I think that Memorial Day is my new favorite holiday – thanks to my buddy Sydney who taught me a new trick!

The weekend started off kind of annoying, because mom and dad thought they should be productive, so they dragged me to Babies R Us to buy “baby proofing” stuff. I was resentful from the start, knowing that I would soon be denied access to things that I really really want. Then they took me out for Chinese food and actually tried to get me to eat in the high chair at the restaurant. Hello! I would much rather stare at all the other interesting people than waste my time on eating mushed up squash. It got worse the next day when my parents took me to the outlet stores where there were WAY too many people shopping. At least I got some cute new outfits from that trip.

When we got home, I finally figured out a new sound: “mama.” That sure made my mom happy, but daddy wasn’t thrilled for some reason. Now I have broadened my vocabulary from screeches, squawks and clucks (that’s a new one) to baba, mama and goo goo as well. I’m trying to figure out this “da” sound, but for some reason it never sounds the same out loud as it does in my head. I listen closely when daddy tries to help me, so hopefully I’ll get it right soon.

Another fun thing I’ve been enjoying this weekend is “raking” everything I can with my hands. For example, when I get in my high chair to eat, I like to turn around, face the back of my chair and run my fingernails over it again and again. Sometimes I completely forget that mom’s trying to feed me and she gets frustrated with me for twisting around and paying more attention to my chair than to the spoon she’s shoving in my face.

Okay, now to the REALLY exciting part of my weekend – independent forward movement! Today, my friend Sydney came over (with her parents Sheila and Nat who were lots of fun). She’s really cool ’cause we’re kind of like twins (born a few days apart, both early babies, both weigh around 16 lbs, except she has way more hair than I do). Anyway, I was really impressed at her crawling abilities, so I thought I’d give it a try. I’ve still got some practicing to do, but you can see in this video that I’m making progress:

After all this excitement, I’m sure looking forward to turning 8 months old tomorrow (that means that I’ve been outside mommy’s belly almost as long as I was inside).

This weekend I surprised mommy by actually standing up in my crib. She just put me in there to sit for a second while she washed her hands after I blessed her with an especially gross diaper to change. When she came back one second later I had pulled myself right up – haha. I was bummed the mattress was lower than before because I was thinking I’d dive right over the side and get outta there, but no dice.

Oh, and it’s true what mom said before, I sure am having fun getting up onto all fours and practicing my push ups too, but I still get around much easier by staying on my tummy and using my hands to rotate myself around and around in circular motions…

I’ve been a delinquent blog editor these past few weeks and offer many apologies for not providing the Maddy fix to those who desperately need it (I’m referring to 3 people in particular – you know who you are). Anyway, it’s been quite a busy couple of weeks, including lots of fun new activities in the land of Maddy. Hopefully I’m remembering it all:

1) Mother’s Day was lovely despite Dave’s conveniently timed 24-hour bug. Before getting sick, he took me out for a long-awaited fancy dinner on Mother’s Day Eve, which was the first time we had gone out ALONE since the night before Maddy’s birth. Maddy “made” me her first present at daycare, this beautiful paper flower with petals shaped like her hands.

2) Maddy has recently discovered her hair, which is amazing given how little of it she has. She now has a habit of petting and grabbing her hair especially while she’s nursing. Instead of pulling on her ears like she used to do, she now demonstrates her excitement for the milk she’s getting by grabbing her hair and trying to yank it out of her head, slapping her thighs with her free hand, and wildly kicking and waving her legs around. While she’s eating I have to constantly wrestle her to keep her from physically harming herself.

3) Her musical skills are blossoming already, as evidence by this video of Maddy playing the piano.

4) I think we’re nearing real mobility. Every time we put Maddy on the floor she scoots and rolls around to get to wherever she wants to go (usually this is towards the carpet until her dad notices and puts her back on her playmat). She gets up almost on all fours and looks around as if to say “what next?” so I’m sure crawling isn’t that far in the future. We had to lower her crib because when we put her in there to sit and play, she manages to get up on her knees, grab the railing and start pulling herself up to standing within moments.

5) My college roommate Joanne came to the Bay Area for a business trip, and we had a great lunch and dinner catching up with her. Maddy even got to sit in a restaurant high chair for the first time and had lots of admirers.

6) Maddy slept on her tummy for the first time the last two nights (we think this might have something to do with the crazy heat wave we’re having on the West Coast).

7) Once a week or so, Maddy remembers how much she likes to make “bbpppttth” noises, and tonight was one of those nights. She wouldn’t stop showering us with her spit for a couple hours.

But most of the time, she just likes to either sqwak at us or say “babababa.”

Maddy still loves her solid foods. Her diet now consists of an enormous variety of fruits and veggies – pears, peaches, apples, peas, green beans and sweet potatoes, oh my!

That’s it for now (although there are other new videos and photos on Flickr), hope everyone feels up-to-date. More soon!