Development

There's no question Madeline's mind is getting very active these days. That's not to say it wasn't before -- who knows what was going on in her little baby brain -- but now the activity is much more transparent.

One cylinder that's supposed to be firing in particular is music appreciation. So today -- our last official baby-daddy day of my leave -- seemed a fitting time to dust off the keyboard and introduce it to Madeline.

She found the experience a bit overwhelming. I did, too, remembering only a few things: the C scale and its major and minor triads, the I-IV-V blues chord progression, and the very similar chord progressions of a couple Man Man songs, all of which I played for her tentatively. Though I encouraged her to bang along, she mostly gaped.

There aren't too many pictures from the day because another side effect of Madeline's current development is an adamant desire to engage actively with the world. Always. Given her limited mobility and self-sufficiency, active engagement necessarily involves a caregiver -- today, me. So excluding 2.5 short naps (the .5 being an extra-short nap where she seemed asleep but shouted every so often), and including one long one, we were tied together. I tried to introduce her more properly to the world.

She stared wide-eyed as I told her the green things were plants and that wooden thing is a chair and the thing in the middle of your face is a nose, and so on. She fussed if I tried to put her down. So I tried wearing her. We ended up abandoning the wrap and its outward-facing hold because she got so excited that she worked the horizontal stabilizing band down over just her feet. Not very stabilizing. But she, the Ergo, and I worked well together for the first time.

Until she got tired of being worn, and we went outside to sit in the wicker chair on the front porch. She watched swaying leaves and hopping robins and neighbors walking dogs until Summer came home.

Summer hoisted her up to provide a better view.

At Summer's arrival something fun happened, too. We've been thinking that Madeline's been developing a "hi" or "hey" -- not totally consistent, but consistent enough to be noticeable. Today when Summer said "hi," Madeline responded in like fashion, prompting a back-and-forth "hi"-fest that lasted a minute or so. Summer's eyes just about bulged out when Madeline responded -- our little baby is developing for sure!

We also checked out the garden. Madeline and I had snuck out earlier so I could snack on some snap peas, mmm. This time, Summer showed Madeline a daylilly (I think?), which Madeline found captivating.

And, back inside, Madeline continued exploring everything in reach by getting better acquainted with her feet.

Later this evening, Madeline stared with her trademark wide eyes at everything in the grocery store -- tomorrow the Greene grandparents are coming to check out their ever-changing granddaughter, and Madeline once again gets to bask in some extra love and attention.