Ehhh, Ahh, Ghrr, Ghoo...

Baby vocalizations now fascinate me. Strange as it seems, Violet is already making all kinds of noises, and often they seem so close to actual words. And I swear that she tries to imitate some of the words we say to her as well. I don't know a lot about infant developmental stages, and it might be way too early for her to be imitating us, but I think she is starting to. She seems, in particular, to imitate me when I say "hi". Maybe she is just now learning to make the long "i" sound and I am misinterpreting this as imitation, but it is cool nonetheless. In fact, what little I am learning (and to be honest, it seems like a LOT) about child development is really fascinating and amazing. I can't believe that Violet has already begun grasping objects, swatting at objects, and actually trying to stuff them into her mouth. Amazing!

Pretty soon, our little baby will be crawling around, grabbing things off of the shelves, and trying to eat her books. Oh yeah, and then she'll be eating solid foods and walking and trying to speak in complete sentences. Now I'm just getting overwhelmed by the immensity of this whole child-rearing business...

Anyway, here are some pictures, just for the fun of it.




Violet sports new booties and a hat, handmade especially for her by our great friend Jen in Moscow, ID. We miss Jen, and Moscow...

The hat and booties will help Violet stay warm tonight, as it is supposed to 11 degrees F *BELOW ZERO.* Now that's cold.

Mike also suggested that I mention the lack of an infant insert in the car seat in this picture. Violet has not only started to outgrow some of her clothes, but she has outgrown the car seat insert. Crazy!



Violet also has a new perspective from her Baby Bjorn. Mike put her in it front-facing today, and folded down the head/neck support. It is amazing to realize that Vi is getting so much bigger. And she now (obviously) has the neck strength to support her head and look around. She definitely prefers to be able to observe the world this way.



Nothing too special about this picture, other than the fact that we think it is really cute when Violet sucks not one, but both of her thumbs at once. And she seems to find extra comfort in holding her nose at the same time. Maybe Mike was responsible for her wanting (needing?) to do that...



And finally, I broke out the baby jungle gym yesterday. It is a loaner from Denny and Cassie - thank you! As you can see, Vi loves it. I thought she might be too little to really get much out of it right now, but I was sorely wrong. She kicked at it, batted at it, watched the lights, listened to the sounds, and generally had a blast. And we used it again today.