Bad Cop, Bon Cop. On November 9th we decided it was time to stop bouncing Miss Megan to sleep. (When I say "we" I mean "Lori"... this holds true for a lot of Megan-related policy.) At first we couldn't deal with the wailing and crying, so we rocked her to sleep for a few weeks. This worked quite well, until one day mommy found daddy asleep at the wheel, so to speak. Operation: Tough Love commenced shortly thereafter. The new routine was: 1) read two stories, 2) say goodnight to Megan's chair, butterflies, window, and lamp, and 3) put Megan in bed and turn on her singing fish mobile. It was agonizing, of course, because Megan would wail and cry heartbreakingly. The first few nights we caved, but soon we toughened up and after a few days Megan would cry herself to sleep within 10 minutes. Lately it's been even shorter! It wasn't so hard after all.
Sounds effects. The past month has been a very vocal one for Megan. She started with heavy use of "ba ba ba ba" and then tried some other sounds: ga ga ga / ka ka ka / pffff. In the past two weeks her babbling has become more complex and polysyllablistic (is that a word?). Some of here phrasing is reminiscent of Cantonese, which is a bit upsetting to Lori's parents, who have been speaking Arabic to Megan for the past seven months. Perhaps there are some Chinese babies out there somewhere inadvertently speaking Arabic..? She's also been talking to her dolly and various other toys. Megan has also learned that different sounds can be made by obstructing her 'noise-maker'--her mouth--with someone else's fingers or even the bottom of her sippy cup. (In this month's video you'll see her in action in Chapter 2: Wa-wa-wa-wa-wa.)
Catching the next wave. Megan started waving 'hi' round Nov 23. However, it's not always a "hello" wave. She'll wave at anyone about anything, virtually any time. It's adorable. (See Chapter 4 in this week's video.)
Here's looking at you, kid. Megan loves photographs. She also loves looking at all the photos of herself and her other little friends on our fridge and her grandmother's fridge. There are also some photos of Venice and Stockholm which she enjoys studying. She also loves watching videos of herself on our camera and babbling to her reflection in our hall mirror. She usually tries to kiss the little girl staring back at her by leaning forward toward the glass surface. She also has a new smile - it's kind of a scrunchie smile. You'll see what I mean.
Megan Merchandise. Megan has gone commercial. Check out her new line of merchandise!
Dancing queen. Two weeks ago Megan started dancing to music. Virtually any music! She dances when she's sitting, bouncing her bum and bobbing back and forth. We have lots of video, don't worry! And for a different kind of Megan dance, check out this little jewel Sandy put together.
Speaking of video, since Megan's done so many fun things this month, we've combined all the videos into one single montage. It's approx 8-9 minutes, so it may take some time to load, but it's worth it. The latest photo slideshow is below the video.
All Megan Videos
https://tinyurl.com/y5llzdh6
All Megan Photos
Check out https://www.flickr.com/photos/thefaziltons (login may be required)
