Five more things you might not know about Reilly

1) Reilly has started two new habits that are too cute for words. The first occurs when she is in a sitting position: she will kick out her legs, rubbing them across the floor in glee. The second is when she is standing in her Exersaucer, sitting in her high chair, or riding in her stroller: she will hug herself and twist back and forth with a big smile on her face.

What makes these two habits so endearing is that they each are physical ways for Reilly to express her good mood. The movements are distinctly un-baby-like, which is to say, she looks like a playful little girl.

2) As I’m writing this, Reilly has crawled up next me and started staring at the CD player. This brings me to the second thing you might not know about Reilly. She understands that the music in the apartment comes from the black box on the shelf next to the TV, so, when she wants to hear music, she will look at me and then stare at the CD player. When she sees the CD tray open, she gets excited and starts saying “huh-huh-huh!”

I think her love for music comes from two places: one, that we played music constantly when she was a newborn, just one of the techniques in our arsenal of calm, and two, that we just play a lot of music in our apartment. The whole house is addicted to Raffi now.

3) Reilly has learned how to stick her tongue into her cheek. The first time she did it, Shawn and I ran over to our baby, pried her mouth open, and tried to determine what foreign object she had placed in her mouth. Of course, her mouth was empty, except for her tongue. Now, when she does it, we can relax and laugh.

4) Reilly can now drink from a sippy cup with ease. A combination of the right sippy cup and a dose of patience helped us reach this feat.

I love this sippy cup: The Nuby. Not only is it designed in a way that is superior to all other cups, it is also the cheapest. I think we picked up the Nuby for $1.99 at CVS. The only problem is that there is no handle with this model, so we’ll have to keep working on getting Reilly to hold it herself. For now, we’re just happy she has some water in her diet.

5) Last, but certainly not least, Reilly has learned how to CLAP. Shawn has been working really hard on this one, and all her hard work came to fruition this morning when Reilly clapped on demand. Now, we need only say “yay!” and Reilly will start clapping. She has been kind enough to oblige us all day today, clapping like a little monkey.