Mara is beginning to learn already that she will spend a lot of her life on the telephone. She is starting to mimic holding the phone up to her ear. Although she tends to always hold it backwards, who knows why. This is just a cute, short video.
Oh, and heed the caution for the soft pallete. Bet you never knew…
4.0 MB / Time 1:38
Mara has been exhibiting some new tricks lately. One of them is her penchant for dancing at her standing table. When we last showed Mara using this table, it was very early on and Mara could stand, but not without some help getting to the position and some close supervision. In the last week Mara has shown us that she can stand up at the table by herself, and we don’t need to watch her *too* close. The funny part is watching her dance, or what she thinks is dancing. She likes to bob her head a lot. Take a look.
8.4 MB / Time 3:23
I wanted to get up some material as quick as I could so that people can see what Mara is up to on her very first Christmas. Things are a little busy in the house right now as all our guests arrived a little later in the morning. In this video you will see Mara opening the first of some of her gifts. She did not get to them all before she was tired and had to get to bed for a nap. Its a little longer than some of the other videos but you get to see how she is enjoying the day. Mom and Dad wonder why they got anything for her since Santa was so good and got her enough already.
35.2 MB / Time 13:53
Well, Striker really didn’t attack Mara so to speak. But this is what it may look like in the video. In reality he is just playing and he is very nice and gentle. Mara gets a real kick out of Striker every time he growls. We have never seen her laugh and cackle so long and consistently. This is probably one of the best videos so far. It is long, but worth it. Up until the end there is a moment where Mara is in the middle of a cry, and Striker manages to sooth with a timely GRRRRRRR. Funny, funny.
14.5 MB / Time 5:47
Just before we left the old digs, Mara picked up a wave for the first time as mentioned in a previous post. We got some video of the act here. Take a look.
5.8 MB / Time 2:23
Earlier this week Mom posted about Mara’s progress towards crawling. Now we get to bring you some video of what she has been up to. This was taken on Thursday. OK, so maybe it looks like I’m a little over the top with getting her to practice. I don’t know, do all parents do stuff like this? In reality it just seems that when I slap that pill bottle down on the bed it gets her attention. But when I watch the video myself it does look a little intense. Anyways, she is starting to get the motion, although you will still see her collapse to belly and not make it too far here. Progress is there though.
And yes, I did say pill bottle. One day I was looking for something manageable but safe for Mara to play with. In retrospect, “safe” becomes a matter of opinion. I do wonder if playing with this pill bottle (simply vitamin E capsules, by the way) will somehow give her an affinity towards them such that down the road she will pick up the wrong pill bottle and get in trouble with it. Oh well, I have heard that other people have given their youngins pill bottles as well so I don’t feel it can be too bad.
On to the show!
Practice Crawling Video
5.3 MB / Time 2:11
So many people liked Mara’s initial dance video, it seems like we needed a follow up. This is a little modification to a typical dance. Mara has become the regular mover and shaker while in a sitting position. Bouncing and rocking as can be seen in the last post. However, this past weekend she transferred this motion to the changing table which I found more than funny. I think I found it so funny because what she is trying to do she usually does in a sitting position. But since she is lying down all that actually moves is her belly. I don’t know, maybe I find it funnier than most will, but it cracks me up. Watch her little tummy scrunch and expand in this movie. She also has a patented noise that she makes, much like a laughing “huh” as in Beavis and Butthead’s “huh-huh.” You will also hear Dad make a vain attempt at the sound to provoke her to do her dance.
Belly Dance Video
2.3 MB / Time 0:59
I hear that it is typical for babies to rock back and forth while in a sitting position once they learn to situp. I guess that it is a common step that babies do towards their progress of crawling. Well, Mara has taken it one step further. We have an ottoman in her room that we tend to sit her on sometimes to play with her books after we finish reading them to her. It’s just a nice space to place her with them while we sit in the rocking chair watching her. She has learned that she can get a pretty nice rhythm going if she rocks on it since the ottoman also has its own spring and rocking mechanism to it. In this video you will see Dad be a little risky and let her go for a minute to get some tape of the feat. In the middle you will see a transition because I think its a little better if she sits in the middle of the ottoman (and not fall forward on her head). Actually, I have seen her rock a little harder than this, but this was about as much as I could get her to do without having my hands free.
3.2 MB / Time 1:21
So a few posts ago Mom mentioned that she had discovered Mara sitting up in her crib one morning. That was the last time it happened and no one saw her sit up so we didn’t know how it happened. But on Sunday she showed Dad a couple of times how she did it. By Monday, that was all she could do. You can really tell that she knows when she’s being encouraged and loves the attention now. Since she was doing it so much while I was playing with her I thought I could catch it on video to share. Mom says that this activity makes babies very tired, so it gives her a little workout. It doesn’t seem to stop her though.
5.3 MB / Time 2:11
OK. So we’re on a roll, because today you get another posting. You will be happy to know that I already have another idea for a video, but will have to shoot it yet. Maybe this coming weekend.
Anyways, this video is fun to watch. It is Mara playing with a new toy we got her a couple of weeks ago. I forget the name, but the purpose is for her to be able to pull herself up and practice standing at it. Mom and Dad cheat a little right now and put her up to it ourselves in a standing position, and she is pretty good at standing at it on her own for short periods of time. Really, she wouldn’t even do that when we first got it so she is making progress. I have to figure that this is way too early for her to take this to the next step of walking, but one never knows. Regardless, we hope it is a good start.
7.0 MB / Time 2:50
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