7 month update

I'm getting a bit slow at updating this.

Anya hit the 7 month mark the other day. Time flies!

• She has her two bottom front teeth and it looks like a third one is about to pop up
• She still seems to be on the verge of crawling, but the mechanics of it are still eluding her. She is more mobile than a month ago, though. With a combination of scooting and rolling, Anya can generally reach things she wants to on the floor.
• She is almost able to pull herself to standing. Actually, she can already do this if she's holding on to our hands, but it hasn't occurred to her yet to use stationary objects to pull herself up with. Grandma and Grandpa L. taught her to just stick out her hands when she wants to use them/us to stand -- it's pretty cute. (edit 5/31: during bath time, she used the sides of the baby tub to pull herself up to stand and peer over the sides)
• Speaking of cute, when Anya sees a picture of a baby in a magazine, she gets very excited - pants, laughs, or does one of her soul-sucking noises and then grabs the magazine.
• We go to a park most days and Anya LOVES to swing on the swings. I think it's her favorite thing these days. She usually squeals, pants, and "talks" to the other parents and kids at the swings too. She is quite a flirt.
• Anya is still doing well with the solid food and either likes or tolerates everything we've given her. Apples are by far her favorite, though. She's up to 2 meals a day now.
• We've been doing some sign language with her for about the past month. While she's not making the signs yet (that takes awhile), I think she's starting to understand some of them...or maybe I'm just being optimistic. She has, however, started clapping. I just started trying to teach her to wave -- I think it's a little too early for her, but if she can clap, maybe learning to wave won't be too much of a stretch.
• Almost forgot a big one. We had to do sleep training for nighttime about mid-month. After Anya got her 6 month shots, she was having trouble sleeping (a combination of shot pain, teething, and separation anxiety) and kept waking up several times at night. Her pacifier use wasn't helping; it would fall out and she would get upset. So we "Ferberized" her and also weaned her of the pacifier. It was much less painful than we expected (only a few days of complaint from Anya) and life is good again in the Lodwig house. In a few days Anya will be taking her first airplane trip. We're heading to Cleveland for my cousin Christyn's wedding and Anya will get to meet most of my side of the extended family. We're not exactly looking forward to traveling with a baby, but can't wait to see everyone.