Naomi pt. XII

The ability (and desire) to communicate is probably the biggest thing that has changed since Naomi Janelle's last update. She's consistently responsive to a handful of words (besito, no, come here, mas, bye bye; to name a few) and has a clear interest in communicating back to you; though it mostly comes out in a sequence of noises, squeals, and grunts. To listen to her and Jasmine go back and forth across the room after "lights out" each evening is almost a heartbreaker. As they talk and laugh themselves to sleep, I'm reminded that Naomi is closer to being "one of the them" than she is to being an infant. I almost can't even remember the newborn stage already. Depressing. It happens so quickly.

The other major change is probably her diet (or should I say, the lack thereof). Venesa may be, but I'm not quite ready to give up baby food. It's simply too convenient. It's hard to beat popping open a can of food and being able to announce that dinner is served. But then it's also getting harder to deny the fact that she is ready for a permanent seat at the big table. She has already abandoned baby utensils for silverware, traded bottles for a sippy cup, will scan the entire room for better options before agreeing to eat jarred food, and has recently proven that there is no limit to how much spaghetti a 10-month old can eat in one sitting. But I'm just not ready to let go. So there, it's final. That is... Until I get the bill for the next batch of jarred baby foods. Then we'll talk again.

Oh... and one more thing to document: She LOVES to dance. She's got a side-to-side wiggle move that she's had since about 5 months that we call the Nao. At first, it was exclusive to the highchair, and so for weeks I was convinced that she was just trying to scratch her back. But then she broke loose and started doing it everywhere. She'll dance while she eats. And if it's good, she'll dance when she's done. She'll dance to anything from a song on the radio to tapped fingers on a tabletop. She'll dance to daddy's beatbox, or mommy humming a tune. She'll dance to just about anything. And applaud for herself when she's done. And if she was the first born, I'd have a great video of it to show you. But, she's #3... and so you'll just have to take my word for it. Sorry.