Pumpkin Pie

At 8 months old Alyssa is finally getting the hang of sitting up on her own! She hasn't been a bit bothered that her peers have been passing her up, by sitting, cutting teeth and for an ambitious few- crawling! Well, I like that Aly isn't feeling the peer pressure. She doesn't feel compelled to follow the trends...she is blissfully unaware. I have called Aly "Pumpkin Pie" (sounds more like "punkin pie") since shortly after she was born. I think I have called all of my children "punkin" at sometime or another but Alyssa is sweeter than pumpkin- hence, Pumpkin Pie (try not to gag on the cheese and go with it). She truly is such a sweetheart. She has a very calm and kind demeanor- very forgiving. I know this because even after Kohen gives her a "hug" (the kind that look like a body slam from WWF wrestling) she cries for a second and then she is right back smiling and babbling at him.

The other day I got the picture below of Alyssa. She was sitting in her swing that sits close to the floor, her hat box of toys sits next to the swing. Well, I looked over and watched her carefully lean all the way over and reach down into the hat box. She was unable to turn her head to look into the box so she just felt around until she found a toy she wanted and she gingerly lifted it up and carefully dropped it into her lap. Even in her hunched over, cock-eyed position I could tell she was really pleased with herself...until she realized the she couldn't get back up! "Curses!" She thought, as her poor abdominal strength came back to haunt her. It was so comical because she sat there for a second and then quietly started calling out intermitently to get my attention. She was probably a little irritated with me because instead of rushing to her assistance I grabbed the camera and took a picture first...what does that say about my mothering?...hmm...Anyway, I sat her upright and let her enjoy the rewards of her hard work for a while.

Lastly, I wanted to share one final Aly tid-bit because to really know her, you have to know about what Nathan and I refer to as "the light-bulb". The light-bulb is a motion that Alyssa does with her left hand constantly, and I mean CONSTANTLY. When she is eating baby food, when she is playing with toys, kicking her feet, being squished by Kohen, when she is excited, upset...pretty much any time she isn't sleeping she can be found doing the light-bulb. It is this motion that looks just like she is screwing in an invisible light-bulb with her left hand (go ahead, try it. I wanted to know what the pay off was too!). It is often accompanied by a frantic kicking of her feet. How she manages to do it all at once is beyond me! Maybe this is what she has been working on while all of her peers were learning how to sit!!!!