There she goes!

Katelyn passed her 7 month birthday late last month.  Then as April came in, she took off.  She figured out how to really crawl and this was not an April Fool's joke.  She means business when she's crawling.  She seems to love it and will pause to make sure you are watching and give you a cheesy grin and then keep on going.  She showed off for everyone during our monthly family skype FHE over conference weekend.  She seems so proud of her new talent and she loves when we cheer and clap for her.

As she crawled across the floor for the first time I had so many feelings flood in.  I was excited that she figured this out and learned how to move.  I was nervous about all the things she would be able to get to now that I couldn't just sit her down and know that she'd stay there.  I was sad that she's becoming more independent and she's doesn't need me as much anymore.  I was proud of how she learned how to do something new.  I was happy to see her so happy and excited to be getting herself closer and closer to the phone all by herself.

As long as I am in sight, she will sit and play with shoes or toys.  She will move around and roll around with whatever she's wanting and then as she's done playing, she will whimper and crawl over to one of us.  She has figured out how to pull herself up our legs or to stand along the couch and will peek over the edge or around our leg so she makes sure we know she's there.

She's trying to figure out how to crawl over things, but for now she just plows through and drags any toys or blankets along with her :)  We have become her personal jungle gyms as she likes to climb all over us . . . or other babies at play group. . . to keep our attention on her or something.  We never really know what she's thinking, but she seems to be very expressive so we feel like we have a good guess most of the time.

Along with pulling herself up on things, you would think that getting back down would be part of that skill, but that hasn't come yet.  She used to be a really good sleeper, but now if she wakes up at night she will stand up in her crib and then call out for help.  So I have been waking up multiple times a night to find her standing in her crib.  It never takes much to get her back to sleep so I wonder if she knew how to get herself down if we would have our good sleeper back.  It could be teething, hunger, scared of the dark, loneliness, or even a bad dream, but I blame it on her inability to get down for now :)  We will never really know, but I miss those nights of uninterrupted sleep.  

She loves playing any type of peek-a-boo game.  She loves having a blanket or towel over her head to figure out how to grab it and pull it off and have everyone cheering for her.  She also loves to play with people that sit behind us in church.  She will lean from side to side to peek at the family sitting behind us hoping that they will play along.  She's so irreverent, but too cute to ignore!  I will sneak around the corner and play it with her and if I take too long to come back she will start crawling after me.  The best thing about this game is definitely her face and her reaction.  She knows that the face is somewhere close and when it pops up she couldn't be happier!  Most babies love that game and she is definitely one of them!

Lately she has had a thing for the dishwasher.  Whenever we are loading or unloading it and she hears the noise of the dishes, she will quit playing with her toys and head on over.  It might be that it is at her level and she is trying to help, but her "help" is cute, but not really helping.  She also likes to "help" by sorting her clothes.  She knows right where they belong, but then changes her mind a few times.  Soon enough we will have her helping out and I don't think she will be so eager then :)

For a few months now she has been a good "kisser."  It seems and looks like she is trying to eat my face, but I like to assume she's sharing her love!  I used to think she was teething and would use my chin or cheeks or collar bones to massage her gums, but she's been doing these "kisses" for a long time now and I don't think she has been teething all her life.  She even put a nice little hickey on my chin.  David wasn't even around for me to blame it on him and we were both impressed with it :)

Here is a video of her recent talents.  She sure is a cutie and we are very entertained by her growing personality.