Quickly Becoming Quinn

Halloween is more than a month away, and yet Quinn completely spooked Jack and me today.

Catching up with her Dad online, I tilted my webcam down towards Quinn who was futzing with toys on the floor. Just back from a run, I plopped down beside her and laid back so Jack could see us both in the camera frame.

While we adults bantered about the details of my day (not because the world revolves around me -- doesn't it though? -- but because the happenings of his day usually qualify as "classified," and he can only tell me gory details like what he ate for dinner, or who is snoring the loudest in his hooch), Quinn crawled over to climb all over the sweaty mountain of Mom.

As she lumbered about, she seemed to take notice of Jack's image. Craning her head towards the computer so her image filled the screen, she babbled something directly at him. Then while still in view of both of us, as if in celebration of today being her 8th month mark since her birth, the kid freaking stood up!

I couldn't believe it. Still can't really. Thinking about it makes my head hurt, and like I just might hurl. That she's been crawling for two weeks has been a bit overwhelming, but today was too much.

No she didn't stand up and recite the Emancipation Proclamation. Nonetheless, using me to steady herself, she made the inkling of leaving the world of four-legged creatures and becoming a girl with some starch in her spine.

I have to admit, it was a little concerning considering just last week, like the dog, Quinn was carrying toys in her mouth, and earlier today when she gleefully gnawed on a teething cookie that tasted just like a dog-treat (I wasn't stealing candy from a baby, just had to make sure it wasn't poisonous... or something like that. Besides, I gave it back when I discovered how nasty it tasted).

The rate at which she is changing makes me feel carsick, but I can't seem to get her to slow down. Sure, it's great to see progress, definitely encouraging after such a bumpy start. But now, I'm done with these milestones... At least for a while.

She needs to give it a break and just be a slobbering, blathering, bundle of baby-ness before she grows up and leaves her childhood in the dust. Otherwise, I just might throw a tantrum of my own.

All the best,
From the home of a quickly growing Quinn