Cruising was, in a previous time of my life, something done by bored young people down the main drag of the town where I went to college. Hook a TV up to your car's battery, pile five or six friends in the back of your truck, and circle the block at a slow speed for an evening.

Three days ago, cruising took on a whole new meaning, as Frannie learned to pull herself up on the sofa, and to follow its track to whatever goodies we forgot (this time of year, we pile a lot on the sofas).

Once the tree comes down, she'll be able to cruise around and around the table, but for now, she's limited to the corner of our living room, and the piano bench.

Now that school is on winter break, we are strongly contemplating some form of sleep training, since the regression that set in back in October has never improved. I think we've gotten about two hours of time in our bed without Frannie over the last month...it's wearing on everyone, and I don't know that she's eating enough to justify keeping the night nursing constantly available.

To "hi!" "uh-oh!" and "up!" we have added "elf" and "mama," which you might think refers to me, or perhaps to Sarah, but which in fact means any object that is edible or contains something edible. That is, it includes me (mama! mama! mama!), but it also includes the bag of yogurt melts (mama! mama!), the bowl of macaroni and cheese (mama!!), and the highly recognizable applesauce pouches (cue hysterical wailing of mama!mama!mama!mama!!!!)

We have been working on signing "more" since she started eating solids five months ago, but it doesn't seem to have "taken." The only sign Frannie has any interest in using is "milk," and that only when it is noticeably not available. The sign for more has never been seen, and all our attempts are only resulting in a marginally more recognizable version of the spoken word. I'm okay with increasingly understandable speech, but I like the idea of signing just so she can express more ideas that she will be able to verbalize, as time goes on. We'll keep at it, but I think she may be genetically (and socially) doomed to a verbal life - neither one of her moms ever shuts up!!

In addition to exclaiming, "hi!" to every man, woman, child, and inanimate object in our midst, Frannie has now added an enthusiastic wave to her greeting. Dinner tonight was a constant chorus of "hi!" followed by Sarah and I adding "hi, lamp! hi, pig wall hanging! hi, teapot!", with much vigorous waving, as if all of our long-lost, dear family members were pouring out of the woodwork. Here's hoping the neighbors don't watch our kitchen table.