Guess who's crawling, saying mama, about to sprout two front teeth...

 
Guess?

No really. Come on and guess!

No! NOT Mugsy the puppy!

You really have no idea? Not even the slightest clue?

Ach. OK! I will tell you.

Juniper Amie Faust (Magaña)!

I am convinced that she waited for her daddy's return from Vermont and his birthday (Happy Birthday Andrew!!!) to really show us what she had been working on. She had been doing a kind of proto-crawl where she would kind of flip and flop her way around the floor by sitting and then getting into crawling position and then turning around and sitting in the new spot. This got her around the floor quite well. Well enough to peak her interests in what might lie behind that corner or perhaps in mom's bag or dad's incessant stacks of paper. She is so focused on trying to pull herself up on things as well and it feels as if she will stand sooner than it took her to crawl. Although that doesn't make much sense because it's all this linear trajectory with one making way for the other. What I'm trying to say is that she is definitely driven and on a roll now! How cute to have this little girl crawling over to me and trying to climb my legs because she wants to be picked up. So sweet. So unbelievably sweet.

LOVE

Happy 9 Months on Earth Juni-Junebug!

This just might be the best photo that anyone has ever taken EVER!

Ok you people out there with your own babies, I can hear you, "Pishaw! As if!"
If you've got a cute photo to share please send it in!

Thank you Sueann Harkey for your camera ready eye and able finger reflex. You've captured the shining glow of this moment in childhood.

Here is another that she shot that same lovely day in Brooklyn at the park.

I look like such a mom here! My body has softened since pregnancy and that's a good thing! I'm sure it's much nicer for a baby to cuddle up to a mama with a little padding just the same way it is so dreamy to squeeze a little babe that is so tender and succulent! Speaking of succulent, Sueann came to stay with us for a few days upstate and I told her that she needed to squeeze Juniper's little hands and arms. Sueann squealed with delight and told June that she felt just like an aloe vera plant. "My little aloe vera!" she would say. So sweet.


June is really warming up to strangers lately. She is very curious about all the people coming and going around her and has been charming nearly everyone! Today we had to take the car in to get it inspected (The only way I remember to do this is by getting a ticket!) and all the guys in the shop were all, "Oh if only they would stay that small! Next thing you know they ask you for a $100 for gas (uh-what???). Oh she is so cute!!!"

We went to a little cafe to wait while the car was worked on and we had some orange juice and lots of drinks of water and I had a cappuccino and some baked eggs. Juniper didn't really want to eat anything. She did have a sip of orange juice and I think that she thought that it was water so she took a big gulp. Wow! Was she ever surprised! Such a puckered face she made that the waitress was cracking up. She charmed the waitress so much that she asked if she could take June's photo to remember how beautiful she is. June obliged and hammed it up for the kind woman. She remarked how content she seems and how present the gaze of her eyes is. I concur!

I love taking June out in the city with nothing but the ergo (she seems too big for moby wrap but it's probably my ineptitude!) to carry her in. No stroller, no bottles, no toys. Just she and I. We sat in the corner of the cafe and there were windows behind us stretching from the bench seats all the way to the ceiling. She sat in her little glass corner and watched the bustle of the Lower East Side morning activity, patting her little chubby hands on the glass and smiling. I just watched her taking it all in, both of us so thoroughly engrossed with observing. So many faces would light up when they saw her and then look at me and smile. I have found having a baby that people who would normally keep to themselves often talk to me for no other reason than to wish me a nice day or to comment on something that June is doing. It's so comforting to feel their warmth! If they come closer to smile at her or talk to her I try not to get involved and let her have her own experience.

It's so fulfilling to be raising this little girl! Everyday I am floored by her cognizance and ability. In fact while we were at the cafe I took her to potty twice and she peed both times in the toilet! In total we had been gone from the house over two hours and she was in the same diaper and dry as a bone! How nice for her huh? Who wants to sit it a wet clammy diaper? When people find out that I am taking her to the potty they will often comment that she must be really advanced. I don't think that that is it at all! If anyone deserves the credit for being advanced here it surely is me! Ha! Just kidding. But really, I'm the one who has taken the time out to learn and pay attention to her cues and communications for needing to go potty. Sometimes I can be as thick as a board missing obvious cues like her going from being calm to all of a sudden yelling and being super rowdy. This means, "I've gotta go potty NOW!!!" But most of the time we are in sync.

Another thing that people comment on is how Juniper drinks water from a glass. "Oh wow!", they'll say, "She knows how to drink from a glass and not a sippy cup!"

I never had a sippy cup! I personally don't see the need to buy a sippy cup (or about 1,000,000 other toxic plastic items that are headed for the landfill or the giant vortex in the middle of the ocean).
What's the big deal with babies drinking from a glass? Is it that someone will have to be there to offer them a drink? I give her a drink when I'm thirsty figuring that she must be thirsty was well. Only makes sense right? We have fabricated so many things to keep us separated from our children under the guise (or ruse) of nurturing their individuality.

I'm part of a Brooklyn online mom's group and one of the posts was from a mom all distraught about her baby not wanting to drink from a sippy cup. Oh the gnashing of teeth and wringing of hands that this child didn't want to drink from the ultimate childhood accessory: the sippy cup! She finally put apple juice in it and she said the child was hooked! Likened it to crack even.
Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm.
Okayyyyy...... *click*(closing computer to go and offer June a drink).

Babies don't need juice. It will rot their little teeth and will possibly ruin them for water.

I like my blog because I can say whatever I want!

Until next time!

Lots of Juniper LOVE

June's First Spring!

We've been busy over here with the future growing up right in front of our eyes!

Let's catch up!

For starters Juniper turned 8 months old on the 15th of March! Woah right? I look at her all the time and try to soak in all the baby-ness as the kid in her becomes more and more apparent. She is still is an avid nurser but is tasting food and so far bananas are her favorite! She isn't crawling yet, but she rocks back and forth when on her hands and knees and scoots here and there on her butt. She gets around!
 Here she is with her daddy on her birthday!

 See! Doesn't she look like a kid? Can't you see the kid in there? Everyday is so much fun with this girl. We have such a good time together! She loves to play with her toys and is very vocal singing and talking much of the time. And yet she is very quiet and gentle. 8 Months old!







 To the left is a doll that I made for her to chew on and play with. It's a Waldorf inspired toy and I had plenty of fun crafting it. Especially embroidering the hair and the little heart.

There were some incredibly warm days after the record breaking snowfall and we took every opportunity to get outside and enjoy the weather. How fun to put June on her little quilt outside! 
She also hangs out on my back while I garden in the yard. We've gotten lots of things around the yard done with the amazing weather.

Look at her! Such a sweet beautiful child.

Here she is with her amazing daddy. We are missing him right now as he's been away at Yestermorrow teaching for almost two weeks!

Here are some more photos that speak for themselves. What joy she brings!

These next two are from when I was turning the compost and it was getting hard with her on my back so I got a box and put her in it. She was so happy in there and I got to move a little faster with a little less weight!

Really there is no cuter baby anywhere!

Teeth! She still has just these two bottom teeth that she has been using to tear apart all kinds of food. Her favorites so far are beets, steak, kipper snacks, egg yolk, yogurt, lamb, tangelos, tangelos, tangelos and of course bananas!

I love watching her hair come in and all the swirly patterns it makes. I think she is going to have a cowlick in front like me. Her hair is remarkably light considering the color of her parents hair. I'm sure it will darken as it comes in.

Here we are taking a walk in our back meadow. Juniper and I go everywhere like this. It really is so much fun to be so close to your baby. You want to squeeze them and inhale their delicious smell every second anyway so keeping them close at hand by wearing them is very convenient!

Here we are at the park in our neighborhood of Williamsburg. You can almost smell that delicious little baby head. mmmmmmmmm.

Last but not least, here is little Juniper Amie in her new high chair that we all love because when you are done using it for your baby it converts into a regular chair. Smart!

We are upstate here until Thursday and we have a lot of outside work to do. Many seeds to start and beds to mulch etc....Ach but I am so tired! She has been keeping me up at night the last few nights and it's been making the days quite sluggish. Just one look at her though and I get full of energy and vitality. Just one of the many effects she has on me.  I do let things go at times, like this blog, and just loaf around. Everybody needs some down time! I'm going to go take a nap with my girl!

LOVE