Our babe is 8 months old!

These days she responds equally to “Genevieve”, “GV”, “Vivi”, “Baby”, “Bubs” (derived from the original nickname: chubba bubba), and “Baby Genevieve June Pruett”, as Arthur likes to call her…apparently “Genevieve”just isn’t long enough. She is officially able to walk with push toys and is using her voice a lot more to babble, “sing”, and protest when her toys are taken away. She is mastering her fine motor skills by constantly picking up tiny pieces of carpet and putting them in her mouth (awesome.) and I am getting pretty good at the finger sweep method of removing said carpet pieces.

I just LOVE babies this age…. and not just because they usually have such squeezable cheeks and thighs, or because they are sturdy enough that you don’t have to worry so much about breaking them. I love them for their intense desire for discovery and their all-consuming excitement. They find joy in all the “right” things….things that the rest of us take for granted too early and too often. Like how she just can’t smile big enough when she wakes up in the morning and sees all her favorite people. Like how she squeals with delight when the cat runs through the room. Like how she belly laughs at a game of peek-a-boo.

This kind of joy is contagious and I am so grateful to be constantly reminded of the really important things in life. To an 8 month old, the “simple pleasures” are not so much “simple” as they are “pleasures”. We should all be so lucky to be able to take that perspective…

Enjoy today.
Gretchen