January Highlights

It’s hard to keep up with all the changes lately. Occasionally, I’m reminded of cute stuff that Morgan used to do when she was younger and I’m saddened by the fact that I’ve already forgotten about those details. That’s why I think I’m going to start a “highlights” blog at the end of every month. I hope to capture all the little things about Morgan that make my family’s life so bright and rich.

I think the biggest thing I’ve noticed about Morgan during January was her ability to show me that she’s really starting to understand the world around her.

She’s started speaking a little more. She’ll put a cell phone up to her ear and say “hi” in such a sweet little voice. She continues to really enjoy peek-a-boo and loves to point at things while whispering sweet little baby gibberish. You can tell she’s really trying to tell you a story by the way she looks into your eyes and spills out all these different little sounds. She’s even got the cadence and head bobbing down. I can’t wait until she can really tell me what she’s thinking.

Morgan is definitely learning what she wants and doesn’t want and just the last couple of days has really got the “scream” down. When she gets frustrated, she relieves that pent up stress by screaming in the loudest, most high-pitched scream she can muster.

Morgan has started feeding herself with utensils since Mom and Dad finally starting giving her some to try. She continues to love bath time, dancing and music in general. We have a little cd player in her room and the first thing she points to upon entering her room is her cd player to let you know that she wants to listen to music. She even went over and turned it on herself the other day. Daniel said she knew exactly what button to push and she knew to sit there and wait until the music started playing.

She loves when mom recites “Five Little Monkeys Jumping on the Bed” to her and she knows the hand gestures that go along with every part in the story. I made up hand gestures and movements to the story and she’ll anticipate the next part by doing the hand gesture right before I start that part of the story.

Daniel and I have only taught Morgan a handful of signs but the ones she’s mastered is the one for “dog” and “more”. We really need to continue to teach her more signs because we love it when she communicates with us.

Daniel and I were blessed with the fact that Morgan has slept in until 9 or 10 am every single morning for the last several months but just the last week or so, 7 am is her new wake up time. At first I was desperately disappointed about this until I realized how much longer my day feels when we get up earlier. I think I’m actually enjoying it!

Morgan loves when her daddy plays with her, which he does often. He’ll chase her, throw her up in the air and catch her, he’ll jump around and play-dance with her in his arms. It’s evident that she loves every second of it by the shrieks and shrills that come from her giggles and laughter. I think she’s already figured us out. When she’s hungry, needs a diaper change or wants to cuddle, she’ll come to me and when she feels like playing she goes straight to her dad and gives him a big smile to entice him.

Morgan’s biggest thing at the moment is mimicking everything we do and I’m surprised about how much she soaks up. It’s definitely a wake-up call for me. Just the other day, I was giving myself a pedicure and Morgan would scrub her feet like Mommy and would pretend to push down on the lotion pump and put lotion on her hands. She wasn’t actually getting any lotion but she sure had the movement down.

I don’t want to forget a moment of any of it!