Ethan Ruth Harper Jack

Harper girl has learned to say "Mama"!!!

She says it spontaneously when she wants me, is frustrated, needs comforting, or when she's in my arms or just wants to get my attention. I can also coax her to say it by asking, "Can you say Mamamamamama?" She'll oblige most of the time. She's been saying it for about a week now. I haven't consulted the books, but her first word at 6 1/2 months seems early to me.

I continue to awe over her genius and her sweetness. This last week she's really becoming communicative, even in subtle ways. She gets it when I am teasing her, even just with a silent, silly grin shot across the room-- she'll laugh with a squinty smile. Last night I was playing with her on our bed, leaning over her and tickling her chin with my mouth and then lying back and she'd grab my face and neck and put her open mouth on me! The game ended, though, when she actually bit my cheek! Sweet thing... I should've known not to play that way. She doesn't know how to cover her teeth with her lips like I do it! I thought it was pretty smart that she knew to emulate me though. We've been playing games like that lately. It's always surprising that she can emulate and laugh and know that we're doing something, you know?

Another little "game" happened the other night. I said "Harper" and then leaned my forehead into hers. Then I lifted my head and said "Harper" again. She immediately knew to lean her forehead into mine and we went back and forth like that laughing until we exhausted the humor out of it and impressed a watching Daddy. She is so fun.

Other positive news: Ethan and I are working on gently teaching Harper to sleep for longer blocks of time because the waking-every-2-hours thing wasn't cutting it for me. I got so exhausted that even when I had opportunity to sleep, I couldn't! The slightest noise woke me, and I then caught a cold because my body was so worn down. We're pulling through the worst of it, though, and Ethan is a big help in the process. He comforts Harper when she wakes at night and we know it's not due to hunger. I've decided I'll nurse her once in the middle of the night (even though at 6 months they say babies don't need to eat at night) and the rest of the time, she just gets rubs or a rhythmic walk to help her back to sleep. This is supposed to teach her that night time is for sleeping, and day time is for eating and playing, etc. We think it's working because last night was the 2nd night of it and she woke up only 4 times instead of 6 the night prior.

Oh, and one more thing-- one of her top teeth is beginning to poke through her gums. Yipeee!