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…then she snuck out to get a head start.

“What do you mean there’s nothing in these eggs? Where’s the chocolate?”

Austen had a gay old time seeing her relatives and crawling for Easter eggs.

With Daddy:

With her rambunctious three-and-a-half-year-old cousin, Emma:

With her three cousins, Erin, Emma and Morgan:

“Why did Mommy put this big hat on me?”

“Keep away from my Easter eggs!”

(Note to Austen: You weren’t actually possessive of your Easter Eggs; Mommy’s teasing. You’re actually grunting in this photo, which you did everyday at this age. We think you enjoyed the sensation of making throaty grunting sounds.)

Two photos. One of Mommy, when she was little, wearing a yellow sweater made by Nana (Emma Lloyd’s mom) and sitting next to her brother Mark. The other of Austen wearing the same ultra-soft sweater while visiting Mark’s house.

Mommy, Daddy and Austen were treated like royalty when they stayed at Heather and Zack’s home for the Easter weekend, which included Erin’s Baptism. They feasted on fish, vegetable quiche, Bloody Marys and black jelly beans.

Austen did well in the car. Thanks to hours of preparation and packing by Mommy and Daddy.

Austen ate Aunt Heather’s bike while she wasn’t looking.

Notice her first words, spoken as the door opens: “Yankee Doodle Dandy”

-Opens the door to her toy house and hits herself in the face. Here she is successfully crawling through her toy house:

-Sits on the stoop of her toy house, and then falls backward:

-Pulls on string tie attached to her toy basket. It’s way longer than 6 inches. Babyproofing must commence immediately!

-Crawls over and whacks Nietzsche. If you know Nietzsche, you know that’s risky.

-Tries to stand up while leaning on the handle of a canvas basket. Crash!

-Crawls off the edge of the futon in the play room and is caught by Mommy. Apparently she doesn’t look down while crawling.

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“What? Me? Causing trouble? I can stand by myself with a monkey in my hand. No sweat.”

Austen went to bed around 8pm and slept until around 7am without a feeding. She did, however, wake once and require some soothing. Mommy and Daddy are feeling uncharacteristically superstitious and thus will not be getting excited about this turn of events … yet.

One day after her 7-month birthday, Austen crawled across a blanket on the front lawn. About 5 feet total. Amazingly, Mommy caught it on video:

[Add video, Rin]

Austen doesn’t do the army crawl — she’s opposed to the military-industrial complex — but rather, she crawls on all fours. Pushing with her feet, she rears up, then with her weaker arms, cautiously plods forward, right hand, then left hand.

Austen is fascinated by everything within reach of her eyes, ears or hands. She grabs and watches and listens. New things are best. Old things get boring – except for kitties. Change is good. Staying home with Mommy all day causes fussies: “That’s too much fussies,” exclaims Mommy. When one talks to Austen using silly voices or plays peek-a-boo, she laughs and laughs and laughs, even outdoing Daddy’s capacity for mirth.

While Austen immediately warms up to babies she meets, it sometimes takes her a few minutes to feel comfortable around strange adults. Eventually, she turns on her “big smile.”

Austen is now a crib dweller in the evening hours – even during some naps. Mommy is so happy to have some privacy in the master bedroom. However, Daddy often camps out in the playroom to tend to Austen during her night wakings. Although much improved, Austen is not sleeping through the night but hopefully this will change before next month’s update.

At the end of month seven, Austen is getting around a bit. Mommy plops her on the floor in one location and returns to find her having twisted and rolled and climbed five feet away. She can go from sitting to flat on her stomach, then roll onto her back. Once on her back, she reverses the process: rolls into crawling position, and then backs herself into a sitting position. This helps a lot considering she would previously start crying after getting stranded on her back, her least favorite position. (She cries while getting diaper changes until Mommy or Daddy sit her up.)

Other physical feats: Standing while holding onto her Leap Frog Table or a person. Pulling herself up to standing while in her crib, or using the Bumbo chair. Squirming out of her Bumbo chair. Stretching and grabbing the fish dangling from the mobile on her swing. Rolling to the edge of the bed in the guest room and scaring Mommy. At the beginning of month seven, her big achievement was the ability to move from sitting position to face-down crawling position. At the end of month seven, this is commonplace and Austen is an experienced sitter, rarely tipping over.

Austen usually sounds like she’s possessed with all the grunting and guttural sounds: “Rar rar rar…Rah rah rah …Aw wah…Mawah.” Mommy and Daddy perform regular exorcisms. In the mornings and sometimes in the evening as she’s about to fall asleep, she does a round of “da da da.” She’s mastered clapping, so much so that Daddy has caught her clapping in the middle of the night while she’s barely awake. Austen entertains people at the grocery store with her smiling and clapping: a nice palm-to-palm slap.

Austen’s small motor skills are advanced for her age. Walking down the hall, Austen reached for the double light switch, so Mommy paused to let her touch it. In a matter of seconds, Austen turned both lights on. When first introduced to a veggie puff (her first experience with an object smaller than the diameter of a toilet paper roll), Austen pinched it using her thumb and pointer finger. Mommy and Daddy believe her skills are a result of constant exploration and manipulation of an assortment of toys, rattles and everyday objects.

Although Austen has no teeth, she’s still teething: drooling and chewing on things. She eats formula, milk, rice cereal, carrots, bananas, apples and sweet potatoes.

The Peg Perrego infant car seat (Primo Viaggio) has been retired because Austen outgrew the height limit. She’s switched to a Britax Marathon car seat (reversible, up to 65 lbs). She still snoozes in her car seat but, unlike with her infant travel system, it’s not possible to transfer her from car to stroller without waking her.

Munchkin
Booger
Squeaky
Silly Girl
The Baby (as in “You’re the BAAAABY!”)