A Whole New World

Things are different around this apartment lately.

When Madelynn wakes up from her nap, instead of screaming for me to come get her, she'll suck on her feet, babble to her bunny, and practice rolling. If she's not in the same room, I don't even notice that she's awake. She has learned to entertain herself.

Bath time used to turn her into a screaming mess. Now, she kicks her legs, splashes with her arms, and squeals the whole time. She loves it. I'm appalled.

It used to be that if I didn't shove a boob into her mouth the second she decided she was hungry, she would be completely inconsolable to the point that I would have to calm her down before I could even attempt to feed her. Now, she pulls on my shirt and opens her mouth to let me know that it's time. Are you kidding me? No, she's not.

If she becomes tired, she'll put her thumb in her mouth and lay her head down to signal that it's time for me to move us to the glider so that she can be rocked to sleep. She's out by the third rock. She tells me when it's nap time. Holy hell.

When she wants to play with something, she'll reach for it with both hands, grab it, pull it to her lap and play with it. I know this sounds so simple but just a couple weeks ago, this was totally unheard of. Hold her own toys? Chew on them without Mommy to hold them for her? Yeah right. I feel kind of useless. I only get to participate when she throws them across the room and I run to fetch them for her. Just call me Lassie.

She's so easy now. If she's crying, it's her teeth. Where's the guess work in that?

I've always loved this baby, but now I find that I actually like her. She babbles constantly, trying to socialize with Jeffrey and I, jumping in on our conversations to throw in her two cents. She's not that needy newborn that she used to be, the one that drove me completely insane for months. She's a person. Instead of seeing her as this blob whose stuff takes up half of the living room, I actually see her as another human being sharing this house with us. How strange.

I was doing laundry, and had left her in the middle of the floor on a blanket. I went to fold some clothes and when I came back, she was on her stomach in the corner of the room investigating the leg of her swing. How did she get there? No really, how the hell did she get over there?

It's a whole new world baby.