8 ate 7

We appear to have missed the seven months update, which of course I blame on my mother* who came to visit for three weeks, starting the week my beautiful, strong, curious Booboo started "swim" lessons and "dance" class and promptly decided to flip the [redacted] out if I wasn't holding her at all times. Prior to this Little Djinn would play happily near me and sometimes I could leave her long enough to rotate the laundry, get lunch, or pee depending on the needs of the moment but that week and most of the next if she didn't ave one hand clutching me she was convinced she was going to die. It was, um, challenging. I gave up on getting anything done including blog updates and mixed myself a drink each night as soon as she fell asleep. Oi vey.

Despite her unwillingness to be without me, by 7 months she was "cruising", walking around while holding on to things, and just this past week she figured out crawling! We're super excited, super proud, and super belatedly baby-proofing the house. She also figured out how to climb up the stair and yesterday climbed the big staircase (11 steps) and then crossed the landing to get to her Daddy. That was her first proper crawling, her previous efforts mostly entailing snow-ploughing across the bed with her head pressed against the mattress. She moves really fast but tends to pick a direction and you have to be there to catch her at the edge. Chris and I are ageing daily. 

The second week my mother was here Chris brought home a cold (we think from the toy store where Grandma bought Little Djinn's Christmas present). By the weekend I was sick, followed by the baby and then Grandma (who shouldn't have let LD stick her wet fingers in her, Grandma's, mouth. Just asking for trouble) just in time to be poorly on her transatlantic flight. I woke up sick on the Friday before Little Djinn's christening, the day her out-of-town godparents arrived. She has two sets of godparents, Mark and Sue here in Inverness who I think of as "Chris' side of the family" and "on my side", Shaun and Uli** drove over from Ireland (yes, there's a ferry involved). It was wonderful seeing them, if a bit unusual having our house full of very loud children. Little Djinn liked watching her GodCousins play but was less sure about them trying to play with her.  And Uli brought three garbage bags and a box of clothes for our Booboo to grow into. And for some strange reason a whole bunch of shoes without mates. Talk about having the One Shoe Blues***.

The Christening was very nice, we had the Godparents and their respective children and some neighbours round and made cheese and tomato swirls, sausage rolls, scones, and chocolate chip cookies. My, by which I mean Alton Brown's, chocolate chip cookies bring all the guests to the yard. I am winning the Brits (and the Irish and the Swedes) over to the "cookie" side, one batch of chocolate morels at a time. We had a bit of trouble getting to the church, but the ceremony itself was smooth enough and Little Djinn only cried when the priest grabbed her and poured water over her head. And then every time he looked at her thereafter. 

After everyone left and it was just the four of us again I collapsed on the sofa and felt very very poorly for a day (missing swim class) and then Little Djinn got a runny nose so we skipped dance class that week, too. And then Grandma left which was very sad for everyone. The house felt big and quiet and empty for some time after she left. We've had two sessions each of her classes and she's blossomed in both of them so I'm thinking about adding story time at the library on Thursdays if I can get my act together. After next week it's "half term": the swim class ends and dance class (and presumably story time as well) take a two-week hiatus. We can't sign up for two swim classes in a row so we're signed up for one starting in December and on the 21st of October we can see if there are spaces left for the class starting on the 28th.

I think that's largely The State of the Booboo. She's sleeping the same, though we have plans for me to move back to the big bed (then finish the night in the nursery after her wee hours nurse). We still don't have teeth or consonants though she says "uh-muh" when she's really upset and I thought I heard a feisty "guh!" or two. She's 7kg, so she's drifting back to the 9th percentile line. She plays peekaboo, pulling a blanket over her head and then off again over and over. Chris made a peek-a-boo oveture to her and she looked around, found a blanket, squirmed over to grab it, and pulled it over her head so she could play. She pushes her blocks through the holes in her workbench if someone lines them up for her. We need to get her a proper high chair this weekend as she's big enough to push her stool off of the table. She can feed herself Cheerios**** and other finger foods: she's mastered, or at least figured out, the pincher grip of thumb and finger. 

We continue to be overwhelmed with love for her and delight in each new discovery she makes and skill she acquires. 

* this just in: you're never too old to blame things on your mother. Alternate theory: my Gilmore Girls rematch has reached critical mass.

** I met them online a good 15 years ago; we went to visit them the first winter I was here. They lived in Inverness briefly many moons ago and my mother didn't realise that that's not how I knew them until after they left. 

*** a Sandra Boynton song performed by B.B. King. Speaking of Ms Boynton, I won a copy of her new album and a frog plushy off of twitter and they even shipped to the UK. How awesome is that?

"One shoes. Does she expect me to hop?"

**** the, ahem, sticking point was leaving them in her mouth. She could pick them up and stick them in her mouth but they came right out again with her fist.