Kilostones

Random string she found attached to our sheetless bed.  Trouble.

Maybe that's the metric version of milestones?  Bad puns aside, Baby L has been doing some interesting things lately, and I would like to chalk it up to infant development and not weird eccentricities on the part of my baby girl. :)

Face Pinching
Yeah, I know, pincer grasp.  The good news is that my little lobster is figuring out how to pick up little pieces of meat off her tray. The bad news is that she thinks my cheek is a great place to practice her pinch, and right in that part of my face where I have a bit of extra pudge (in the jawline area) I see a lot of action. 

Teeth Brushing
Baby L has four teeth! Unfortunately, she must have sore gums as well because her favourite thing to do is to bite and gnaw at her My First Toothbrush.  She can sit there and do it for like 10 minutes without getting distracted.  Sometimes, she will also bite at the nipple of her bottle, which drags on her feeding for nearly an hour.  Finally, she'll grab my finger and shove it into her mouth, clamping down with her newly-emerged little chompers.  I'm not going to lie, it hurts when she does this, and I've probably yelled a time or two when it has happened.  Unfortunately, she remains undeterred.

Book Pulling
The result of having figured out cause and effect, Baby L likes to be taken over to the bookshelves so that she can touch our collection.  She begins to randomly pull at the books within reach, and when they fall down onto their spines or off the bookshelf, she will laugh hysterically (or maniacally, depending on your perspective).

Toy Throwing
Specifically, musical toys that suddenly stop playing due to being thrown.  It's not that she is annoyed by the melodies or anything, it's just that she enjoys the abrupt silence and then watching Mommy play fetch.  While I am retrieving the toy, she will oft burst into that hysterical/maniacal laughter again.

Slow Clapping
I wish it was because she was showing sass and being sarcastic, but it's not.  It's just Baby L trying to figure out this clapping business, which she has almost mastered.  She knows that her hands have to be open and that they come together, but she hasn't quite understood the need for some force and speed behind the meeting of the palms.  So for now, she gives this soft slow clap at random times.  It's actually pretty cute, particularly when it is preceded by her close examination of her hands and a bunch of funny little wrist turns.

Gate Opening
Sometimes we don't close our baby gate, since we're usually pretty good at keeping Baby L far from the kitchen area.  However, on rare occasions she will crawl off and end up in front of the gate, gazing longingly into our dinky little kitchen.  If the gate is left ajar, she has figured out how to pull it or push it open.  Scary.  Needless to say, while she's awake the gate remains closed now.

Stink Eyeing
Not sure if this is actually a milestone, but Baby L has perfected her stink eye at the young age of 8 months.  She is mostly stingy with this look, so she may go days without throwing you eye shade.  However, if you eat in front of her and don't share, particularly when she reaches out eagerly for your food, be prepared to be stared down in the meanest possible way; Hubbs got the look today while eating his peanut butter bread.

It's hard to believe my little monkey is already approaching 8 months, which seriously seemed like an eternity away when she was a sleepless little newborn.  So glad to be watching her little personality emerge, although I'm not gonna lie - some of what I see concerns me, because I'm beginning to think that she's got some of my traits, and not the good ones, either! 18 seems like an eternity away. ;)