eight months (beatrice darlene)

Sorry to be late again, Beatrice, but my camera charger was in the room you sleep in and I could never remember I needed it until you were actually asleep and you’re too light a sleeper for me to sneak in and get it while you’re napping. I love you.

Beatrice Darlene turned eight months on December the 4th.

I wrote in her last update that I thought she may be crawling soon. I was wrong–she’s still practicing mimicking an inch worm, getting up and down, up and down, but she doesn’t actually go anywhere yet. This is just peachy with me, as it means I still have a bit before we all have to obsess over whether the basement door is left open or not.

So, she’s still delightfully immobile, and she sits nicely; this officially places her in the Toy Inspector phase, where a lot of her wake time is spent seated in the living space with a basket of toys beside her, which she takes one at a time from the basket, inspects, tastes, then sets aside. Sometimes she sings to the ones she really likes (this is what she is actually doing as I type this update.)

She is quite the giggler, finding nearly everything and everyone hilarious, though she certainly has her favorites. For once, Mama is near the top of the list of Most Hilarious Persons, followed closely by Eldore, who is followed closely by Daddy. Actually, those two may even be tied for second place if not for the fact that Beatrice finds Eldore hysterical even when he’s just walking around doing nothing. Unfortunately, Grandfather and Grandmaggie are at the very bottom of that list.

She’s also a talker, and likes to hoot like an owl (unintentionally, I’m sure) but she’s fussy, fussy, fussy in the afternoons, in the hours between her last nap and bedtime. She’s not cuddly, but she likes to be close to someone, and it’s often quite difficult to accomplish anything in the late afternoons, unless what I need to accomplish can be done while 1) holding her, or 2) sitting beside her while she inspects toys.

She has lightning-fast grabbing skills, though she’ll also mind–sort of–when you tell her no–sometimes, at least–she broke a pair of my earrings just a few days ago, but she did let go–just a little too late.

She has a reputation in the house for being exceptionally cute and exceptionally crabby and can span the full spectrum between these two extremes faster than you can say Deedee-Butts (which is one of her more unglamorous nicknames). Despite her mood swings, she is most definitely living up to her name as the Bringer of Joy.