According to Dr. Sears, the acquisition of new skills is often preceded by an increase in nighttime waking. If that is true for Frances, we are in for a doozy of new skills. She has gone from waking once or twice to waking five times or more, and refusing to go back down in her crib. She is so sensitive to having us near, even petting her head in the crib doesn't settle her - nothing but full-body contact with Momma or Mommy will do.
Two nights ago, Sarah woke up at 4:30, noticed Frannie was asleep, and moved her into her crib. Immediately, Frannie's eyes flew open, and she started babbling and cooing happily. Clearly, this was an opportunity for some prime Frannie-Mommy quality time! 30 minutes later, I finally managed to nurse her down, but she stayed in our bed for the rest of the night.

It has been a crazy couple of weeks for "Fry-Fry" (her new nickname from cousin Abe). The top teeth have all broken through, so now she has 6(!) teeth. She had her first dentist appointment on the 25th, and the dentist was very sweet, and made a cast of her foot in plaster - the material was cold, so her toes are curled up tight under her foot, and she was wiggling to get away, so the heel is a little lumpy, but I know we are going to love having that proof of how tiny she was!

Standing up at the dentist

Frannie has also figured out how to pull herself up, as evidenced above - although she hasn't done this at home, she loves to be helped up and allowed to hold herself on the sofa, or a table, or a laundry basket.

Because September is rapidly approaching, we have all been going into school this past week, getting classrooms cleaned, organized, and set up. Part of this requires Frannie to be much more self-sufficient than in the past - you can see she doesn't care for being left with blocks, even if I am staying in her sight, only a few feet away. Momma should play, not clean sinks!
I can hardly believe she is already seven months old.

Frannie went to bed last night with two teeth. Tonight, she goes to bed with four (and one more on the way). I never knew teeth came in so fast, but I'm grateful that these seemed less bothersome than her first two. I noticed this morning that something seemed to be pinching me when she nursed, but assumed her bottom teeth were the culprits. Perhaps I was wrong!