Scary Laughter

I'm learning that Ava doesn't like sudden, loud laughter. There has been a couple incidents of loud sudden laughter upsetting Ava which I thought were just isolated incidents but I've noticed that it's really a pattern. Last night, I was nursing Ava while watching a funny movie and I burst out laughing. Ava stopped feeding, stared wide-eyed at me, and then turned down the corners of her lips, stuck out her bottom lip, and started crying. In addition to suddenness, my sinus infection had strained my voice and so my laughter sounded...weird. Ava must've thought her mother had morphed into an alien or something. Furthermore, Ava's protruding bottom lip made me laugh even more and I hurt Ava's feelings so she started wailing. I'm really a bad mother - I should've launched into comfort mode but instead I just laughed. I was trying to contain myself as I patted her back.

Note to self: no sudden, scary, squeaky, loud laughter around Ava.

Oh, I just realized Ava turned 9 months today. Happy 9-month birthday, kiddo! She has her 9-month check up at the pediatrician on Friday.

Here's a recap of the holidays. We spent a few days with Greg's parents before coming home to spend Christmas Day with just the 3 of us and later sharing a meal with another family that we are friends with. They have a little boy who Ava seems to hit off with. We're planning their betrothal and arranging their marriage. Ha! Of course Ava was too young to understand Christmas and opening presents but it was still fun for us. We got her a walker since she'll be walking soon and she has taken to it pretty well. The walker can be changed into a riding toy and that'll help Ava to learn how to throw a leg over and straddle it and push with her feet to get moving.

She's starting to stand on her feet unassisted better and longer and more often. It's funny because she'll throw her hands up in the air and stand there. I guess she's balancing herself but it looks like she's saying "yay!" My dad came down to visit after Christmas for a few days and we played with Ava and thought maybe she'd taken her first step. It might've been because she was about to topple over and put a foot forward just nanoseconds before collapsing into my arms. She'll be walking soon.

I'll let you know when she starts walking!