Screecher Creature!

I'll admit, I don't get to see Abby that much during the week due to driving Eli to and from school and our busy evening routine of getting both kids fed and in bed, but one of my favorite moments of the day is changing Abby as soon as I get home.  It's one of those rare moments when it is just me and her and we have each other's undivided attention.  Abby will babble in her soft raspy voice and tell me all about how her day went, and I'll just listen with an occasional, "Uh huh, tell me more".  As soon as we walk back into the living room, though, our little Abby-girl kicks out the jams and tries to compete with her brother for attention.  Instead of yelling, screaming, or even crying, Abby joins the family dinner conversation with her favorite noise: a hefty inhale resulting in a high pitched squeal.  She kind of sounds like David Lee Roth in his Van Halen heyday.  It's pretty awesome and I hope it's a talent that can carry her to rock and roll stardom in the future.  As old as I might be, I'll be right there in the front row rockin' as hard as any other punk hipster that thinks he's cooler than me. (Meh, I'll probably embarrass her on purpose by taking my shirt off and trying to stage dive.)

Get A Grip!

Over the past couple weeks, Abby has met a few more milestones, one of which is the ability to grasp and hold things.  She is able to grasp big things set in front of her (like her bug book here) but her brain-to-hand signals need a little more exercise before she has full control to grab smaller things.  Her dexterity is really quite amazing because you can see her focusing in on something and trembling as she streeeeeeetches out to grab it.  I think the main reason she is so driven to perfect this skill is that she has discovered that there are much more exciting things to chew on than her hands.  She's an odd ball because she abhors pacifiers and bottles, but she will chew on almost anything else.  Go figure.
I also noticed earlier today while doing tummy time that she is using her grasping skills to get a good grip on the floor blanket and pull herself forward.  Of course, she doesn't get to far because she has a lot of chunk to drag across the floor (insert "Your daughter's so fat " joke here).  I'm sure once she gets her legs under her and coordinated she'll be inch-worming her way around the entire house and into the guns, drugs and liquor cabinet.  
Call me a sensitive sucker, but the thing I like most about her grasping is that she now clings to us when we hold her.  One of her favorite things to do when we are cradling her and rocking her to sleep is get a tight grip on the collar of our shirts.  When we try to put her down in her crib, she just tightens up in an act of comfortable defiance.  When we have her upright and she is awake, she hangs on to us with tiny little hugs.  I can only hope that she will be more inclined to snuggle and fall asleep on my chest than Eli was around this age.
(Oh, by the way, you can also tell from the picture that Abby is getting is getting a little stronger and is able to sit up in her bumbo seat on her own!)