Maybe the third time’s the charm or maybe it’s just Kayliana, but I feel that – to a certain extent – we understand her needs fairly well. For example: when she’s fussy, I pick her up, put her on against my chest and shoulder and bounce AND sway and SHHhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh right into her ear. Sometimes if I pause – you know, to breathe (the nerve!) – the fussing picks up again. Thankfully, my years of flute playing and breathing exercises are paying off. The Shhhhh-ing has worked nearly every time without fail (though sometimes it takes a while and a lot of shhhh-uage on my part to actually succeed. Also, we’ve learned that a sudden high pitched cry means she’s experiencing gas pain (which is when Mike the Gas-Master works his magic). My favorite secret cue that we’ve unsleuthed (unsleuthed really SHOULD be a word) is that when Kayli’s nose gets red (the bottom, nostril area) it means that she’s going to spit up. Apparently my brother Tim had a similarly random cue – he would get a bright red spot on the middle of his forehead indicating the need to burp. I wonder if he still gets it.

Things that Kayli does NOT care for: watching me walk away (I have to sneak out of the room); tummy time; lying on her back time (while awake) for too long (she really is an ‘upright’ baby which may prove difficult for the whole learning to crawl thing…which I’m not ready for anyway!); the vacuum cleaner; she hates a cold bottle (spits it all up and cries through most of the feeding – this makes taking a bottle to feed her at the park difficult. If we’re away from home long enough it eventually cools down/gets cold even in the bottle holder bag); Kayli’s a great running partner – she fusses if I stop to chat with a neighbor or to tie my shoes; often she’s not a fan of the car seat…until it starts moving (occasionally she’ll start fussing at every red light. I will admit that this has caused me to drive through a couple of very stale yellow-close to orange lights. I have every intention of playing the “fussy baby card” with an officer should I have to).

Things that Kayli DOES enjoy: being swaddled (she wakes up if she Houdini’s her way out of her sleep sac – this girl may be swaddled until she’s 18 at which point she’ll have to teach her college roommate how to do it for her); watching her brothers; the orange rattle thing on her exersaucer (she tells it all sorts of interesting stories); she LOVES riding in the front-pack carrier (I really do wear her around like an accessory most days especially in the ‘Witching Hour’ while I’m trying to make dinner); she loves chatting post-diaper change on the changing table (we have some of our best heart-to-hearts there); she loves her crib mobile (courtesy of uncle Chris) – it’s fancy-shmancy with lights and four different song options; she loves sporting a bib constantly (actually that’s more of a necessity as she is a CONSTANT drool machine and she’s not even teething yet!); unfortunately, she’s already a fan of the TV and keeps her eyes glued on the changing colors during our weekly family movie night (though she does occasionally get kicked out of the ‘theater’ for making too much noise); she loves it when I help her clap – cracks her up every time; she grins from ear-to-ear when I sing to her (even if she’s close to falling asleep post-bottle – she’ll give me a half-drunk grin).

OK, I’m realizing that the things that Kayliana enjoys far outnumber her dislikes and that I could go on and on, so I’ll just end with this one: I’m fairly certain, what with her birthday just before the holiday season, that Kayliana enjoys it nearly as much as I do. (Plus her first big, hearty belly laugh and squeal came during our annual Camp Christmas staycation, so that’s an indication right there). Really, in this house, you have no choice but to be a Christmas fanatic. She fits right in!