If she’s on hardwood floor, without shoes, Josie likes to do a little moonwalk like move.

We had a great Thanksgiving although not without its challenges. Josie was sick on the day itself, even had a very low grade fever and wasn’t feeling sociable. She healed up quickly though and got back to her normal cheery self. She had a great time meeting and playing with everyone! Unfortunately she also decided that getting up at 5am was awesome, so we made some early morning trips to Starbucks to help the rest of the family get some sleep. Sunday morning we had a lovely brunch at our aunt Ana and uncle Carlos’ house for more socializing and some great family photos.

Tonight we did a weight check on Josie to see where she is now. She’s getting huge! 16 lbs now. I think she’s been spurting up a bit in the last few days. Must be all that broccoli. Although apparently carrots are the new broccoli don’t you know?

Jordi’s family aren’t the only relatives in Miami, my grandmother lives there too and so at Thanksgiving we brought Josie to visit with her great-grandmother on Miami Beach right after landing. Josie had a good time throwing magazines on the floor and even got a visit to the beach. She was most excited about the little dog on the beach thouguh rather than the ocean. The picture frame just barely cut off on the left side of the image is of my grandmother’s mother.

Last Saturday we got some time to use our (new england) zoo membership and go to the Miami Metrozoo. We went with Jordi’s mom, dad and paternal grandmother. It is a great zoo with lots of animals. We had a quick visit and managed to make it through the zoo and have extra fun by renting a bicycle built for 8 (6 adults and two kids). The seats were pretty tight with three across in the back but we made it work. There aren’t many cages because most of the animals are kept from (killing) you with deep ditches and moats.

Josie didn’t like riding in the front basket of the bike, but she liked being in the carrier and ‘driving’ the bike. One cool thing they let you do there (for $2) is feed the giraffes! Josie didn’t seem phased by the huge animal in her face, she was more interested in grabbing the lettuce. I was feeding the giraffe and suddenly felt something wet on my hand, I got licked! Giraffe tongue feels like a wet snake pretty much, it was clearly very strong and dexterous.

One of the biggest concerns we had with our Thanksgiving trip was flying with Josie for the first time without a seat for her as they were crazy expensive. Thankfully it worked out very well. She nursed on the way up and down in both directions and had no ear trouble. We used the baby carrier through the airport (and security) and she charmed everyone walking around the waiting areas. On the way down we even got complimented by the poor guy who had to sit in the window seat next to us – he said she was a very good traveler. The woman in front of us asked if she had slept the whole trip, which she definitely did not. I can see this getting tougher with a bigger in-lap child. Josie spent a lot of time diving back and forth between the two of us and had one trip up and down the aisle each flight.

Security made Josie take her ‘shoes’ off which was pretty silly considering they’re basically thin slippers. Josie is very good at waiting for flights as she loves walking around looking at the seats and the new people. The photo below shows us waiting for pickup from Logan on the way home. Major props to the security woman in Miami who let us cut to the front of the security line on the way home. Boo to the gate attendants who told us there were no empty seats on the flight to Florida even though there were at least 6 by the time we were in the air.

We’ve been in a bit of a new food lull as we were traveling and dealing with illnesses and just having a hard time sitting down all together for dinner. Thursday night Josie enjoyed her first taste of broccoli and it was a resounding success compared to most other foods the first time. She spent a very long time concentrating and eating her food (avoiding the bath?) and went through several well-steamed spears. Guess it paid off that I like eating it and eat it frequently? Must taste familiar to her. She looks skeptical in the picture, but she really did like it! Very little ended up on the floor.

We’re a little behind so expect a nice slew of posts here for a while. Most importantly though we celebrated Josie’s 7 month birthday last Saturday in Florida with Jordi’s parents and family. It has been a very busy month for Josie as she continues to develop and master new skills.

Two weeks ago she suddenly decided to cruise, so she can hang onto things and move around a lot more now when she chooses. She can move down the entire length of the couch and people when trying to get to things. She is also very steady walking with the help of only one hand although she’s just about running when she gets to hold onto two hands at a time. She also slowly develops her ability to crawl now as she can push up onto hands and knees and rocks back at forth. She spends most of her time on her feet though. She finds me crawling to be downright hilarious. She can pull herself up on almost anything, although she still prefers someones hands helping her up. If I’m busy though, she’ll make do and push herself up to standing. She’s getting a bit better at playing by herself as well, although now as she makes more moves and lunges I have to keep a closer eye on what’s going on.

Josie has moved along significantly in her verbalization’s now as well and spends a lot of time talking to herself these days very loudly. We hear a lot of ‘da da da…’ and starting to hear something sounding more like ‘ma ma ma…’. It’s not in response to anything, more just practicing her sounds. Oddly, in public or around a lot of people, she tends to be very quiet.

She’s greatly enjoying eating with us most nights. Some nights I’m just too tired or busy to bother and she doesn’t seem to miss it. She is very effective at putting the food in her mouth and is starting to really consume some noticeable amounts. She loves to watch the dinner conversation and everything going on around her as well.

She is also starting to develop some object permanence. If a toy goes out of sight to her right, she’ll turn and continue to look for it. She’ll also look for things that you hide behind you. We’re going to have to step up our game when it comes to taking things away from her that are dangerous, as she now knows where to look!

• Size/weight: size 12 month one pieces, size 9 month separates; Probably about 27.5 inches tall and 15.5 lbs
• Favorite food: breastmilk
• Favorite toy: music table for cruising around; egg maraca
• Favorite book: mr brown goes moo
• Favorite activity: walking around holding our hands; going out in public to hang out with other children
• Sleeping: we did some major sleep schedule shifts and implemented a routine after observing her natural sleep patterns, bedtime 7pm, wake up around 6:30am; end of the month waking up at 1am; 4am; 5am, lots more earlier in the month. Naps generally last half an hour two or three times a day.
• New skill: taking a few steps by herself. Pushing up on hands and knees. Rolling as a form of transportation.
• Teeth: all i want for Christmas is my two front teeth…
• Vocalizations: bababa, mamama, dadada, shrieks, getting really loud now

Josie is very helpful at times when we have to do chores. Unfortunately, like many people, she also finds them boring sometimes.

This afternoon we took Josie to a funky small-child event called Baby Loves Disco. It’s basically a party for small kids and babies in a real night club on a Sunday afternoon with DJs and real drinks for the parents. It was pretty overwhelming for small children but it seems like everyone had a good time. We went with a real big group of CMU alumni and their kids, and Craig and Alyssa who came to watch the rest of us make fools of ourselves so far as I can tell. Josie wanted to chase the lights around the dance floor but they moved much too fast for her. She also loves her new egg maraca that we picked up there. I also got my eyebrows waxed and Jordi got a massage (they have people peddling free samples of their wares at the party). It was pretty dark on the dance floor so we don’t have many good pictures. It really wore Josie out though which was great.