Changes

I haven't written in a while to talk about some of the developmental changes Edie's been undergoing of late so I thought I'd take a quick moment to document them. Mostly for my sake. This first year is coming to a close so quickly and I want to make sure I put down in writing some of the little things while they're happening.

Yesterday Edie started pointing. It's strange how these things happen. I've been pointing at things for ages and Edie typically just stares at me without acknowledging the fact that my arm is fully extended with my finger pointing strongly at a specific item of interest. While feeding Edie some crackers and cheese for her afternoon snack yesterday, she slowly lifted her right arm and pointed directly at me. It was actually a little creepy, with her staring at me completely deadpan. Since then she's taken to primarily pointing at birds and airplanes. Andby this I mean that she points at EVERY bird and airplane that she sees. Because the other new thing around here is Edie's obsession with the sky. She hears an airplane in the distance and tilts her entire body back and head up to see where the plane is.

It feels like all of a sudden Edie is figuring shit out. She really gets it. She's been clapping for a while, but now claps on cue, when she's clearly excited about something, or when she hears someone else clapping. The other day she heard people in the yard next door clapping and she started clapping in response. Same with laughing. When the adults in the room burst into laughter there's often a second delay and then all of a sudden Edie will come out with this super loud, forced fake laugh. It's hilarious. She also waves when people say "hi" or "bye". Sometimes even if the word Hi isn't accompanied by a wave, she'll still wave just at the word.

Her walking in the last 2 days has also become really strong. In the last week she's gone from walking only 40% of the time and crawling 60%, to about 90% walking. While I cook dinner, she now just walks laps around the kitchen the entire time, stopping occasionally to pick up a toy or wooden spoon on the floor.

Edie has what appears to be a limitless capacity for socializing. Possibly inherited. From me, not from Jeff. As if there was any confusion on that point (if I believed in using emoticons, I'd insert a smiley face one right now).

Anyways, Edie particularly loves older kids. Like maybe more than she loves me. I took her to a consignment shop for kids today and there was an 18 month old girl there. Edie was standing in their little kid area, playing at an activity cube when she spotted this other girl. She immediately barrelled over to her using her zombie run and shouted "YEAH!!!" at her. This is her favorite noise right now, she exclaims "YEah!!" constantly. The other little girl wasn't talking yet either, so the two of them babbled in an animated fashion with each other for like 20 minutes while I shopped. She kept looking over at me like, "This is SO AWESOME." I couldn't really argue with her. It was so cute to see her so excited. We had a similar experience at U Village yesterday where Edie tried to make best friends with what appeared to be a 5 year old playing in a fountain. The girl looked at Edie in a confused manner, but Edie was completely undaunted, shouting excited babble phrases at her with a face that said "Let's go play! It's cool - I know I look little, but I'm super fun. I promise."

Then just today, Edie and I were at Toys R Us when this 8 year old boy asked his Mom, "Would that baby like to see my toys?" I was thinking I'd have to make some polite excuse to this boy as to why Edie wouldn't want to play with his (way too advanced) toys. Except before I could say anything, Edie turned around and gave this kid a 5000 watt smile and proceeded to listen carefully as he explained his toys. He'd point at something on the box and Edie would point at the same thing in response and exclaim, "YEAH!" I died. It was so cute! I didn't know whether to laugh out loud or start crying. It was just so effing precious.

So I've been feeling like I need to get this kid into daycare. We have playdates every week and we still go to playgroup. I'm also going to try taking Edie to The Little Gym a few blocks from home soon. I try to give her lots of interaction with other kids/babies, but I'm starting to feel like I'm actually doing her a disservice to keep her from daycare at this age. I think she'd be PUMPED to hang out with a group of older kids more regularly. Which is good timing because a potential (and still completely unconfirmed) part-time opportunity has possibly landed in my lap. Details will come when/if the job is an actuality, but I'm excited. I think it'll be another month or so before things change (IF they change) so I hope to enjoy the rest of the summer with my Bubs before dipping my toe back into the professional world. But my Mom retires in the Fall and with one day in daycare and one day with my Mom, I feel like we might just find the perfect balance. We shall see.

Oh, and I still have a bajillion cute photos, including some of Edie's friend Danny wearing one of her dresses.