ok, so anna is now cruising.

well, that is an exaggeration, but not by much. today she pulled herself up on the window seat edge and moved along it sideways -- the entire length. about 6 feet of stepping sideways.

all she wants to do is practice standing and now stepping. she crawls to me and clambers up my legs to her feet. but she does NOT like having me hold her hands over her head. so i have to get down to her level and put my hands under her arms for support.

i seem to remember something similar with carter or ava, not sure which, but i know it was not at 8 months. neither child walked until 12 months, and though they went about it in very different ways, they definitely did not bother with it until very close to that point.

she also figured out pointing.

all this might explain why she is not sleeping at night, but wow. that does not help me. i am a complete zombie. i have fgured out though that she will lie with her head on my shoulder if i walk or rock with her in the dark. if the light is on though, yippeee!! time to PLAY!

however, her teething is nothing compared to what ava is going through. her molars are unbelievable. all 4 at once, and they are so swollen and bloody. AND she is cutting her 2 bottom adult teeth behind her baby teeth (apparently very common, though we are calling her the great white shark-girl), so that means 6 teeth are coming in at once. she was in tears at school the other day, and i had to go retrieve motrin so she could get through the day. she could not even chew her pizza this evening.

i had no idea this was on the horizon. poor ava is the guinea pig for all of my parenting efforts/trial by error. at least it happens in the context of genuine intention to do my absolute best.

reading-readiness? sure! but 6-year molars? no clue.