I don't know if Annika is going through a growth spurt or if she's teething, or what. However...

She's still biting me. Each time she does, I say No. No bite. Then I stop nursing her. I figure she'll eventually get the message. Thanks for the messages on this Jen and Mindi. I don't think Annika is ready to wean. She still lunges towards me when it's time to eat. And she's a bit of a momma's girl so I think she's still pretty attached to nursing. I think she bites when she's not all that hungry so she doesn't latch on well, and then thinks it's play time (weird little girl) and so she bites. She bites and chews on all her toys and books, she just needs to learn that she can not bite Mommy.

Last night she woke up at 1:30am and was awake until some time around 3am. This is so unusual for her. No, not the waking at night, the being up for more than a few minutes at a time. Annika still doesn't sleep through the night but when she does wake, it's only for a quick snack, a cuddle or her pacifier and then she's out again. Last night, she was all ready to go at 1:30 - wide awake and ready to play.

And for the last couple of days, she's hardly eaten anything. We have so much milk ready to go in the refrigerator. And she's not eating solid foods to make up for her lack of liquid intake. I think it may be teething because of this. Before her first two came in, her appetite went down. I'm hoping that the biting has something to do with this to.

On to other topics...

Kris and I are going to start teach Annika sign language. I picked up the Baby Signs book and we both have been reading it. I don't think Annika is too interested in talking right now. At least, she doesn't show any of the signs mentioned in the book of babies that are interested. The book says some babies are focused on other things (like being mobile) than they are on developing language skills. Since Annika rolled over at 3 months and crawled at 6 months, I'm willing to be she's more motivated by movement at this time, than by words. She still eats all her books instead of looking at the pictures. But, if Kris and I start showing her signs for different ideas (like more or done) and objects (like cat and dog), then when she is ready, maybe she'll pick up on them faster. This book has some interesting research in it. They found that teaching hearing babies sign language actually helps them to talk sooner and with a larger vocabularly. Some might think the opposite would be true, that if you teach a baby to sign then they will just sign and not bother with the words. The authors compared it to crawling. Most babies crawl as a step in the walking direction. Crawling doesn't stop a baby from walking. I can't wait until Annika signs back at me. How cool will it be when she can tell me that she's hungry or needs a diaper change or just saw a flower? I think it will be great!

Last night Annika slept for three hours in her crib before she woke up (7:05 pm to 10:15pm). I actually laid down on the couch figuring I'd either wait until Kris got home so I could spend some time with him or wait for her to wake up and take her to bed with me. Then, tonight, she slept for 30 minutes before waking and needing to be rocked back to sleep. Then she slept for another 20 minutes or so. I finally just rocked her for a while before putting her in our bed, where she's been for the past 45 minutes or so. I think I'm going to go join her. :)