Hayden is doing fabulous! This past month has seen her chatting, laughing and doing much more smiling. She is still constantly in motion--crawling, pulling up, sitting back down, and even starting to cruise (scooting around things she pulled up on,
ie. the coffee table or ottoman.) She loves her stacking rings and carries them everywhere she goes. (must have something in hand to bang on whatever she pulls up on.) The music activity table has also been a favorite! Thank the Lord for Christmas gifts!
She is back to sleeping through the night. (yippee!) We went through a period where she had started to wake in the evenings and again in the very wee hours...of course I read something today that said that when babies start crawling and pulling up they may start waking at night again as they process/practice these new skills...if only we had known this a month ago I might not have agonized over the change!
Hayden is nursing four times a day and is eating "solids" for breakfast, lunch and dinner. She is enjoying mango, carrots, bananas, applesauce (finally), blueberries, sweet potatoes, pears, acorn squash, butternut squash, avocado, oatmeal, and rice cereal. (though not all at the same time.) She tolerates peas, green beans, and asparagus. In the next few weeks we are going to try cucumber, corn, beets, zucchini, and possibly parsnips.
Hayden's gibberish has expanded from just "da, da, da" to include the additional sounds of "h", some "g" and "n". Still not much "m" sound...come on "ma, ma, ma" ! She is waving hello and goodbye and will occasionally signal what we think is please (circling palm in front of chest) in order to get down from her highchair. We have started with the baby signs (obvious from the previous statement) and are focusing on: more, please, eat, and thank you. From what I've read, it will take awhile after introduced for the kiddo to catch on, but we hear that it's wonderful in helping pre talkers communicate and thus avoid some frustration and misbehavior. (which we are all for)
Hayden still hates anything that restricts her freedom such as the playpen, car seat, highchair, and bouncer (completely got rid of that thing). She will tolerate the exersaucer and jumper for short periods of time. I'm afraid that just like it has been a fight to get her to soothe herself to sleep, it will also be a struggle to get her to entertain herself. I've endeavored to tackle this ASAP with enforced time playing with all these "fun" toys without mom and dad. I'm sure this will be a growing experience for all of us. We love growth.
She is napping better!!! Usually a nap in the morning, early afternoon and occasionally in the evening. Her cry time before falling asleep has dwindled drastically. She is usually quiet within seconds to a couple of minutes instead of the 10 to 30 minutes from when we started the sleep training. Her naps have also extended in length (hallelujah!) from 45 minutes to an hour and a half! Some time to actually get things accomplished!!!
Many people have commented recently that she seems so happy. So despite the milk protein intolerance and the acid reflux, she is truly becoming a very happy, contented baby!
Thank you Lord for our sweet baby Hayden!
Hayden has started with some finger foods. Usually we offer these after her own baby food meals, when we are eating and she is trapped in her highchair, or if we are out and about and need to keep her content for just a tad... bit... longer...
We had a great time at dinner with Jason, and later on in the evening celebrated with Jason, Lindsi, Patrick, Lisa L., Phillip, Maverick, Goose and Holly Berry! 
Hayden and I LOVE the music table from Grandma and Grandpa! It has a computer, piano, telephone and book...teaches fun concepts in both English and Spanish and plays snippets from 50 songs...I'm sure it will never get old!
