big pictures

New tricks this week:
Karen REACHES. Anything that's near arm's reach, she goes for--with no regard for balance/falling. If I'm holding her and I try to drink, she's all over my cup. If she's lying on our bed, she'll squirm and twist to try to get to whatever toy she sees. She's starting to sit up, but very precariously. She has the muscle tone, but not the balance. If we sit her up, she'll stay there until she sees something to her side and goes for it and falls over. She's "talking" a lot, and I can't get enough of those sweet sounds. I'm starting to teach her to drink from a cup. It will be a while before she's big enough to hold it herself, but if we hold it for her, she'll take a few sips out of the sippy cup. Of course, I can't get a picture of that because as soon as I get out the camera, that's way more interesting than the cup.

Karen is sitting up here, playing with her activity board.

What a great smile.

8th night of Chanukah.

Karen has her finger in her mouth like this about 25% of the time. I think it's cute. Her finger is turns into a prune after a while.

Here she is again with her finger hanging out of her mouth.

When she's playing on the sofa and I'm in the kitchen, she looks over the back of the sofa like this and I could EAT her up!

I took one side off her crib and attached it to our bed like a "side car," with a twin sheet from her bed accross ours so she can't get a hand stuck in the crack.

Sleeping in the sling after a walk.

Karen is now big enough for the "hip carry" position in the sling. This is the position we can use with her until she's too big to carry. She sits on my hip like you'd normally carry a kid, but I get the sling around us and I have my hands free. You can't see it here, but the sling is high up her back (arms can be inside or outside, depending if I'm willing to have her reach for things) for support. This is how we go to the grocery store now, instead of the Kangaroo carry.

If you look back at old pictures, you can see how she's really grown compared to this bouncy seat. Soon she'll be too big for it altogether.

Wide eyes.