Month: January 2006

Taylor sometimes goes through these little quirky stages. She’ll try out a particular sound or expression for a day or two and then as quickly as it started, it will stop. Last week, she decided it would be fun to stick her tongue out. She got great reactions from people because they thought she was doing it just for them, but it pretty much stayed out all day long. At the grocery store, the checker asked me why Taylor her tongue was sticking out and I replied that it was a stage she was going through. She suggested that I try pushing it back in so that it didn’t stay that way. The checker was far more concerned about it than I was and, just as I suspected, T.J. stopped doing it the next day. Personally, I found it rather amusing and was kind of sad to see it go…

Taylor’s teething again…or is it still? I’ve lost track now. It seems like we are embroiled in one long neverending teething session. This week, she’s been working on tooth #7. Considering that her first tooth came in when she was 22 weeks old, that’s an average of one new tooth every 14 days. Each tooth is equal to approximately 2.5 days of crankiness for T.J., and babies generally get a total of 20 baby teeth, which means that we’ve got about 32.5 days of hard-core sleepless misery for all of us to look forward to. On the plus side, however, if she keeps going at this rate she’ll be done in roughly 182 days – by the end of July (not that anyone’s counting!)

When Taylor got up from her nap yesterday, she had wood pieces all over her face and the crib looked like this:

Apparently, she’s started teething on the rails of her crib. This can’t be good. We’ve lowered the mattress as low as it will go, but she’s going to get big enough to do it again. We’re stumped as to how we can prevent this behavior. What’s a parent to do?!?

Have I mentioned that Taylor likes dogs A LOT? Actually, she looooves one dog in particular…Chiquita. Chiquita is “my” dog, but she lives with my parents (long story…let’s not go there). There is nothing that makes T.J. happier than hanging out with Chiquita. She shrieks with delight as soon as she sees her and she’ll crane her neck to see where the doggy went. Chiquita, for her part, has been surprisingly patient with Taylor. See, Chiquita is kind of a needy dog and she used to be the ruler of the roost around the Cahalen house until T.J. arrived. When Taylor came along, the balance of power shifted and I was concerned that Chiquita would get territorial. So far, she’s been great with Taylor. When T.J. sees Chiquita, she gets so giddy and sometimes she tries to “pet” Chiquita, which usually ends up with her grabbing a clump of Chiquita’s fur. Chiquita just sits calmly and tolerates it. Every once in awhile she even leans in and steals a kiss from Taylor. Aww….babies and puppies – could it get any cuter?

With Chiquita:

Taylor’s great-aunt Sally came to visit last weekend. At first, T.J. was shy, but by the time Sally left they were good buddies:


The latest tricks…standing and playing hide and seek:


With Dad and Grandpa:

mmm….root beer (bottle)

Taylor turned 8 months old yesterday! It’s hard to believe that she’s 2/3 of the way to a year old. She’s still rapidly expanding on her skills. She’s standing a lot now and she spoke…REALLY spoke…for the first time! One night this week, she was sort of chatty and we said, “Daddy”, and Taylor replied “Yaya!” Thinking it was a fluke, we said again, “Daddy” and she said again “Yaya”. After that, she just kept saying “yayayayaya”. Later in the week, it developed into “dadadadada”. Sure, she may not know what it means, but who cares??? Our baby can talk! We were completely thrilled. Of course, when we said “Mama” she had absolutely no response. Oh well! All in good time…

“This duck would go better with a nice plum sauce!”:

Sizing up the Roomba:

A wink and a smile:

Taylor’s first holiday season has come and gone. We were wondering if she would be interested in presents and gift wrap and all of the fun things that go along with Christmas. Every time that I would attempt to wrap gifts, Taylor would crawl over, crinkling the paper and trying to put it in her mouth. When the time came to OPEN gifts, however, she was far too engrossed with her Cheerios to be bothered. We drove down to Fresno later in the week to visit with grandma C.R., great-uncle Steve and great-aunt Dottie. Another holiday celebration and Taylor was the star of the show. Grandma held T.J. on her lap while Steve and Dot sang to her…Taylor was absolutely riveted. She watched as they harmonized and even reached out to Steven…I think she wanted to “help” him play his guitar. It was actually a very musical day – T.J. also got to play the piano for the first time. She seemed amazed that she could press the keys and make sounds that filled the room. What power for a little baby to wield!

During the holiday break, T.J. reached several developmental milestones. She honed her crawling skills, began eating more solid foods, learned how to sit up on her own, stood up and now she’s getting two more teeth. All of these changes have come at a price, which seems to be sleep. Taylor was such a champion sleeper early on that I took for granted that she would always sleep well. Alas, it was not to be. We’ve been battling sleep issues for a couple of months now, but things finally came to a head this week and so we’re trying to tackle sleep-training now. I’m sure that there’s a generation of people who probably laughs at the idea of TRAINING a child to sleep, but this is the thin thread of hope that we cling to in the wee small hours of the morning.

Fun with Grandma:

Serenade from Uncle Steve and Aunt Dot:

Dottie & T.J. having breakfast:

Grandma C.R. made Taylor a fancy new jacket – perfect for when she’s out clubbing: