Baby Gaga

Since I knew Kayla wouldn't be all that into Christmas this year (Sorry, Santa, but I think she just wanted you for your ever so fluffy and ever so chewable beard), I decided to make up for her potential lack of enthusiasm by dressing her in an outfit so festive that she almost looks like Christmas chewed her up, spat her out and went "Look what I made!" Judge all you want, but there are only so many Christmases in your child's life when you can dress them in red and white striped leg warmers, a ribbon-wrapped shirt and the most Seuss-ish Christmas hat ever made without them whining "Maw-aw-aw-awm! So embarrassing!!!" And so, in anticipation of maybe not successfully being able to brainwash Kayla into permanently believing that dressing like an elf is "cool", I went all out this year. Take a look...



Hello Christmas Awesomeness!

The reality is that while the specifics of Christmas might have been lost on Kayla, the spirit wasn't. She was in an awesome mood all day, smiling, laughing, playful...she stayed up for a solid six hours that morning (that's four more than usual) and was an absolute ball of fun. I'm starting to think that I will find myself saying this every month, but this month she is even more hilariously entertaining. She is crawling and standing and playing and is just a total character. She's developing this devilish little personality that leads her to give you sneaky grins when she's doing something that maybe isn't a great idea (mmm...nummy wrapping paper, mmm...nummy DVR, mmm...nummy package of NyQuil tablets that Daddy left on the ground). She's also learning all these fabulous new tricks like clapping her hands, climbing the stairs, giving high-fives, bopping to a musical beat...It seems like every day is something new. Of course, none of those new tricks get demonstrated when I have her on camera in front of her relatives, then she turns about as exciting as a pet rock, but that's okay...(darned babies). She's started babbling non-stop. I think she even outdoes the homeless man on our corner at this point. And she might know more consonant sounds than he does, although he knows a few more choice words. She is now going "bababa", "dadada", "gagaga" and is clearly trying to communicate. You can tell that although she may not have said her first word, she is clearly aware of the fact that making sounds can MEAN something and so sometimes she'll give you this very focused look and will raise an eyebrow and go "dadababababa?" Like, "Hello? Can you hear me? I am TRYING to communicate with you, parental unit. Do these words compute?" She's also getting to be so independent. I put her down on the ground and she just crawls around and plays with her toys, babbling away to them as though she and they have some sort of elaborate game they're engaged in. I almost feel left out.

We made it home from WA Monday night and all is well, although we're now trying to get Kayla over her jet lag so that she will maybe go to bed before 11pm. I will do a full WA/Christmas post soon, but for now, here is just a mini-sneak preview in photo format. I'm off to feed Kayla her homemade dinner of sweet potato/broccoli puree and apple/blueberry puree. Lucky girl. It may be mush, but this shtuff is T.A.S.T.Y.! She honestly eats better than Chris and I do. This point was driven home yesterday when, after feeding her a homemade meal of butternut squash and pear puree, I then scanned the fridge and found that I just barely had the makings for a peanut butter and jelly sandwich for myself. I say again...darned babies...

But I digress, the photos...