Seven Months and Counting

Anjali is over seven months old!  

If it's hard to tell from the photos, she has a full head of strawberry blonde hair.   Some of it is quite long, including the curl in the middle of her forehead that takes two turns around.  Her eyebrows are a little bit blonder, and here eyelashes a little bit browner.

She weighs 18.2 pounds.  

Anjali still passionately dislikes riding in the carseat.  And she passionately likes people.

For the most part, she has moved on from inspecting and dissecting the leaves on the houseplants, and now instead reaches into the pot and sprinkles a handful or so of soil on the floor to play with.  This accompanies her increasingly fine use of her fingers.  While on the floor, she notices small little bits, and touches and moves them around with her finger.  When being held, she examines buttons with her thumb and forefinger.  And if there are no buttons, zipper pulls, or necklaces to pinch and roll ~ ouch!  Mommy's chest has bruises from Anjali's fingers!  As with any other new skill, she must always be practicing.  

As you have seen, Anjali is getting around quickly.  Papi swore this morning he saw her take a couple of actual crawling steps ~ coordinating her hands with her knees, but this has yet to be verified by Mommy.  Regardless of the official technique, she gets where she wants to go.  I am confident, however, that after some guidance from Auntie Woo this weekend, Anjali will be officially crawling.  (o:   

We, along with Tita Arlene, believe that Anjali is saying her first deliberate word, "hi." This is what I always say to Anjali in our many visits to the mirrors throughout the day.  Sometimes she replies, "Heh," (or something close).  Of course I have not been able to document it on video yet.  "Mamamama," has been one of her featured noises for a while.  When she does this, I reply, "Mama."  Today, she said, "Mama," and then I said it back to her, and she smiled at me and said, "Mama."  But I still don't think she associates that sound with me.   

And then there's that little white spot we saw on her lower gum line yesterday that, in retrospect,  I think was a curd of milk.   But there could be a tooth there.  Someday soon there will be a tooth there.  

As you can see from the photo above, Anjali is sitting quite solidly and has gained a lot of skill in balancing to keep herself there.  But she still prefers to be on her tummy, and on the move.  

The coming month joyously brings many visitors, and who knows what adventures and developments for Anjali.  But here's to this month ~ month seven.