Kisses

I have been working quite a bit lately, with just two full days off since December 3rd. Tomorrow though, I will reap the rewards with almost two weeks of vacation. As the month has progressed, I have been missing Sunny more and more. Yesterday, I had had a long night and was about to go back to sleep when I remembered I had to go back to work earlier than usual. I only had an hour and a half to spend with Sunny! Alan and I raced over to Jeff and Tammy's. I picked her up and suddenly I could breathe again. Then Alan told me the news:

"If you tell her to give you a kiss, she'll do it." And she did.

Communication is magical. For first few months, Sunny could just cry and hope we stumbled on the answer but now she looks and twists and shouts and smiles. She is just as tickled as Alan and I when we know what she is saying, so to speak. Her life is beginning to have new purposes beyond survival. If she wants a toy, she stretches and strains and screeches to try and get it. She is able to push herself towards it, but then her baby reflexes make her bat it away again and the cycle continues. Eventually, she gets frustrated and Alan or I will push the toy over to her. I interrupted her in these maneuvers in the first picture below, but as the second picture shows, she did not mind too much.



















Despite our growing comprehension of her baby needs, we remain clueless at times. When this happens, as it did this evening, she loses her energy to scream and just sighs, groans and whimpers. Her eyes plead with us to make something right. Sunny whimpered all the way through dinner, but then gave us some smiles and laughs when we played with her on the floor later. It is amazing babies do not get frustrated more often when they are constantly trying to do things they cannot.





Like getting food into their mouths:












We have a park a few blocks from our house and walked there the other day to get some exercises and give Sunny a chance to see other kids playing. As usual, Alan and I could not resist getting a few pictures.





This may be the last post before Christmas, so Merry Christmas fellow Sunny fans.

Thanks

For Thanksgiving this year, Alan and I had our parents over plus my Uncle Ken and Aunt Yvonne and Alan's sister Jenny and her boyfriend, Ian. It was my first year cooking the turkey and fixins', though luckily Tammy, Sandy, and Yvonne all helped me in preparing the feast. Sonia helped keep everything light by laughing and cooing. And pulling beards.



Little Sunny often finds grownups she does not see everyday a little frightening. Because of her separation anxiety, she did not care to be passed around the first day, but by Thanksgiving, she was more at ease. This fear takes hold even if she knows the person wanting to hold her. Funny how just when it gets to the point where I cannot hold her while stirring hot stuff, she does not want to be held by anyone but me or Alan. As you will see below, all the comotion tired her out for awhile, but when it was time for bed, she cried for half an hour to come back and join in the fun.



Besides sweet potatoes, Thanksgiving time brings another kind of baby food: dried leaves. Being inside gets a little old of both of us, and for her and Alan, so we often go on a little outing. This outing was just to our front yard, but she had so much fun! We are pretty laid back about the yard, so there are piles of leaves perfect for a baby. She liked to crush the leaves, bang on them, then give them a lick.



Sunny surprised herself by sitting alone, for a few seconds, just before Thanksgiving.




Random, adorable photo: