Opal 23 - 26 weeks

 

Recently this baby lady has grown from being a clingy little monkey to being a clingy little monkey person.  She's really turning into an actual human.  When she's not insisting on being carried around the house in her human arm palanquin or the Bjorn, she's rolling all over the floor, gumming toys, pulling down the changing pad, and getting stuck under the bed.  Opal is getting really good at lifting up on her hands and knees and rocking back and forth, the prelude to crawling.  This is the squirmy age too when they start trying to spin and roll during diaper changes.  Who knew you could have tiring wrestling matches with someone who weighs just under seventeen pounds? 

Opal is starting to get that chubby cheek baby Popeye look that Zeb had around this age.  She likes watching people while they eat and gumming the air, or even better, grabbing a huge handful of Mommy's hair, wrapping it around her fist, and jamming that into her face.  She's doing well with cereal and I'm sure she can't wait to start real good foods (she looked extremely jealous of Eli's surplus school birthday soft pretzels).  Maybe part of the reason for all that urgent gumming - the doctor says Opal is officially teething!  Little pits are visible on her gums on the bottom where the teeth are eventually going to bust out. 

The best of all is seeing Opal interact with her brothers.  Wolfie is especially nice with her, from the self-slapdancing he does to entertain her to holding her and letting her eat his hair, but she loves watching all of them.  And when the boys start bouncing off the walls, she's beginning to add her own squealing vocals to the mix!  Yeah, I know, remind me of how cute I thought it was next year when she's toddler screaming along with her crazy brothers!  All in all, though, she's my Nuggetina Ocarina of love!