Where did my baby go?

I realize since I see her every day it's not as easy to see the rapid changes in her. For those who see her once a week or less than that, in a matter of seconds they start listing all the new things about Lucy. But I keep a careful eye on her and get excited and joyful of all the small milestones she reaches... so I don't know how or why I was so surprised a few nights ago.

My sweet, soft, murmuring baby was screaming, angry, and twisting like a tornado on my lap as I tried to clip her toenails. I tried to be gentle and coaxing at first. I even sang her a song about toenails I wrote JUST for that moment. But soon I found myself holding tight onto her legs, trying to keep them still. She was flailing around, bright red, tears streaming...I'm not sure why I kept trying. Since this is how many of our diaper changes go, I figured, "I somehow get the diaper changed! Why shouldn't I be able to perform this small precise procedure with a sharp instrument on her?"

Lucy won. I gave up and slowly lowered her feet to the ground. And that's the moment I realized that I don't have a little baby anymore. Cause my little baby girl hit the ground RUNNING. Literally. Her feet touched the ground and she was instantly running away from me, as far as she could go- which unfortunately for her was from the couch to the door, a 7 foot sprint. But she got there. And she RAN there. And she got away from me. And she got what she wanted. And I sat there with my jaw hitting the floor and some baby nail clippers in my hand.

I guess this is just the start of something new... something of which I'm not well read nor well practiced. Wish me luck!

"HHhiiiiii"

Lucy remains busy as usual. She is very excited to practice her walking and talking. Without as much hesitation, she will turn and hobble over to where she wants to be, as long as it isn't too far away. She ends each small journey by lunging forward and falling onto her destination. We're all so proud of her! And she's pretty proud of herself, too!

She has also learned the real meaning of one word- "Hi." She will wave and sing the word "hi" with a very long "h" sound and even longer "i." The greatest, though, is when she is babbling her baby words (that only she knows the meaning to) and inserts the word "hi" right in the middle, as if her sentence makes perfect sense. It sounds something like this:

"Lardy lardy boof. BOOF! Lardy.... Mum, mum- hhhhiiiiiiiiiiii. Ah na. Pfh! Hhhhiiiiiiii!"