Why now?

Another question one might ask about my Mama blog is, why write it now? Well it's true, it's because I haven't gotten around to it before now (I'm mama to a new baby!). But also, this is an intensely exciting time in Emaline's life. It is the turning point between her being an immobile baby and a being with her own desires and means to obtain what she wants.

In the past few weeks Emaline has started crawling (video to be posted if I can figure it out), pulling up, and talking. Just this morning, while looking at her dog Prema she said DA and signed "dog" over and over. Yesterday she did this while looking at a PICTURE of a dog on the cover of her book, Whistle for Willie. What a big step! Not only does she know what dog means, she knows that other things are dogs besides HER dog. Even a picture. Wow!

Her other words currently are Mama, which she uses more articulately now and with more intention, she also calls her Dad Mama when she is feeling affectionately toward him. She seems to be understanding the signs for "more" and "all done" and is working on saying "more" when she eats.

Oh, how sweet is this, Em gives kisses now! She takes her mouth and often grabs my face, and pushes her mouth (open onto my chin or cheek). This if often followed up by blowing raspberries on my face or in front of me. Kisses so far seem to mean "thanks for picking me up" or "I like being close to you" or "oh I love you so much!" It's heart-melting!


Also this morning, Emaline pulled up using my hands, and wanted to come to me, and she took
4 or five intentional steps to get there! She is growing by leaps and bounds, and I am dully impressed. She is seven months and 3 weeks old now, and an advanced little thing.

We have begun working on the transition to get Emaline to sleep alone, as having her in our bed isn't working anymore. Firstly, Stephen and I are squished in there, and can't talk or anything past the time that she goes to bed. Second, Emaline started crawling off the bed. So I moved a mattress to her room, and have been putting her to sleep there for a few nights. She naps alone there during the day, and sleeps there alone at night until she wakes up. She crawled off the bed twice Sunday night (it was a rude awakening) but was fine, since the bed is on the ground and I padded the surrounding area with pillows.

Now let me explain, that she isn't hanging out on the bed crawling for awhile when she falls off. No, she wakes up and flips over, and probably still asleep crawls right off the bed! I think her little body is just so excited about her new mode of transportation that she can't stop! Last night though her lack of sleep seemed to catch up with her and she was tired. She did not wake up and crawl (thank goodness!) and went back to bed quickly every time she woke up. She slept great actually! I'm hoping this is a new trend.

So that's a little glimpse into how our lives are changing. She crawls from room to room, picking up any paper/plastic she can find (been sweeping a lot), any kind of electronic or wire is insatiably interesting. We are working on getting everything baby proofed, but for now I have my eyes on her at all times. Working on making her room a safe place for her to be alone. Prema is excited about the new things his little sister is doing, and responds excitedly to her crawling. In fact he is a big factor in helping her crawl, since he brings her toys and balls that roll away that she has to go get! If I get the video up you'll see some of that.

Alright, I'll update again later, it's a very exciting time here in the Brown household!