way. In fact, I was a little worried she would never roll over (she still really hasn't) and wanted to just laze away her life on her back. Now she does this baby pilates move where she holds her head up like she's trying to get upright. She also does this when you put your hands under her sides to pick her up - like she knows what's happening. Pretty cool.
Her grip and grabbing accuracy are improving...which means she is more liable to want and reach for things that are not offered - glasses, hair, cameras...and she's more likely to actually get them:
Since she's so grown up compared to her little fetus and newborn self, I've changed the blog title to the completely boring and unoriginal, "The First Year." It's too much pressure to give it a cooler name...so I went with a simple statement of fact. Kiyomi thinks I should call it "The Poo Rules." As in, rules we have had to make about poop in our house since we introduced a being into our lives that scorns toilets. Really, when you're using cloth diapers and wipes there are all these new rules about poop - washing, rinsing, cleaning up. And, there are moments where our lives do seem dictated by things coming out one end or the other.
I think we are finally willing to venture a guess about her personality. Okay, by "we," I mean only "me." Other folks have decided things about her already - she's strong-willed or curious or impatient or stand-off-ish. (The list sound very negative to me, which is interesting in and of itself.) I think Ila may be a bit shy. When confronted with new people or people she doesn't see on a daily basis, she often looks away. This is a pretty typical baby move when they are overstimulated or overwhelmed...but Ila will then look back and stare at the person if they are NOT looking. As soon as they look, she looks away. Maybe this is also a typical developmental step in becoming a social being...but she is a little more reticent than other babies we hang out with to just gaze and smile at new folks...and, at the same time, she is curious and attentive to the people around her.
Interestingly, my mother noticed this a while ago...and seems very queued into the fact that Ila does this to her. What amuses me about all this is that, according to my grandmother, my mother did this same thing. So, I have to wonder, what would it be like to raise my mother???
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