Apologies for the recent infrequency of posts. This is Papa again. (i’ll probably be doing the majority of posts for a while. mom’s acclimating herself to a new job.)
Ms. Bugg is growing like a cooing, smiley, and very active squishy weed.
She’s on the cusp of crawling. She definitely moves, but it’s more a process of half hands-and-knees, half tummy-dragging army crawl-shuffle. Unfortunately she does most of her learning to crawl whilst crying. She’s getting better, but is still pretty needy and doesn’t like to play alone unless she’s intensely preoccupied.
She does, however, love her rolling walker and will zip across the kitchen floor for long periods all by herself. We initially had sworn to never use one of them as, Mom read, they apparently don’t encourage proper leg strength and development. But, since she’s been not only standing (with balancing aid), but actually pushing herself to a standing position on her own since just after her 3 month mark, we weren’t all that concerned with it inhibiting her leg strength. While I’m cleaning or cooking, she moves all over the kitchen in her little rolling ride. And, despite the carpet, she gets pretty far into the dining room as well. 
She’s quite verbal. Usually rather content, if not bouncing and giddily grinning, she rambles and sputters and tries to emulate our speech. She knows her name–even the long form, not just the shortened form we end up usually using when talking to and about her. As a matter of fact, often she’ll respond to her real name before she does the nickname.
“They” say kids start to develop fear of certain people around 6 months. Before that, kids don’t really differentiate between new and familiar faces on a comfort level. Ladybug is either running behind on this milestone or is a born extrovert. You can tell she recognizes people and enjoys seeing them again, and you can also tell when she’s examining a new face of a person holding her for the first time. Either way, people other than mom and dad are a sure-fire way to brighten her up from a grouchy mood. My, that child loves people…
More soon, hopefully…
