5.11.2006
What the 8 month sleep regression gave to us
I am proud to say, folks, that we have survived the 8 month sleep regression. We think. It's hard to be sure, because she's got a cold again, and we've been working so hard, but I'm pretty sure I remember a few nights a couple of days ago where Julia slept relatively well again. Maybe.
Anyway, remember when I told you all clear back when Julia was only like 3 months old that she could say the word "Hi"? We thought it was so cute. But then she stopped saying it. She moved on to practicing other sounds, and never again did we hear the word hi come from her lips. But after weeks of not sleeping so well, Hi has reappeared in her vocabulary. With a vengeance.
A little over a month ago Julia perfected the art of making kissy sounds. Not the Mwaaah! kind of sounds, but the kind of sound made when you purse your lips, create a vacuum, and then pull your lips apart. An honest to god kissy sound. And once she got it, she did it to everyone. It was so damn cute! But then the sleep regression hit (though we didn't know what it was, we just knew that she wasn't sleeping worth crap) and at the far end of it she stopped making kissy sounds to greet people and started saying...
Hi! With the exclamation point! Hi! Hi! Hi! Hi! She even gets the dipthong at the end. And she definitely knows what it means. When she wakes up from a nap and wants to let us know that she's awake she calls out Hi! Hi! Hi! from her swing or her crib. When a new person enters her line of site she says Hi! Hi! Hi! until they say Hi! back. And then she'll Hi! them a couple more times to make sure that she has their attention. When we go to pick her up from daycare it's Hi! and a big smile.
So it's official. Hi is her first word. She's a little social butterfly.
***
Yesterday I picked up Julia from daycare and took her to the doctor's office. Just a cold. For now. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that it stays just a cold and that she's well over it by the time our vacation rolls around. On the way back home she fell asleep, and I decided that instead of taking her back to daycare where she would get little to no sleep, I would just take the rest of the day off and let her nap all day. I'm so glad I did!
I spend a lot of time with Julia, but not so much time during the day, alone, when there's really nothing else to do. Our weekends have been so action-packed lately. And she goes to bed 2 hours after I get home from work at night. But yesterday we had hours of free time together. I couldn't grout because I needed not to be covered with cementious compounds in case Julia needed to be picked up quickly. I put a second coat of mud on the drywall, but that took less than 20 minutes. I was too overwhelmed with the chaos to clean. So we napped together. And then we played together. And then we napped together some more. And then she got up and I let her play on the floor. I watched her nearly roll over. And nearly crawl. I watched her scoot on her butt in quest of leaves, and dust bunnies, and toys. She can go fast, and far, on her little butt across our hardwoods.
And then I had to go to the bathroom. I put her in her playpen and excused myself. As soon as I closed the door she started crying. I hurried my business and went back to her, but still, she had been crying for a minute or two. As soon as she saw me appear it was Hi! and a big grin. I picked her up and held her close. She slid her hand around the back of my neck and pressed her mouth, hard, into my cheek. We stood this way for a moment, and then she let go of my head and pulled her mouth away with a big MWAAAH! Her first kiss!
I do that to her all the time. As a matter of course, a part of the way I greet her after an absence. Hold her cheek against my mouth and then pull away with a big mwaah. But to have her do it back to me...
I'm so glad I played hookie from work.
I wish I could do it more often.
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Sounds like a marvelous way to spend a day away from work.... I love that she gave you a kiss back - doesn't that just melt your heart?
G's first real word was Hi as well. Now she greets me every morning with that word - still at 2+ years!
Awwwwwwwwwwwww! The kiss thing just totally melted me.
Hi Julia!
Adorable!
Hi! to Julia from me :o)