And now for something completely more uplifting

With all this kitty trauma one might think Yelena is on the back burner. Mais non! I finally broke into the Vosges chocolate bar Eli got me, so I have loads of energy to blog about her now.

The dumpling is as cute as ever and learning a few new tricks. No, she's not crawling so just stop f#$%ing asking already. If crawling were so great why aren't you doing it right now?

She's getting better at standing and, when she gets tired goes into this surfer squat, sometimes pushing herself back up. (The pediatrician was concerned that she's not pulling up, but rather pushing up with her legs. This concern is strange to me since, when you or I stand up, don't we push up with our legs? Isn't this preferable to grabbing on to something and yanking ourselves up? Oh why why why can't they just let my baby develop at her own speed in her own style? I got the pushy baby developmental blues.) She is also gripping the side of the crib once she's standing and leaning on the sofa to stand and reach. Sometimes she's barely holding on to me at all and has even moved her left foot forward a few times. She seems naturally cautious, so I think she is waiting to pull up and cruise until she knows she's not going to flop over. I feel we are on the precipice of something very exciting.

This week she has gotten more conversational. I say something, she says something incomprehensible back and we go back and forth a bit. I don't think she knows that shaking her head means, "no" but she knows it means something. Friday I asked her, "Did you have fun on our walk?" Smile and head shake. "Are you hungry?" Smile and head shake. We did this for a while.

Her best trick is when she wants to nurse or have some water she gives a fake cough. She's been doing it pretty consistently at only the appropriate times that it is undeniably a form of communication. Subtle.

From the wishful thinking department: sometimes she looks at me and says, "Uma." It's a little erratic, usually when I come back into a room, and it's probably just a happy sound. But here's dreaming!