New Skills

It seems like every day just about, Maddy is growing up a little more and doing something new. I've been trying to photograph them all and get videos, but whenever a camera comes out, Maddy is more interested in grabbing the camera than she is in performing for me ;)

Maddy's fine motor skills are getting better and better all the time. She loves to hold onto rice crackers and feed herself - she goes through so many of those things. She can even feed herself blueberries! She is holding her own bottle (that took longer than usual, understandably) and also can pick up her water bottle and attempt to drink from it (usually she doesn't tip it far enough back though). She loves paper for some reason, and whenever she gets her hands onto a piece, she plays "peekaboo" with it - SO CUTE :) And she is always fascinated by the smallest speck of dust - she will cross an entire room to pick up something I can barely even see ;)

Maddy is moving more and more every day. I mentioned in my previous post that Maddy probably won't really crawl, but I realised that she kind of DOES "crawl" if you want to call it that. When she's laying on her front, she can go forwards, if that constitutes "crawling". It's not a conventional crawl, or even an army crawl. I think it's best described as a "caterpillar crawl" - she'll kick with her legs and put her little bottom up in the air, then slide forward with her head. I'm sure it's not comfortable - but when she's laying, she can't get herself into sitting position yet - so she's gotta get around SOMEHOW ;)

Talking of moving, Maddy is REALLY wanting to stand. Her hands are not strong enough for her to be able to pull up like most babies do, so what Maddy does is find a raised surface like my legs, a pillow or a large toy, does a face-plant onto it, and then maneuvers her feet so that they are on the ground. Of course, her body is stuck at a 90 degree angle to her legs - but that is how she "stands". If I let her use my hands, I can help her to stand up straight with her feet on the floor and she will jump up and down. Maddy does a "see saw" kind of thing with her legs where, keeping her legs straight, she will go forward onto her feet lifting her bottom off the floor, then see-saw back down with her legs still straight onto her bottom. It's hard to explain but it reminds me a bit of how Kai gets around in this video that I already shared with you all (especially watch how he gets from laying to sitting. Maddy is already trying to use that same method - but she's not QUITE there yet). 

In addition to these motor skills, Maddy is also developing some social skills as well. She loves to wave to us now, and for a long time, she has loved to shake her head "no" and nod "yes". She seems to know the funniest times to insert them into a conversation and she loves to make people laugh. I'm trying to consistently sign with her - but I'm not the most consistent person in the world ;)

I will keep trying to get these new skills on video to share with you all :)