Happy 8 Month Birthiversary!

Stealthy as a soldier bellying across the battlefield, Kaleia glides across the laminate flooring. Mission: Dog food bowl.

"Kaliea no touch."

In the instant it takes to lift the temptation out of reach, she's off to the unguarded kitchen. Next Mission: Splashing in the Water Dish. Foiled again! Okay...New Mission: Finding something small to put in mouth.

With all the army crawling she does I often contemplate designing her some jammies made of swiffer sheets so she can be my ally in The War of the Dirty Floor. Until then we'll just stick with changing her uniform often. Lucky for us she recently hit the all-important milestone of pushing her own arm through her sleeve.

During moments of ceasefire, Kaleia spends her time: standing at the music table jamming, making lots of (mostly spitting) noises, and reading--instead of eating-- the occasional book with Mama and Papa.

Sweet potatoes, having the right texture, taste and stomach agreeablity, have become a daily staple. But M-I-L-K is still the prefered sustenance. We now have to spell the word so as to not insight a wiggle fit, a fit rivalled only by Mama's return from work. Surprise kisses freely given are a welcome development and enthusiastic high-fives are a fun new trick.

Eye rubs and sweet moments of resting her head are surefire tiredness alarms and she's still super easy to put down. With the increased mobility and activity we experienced a few glorious nights of full sleep until the invasion of The Two Front Teeth. Hopefully, a treaty will be estabilished soon and our little Gremmi-bear will be transformed into a Gremmi-beaver. We do however need to teach her that Mama is not a chew toy.

Unfortunately, we are realizing, that despite our best intentions, 2nd child syndrome has set in. We have not been as intentional about signing with Kaleia or reading to her. She hasn't had swimming lessons or been to as many places as Maggie had at her age. While we know that it is not possible to give her the exact same experience (and in some ways her experience is better than Magnolia's -- we are wiser, more prepared parents and she got to begin life with a loving sister) we want to make sure we don't deprive her of the activities that will help her develop.

That's our mission.