MP kissed me!

[project_sunshine]

Yesterday, Marcipan Piglet kissed me for the first time. She was being
a little bit clingy, because we had been to a meeting about babies and
sun protection down at the church community center. Both she and LB
had fun looking at the other babies, but they were not able to nap
properly sitting in my lap and were overtired.

When we got home and I left MP alone to put LB to bed, she missed me
and started crying and calling for me, and when I picked her up, she
gave me a hug around the neck (she has done this before, probably
starting about 2 months ago, I think? Around the same time I started
breastfeeding her less,) and then she leaned back and gave me a big,
sloppy kiss on the chin. At first I thought she was trying to bite me,
because she finds it soothing to gum at my fingers, and sometimes she
also bites my fingers gently to try out her two tiny new teeth, but
there was no hint of biting or gumming, and then when she kissed me
again I understood that that was what she was doing. It was very
touching, and we shared a big smile and a laugh about it. She was
obviously happy that I had understood and appreciated her gesture.

A few days ago, she made her little purring engine sound at me, and
instead of making it back at her, I only smiled, and this hurt her
feelings. She has become very interested in social gestures, and her
grandfather is certain she has said "hi" to him twice. Her "first
word" was hi, not as a real word, but as babbling that sounded like a
clearly pronounced word. We spent about a week saying hi to each other
over and over again, before she moved on to saying "oh", which LB also
learned. Anyway, MP is definitely able to say "hi", and I do believe
she's picked up on the meaning of it as well. She understands a lot of
what I say.

MP invented the engine sound, a trilling in the back of the throat,
back when she first started babbling. I don't remember how old she
was, but we quickly started using it affectionately with each other,
and LB picked it up a couple of weeks later. Now we all use it to mean
"I love you", and MP and LB will both say it at me and their
grandparents and each other. LB also once said it to a nurse at the
hospital when we went for a check up, whom I believe she remembered
from when we stayed there for the first month of her life.

Today I made waffles for brunch for myself, because I fasted
yesterday. I have developed a healthy recipe, with whole grain wheat
and coconut and lots of butter, and no added sugar. At first I made
them with whole kernels of rye, but today I left those out because the
kids seem to like the waffles and it's difficult to share them while
picking out the kernels.

MP and LB between them ate two waffle hearts, MP probably a little
more than LB because she's better at chewing and swallowing. They
enjoyed them a lot, and kept asking for more, and I was so proud of
them. Little Bean used a perfect pincer grip! Several times, she took
bits of waffle from my hand with her index finger and thumb. MP still
makes a little sticky fist around food, even when she makes an effort
to extend her fingers, and then she has difficulty putting the food
into her mouth.

Afterwards, I gave them each a glass of water which they were happy to
drink. MP spilled most of hers down the front of herself, and would
probably have been happy for a refill, but I don't want her to get
tired and frustrated from practicing drinking from a glass, and she'd
recently had her breakfast of a whole bottle of milk, so she was not
extremely thirsty. LB drank her glass in very fine style, tipping her
head back and using her bottom lip to form a seal without lapping at
the glass or the water with her tongue. She had only a few drops of
water on her shirt.