She can get down all by herself!!

She has officially mastered Part II of the two part trick! For the last few days she has been "practicing" how to get down from a standing position. It was a little shaky at first. She would just put her hand out and fall over sideways! It was not very smooth, but I guess it accomplished her goal. We kept trying to show her how to just bend her knees and plop down onto her butt. Well, eventually she married the two concepts and came up with her own trademark method (at least 3 patents pending worldwide...). While holding onto her support in one hand, she squats halfway down, then bends and reaches for the floor with her other hand. Once she has a hand on the floor, she lets go of the supporting object, and lands, sometimes gracefully, on the floor. It's her own thing, and it works for her. I think it takes her longer to get down from standing than to climb into a standing position! Today, I was sitting on the floor, and within probably 5 seconds, she went from a crawling position on the floor to climbing onto my lap, standing with her face against mine! She's fast!

We're just so glad that she has figured out how to get down all by herself. Her inability to do that was making the nighttime and nap time very difficult for us. Yesterday morning, I laid her down for a nap at 9am. I heard her get back up and rattle the crib rail. I thought I would wait until she started to fuss to lay her back down, so I just laid in bed and waited... well, I woke up 1 and 1/2 hours later! Apparently, she had figured out how to get down by herself, and that was the first time she had done it in her crib. I was thrilled! Again, last night, I laid her down and heard her get back up. I was just finishing up changing over some laundry, so I thought I would go help her lay down once I was done. Within a couple of minutes, I started to head upstairs, and I realized that she was totally silent. I sneaked up the stairs, peeked into her room, and found a baby sleeping peacefully in her crib! Yay!

Another funny thing she has been doing all day today and yesterday is feeling her new teeth with her tongue. I think it's that new top one that she just cannot get used to! She either sucks in her top lip until it just "pops" back out, or she sticks out her tongue while sucking it to the top of her mouth until her lips "smack" apart. When she's not doing one of those things, she moves her tongue around in her mouth, and it looks like she's trying to get something out of her teeth, followed by a "pop" or "smack". You all know exactly what I'm talking about. Just think of a eating corn on the cob. Now picture a 7 month old doing it. It's quite hilarious! I'm hoping to get it on film, but it's so random when she does it, it's going to be hard to catch! There's NEVER a dull moment around here! Maya has something new to share with us every day, it seems!