I've photographed baby on one of my favorite prints, Anna Maria Horner's Social Climber in Gold recently made available again in Floral Retrospective.

Another month of precious babyhood has flown.  After 6 months all the markers slope toward a year.  Now she's 2/3's of a year, next month 3/4, and then 5/6...  Oh dear!  Elora has been our bright spot in an otherwise slow and uneventful summer.  We each find silly ways to tease out her squeals and smiles every day.

Memory Box {Eight Months}

Milestones:  Scooting forwards on her belly.  From her play area in my sewing room she makes a bee line for the foot pedal.  Up it goes!  She won't stay put on this pretty fabric for a photoshoot either!

Also, gumming more solid foods like puffs, cooked beans and sliced avocados.  I was on the edge of my seat, literally, when she had her first puff.  My experience with Eleni has made me a little paranoid about all things breathing-related.  When Rora coughs to "protect her airway", as we learned to say, I am so, so grateful she is able. 

Biggest Challenge:  This month three teeth have begun poking their way out from baby's gums.  The first two came at the same time, mostly on a Friday when my mom was keeping her while I work. 

My mom is excellent and confident with children, so when she called to ask for advice I was surprised.  She called me that Friday to say that Rora was crying and nothing would solve it.  No temperature, good appetite - nothing to seriously concern us - but truly the first time she was inconsolable.  The next day she had teeth!  Poor baby.

Biggest Surprise:  The elephant sound makes her cry!  Really.  Please don't try.  It's too sad.  Her little face crumples up and then she bursts into tears.  Daddy is a purveyor of many exotic sounds, but that one is Not Amusing.

Special Memory:  If you are holding Rora when something (probably somebody) makes her feel happy, really happy, she curls in on herself in a little contraction that feels like the sweetest hug.  I know it's not really a hug, but it looks like one, it feels like one, and she is bursting with joy, so it may as well be one.  I love it.  Love it, love it, love it.  And other times when she is sleepy and lays her head on my shoulder - those times are so tender and precious. 

I didn't know before Eleni that arching backwards is usually a negative reflex, indicating pain, fear or some other negative feeling.  When we carried Eleni she always held her body stiffly or arched away from us.  Though unlikely to be a conscious choice, that moving away still felt like a distance between us, a sort of rejection.  It wasn't, but it felt like it. 

So when baby Rora leans in, when she curls towards me or rests her head, I sense that attachment, that happy attachment very acutely.  I treasure it so.