Starting soon, this blog will be transitioning the name of the baby of the family.  Currently, she is known on this blog as Baby J; in the near future, she will be known as Curious J.  (Curious George, Curious J — get it?   )  Because, man, this kid is into everything, and she is scared of nothing.  And when she gets wiggly and squirmy, it is literally like trying to hold onto a monkey.

Tonight as I was getting her evening bath ready (and she needs a bath every night, due to amount of food that manages to get smeared into her face and hair every day), she attempted to pull herself to a standing position against the (out)side of the tub.  She fell down, of course.  No major bumps.  I comforted her, and what was the first thing she did once she got out of my arms?  Tried to pull herself up on the tub again, of course.

She is so different from her big sister Lyd.  At times, I almost feel like something is wrong with Baby J when I compare her to what Lyd was like at her age.  But, I think she’s just a very active baby.  And, when I talk about her to other parents, everyone says that she sounds very normal.  While she’s an active baby, she’s not a fussy or cranky baby.  She’s very happy and lively, and when she IS fussy, it’s usually pretty simple to discover what’s wrong.  Usually it’s A) hungry B) poopy or C) tired.  But, man, she is into everything.  Oh!  And she hates when I have to fish paper out of her mouth.

Before she was born, I prayed that God would send me (us) the exact right baby for our family.  I looked at it sort of like a marriage: Just as God brings two people together to be married, God also matches babies to the right family.  So, I absolutely know that Curious J is the right baby for us.  I’m not always sure what to do with her, but she is helping me grow in more ways than she will ever realize.

And I think she likes us, too.  The other day at her 9 month check-up, her doctor said to me, “Your daughter is very bonded to you.”  It made me feel really good to hear her say that to me, and I’ve carried that compliment around in my heart ever since.  Sometimes I wonder if I’m doing enough with her to help her developmentally, and then I realize that there really isn’t much I can do beyond feed her and keep her clean and safe and comforted at this point.

But I (we) have been able to make an impact on her spiritual development.  We have a bedtime prayer routine involving spoken and sung prayers that we do with Lyd every night.  When J was born, we just made her part of the group for prayers.  And now, whenever she hears those prayers start up, beginning with “Now I Lay Me Down to Sleep,” she perks right up, starts laughing and kicking with excitement.  So she DOES know her prayers, even if she doesn’t know what they are saying!

She’s a great kid.  I’m not sure how I’m gonna keep up with her, but I love her to pieces.

(And her nursing has picked up again, just like I had hoped.  Aahhh.  Much better.  I was gratified tonight when I was putting her to bed to see her making sucking motions in her sleep long after the nipple was out of her mouth.  Awww.  She was dreaming of nursing.  I’m SO glad our nursing days aren’t ending anytime soon!)