Our Valentine

Other than pictures, it's been awhile since we gave an update on Amalia June. Each day, we are amazed at how her personality develops. Eating all types of solid food is going well and she's sitting up very well by herself. She doesn't have too much interest in crawling all though she can get anywhere she wants by rolling there. She is at once fiercely independent and wildly social. She loves outings of any sort--church, the grocery store, friends' houses, you name it. She delights in playing with other kids and at at one mom's group, she's usually the loudest even though she's the youngest. We hear comments all the time about how happy she is or how content she appears.

But...as any parent knows, it's never that way all of the time. Teething is difficult for all of us. We're trying to empathize on how it must be to hurt and not be able to verbalize that (although, not for lack of trying!). She communicates in so many ways; her latest is yelling very loudly at us, usually in regards to the food she thinks she must have. Have you ever seen a seriously caffeine-deprived person in the morning? Well, that's how she is until she has her handful of Cheerios, which she must feed herself, and only with her left hand (her rules, not ours). Some babies might prefer to nurse calmly, warmly, in bed with their parents at 6:00 am, especially when there is a blizzard outside. Not our daughter. Everyone must be up, downstairs, and participating in Cheerio-fest.

And then there's bedtime. She continues not to be much of a napper, unless of course, she makes up her mind that she needs a nap RIGHT NOW. Then there's no stopping her. We've read all the books by all the doctors on this matter, Sears, Ferber, Weissbluth (for the record, Weissbluth is the best), and none quite seem to understand the tenacity of our daughter. However, regardless of whether naps happen or not, bedtime is always 6:00 (again, her rules, not ours). She is synchronized to that time--nursing begins promptly at 5:20, and asleep at 6:00. I tried to keep her up the other day to see her Daddy come home at 6:15. I wound up with a cranky, hard-to-put-down little girl by then.

So yes, we love her more each day. She teaches us about baby-hood, ourselves, and our priorities on a regular basis. Thanks, Mali, for making this an extra-special Valentine's Day. Your crazy kisses and occasional hugs make everything worth it.