Hi! This is Jess, and I can type again! Kind of. But much better than I could for the past month. I have to sit far away from the keyboard so that my arms are straight, but it works! So, since one of the things I've missed most in the past month was keeping Brie's baby book (i.e., this blog) up to date, here's some things the lovely Brigid Elizabeth has been doing lately:

-Brigid has learned that things have FUNCTIONS. So she uses brushes to brush her hair and puts anything cloth on her head (because that's how you get dressed, things go over your head). When she was presented with a laundry basket full of underwear, she hung them around her neck, and then threw her head back and grinned, preening.

-Brie uses straws now, both for drinking, and for BLOWING BUBBLES.

-Brigid figured out her stacking rings, and works on simple puzzles. She sits and reads to herself, with animation in her voice. This morning I sat and drank my coffee, listening to this little voice babbling expressively and happily, turning pages and talking about what was on each page. She also likes to be read to, and will find the page with the turtle on it in her favorite book and point to it - see, the turtle poem has hand motions, and so it's exciting.

Pointing is another thing: Brigid spends large portions of her day pointing at things and saying, "Dat!" and waiting for us to tell her what it is. She thinks you're supposed to sniff books, because we sniff the flower page of "Pat the Bunny". She says "ma, ma, ma" when she wants to nurse, because that means "mama milk" (upon reflections, I should have called nursing something different, because now I have no specific name, "ma ma ma" being nursing and not me).

Brigid mimics us a lot. I licked my fingers after eating something today, and then she licked hers, decided that was funny, and then gave me her fingers to lick for her, and thought that was funnier. She tries to whistle when we do, pursing her lips and humming and blowing. She sings along at church and bangs on our gong with its stick and plays the piano.

She can walk holding on to just one of our hands, and can squat down from a standing position without holding onto anything. She's getting a lot of practice walking these days, because it's easier for me to hold her hands and walk her somewhere than to pick her up.


Okay, well, I feel a little more caught up now. :) I think I'm going to stop there and rest my hands. But before I do, I want to thank everyone again for their prayers and their help. We've felt very, very loved this past month. Thanks.

-Jess