Update: 7 months

Belle recently turned 7 months old. Early in her sixth month, she started crawling. Now she's really good at it and can get where she wants to go. Except up the stairs. She hasn't attempted those yet.

She also started cruising right before she turned six months old and can now stand on her own for upwards of 20 seconds. I've been able to see how she thinks things through before acting (so unlike her brother!). If she wants to sit down, she prepares for it and sits. She doesn't fall like one would expect. I've seen her contemplating picking up a foot to try to take a step but she quickly changes her mind and then sits down.

Before Christmas, I thought walking might be pretty close, but she's so content with crawling that I think it will be a couple of months before she decides that walking is worth it. Once spring comes around and she's having to crawl on concrete, she'll decide that walking is better.

ECing is progressing. Most poops are into the potty instead of diapers. We have been able to take some outings to the shopping center nearby and she's stayed dry the whole time we are gone. I'm having to rely on more intervals than cues. She's now peeing every 40 minutes or so. I've recently started putting her in training pants and that's working well.

Table foods were introduced and after exploring with her fingers and tasting for a few weeks, she finally gets the concept of food and enjoys whatever we put in front of her. Yay messy baby, and of course, the prerequisite soiled clothing and the multiple baths a day.

Willem has started pretending extensively. He has 3 imaginary pet dogs and an imaginary Tiger. The dogs are all named Angie and they are Australian shepherds. Yesterday I noticed him playing with words for the first time. A Campbells soup commercial was on (Mmm, mmm good) and a few minutes later, we heard him dancing around singing "Mmm, mmm bad." Its one of his first jokes!

He is starting to recognize letters and is learning to operate the touch pad on the computers. He'll tell you that W is for Willem, B is Belle, C is Cookie and M and is for Lighting McQueen. That one bothers me because I was trying to teach him that M was for Mama and he connected M to McQueen first. No good! Now he'll say that M is for Mama and McQueen.

We've been having difficulty getting along recently. Sometimes I've felt like my life is being directed by a 3 foot tall dictator. Some days are better than others, but I've gotten pretty frustrated with his constant demands and impatience. I try to be patient and teach him more appropriate behavior, but its challenging and I've been finding myself in need for more time for myself.

I'm still taking yoga classes every week. To relax, I've been learning about Nature Based Spirituality and sustainable living. I recently started No Pooing and I like it very much. I'm hoping to start some patio gardening and getting organic produce delivered weekly.

Today we took a lovely walk through Ravenna Park and went to the U-District Farmers Market where I tried Raw Milk for the first time. That might become standard in our house and part of our weekend routine.

The applications to the University of Washington are in. I applied to 3 PhD programs: Women's Studies, Public Health and Public Affairs. We'll see if I get in and if I'm able to accept.

If I'm lucky, I will be getting an article published in the Journal of the Association for Research on Mothering for their violence against women issue. I should find out next month about that.

Willem is turning 3 later this month so the birthday plans are underway.