It is unbelievable to me that Maiya is now 7 months old. I haven't weighed her since last month, but I can tell you, the girl is getting heavy. These pictures were taken a few weeks ago. Many things have happened with Maiya since the 6 month update. It kind of caught me off guard, but she is changing every day, doing new things. She started sitting much better, although she rarely sits, as she much prefers to be on the move. It's hard to say that she's really crawling, it's more like scooting around, putting her arms out and dragging her body along like an inchworm. She can get where she wants to go pretty fast.
Maiya is a young woman of great tenacity, who will fixate on something, and then go for it, regardless of whether she has to leap off the couch to reach the remote control, or stretch herself from the bed to the nightstand (glass top with metal edges) to get her cloth book, so I am always in the "heightened awareness" mode. She prefers to be held, almost all the time, so we are often in the "sling-a-ding" mode. It is getting harder for me to get things done, which is why I've been doing housework, paying bills, and blogging lately in the 4am to 6am timeslot. She has also learned how to squeal and scream when she wants something, and it seems to be getting louder and louder. She is quick to smile, and is very charming to people she meets. It kind of cracks me up when she shocks them by letting out some serious crankiness, thus shattering their ideal, of the perfect baby.
She is starting to go to sleep earlier on a more consistent basis, so she'll fall asleep somewhere between 9:30 to 10:30 pm. She'll sleep for longer periods of time, although she is teething again (3 or 4 teeth are works-in-progress), a possibly going through another growth spurt, which means that she may wake up once or twice a night. She still isn't much of a napper--she will take catnaps usually ranging from 10-20 minutes, and occasionally, if she is in my arms, or on my lap, she will sleep 30-60 minutes. We are moving slowly with the solid foods (once a day), on purpose, with the intention of continuing to nurse for as long as she wants (baby-led weaning), and I am amazed by the number of babies who nurse for 2-3 years. So far, she hasn't eaten anything she didn't like (bananas, prunes, apples, carrots, pears, peas, sweet potatoes)--she reminds me of her dad, when I see her eating with gusto!
I have been so interested in learning about diaper-free babies, or elimination communication, and we have actually put Maiya on her little potty, and we have "caught a pee" 4 of the 6 times we set her down. It is not "potty-training" per se, but more like reading her cues, signals, and her routine. What I have been doing is in the morning, if she has a dry diaper, then I will take off the diaper and set her on the potty and say, "pshhh." And then wait a few seconds. Most of the time she has peed within the first 30 seconds of sitting her down. If she doesn't go, or wants to crawl away, no sweat, we just take her off and change a diaper. But I can tell you that we have "saved" 4 diapers in our little bit of what-we-can-do-to-help-the-environment!
Tony bought a BBQ on Craig'sList (remind him to blog about that), and he has been grilling quite a bit. We took Maiya to the beach for the first time last week. We took the bus, which picked us up 2 blocks from our house, and dropped us off, right at the beach. We saved $7 in parking, and the hassle of driving around looking for parking. We went again on Sunday morning, Tony and his friend Hector went boogie boarding. But, summer is over. Classes started for Tony yesterday, and he is back in school. I will miss him being home in the day very much. I have been going in to Great Leap to help out quite a bit the last few months, attending meetings once or twice a week, and am going to be working there as a volunteer once a week. Due to the cashflow situation, we have had to shrink the office space, and layoff most of the staff. But, we are continuing the program, and have kicked off a major donor fundraising campaign.
All in all, I'm enjoying myself a lot, focusing on family and home. I am so lucky, and every day I am grateful for all the things that I have in my life. My love and kisses to my darling nephew Kevin who was very ill and faces some very difficult challenges ahead. But he has awesome parents, and I know that whatever happens, he will grow up happy and loved. We are so relieved to hear that Tony's Aunt Barbara, and her 4 children, who lived about 10 miles from New Orleans, have now been found staying at a hotel in Baton Rouge. We don't know any details other than that, but we know that they are safe and that they are alive. My heart goes out to all the victims and survivors of Katrina, who have suffered tragic losses because of G.W. (global warming) and G.W.B. (who should be fired), so much of which could have been prevented. While I'm incensed about the administration's negligent lack of response and preparation, I am warmed by all of the support from everyday people in the face of tragedy. Peace. Out.
