As much as J and I might like it, time isn’t stopping and our girl keeps changing every day. Not to say that development is a bad thing but she just seems so perfect as she is that I want to enjoy every stage to the fullest. Still, it’s fun to watch her learning and changing all the time. Some of her latest things:

• She’s becoming a happier baby. Not to say that she wasn’t happy before, but she’s very quick to smile and look around and less quick to cry. Her first three months she had very little tolerance for her needs not being met immediately. Now she has a little more tolerance and adaptability. For instance, she can be distracted out of a fuss by something interesting (like us smiling at her). She doesn’t cry getting in and out of the car seat, having her clothes changed, or other little things that used to really bug her. She’s also enjoying being able to entertain herself more and we can set her up in her crib, play mat or in her Bumbo chair with a toy or two and she’s pretty happy for a little while.
• She loves most to interact with people. Even when we do set her up with some toys she plays happily but really lights up when we come back and talk to her.
• She is becoming a champion raspberry-blower and practices all the time. Seriously, if she’s awake and not talking she’s probably either blowing a raspberry or is about to. She’s quite proud of herself after she does it.
• Sleep is something that should be fought – with smiles and coos. This isn’t terribly new (I think I remember writing about it a month ago) but it’s kind of annoying. Particularly at night she’ll be almost asleep and then open her eyes and blow a raspberry. Last night she did this at 4 a.m. and promptly got herself put in the swing to entertain herself while I dozed. When she was done playing she fussed a bit, I picked her up and she promptly fell asleep in my arms.
• She’s a pretty good sleeper – though, as always, writing that will mean that tonight is a rough night. In general she goes down between 7 and 7:30 and wakes up once or twice to feed before getting up for the day between 6:30 and 7. On weekends we can usually put her down again until after 8 and then her morning nap is shorter.
• She’s beginning to reach for things with both hands and use both hands to manipulate and play with objects. Before she was just using one hand and occasionally the other hand would bat at the toy. Now she’s figuring out how to work both hands at the same time. Of course they always work in the direction of her mouth.
• She’s still our little cuddle bug and I’ve taken to calling her “Bug” for short. She loves to be held, sit in your lap or lie next to you. However, she now is getting very good at grabbing hair, earrings, necklaces, mouths, etc. so I’m on defense when I’m holding her.