Where did baby Maia go?

In many ways, it feels like we've entered toddlerhood already. I'll begin with a couple of photos to illustrate the point. Here is what I saw yesterday when I went into Maia's room during what was intended to be naptime (the room lights are off in this photo; the light is from the camera's flash):

From Early October 07

And when I snapped a couple of photos with the camera rather than coming to pick her up, here's the face with which I was greeted:

From Early October 07

Maia is standing up in her crib in both of these photos.

Maia seems to be going through several stages at once right now, the two main ones being 1) a transition from a horizontal to a vertical orientation, and 2) the start of separation anxiety. She is big, strong, and determined to be on her feet, even when she is exhausted. So, those little wake-up periods in the middle of the night during which she used to fuss for a minute and then go back to sleep have turned into adventures of getting up onto her feet in the dark.

The separation anxiety is interesting to me as a concept. Before about eight months or so of age, babies apparently aren't able to hold an image in their heads of someone or something that isn't there. So, in other words, when Mom's gone, she's gone, and they don't have any concept that she's somewhere else OR that she's ever coming back. What we're going through right now is the beginning of real memory, and the development of Maia's mental ability to think about Brian or me when we're not there. What that means for us--especially at 3 AM, it seems--is that when she wakes up and realizes that we're not there, she's not happy. This has proven to be a challenge to my "I'll never let her cry-it-out" rule, but, I'm absolutely sticking to my guns on that one! This also means she's often not too keen on spending a few minutes in her ExerSaucer while I make myself something to eat or go to the bathroom.

These are a lot of changes for me to process, so I can't imagine what it feels like for Maia! It's all quite exciting, really. Brian and I were talking last week about the fact that it feels like there's been a shift in purpose in terms of our role: we've moved from focusing on nurturing and attachment to focusing on mental stimulation and learning. Separation anxiety is a good sign, because it's evidence that Maia feels a connection to us that she wants to continue to feel; it means we've done the work of establishing her attachment to us. Now, using that as the essential foundation, we're moving into a stage where she is constantly moving, constantly curious, and always on the go when she's awake. She wants new sights, new sounds, new textures and tastes. She's burning calories and getting even leaner than she was before, and I wouldn't be surprised if she's dropped a bit of weight in the last week.

Every day it is something new. Every day, when Brian comes home from work, there's a new development or "first" to report. As I said in an earlier post, the pace is exhausting! But what a thrill and a joy it is, too. I'm witnessing the minutiae of the development of a human being.