Growin' Up

First, our latest photo shoot with Daddy...Don't you love those shoes? (Thanks, Auntie Tasha!)

So...In the midst of all this transition, Hadley has started doing all sorts of new things. Last Wednesday, she rolled over (from her tummy to her back) for the first time. (Of course, Jason failed to mention it until this weekend because he "didn't know that it was a big deal." BOYS! Hadley and I rolled our eyes and giggled at him. Then she rolled over again.) He wants me to note that it seemed more likely that she lost balance, but I told him that if it only happened once, perhaps it was a fluke, but since she's done it a dozen times, I think it's a new skill.

Then she rolled from her back to her tummy. Just once, so maybe that was a fluke. Either way, she's a rolling maniac.

She belly laughs now, too. Not all the time, but when something really strikes her as particularly funny. She laughed her head off at the baby across the street, which was both funny and kind of embarrassing  because Hadley could not get a hold of herself. Every time she looked at the other baby, she went crazy. 

And she grabs at everything--including my lunch, when I have her on my lap. If she can get ahold of it, her hands make a beeline for her mouth. She has yet to get any turkey sandwich, but not for a lack of trying.

But one of my very favorite new things is her little folded hands. She brings her hands together like she's getting ready to pray, especially when she's eating. It's so sweet.

I think Hadley's favorite thing is "talking." It's not so new--she's been making noises and cooing for more than a month--but she's really into the rhythm of conversation now. She says, "Ah-goo, eeeeee, aaaaa, iiiiii." And then she waits for me to say, "Oh, really, Hadley? Tell me more about it." And she gives me another four or five distinct sounds, and then looks expectantly at me again, until I respond. We have lots of these nonsensical-but-totally-fabulous conversations.

Everyone told me that babies change quickly, but I had no idea just how quickly. It's exhilarating and a little bit sad; it's such a gift to watch her grow up, but I don't want it to go too fast.

To that, Hadley says, "Ah-goo, EEEE!" I think that means, "Don't worry, Mama. I'm not in any rush to grow up. Now where's that turkey sandwich?"